V. Education
Hacienda cattle brand
In bygone days—two hundred years ago—an hacienda church or chapel bell signaled school. A youngster or priest or acolyte yanked the bell rope. In the tropics, if you were lucky, you put on your shirgo (raincoat), and got to school dry. Your class started at 7:00 A.M. and lasted until noon, when the heat moved in. You walked to your home for lunch or picked it off the trees as you went home. If school convened regularly you were fortunate. You were fortunate if classes freed you from hacienda chores.
In the temperate zone, school began about 9:00 A.M. and reconvened after the siesta—closing at 4:00 P.M. Again intermittency played havoc with the sessions. The maestro (teacher) was very informal; if you had a teacher who was dedicated, your education began to acquire meaning.
Teaching was in Spanish, though the pupils might speak one or more of the sixty dialects. For centuries the parents objected to Spanish being taught; at home the children spoke their native tongue. Since Spanish coercion was continual, it was only normal for the students to rebel. Intuitively, they sensed the destruction of their way of life. Both school and church were suspect.