Mexico school teaching comes a long way

How things have changed! My husband's grandmother was a schoolteacher for a time in Mexico and she never even completed high school.

At 14, her mother decided she was ready to work. She was sent to observe a local schoolteacher for three months and given her own classroom in an “ejido” in a rural area. Thus began her career in public education.

However, she quickly decided teaching was not for her and she tried her hand at other professions, such as nursing.

On the other hand, her younger sister followed in her footsteps and became a schoolteacher. But she liked it enough to stay in the profession for 25 years.

After doing some research, Mexican schools nowadays require much more of their teachers. They need a degree and have to be certified to teach at a certain level.

Much is expected of them and their students. That might explain why students who immigrate after attending public schools in Mexico seem so much more advanced than their peers in the U.S.