Revolutionizing Childhood: Schools, Roads, and the Revolutionary Generation Gap in Tepoztlán, Mexico, 1928 to 1944

Abstract

Road building and national education were prominent programs of the Mexican Revolution. This article shows how, in one village, the arrival of a paved road and an increase in school attendance changed the lives of children. Exposed to alter natives ideas and influences, many grew up to embrace the consumer and cash economy and to feel a part of a stronger Mexican nation-state. By examining the Mexican Revolution's social achievements of literacy, health, and an expanded internal economy as the result of choices made by youth as they grew up under new circumstances, this article offers a unique perspective on the process of historical change.