whychild,
This is an excellent question, but because I could find no supportive
evidence, I am posting this as a comment rather than an answer.
I have several friends, from different areas of Mexico, who tell me,
testing to advance to the next grade is virtually non-existent in
public schools, though it may exist to a small degree in larger urban
schools. A large percent of the population does not complete even 9
years of education.Where there is a huge poverty-level population, the
need to work is greater than the desire for education. Any testing
that does exist seems to be determined by school or teacher, and not
government mandated. Private schools, such as Catholic schools, or the
many foreign-run schools can have higher standards requiring the
students to reach a certain level of competency before being passed to
the next grade.
In Mexico, the Secretary of Education, who oversees public education,
appears to be trying to upgrade the ineffective and poorly run
educational system of this huge country of 101,700,000 people. (2002)
http://www.data.worldpop.org/prjprbdata/wcprbdata.asp?DW=DR&SL=
“Nationally, in 1989 only 55 percent of students successfully
completed their primary education, and graduation rates were only 10
percent in many rural areas.(Of Mexico)”
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?cstdy:2:./temp/~frd_9ex2::
In 1992, Mexico changed the mandatory time a child spent in school,
from 6 to 9 years. This law goes largely ignored however. I’m afraid
that any rules for competency testing, if present, also are loosely
administered or enforced, and probably depends on the district and/or
teachers. In many areas of rural Mexico there is limited or no public
education.
President Fox, in his attempt to improve education, has asked that in
the nine years a Mexican student is obliged to stay in school, that
they read and understand 180 books.
http://www.sep.gob.mx/work/secciones/2764/imagenes/educare.pdf
More from the Library of Congress’s site;
“Many primary- and secondary-school-age students, especially in rural
areas, fail to complete their education programs. Instructional
quality, as measured by student test scores, remains low.” The
government reported in 1989 that each year, 300,000 children who
should be in first grade do not attend. An additional 880,000 students
drop out of primary school annually, 500,000 of them in the first
three grades. However, the government reported that in 1995 the
national graduation rate reached 62 percent. Thirty percent of all
secondary-school enrollers failed to complete the three-year
curriculum. As a result, government education officials estimated that
20.2 million Mexicans had not completed primary education and another
16 million had not finished secondary school.
Two states in northern Mexico--Baja California and Nuevo
León--reported literacy rates exceeding 95 percent, and several other
northern states and Mexico City indicated levels between 90 and 95
percent. In contrast, Chiapas, Guerrero, and Oaxaca had literacy
levels below 75 percent. National literacy rates improved slightly to
89 percent by 1995. Until 1992 all primary schools, irrespective of
regional distinctions, followed a uniform program of study”
The above is partially quoted from an article about Mexican education
on the Library of Congress’site,
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?cstdy:2:./temp/~frd_9ex2::
In case the results are no longer present, I am told they can be
found by clicking at the site below, and searching for “Mexican
Education” under Global Gateways.
Library of Congress website, found here:
http://lcweb2.loc.gov
Regarding the source of the Library of Congress material:
I virtually chatted with an eLibrarian today who said”
With the exception of some photographs, which are clearly marked in
the photograph's caption, text and graphics contained in the Country
Studies On-Line are not copyrighted. They are considered to be in the
public domain and thus available for free and unrestricted use. As a
courtesy, however, we ask that appropriate credit be given to the
series. If you or your publisher require specific written permission
for the record, queries should be directed via Email to frds@loc.gov.”
For Mexican educational grading system, visit this site:
http://www.usc.edu/dept/education/globaled/wwcu/background/Mexico.htm
Good article about Mexican education
http://www.guide2mexico.com/content/mexeduc.htm
The Mexican Secretary of Education (In Spanish) site
http://www.sep.gob.mx/wb/distribuidor.jsp?seccion=2764
No schools in this village
http://www.cafod.org.uk/fastday/h2001sp.shtml
I have also sent several e-mails to the Secretary of Education and
the http://www.sep.gob.mx/wb/distribuidor.jsp?seccion=2764 site
asking them of any government standards/laws requiring testing for
advancement. I’ll post them upon receipt!
Regards, crabcakes |
