A Pedagogy Encouraged and Repressed: Episcopal Schools in Mexico, 1876-1940 (2001)

INTRODUCTION Prior to the Liberal Constitution 1857, the Roman Catholic Church held a spiritual and educational monopoly in Mexico. The Mexican government played virtually no role in the education its citizens, and all religions except Roman Catholicism were illegal. Under the Constitution 1857, liberal leader Benito Juarez began to develop a system public education and also encouraged other religions to enter Mexico. Juarez foresaw the potential Protestantism as both a spiritual body and a provider education to improve the lives Mexicans. Voicing his disgust for Catholic education, Juarez wished for the Indians his country to be exposed to a religion that would make them read rather than light candles.1 An early Protestant missionary claimed that on his deathbed Juarez said, upon the development Protestantism largely depends the future happiness our country.2 If Juarez was correct, then Mexico is still waiting for happiness, since Protestantism has never rivaled the dominant Catholic faith. Nevertheless, Protestants have made major contributions in Mexico, especially in the field education. While the Episcopal Church was less visible in Mexico than other Protestant denominations, it did manage to establish two important and enduring educational institutions. In 1876, Mary Josephine Hooker, the widow an Episcopal priest from Philadelphia, established a school and orphanage for girls in Mexico City. The Reverend Henry Forrester founded the Dean Gray School for Boys in Mexico City in 1894. The Dean Gray school changed its name in 1907 to Saint Andrew's school, and in 1910 it moved to a new campus in Guadalajara. Throughout the world, Protestant missionaries have viewed education as a central and critical aspect their work. An observer in India notes that Protestants there were of one mind in giving high priority to education in their scheme work, and that in the face weak public education they felt that it was needful both because humanitarian considerations, and because their religious work needed an educational basis.3 The fact that the same observations could easily apply to the Mexican missionary experience suggests the universality the Protestant dedication to education. There are several reasons for the Protestant emphasis on education, some articulated and others implied. First, unlike the Roman Catholic Church, Protestants-including Episcopalians-viewed reading the Bible as an important element Christianity. While the Catholics used priests as interpreters scripture, Protestantism required its adherents to read the Bible themselves. Therefore, in countries with high rates illiteracy, Protestant missionaries founded schools to teach potential members to read. Only by becoming literate could one fully experience Christianity, and that meant direct interaction with the Bible itself. For Protestant missionaries, the school also functioned as a relatively efficient tool for evangelization. While the missionaries may have had trouble spreading the gospel to Mexican adults in the church, they found it much easier to reach their children in the schools. Girls' schools such as the Hooker School served the evangelization effort particularly well since their purpose was to educate teachers. Therefore, Mexican girls could receive their education at a mission school such as Hooker, and then go out into the country and establish other schools, forming an expanding network evangelical schools. Mrs. Hooker herself highlighted the importance schools as evangelical instruments, writing, God's purposes are sure to be accomplished and He intends to evangelize this nation, and the speediest method promoting its evangelization is to educate well its present generation children.4 Episcopal missionaries considered schools to be in some ways superior to churches as venues for evangelization in foreign countries because they considered children to be more likely candidates for conversion. …