Gregorio Torres Quintero: biography of this Mexican educator and politician

Gregorio Torres Quintero has been one of the greatest figures in Mexican pedagogy. His work in educational matters, especially with his innovative onomatopoeic method, earned him the recognition of all Mexican society at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th.

In addition to being a teacher, he was a politician, poet, orator, historian and a prolific writer of works, both on pedagogy and on history, which have served to not only better teach the history of their country, but also improve the way in which students learn students.

Next we will delve into the life of this educator, thinker and politician through a biography of Gregorio Torres Quintero, "Master Goyito" for his students, who made the Mexico of his time a very up-to-date country in matters of education and culture.

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Brief biography of Gregorio Torres Quintero

Gregorio Torres Quintero, affectionately called by his students as "Master Goyito", he is a very important figure in the history of Mexico, so much so that he is in the Rotunda of Illustrious Men of that country

. He was a teacher, educator, politician, historian and writer and his desire to know how it was taught abroad made him It will become one of the main motivators of various educational reforms, bringing innovation to the Latin American country.

He was a firm defender that books were not a substitute for the figure of the teacher. The teacher, through his work, helps students learn the content, which must be adapted according to his age since, According to Torres Quintero, one of the teaching errors of his time was to think that boys and girls learn like Adults. In addition, he was of the opinion that if what they were taught was limited to memorizing data, dates and battles, the students were going to learn little.

early years

Gregorio Torres Quintero He was born in Las Palmas, in the Mexican state of Colima on May 25, 1866.. He was the son of a humble shoemaker named Ramón Torres who is said to have arrived in Colima fleeing from a priest whom he had wounded after impregnating his sisters. Gregorio's father had to flee Los Reyes, Michoacán, going aimlessly throughout Mexico until he reached Colima and had his son there.

The young Gregorio studied at the Liceo de Varones de Colina and qualified as a preceptor in 1883, beginning the profession of teacher at just 17 years of age. After teaching in the schools of his native state for four years, in 1888 he received a scholarship to study at the National School of Teachers from which he would graduate in 1891. At this time he would meet Enrique C. Rébsamen, a Mexican educator of whom he would be a disciple.

Return to Colima

In 1892 he returned to Colima and founded the Escuela Modelo for primary, normal, and earning education. With the passage of time he would become the director of the Porfirio Díaz School and, later, he would manage to be head of the Education and Charity Section of the Government Secretariat, and inspector of educational establishments throughout the state of Colima. Exercising this position, he applied a series of educational measures, the Colima School Reform, which made him well known in his country.

The 19th century had been a stage of profound and great educational transformations in the state of Colima, introducing changes in the teaching perspective. The traditional Lancasterian doctrines went from a school reform where the teacher was considered a key figure in learning. Torres Quintero's reform was motivated by the need to improve the educational landscape of the region.

On May 7, 1894, Gregorio Torres Quintero managed to get the executive power to promulgate a law elaborated by himself in which it was determined that public instruction from that moment on was secular, free and compulsory. In addition to making school education an obligation, the law addressed different issues such as teaching programs, the types of exams, vacations, rewards and punishments and, in short, how the courses and the schools.

After Rebsamen's death

During the period from 1898 to 1904 Gregorio Torres Quintero worked in the Directorate of Primary Education of the Federal District and Territories. He changed his position when Enrique Rébsamen died in 1904, becoming Head of the Primary and Normal Instruction Section of the Public Instruction and Fine Arts Section. Torres Quintero and Rébsamen did not differ in terms of educational creed, however, Gregorio was he is more in favor of objective or intuitive teaching to make it more enjoyable and attractive to students.

He would also be Professor of the Preparatory and Normal Schools for Teachers and Counselor of the Ministry of Education during this time. from 1910 he managed to serve as Vice President of the National Commission for Public Education and, a year later, would become its president. In August 1913 he returned to teaching, this time working at the National Preparatory School and also at the National School of Teachers.

In 1916 he was sent by the constitutional government to the state of Yucatán with Governor Salvador Alvarado to be in charge of the Headquarters of the Department of Public Education in the region. A little later he would take the opportunity to visit the United States and study everything related to the school organization and modern pedagogical methods that were the latest trend north of the border. In 1918 he returned to Mexico City, once again dedicating himself to the writing of school texts.

Last years and death

His trip to the United States would not be the only one he would make throughout his life. Motivated by knowing first-hand what the latest trends in education around the world were like, he decided travel to Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa during the period of 1926 and 1928, already a little in years.

