HOW DEEP IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MEXICAN SCHOOLS AND THE GOVERNMENT?
Now, speaking about contemporary history, we have the Tecnológico de Monterrey, a university that, in my opinion, has developed a politically and economically significant presence in Mexico.
The university continuously emphasizes that it has all kinds of alliances, agreements, partnerships, and cooperation arrangements with the Government of the State of Nuevo León. Beginning in 2007, its students began appearing at Fudan University in Shanghai, China. Just as you could see them at Fudan, you could also see them inside the Mexican Consulate in Shanghai, China, beginning during their first weeks of classes.
It is also easy to find public statements indicating that the Tecnológico de Monterrey has agreements, partnerships, and academic relationships with Chinese universities and institutions.
What can be easily observed, at least from my perspective and from what I personally witnessed, is the political and governmental support that appears to be available to students and administrators associated with Tecnológico de Monterrey. I have not personally observed the same level of access or support being provided to Mexican students or administrators from other Mexican universities.
Of course, this should not necessarily come as a surprise. According to the Mexican media outlet Expansión, Tecnológico de Monterrey recruited several members of former President Vicente Fox's political circle at the end of his presidential administration.
This raises an important question:
HOW DEEP IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MEXICAN SCHOOLS AND THE GOVERNMENT?
I just watched the finale of House of the Dragon Season 3, in which Rhaenyra has Alyn kill the High Septon because the religious leader refuses to validate her claim to the throne.
And just as we see in television, in real history, Western kings often needed the approval or legitimacy of religious authorities. Even today, we continue to see political tendencies to use religion as a source of power and influence, particularly as a way of convincing the population that a government and its leaders are trustworthy, legitimate, or worthy of support.
Even China is not completely exempt from recognizing the political importance of religious authority. The Chinese government recognizes Gyaincain Norbu as the 11th Panchen Lama. I remember that during one of my trips to Beijing, I passed by the exterior of the building where he was being protected. Honestly, I had never seen such a high level of security. From my perspective, the building appeared to have extremely strong protective measures, including what seemed to me to be bullet-resistant glass.
Now, let us talk about Mexico.
In Mexico, Catholicism and Christianity have historically been dominant religious influences among the population. In real political history, one of the Mexican political figures who visibly incorporated religious imagery into his political campaign was Vicente Fox, although, in my view, this was relatively brief.
What interests me even more, however, is that Vicente Fox also relied heavily on the educational sector in Mexico. In fact, from my perspective, he appeared to place even greater attention on education than on religious symbolism.
In my personal opinion, there is a marriage between government and education in Mexico, and this is something I strongly oppose.
That is why, in contemporary Mexico, I believe we are witnessing a kind of political-educational marriage. But we are not dealing with fundamentally different human beings from those who existed in previous periods of history.
In the real history of our time, we continue to see political figures who resemble historical figures such as Napoleon, who, in Jacques-Louis David's famous painting of his coronation, was crowned as Emperor in the presence of Pope Pius VII. We also see figures who, in my view, can be compared metaphorically to Rhaenyra, seeking legitimacy and power through institutions capable of influencing society.
So I ask:
What prevents Mexican politicians from damaging Mexico's educational system for personal or political purposes?
What prevents political authorities from removing teachers or students who disagree with their way of thinking, or simply because those individuals are not considered useful, convenient, or politically favorable?
The truth is that, in my opinion, nothing prevents it.
And I believe that this has already been happening for a very long time.
This is why I believe we need to look much more carefully at the relationship between political power and education in Mexico. Education should belong to society, to students, to teachers, to researchers, and to the pursuit of knowledge—not to political interests.
When education becomes too closely connected to political power, the danger is not only that governments can influence what people learn. The deeper danger is that political power can begin to influence who is allowed to teach, who is allowed to participate, whose ideas are considered acceptable, and who is pushed aside.
That is the issue that concerns me.
And that is why I believe we should continue asking:
How deep is the relationship between Mexican schools and the government?
And perhaps an even more important question is:
At what point does cooperation between education and government become political control over education?
