In a previous papers on the corrido I have considered the corrido as a device for cultural transmutation and have analyzed several corridos by focusing on intertextual clements. My attempt in this paper was to reflect on the connection of the lives of the Mexican immigrants living in the United States with the history of the rural schools in Mexico through clements chronicled in corridos and modes of popular culture. With this in mind, the initial focus of my effort was directed at examining the role of the rural school teacher in connection with the community. I found however, from the corridos I selected to examine, that what had persisted was not the rural teacher as an icon but the rural school ideology and praxis of schooling. In this paper I illustrate how this ideology has been transmitted to the Mexican people, especially the thousands of people that had immigrated north.
Helga Stein
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