Barely six years after his last trip out of Mexico, Gregorio Torres Quintero he died in Mexico City on January 28, 1934, at the age of 70. Two years later, on May 15, 1936, he was declared Benemérito of the State of Colima and, almost 50 years later, in 1981, his remains were transferred to the Rotunda of Illustrious Men by decree of President José López Portillo y Pacheco, a sanctuary where the most important figures in the history of Mexico.

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Contributions to Mexican education

Among the merits of Gregorio Torres Quintero are being the creator of the Public Instruction law of his country. He was a tireless critic of the textbooks of the time and the use that was being made of them, since many were the ones who saw them as the perfect substitute for the figure of the teacher; however, Torres Quintero considered that the image of the teacher was essential to be able to ensure that the students acquired the knowledge.

He was against teaching a philosophical history in primary school and reducing teaching in trying to make students memorize facts, dates and battles without understanding nothing. To combat this, Torres Quintero proposed a story in the form of a story in which the way of telling it greatly stimulated the interest of the boys and girls, who cannot be considered as adults or expect them to learn how the older ones do. The information that is taught to them must be adapted. One of his best-known maxims on this issue is:

• "Each age has its characteristic features and it is essential to know and respect them, just as in biology the caterpillar, the cocoon and the butterfly are respected."

Another of his contributions, very famous in fact in his native country, is having created an onomatopoeic method for teaching reading and writing., which is still in force today in Mexico. This is based on natural sounds to be able to know the letters, syllables and words, in addition to promoting phonemic awareness. This method, which drew much inspiration from Rébsamen's ideas, played a very important role in the literacy of Mexicans at the beginning of the 20th century.

His new conceptions of education led to a true golden age for education in Mexico, since he renewed the pedagogy of his native country by bringing in novel foreign ideas. He collaborated with Justo Sierra and José Vasconcelos, and drew much inspiration from the pedagogical method of Maria Montessori. He made Mexico acquire the most modern methods of the moment, current pedagogical issues were addressed and an attempt was made to make the most of the available technology in education.

Gregorio Torres Quintero: prolific writer

During his lifetime, Gregorio Torres Quintero wrote more than 30 books and articles on pedagogical, historical, costumbrist, and short stories, since in addition to being a politician and educator, He was also a historian, poet and orator. In addition, he collaborated with several specialized magazines in the field of education, among them “La Modern Education”, “Contemporary Education”, “School Yucatán” and “Primary Education and Education".

Among his texts and stories we have:

• The Mexican Homeland
• Elements of National History
• Onomatopoeic method of grammar and reading
• The Mexican children's reader
• The Mexican encyclopedic reader
• a family of heroes
• Colimotes stories: descriptions, stories and events
• aztec legends
• Aztec festivals and customs

About the language of Mexico

One aspect of Gregorio Torres Quintero that we could consider controversial has to do with his Instruction Law Rudimentary, commissioned by order of the last secretary of public instruction of the government of Porfirio Díaz, Jorge Vera tin. This law prioritized the literacy and Castilianization of all Mexicans to make the Spanish language the national language of Mexico.

Gregorio Torres Quintero was aware of the country's linguistic diversity, the United States being Mexicans a land full of indigenous languages ​​that were still spoken at the beginning of the century XIX. He considered that they were an obstacle to the formation of the national soul, and he also thought that preserving them would imply economic difficulties, it would be more worthwhile in his opinion to make all Mexicans speak the Spanish. He was of the opinion that indigenous languages ​​would only be relevant to antiquarians and linguists.

This opinion in which he is in favor of the linguistic homogenization of Mexico led him to create a rivalry with the Oaxacan professor Abraham Castellanos, a defender of Mexican multilingualism and its characteristic cultural heterogeneity. Castellanos considered that public schools should be provided with their own tools to learn agricultural work and other crafts, since it would be the best way to prepare students for adult life since the Mexican economy was highly dependent on the land at that time. so.

Bibliographic references

• Torres Quintero, Gregorio (1917). A family of heroes. Mexico, CDMX. Author edition.
• Munoz, Ruben Arturo (1977). Encyclopedia of Mexico. I take 12. Mexico, CDMX., p. 195-196.
• Hernandez Corona, G. (2004). Gregorio Torres Quintero: His life and his work (1866-1934), University of Colima (2004). ISBN 970-692-153-2.