Creating Useful Citizens: Action Pedagogy in Mexico’s Escuela Nacional de Sordomudos

• In Event: Citizenship and Literacy in State Projects

Abstract

Following the revolutionary constitution of 1917, the Mexican government instituted a series of education-related policies that embraced the national values of civic duty, hard work, and patriotism in order to reform the nation's “ignorant masses.” Students enrolled at the Escuela Nacional de Sordomudos (ENSM), Mexico’s first institute established for the deaf and poor, were considered valuable, potential contributors to society. Barring a few adjustments to accommodate their special learning needs, the Beneficencia Pública overhauled the school’s existing curriculum so that it paralleled the national universal curriculum designed for “normal” children.
Central to my study is an analysis of John Dewey’s Action Pedagogy model and the way in which it shaped curriculum reform at the ENSM. The Pan American Conference of 1916 addressed the psycho-pedagogical needs of the deaf, and ultimately inspired the creation of a kindergarten program uniquely for deaf children. The third of its kind in Mexico, the ENSM’s kindergarten program adopted Dewey’s method by coupling intervention-style training in “de-mutization” for very young deaf children with vocational preparation in the industrial arts. The implementation of Dewey’s Action Pedagogy, the evolving notion of the psycho-pedagogical needs of the deaf, and the incorporation of a national kindergarten program at the ENSM shared a common theme and goal—to transform the deaf from what elites referred to as incompetent, unproductive, and uncivilized beings to moral, productive, and civilly aware members of society.

Author

• Holly Caldwell, University of Delaware