In February 2013, the Mexican government of president Pena Nieto, passed an “Education Reform” for all of Mexico.

This Education Reform will:mandate more standardized tests for

studentscreate evaluations for teachers that

would get a lot of teachers firedand it would make it easier for

private companies to become part of the Mexican educational system.

Standardized Tests•This would make all students learn the same material across every state in the country.

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Many teachers and students are against this because they think that students in the countryside need to know different things than students in the cities.

● Teachers and students also want to be able to teach and learn their Indigenous language and culture as part of their education.

Tests to Evaluate Teachers

•The standardized evaluation of teachers through tests (and the tests of their students) would mean that teachers will be judged for how they do on a test more than how they teach in a classroom or act with their students.

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• If teachers cannot pass the test in 3 tries, they will be fired.

All teachers would be tested on the same material even though the schools they teach in are very different.

In response to this “Education Reform”, teachers have been protesting with students and parents to fight for what they think education should look like.

Teachers have gone on strike, have blocked freeways, have occupied buildings, have had forums with politicians and still the government has not listened.

For my children, I am also, WITH THE TEACHERS, in defense of public education.

Sorry for the blocked streets. We are building a better country for your children.

Parents and Students supporting the protests of teachers.

Teachers in the state of Michoacan went on strike for two months to protest this unjust reform.

In Mexico City, teachers blocked the road to the airport and had confrontations with the police.

For the past few months, teacher have created an encampment in “el Zocalo”, the center of Mexico City. In the last weeks over 10,000 teachers have stayed there to protest.

One week ago, September 13th, 2013 the government took down the encampment and kicked out all of the teachers.

The protests continue, now university students are pledging to join the fight for the education that all students truly deserve and against these “reforms”.

Different universities announce that they will go on strike to support the Mexican teachers

The took so much away from them that they ended up taking away their fear.

This is a mural on a school in Oaxaca, Mexico with a quote that says

“ Rebellion is life, submission is death”

What can we learn from the teachers, students and parents in Mexico?

What do we want our schools to be like here?

What are the reasons we don’t have what we need in our

schools?

What should we do to fight for our schools to be better?