Education
On average, the population of the state over the age of 15 has finished the first year of middle school with an average number of years in school at 7.4. This is under the national average of 8.1. At of every 100 over age 15, 12 have not gone to school at all, 17 have left school before the end of primary, 21 finish primary, 3 start, but do not finish middle school, 19 finish middle school, 5 begin but do not finish high school, 8 obtain a bachelor’s degree and 1 has an advanced degree. There are 441, 699 illiterate people, or 13%, according to INEGI, above the national average of eight percent.
One problem that the educational system has is an ongoing power struggle in the teachers’ union of the state. On 8 October 2010, a group of teachers attacked a union office in the state capital with stones, poles and even Molotov cocktails in an attempt to get the union to oust the secretary general of the union, José Uber Romero Ronquillo. Earlier that day, a group of 800 teachers, peacefully marched for the same purpose.
Puebla is ranked second in higher education in Mexico with 57 technological colleges (Institutos Tecnologicos) and 110 research centers. It ranks fourth in the number of universities and colleges in the nation. It is home to very prestigious institutions such as the Universidad de las Americas-Puebla, which has substantial ties to the United States, such as being accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and numerous student exchange programs. It has also received substantial economic assistance from the U.S. Agency for International Development. Much of the school’s setup mimics that of U.S. universities, including student dormitories.
Universidad Popular Autónoma del Estado de Puebla (UPAEP) was founded in 1973 at a former ranch called La Noria in response to social and political unrest that was prevalent in the state in the 1960s and early 1970s. It was also created to fill a need for higher education in a number of fields formerly underrepresented.
Instituto Tecnologico de Puebla (Puebla Institute of Technology), which was founded in 1972.
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Famous quotes containing the word education:
“A woman might claim to retain some of the child’s faculties, although very limited and defused, simply because she has not been encouraged to learn methods of thought and develop a disciplined mind. As long as education remains largely induction ignorance will retain these advantages over learning and it is time that women impudently put them to work.”
—Germaine Greer (b. 1939)
“If you complain of neglect of education in sons, what shall I say with regard to daughters, who every day experience the want of it? With regard to the education of my own children, I find myself soon out of my depth, destitute and deficient in every part of education. I most sincerely wish ... that our new Constitution may be distinguished for encouraging learning and virtue. If we mean to have heroes, statesmen, and philosophers, we should have learned women.”
—Abigail Adams (1744–1818)
“I would urge that the yeast of education is the idea of excellence, and the idea of excellence comprises as many forms as there are individuals, each of whom develops his own image of excellence. The school must have as one of its principal functions the nurturing of images of excellence.”
—Jerome S. Bruner (20th century)