Mexico
Mexico is a traveller's paradise, crammed with a
multitude of opposing identities: desert landscapes,
snow-capped volcanoes, ancient ruins, teeming industrialised
cities, time-warped colonial towns, glitzy resorts,
lonely beaches and a world-beating collection of flora
and fauna.
This mix of modern and traditional, the clich?d and
the surreal, is the key to Mexico's charm, whether your
passion is throwing back margaritas, listening to
howler monkeys, surfing the Mexican Pipeline, scrambling
over Mayan ruins or expanding your Day of the Dead
collection of posable skeletons.
One look at this country is enough to remind visitors
that there is nothing new about the so-called New
World. Despite the considerable colonial legacy and
rampant modernisation, almost 60 distinct indigenous peoples
survive, largely thanks to their rural isolation.
The coast and lowlands are hot and humid all year. The
interior highlands are milder and drier, but can
become freezing between December and February. Rainfall is
scarce throughout most of the country
Currency
Mexican currency is the New Peso (MXN) divided into
100 centavos. Credit cards are widely accepted,
particularly Visa, MasterCard and American Express. Travellers
cheques are generally accepted, and are best taken in
US Dollars. ATMs are available in most cities and
towns and are the most convenient way to get money, but
for safety reasons they should only be used during
business hours. Although most businesses will accept
foreign currency it is best to use pesos. Foreign currency
can be exchanged at one of many casas de cambio
(exchange houses), which have longer hours and offer a
quicker service than the banks.
Languages: Spanish, Castilian.
Since spanish is widely used in the country below are
few words in the language with their meanings in
english that can be really helpful while in mexico
hola hi
adiós goodbye
sí yes
no no
por favor
please gracias
thanks muchas
gracias thanks a lot
dispénseme excuse me
perdón pardon
OK OK
nada nothing
Population
The population of mexico is 103,400,165. About 70% of
the people live in urban areas. Many Mexicans emigrate
from rural areas that lack job opportunities -- such
as the underdeveloped southern states and the crowded
central plateau -- to the industrialized urban centers
and the developing areas along the U.S.-Mexico border.
According to some estimates, the population of the
area around Mexico City is about 20 million, which would
make it the largest concentration of population in the
world. Cities bordering on the United States -- such
as Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez -- and cities in the
interior -- such as Guadalajara, Monterrey, and Puebla --
have undergone sharp rises in population.
Average annual growth 1991-97
Population (%) ....... 1.8
Labor force (%) .......3.1
mexico's Education system
The educational system of Mexico can be divided into
four levels:
I. Preschool (preescolar): ages 3 – 6
II. Primary education (educación primaria): grades 1 - 6
III. Secondary education (educación média): grades 7-11,12,13
IV. Higher education (educación superior)
Compulsory Education Extended from Sixth Grade to
Ninth Grade
In 1992, the Secretariat of Public Education
officially increased compulsory education from completion of
primary school (grade six) to completion of lower
secondary school (grade nine).
Preschool Education (Preescolar)
The General Law of Education states that preschool
education is a part of basic education, and therefore it
is provided free of charge. In December 2001, the
Mexican Congress voted to make one year of pre-school
education mandatory, a provision that went into effect in
2004. Educational authorities deemed this measure
crucial to creating a smoother transition for students
from preschool to schooling at the primary level.
Primary Education
Primary school consists of grades one through six and
has been compulsory since the constitution of 1917.
Secondary Education
The secondary level consists of two cycles:
I. Lower-secondary education (educación média
básica): grades 7 - 9
II. Upper-secondary education (educación média
superior): grades 10 - 11, 12, or 13, depending on the
program.
I. Lower-secondary education may be divided into two
types:
Academic lower-secondary education (educación
secundaria)
Technical lower-secondary education (educación
secundaria técnica)
Lower-Secondary Education
General admission requirements to lower-secondary
school include completion of primary education and
entrance examinations. Lower-secondary schools are
increasingly linked to primary education, while the
upper-secondary schools are primarily under the auspices of
tertiary-level institutions. It should be noted that the
term “secundaria” always refers to lower-secondary study
and never higher-secondary study. The lower-secondary
cycle includes both an academic program designed to
lead to further education (escuela secundaria), as well
as vocational programs (escuela secundaria técnica).
Upon completion of the three-year escuela secundaria,
students receive a comprehensive transcript that allows
them to apply to a higher-secondary school.
Upper-Secondary Education
Admission to upper-secondary school depends on
institutional policies. Standardized examinations have been
developed by CENEVAL/Centro Nacional de Evaluación
(National Center for Evaluation) for lower secondary
school leavers and are used as an admissions criterion for
upper-secondary school.
Higher-secondary students are enrolled in
SEP-controlled institutions, state-controlled institutions, in
private schools, and in preparatory schools affiliated
with, and under the auspices of, public autonomous
universities.
