bajabound2005
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For Mexico's teachers, jobs are things to inherit or sell, and they're on strike to keep it that way
For Mexico's teachers, jobs are things to inherit or sell, and they're on strike to keep it that way
Standardizing gets tested
By MARION LLOYD Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle Foreign Service
Striking teachers gathered last week in Mexico City to oppose federal education reform.
CUERNAVACA, MEXICO — Tens of thousands of teachers are blocking highways and seizing government buildings across Mexico to protest a federal education
reform ending their longtime practice of selling their jobs or giving them to their children.
In central Morelos state, where opposition is centered, about 20,000 teachers have been on strike for more than 50 days. Though a few thousand
children study in cantinas and makeshift classrooms, nearly 500,000 others have yet to start the school year.
Since the strike erupted in Morelos in late August, protests have spread to at least a dozen other states and are threatening to go nationwide. In
Baja California, about 700 teachers in Tijuana lay down on the world's busiest border crossing and blocked San Diego-bound traffic for hours. In
Mexico City, protesters set up a sprawling tent city near the federal Education Secretariat, which oversees the country's public education system.
At the heart of the conflict is the "Alliance for Quality Education," a national plan to professionalize teachers and hold them accountable for their
students' performances. The plan was ratified in May by Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Elba Esther Gordillo, the leader of the country's 1.6
million-member National Education Workers Union, and sent to Mexico's 31 state governments and Federal District for approval.
Changing the system
The protesters accuse Gordillo, who recently declared herself the union's leader for life, of striking a deal with Calderon to retain her grip on
power — at the expense of decades of hard-fought labor gains.
"We're fighting to guarantee jobs for our kids," Oscar Miranda said as he helped teachers stage a protest in front of the governor's office in
Cuernavaca, the capital of Morelos.
"Throughout history," Miranda said, "the
sons of carpenters have become carpenters. Even politicians' children become politicians. Why shouldn't our children have the same right?"
Gordillo and Calderon have denied the teachers' accusations. Instead, they say Mexico urgently needs to overhaul its education system.
The plan would require teaching applicants to take government-administered exams before hiring or promotion. Pay raises would be linked to students'
performance on standardized tests. The details are being negotiated in the states, which will administer the project. Most have pledged their support
of its general outlines.
Previously, the union oversaw most hiring and firing of teachers. Those who worked at government schools were allowed to decide who got their jobs
when they retired, a hangover from a time when teaching was viewed more as a trade than a profession.
Many analysts blame those longtime practices for fueling rampant corruption in the education system. Gordillo, whose lavish lifestyle has made her the
target of corruption accusations, acknowledged recently that teaching jobs were routinely bought and sold for as much as $6,000.
That's as much as beginning teachers make in a year. The jobs are still coveted because they provide steady income, particularly in poor areas.
The protesters also object to the new system of basing 60 percent of teacher pay raises on standardized-test results.
"It's not fair, because not all the states or communities or schools are in the same economic situation," said Gabriela Bañon, a middle school
principal in Jiutepec, a working-class suburb of Cuernavaca.
She also repeated a common charge among protest leaders that the government is secretly plotting to privatize the country's public education system.
They cite the pro-business credentials of Calderon's National Action Party, or PAN.
"What's really behind this alliance is a pact between the PAN government and transnational companies who want to put private companies in charge of
education in this country," Bañon said.
Many education experts are not convinced. "The alliance has many problems, but the privatization of the education system isn't one of them," said
Lucrecia Santibañez, an education analyst in Mexico City.
Santibañez also defended the new system of standardized testing for teachers, another favorite target of the protesters. Previously, a degree from a
government teaching college was the sole requirement for securing a classroom position. When the new tests were applied for the first time this
summer, she said, 70 percent of the candidates failed.
Santibañez faulted the government for failing to involve the teachers in the drafting of the reforms, fueling mistrust within the union.
School year stalled
In Morelos, the government, which is led by the PAN, is working hard to break the strike. Starting in early October, it began airing televised classes
to students and handing out free textbooks.
Angry parents, meanwhile, have begun forcibly reopening some schools, triggering fights with striking teachers.
"Some of their causes are justified, but most are just plain wrong," said Jorge Gomez, a Jiutepec businessman whose 13-year-old son was still waiting
to start the eighth grade.
"A generation of teachers got these jobs by buying them cheaply," he said. "Now they're mad because they won't get to reap the profits."
Friends don't let friends drink white zinfandel.
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Woooosh
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No wonder we are stuck on stupid down here!
\"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing\"
1961- JFK to Canadian parliament (Edmund Burke)
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Cajones
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| Quote: | | Many analysts blame those longtime practices for fueling rampant corruption in the education system. Gordillo, whose lavish lifestyle has made her the
target of corruption accusations, acknowledged recently that teaching jobs were routinely bought and sold for as much as $6,000.
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Incredible. This fits in comfortably with the comments on the other thread that Mexico places money ahead of the welfare of its own people.
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Eugenio
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Seems logical that teachers be able to buy their jobs - since students are able to buy their grades...
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redmesa
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Are all other professions similar in their practices i.e. nepotism and bartering with jobs?
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CaboRon
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| Quote: | Originally posted by redmesa
Are all other professions similar in their practices i.e. nepotism and bartering with jobs? |
The entire culture and economy is based on this ....
It's part of the reason this remains a third world country.
CaboRon
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Dave
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Right
| Quote: | Originally posted by redmesa
Are all other professions similar in their practices i.e. nepotism and bartering with jobs? |
That's how my doctor got his job. 
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Dave
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Think of the upside
| Quote: | Originally posted by CaboRon
The entire culture and economy is based on this ....
It's part of the reason this remains a third world country.
CaboRon |
Cheap labor.
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tjBill
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There's lots of good high quality private schools here. Some have a large portion of the lessons in English.
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CaboRon
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Hook
I seem to recall it happening in the US, too, especially the part about the buying and selling of the job and the nepotism.
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I seem to recal that were are discussing mexico here 
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Cajones
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Hook
I seem to recall it happening in the US, too, especially the part about the buying and selling of the job and the nepotism. |
When I posted a political comment like that, gnukid got the moderators to delete it. When I get 6 stars will my posts stay up too?
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Cajones
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Dave
That's how my doctor got his job. |
Please don't tell me how Mexican airline pilots get their jobs. I just don't want to know.
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Hook
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Cajones
| Quote: | Originally posted by Hook
I seem to recall it happening in the US, too, especially the part about the buying and selling of the job and the nepotism. |
When I posted a political comment like that, gnukid got the moderators to delete it. When I get 6 stars will my posts stay up too?
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Was that pre or post Hose A?
Never mind. I'll delete.
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