Moisés Sáenz facts for kids

Moisés Sáenz (1888–1941) was a very important Mexican leader in education. He helped change schools in Mexico a lot in the early 1900s. Many of his ideas came from his teacher, John Dewey. Sáenz worked as a top official in the Secretariat of Public Education in the 1920s.

Growing Up

Moisés Sáenz was born in 1888 in Monterrey, a city in northern Mexico. His family was one of the few Protestant families in Mexico at that time. This was a big influence on his life. Moisés had a brother, Aaron, who also became famous in Mexico after the Mexican Revolution. Aaron was a politician and later became known as a "sugar king."

Early School Days

Because his family was Protestant, Sáenz was taught that reading was very important, especially to read the Bible. Protestant missionaries started many schools in cities and the countryside. These schools gave children a good education that they might not have gotten otherwise.

Moisés Sáenz went to these Protestant schools for most of his childhood. He went to elementary school in Monterrey from 1896 to 1902. Then, in 1903, he moved to a school in Mexico City called Coyoacán Preparatory School for Boys, where he stayed until 1908.

College and Beyond

After finishing school at Coyoacán when he was 20, Sáenz became a teacher. In 1909, he moved to the United States to study more.

In the U.S., he continued his education at Protestant schools. He went to Washington and Jefferson College in Pennsylvania. After that, he studied in Paris, France, at the University of Paris. Then he came back to the U.S. to get his advanced degree (doctorate) at Columbia University.

John Dewey's Influence

At Columbia University, Moisés Sáenz met John Dewey. Dewey became Sáenz's mentor, guiding his ideas and plans for his future career.

John Dewey was a famous American thinker, psychologist, and educator in the early 1900s. He was a leader in the "progressive education" movement. Dewey believed that schools should help students become good members of their community. He also thought learning should be creative and active, not just sitting and listening. His ideas were about preparing students to be independent and helpful people in society. Sáenz was one of many people who followed Dewey's ideas.

Changing Education in Mexico

After getting his doctorate, Sáenz returned to Mexico. He quickly moved up in the government's education system. By 1925, he became the Sub-Secretary for the Department of Public Education. He worked under presidents Plutarco Elías Calles and Emilio Portes Gil.

In this important job, Sáenz started many changes, and you could clearly see Dewey's ideas in them. One big change was creating a network of schools called secundarias, or secondary schools. This meant many more Mexicans could go to school past the fourth grade, which was a huge step forward.

Sáenz also focused on improving education in rural areas (the countryside) of Mexico. Before this, under leaders like Porfirio Diaz, most good schools and resources were in cities. Rural schools were often ignored. Many people in the countryside didn't get a good education, or sometimes no school at all.

This changed after the Mexican Revolution when people like Moisés Sáenz started making education rules. The new secundaria system helped rural areas a lot. After Sáenz's changes, rural education got much better. More people in the countryside learned to read and write, and literacy rates went up quickly.

This change is one of Sáenz's most important and lasting contributions to Mexico. Giving more Mexicans a basic education helped the country grow and adapt to the modern world. The better access and quality of education that Sáenz helped create made a huge difference between Mexico before and after the Revolution.

Helping Indigenous People

A big part of Sáenz's ideas about education and society was how to help Mexico's indigenous peoples (native groups). He believed in a type of assimilation, which means helping different groups fit together. But Sáenz's idea was special: he wanted modern society to also adapt a little to fit indigenous cultures, not just the other way around. He thought education was the best way to do this.

Sáenz believed that schools should help people learn how to be part of society. So, if schools were the main way to help people fit in, then schools were where this mixing of cultures should happen. That's why Sáenz expanded schools in rural areas, especially where many indigenous people lived. This served two purposes: it gave more people education, and it helped his plan for cultural blending reach the people it was meant for.

However, Sáenz's idea of two-way cultural blending was harder to achieve. Schools aimed to help indigenous children become part of Mexican society, but Mexican society was also supposed to learn from and include parts of indigenous culture. This part of his plan was not as successful as his work in expanding rural education.

Later Life and Death

After finishing his work as Sub-Secretary for Public Education in 1930, Sáenz became Mexico's ambassador to Peru. He died in October 1941 from pneumonia while still living in Lima, Peru.

His Impact

Moisés Sáenz left a strong mark on Mexico in diplomacy (working with other countries), how society treated indigenous groups, and especially education. Inspired by his own Protestant background and schooling, he greatly expanded Mexico's education system. He helped change it from a weak system before the Mexican Revolution into one that quickly led to one of the highest literacy rates in the world.

He also helped create Mexico's plan for indigenous people. Using ideas from John Dewey, he combined his cultural blending program with the growing education system. This made sure his ideas reached the right people. He also supported a more open way of acculturation, where cultures learn from each other. In his last years, Sáenz was a skilled diplomat for Mexico.

Sáenz wanted Mexicans to understand the Mexican Revolution as a time of unity, not just fighting. He said there was a difference between the "Revolution" (the big event) and "revolutions" (smaller fights).

Even though his name might not be as famous as others like Jose Vasconcelos, Moisés Sáenz was very important in shaping Mexico after the Revolution.

See also

In Spanish: Moisés Sáenz para niños