Higher-secondary studies are classified by curriculum,
occupational pursuits and further education options as
follows:
I. Academic University-Preparatory (bachillerato
propedéutico)
II. Professional Technical Education (educación
profesional técnica) leads to the vocational title título de
técnico profesional (title of professional
technician). This sector of upper-secondary study was formerly
classified as terminal vocational study, but in 1997 the
SEP designated it as “preparatory.” Holders of the
título de técnico profesional are now officially eligible
for admission to licenciado degree programs.
III. Mixed — university-preparatory and technical
training — leading to a vocational title and the
bachillerato--bachillerato tecnológico bivalente (technological
bachelor with dual validity)
Vocational Programs
Upon completion of a vocational program, the graduate
receives a vocational title such as the Título de
Enfermera or the Título de Técnico Profesional (Title of
Nurse, Title of Professional Technician), and may have
the title registered with the Secretariat of Public
Education to receive a cédula (license). As such, the
graduate has a federally recognized occupational
license.
Academic University-Preparatory and Preparatory
Programs with Occupational Training
Academic university-preparatory programs are offered
at escuelas preparatorias (preparatory schools) or
colegios (high schools), and technical university
preparatory programs at various types of technical schools and
institutes.
The upper-secondary sector, which developed to a large
extent independently of the national ministry of
education (SEP), is extremely diverse in terms of the
number of academic programs and the structure of the
programs offered. Traditionally, higher-secondary programs
were offered under the auspices of local universities.
In recent years, however, the SEP and the individual
state ministries of education have fostered the
development of freestanding colegios, and the number of
private independent preparatory schools has steadily
increased. Higher secondary university preparatory programs
traditionally have prepared students by discipline —
streaming in such areas as pre-engineering,
pre-medicine, or the humanities among others. The recent trend,
however, is for programs to offer a more general
academic curriculum. Graduates (bachilleres) from upper
secondary programs attached to universities and other
higher education institutions have traditionally been
granted automatic admission (pase automático) to their
institution’s programs, whereas students applying from
elsewhere must sit admissions examinations.
Upon completion of academic university-preparatory
programs, the graduate receives a transcript certificate
attesting to completion of the program. The transcript
is issued by, or endorsed by, the higher education
institution with which the higher secondary school is
affiliated or the supervising governmental agency. In
general, after completion of academic
university-preparatory programs as well as technical programs
incorporating university preparatory studies, the transcript will
somewhere state that the student has finished the
study of the "bachillerato" or the “preparatoria”
(university-preparatory studies). Graduates do not always
receive a diploma or degree certificate indicating
conferral of the title of bachiller (bachelor), as is usually
the case in other Latin American countries.
Higher Education
The system of higher education has expanded
tremendously in the past quarter century. In the period 1971 to
2000, total enrollment increased more than six-fold
from 290,000 to 1,962,000, while in the last decade of
the twentieth century alone there was a 50 percent
increase in tertiary enrollments. The "opening" of the
system came in response to social demand for access to
tertiary studies as the size of the middle class
increased with rapid economic development.
Admission to Higher Education
Completion of an academic or technical upper-secondary
program (preparatoria or bachillerato) is ordinarily
required for admission to tertiary level institutions.
Certain university departments require that incoming
students complete higher-secondary programs in a track
relevant to their prospective major field of study.
For instance, students wishing to study medicine are
generally required to have completed a bachillerato
program in a biology or pre-medicine track. For this
reason, graduates from liberal arts programs wishing to
enroll in a technical/scientific program may be required
to complete a second bachillerato program in a
scientific/technical stream in order to make up for
deficiencies. Normally, however, the student is exempted from
the general courses offered in every bachillerato
program, having to take only the specialized-track courses.
Selection processes at institutions of higher
education differ greatly, reflecting the demand for admission
to their programs. Institutional entrance examinations
and bachillerato grade point averages are mechanisms
which institutions have traditionally made use of in
selecting incoming students. Some institutions grant
graduates of affiliated bachillerato programs automatic
admission (pase automático), while requiring
bachillerato graduates from other institutions to undergo an
entrance examination and to meet stiffer academic
requirements.
Mexico, until recently, had no national standardized
examination to indicate the academic performance of
upper secondary graduates. Since 1994, higher secondary
exit examinations designed by CENEVAL have been used
increasingly for the admissions process to higher
education. Some universities use a Spanish version of
secondary school examinations designed by the College Board
in the United States as an admissions examination.
Cities of mexico
Tijuana
Ensenada
La Paz
Ciudad Juarez
Guaymas
Chihuahua
Topolobampo
Durango
Mazatlan
Puerto Vallarta
Manzanillo
Lazaro Cardenas
Nuevo Laredo
Monterrey
Leon
Guadalajara
Mexico
Acapulco
Matamoros
Tampico
Tuxpan
Veracruz
Coatzacoalcos
Oaxaca
Salina Cruz
Progreso
Merida
MAJOR EVENTS OF MEXICO
Independence Day, September 16 (1810)
Day of the Dead, November 2
Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe - December 12
|
