Prominent themes

At this point in my research I have collected 95% of my data and I am more involved in transcribing interviews and conducting taxonomic, componential and theme analysis on what I hear. That is of course mixed in with reading, writing essays and finishing up the assignments for my course classes.  

Though my analysis is still in its primitive stages, I feel confident in mentioning a few of the prominent themes I have noticed in my inquiry research.

1.       The background research I did stated that the teachers in Mexico were relatively authoritarian and took charge of the majority of the responsibility of the education of the youth. I have found this not to me true. Parents typically want to be involved in the education of their children, but often the system restricts their level of involvement.  The preparatory school (High School) is considered a higher education and those who choose to go are expected to take charge of their own education.  A this level the teachers have less communication with the parents of the students and the entire triangle relationship (teachers, parents and students) take the form of what one would expected in the university.  This is of course varies among the different types of schools. I have found the more public t and urban the school, the less teacher-parent communication. Technical schools try to maintain a bit more communication than the public school, and private schools seemed to have the most. The rural school I visited had a lot of communication with the local families from the same town, but the parents of the students that had to travel far have less contact with the teachers.

2.       It has been interesting hearing the various views of what parents feel is the responsibility of the teachers in respect to the orientation they should give to the students. My observations show that the less amount of schooling the parents have, the more they believe the schools should be in charge of teaching morals and values. It is as if the parents who finished high school or went to college realize that school is mainly academic instruction and the parents who have less experience in school expect the teachers to be more like parents and incorporate moral instruction in their classes.

I observed little to none moral instruction from teacher in the classroom. However I did participate in an assembly on sexuality and hear of classes based on ethics and civil culture.  Uneducated parents seemed to be more naïve as to role of teachers as instructors of moral values. The more educated parents wished the schools would teach more moral values but were more aware or accepting that schools were mostly academic instruction.

3.       The last observation was about the teacher-student expectations. Teachers knew that they were only teaching a portion of the material to the students in the classes. Their goal was to “plant the seed” and then the students were to “cultivate it.” The students who exceeded in class were those who understood this best. They dedicated themselves to find other resources outside of class to learn the material; they were less dependent on the teacher. The students that were failing often relied solely on the in-class instruction and did little of their own reinforcement.

It will be interesting to see what other themes emerge from my interviews and field notes.  The research thus far has been very interesting and very rewarding.  I’m excited to extract all the results.