Ponciano Rodríguez: teacher, editor and public official (1893-1921)

Abstract

The nineteenth century was fading away, giving way to a new century full of changes and developments. Modernity invaded Mexico and education was not left out: to the contrary, it was attended to in various aspects: school spaces, programs, textbooks, furniture, schedules, materials and, in particular, teacher training. 

Under this idea, teacher colleges – known in Mexico as Escuelas Normales, and their students and alumni as normalistas – were created in the country’s main cities, including Mexico City, Orizaba and Xalapa. In these educational spaces teachers were trained who would later be recognized as scholars of education. Some of these college graduates looked for spaces to debate, create and disseminate the modern pedagogical thought they had assimilated. 

In this article I discuss Professor Ponciano Rodríguez, who had a long career as a teacher and was a member of the educational administration throughout his working life. Through the study and research of different aspects of the life of a teacher, such as their training, production, and professional career, we can learn about and deepen our knowledge of a fine educational space; a teacher’s biography becomes an important anchor to address the educational system of the time, its educational policy, its context and many other spaces of an educational model with tints of modernity.