tagged w/ Aztecs
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An unearthed school shows that universal education got an early start in Mexico. Today, the system lags with the indigenous receiving less schooling than the rest of the population.
Mexico City
When the Spanish cultural center in downtown Mexico City wanted to expand, excavations uncovered a Smith & Wesson revolver, a partial figurine of Jesus – and the ruins of an ancient Aztec school.
The school, called the Calmecac or "house of the lineage" in the Aztec language of Nahuatl, was unearthed in what was once the heart of the Aztec empire, Tenochtitlan, now a dizzying slice of the megalopolis of Mexico's capital. The ruins went on display for the first time in a recently opened exhibit in the cultural center's new wing.
The school, built between 1486 and 1502, was a sacred place of study for the children of Aztec nobility.
And though commoners inside the school walls would have been few and far between, the Aztecs of central Mexico played an important role in the world of education.
They are believed to be among the first to offer universal education at a time when other societies reserved study only for the privileged.
"All Aztec children went to school," says Harry Patrinos, the lead education economist at the World Bank. "It all disappeared after the [Spanish] conquest, and it took a long time before the colonies had any education system."
How the ancient Aztecs might shudder, then, to look at Mexico's contemporary education statistics. Today, Mexico's indigenous make up about 10 percent of the population, and while their access to education has increased in recent years, they remain far behind the rest of the Mexican population. In 2000, Mr. Patrinos's research shows 73 percent of indigenous women and 68.4 percent of indigenous men age 15 and older had less than primary schooling.
"Indigenous schools," part of Mexico's public school system but earmarked for bilingual education services, have helped to improve access but don't have the resources to fully bridge the divides. "The indigenous schools score among the lowest," says Patrinos.
Many indigenous communities are still rural and those children might only have a chance at secondary school through distance learning, which also sets them back, he says.
Among the excavated volcanic rock platforms in the Calmecac school, Aztec students were once trained to become governors, elite warriors, or religious figures.
"From historical records, we know that the children of the nobility were brought here to undertake rigorous study.... They learned moral values and customs to become the future leaders," says Raul Barrera, who directs the urban archaeology program for the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), the body which must approve renovations or new buildings in Mexico's downtown.
"This is one of the most important finds in terms of understanding life in the sacred grounds [of Tenochtitlan]," Mr. Barrera says.
Excavation by INAH took two years, and archaeologists dug, with pick and shovel, nearly 40 feet underground. They found fragments of the school's floor, staircase, and seven decorative clay pieces, nearly eight feet in height, in the shape of snail shells, which are believed to have adorned the school's roof.
But the work itself, carried out as a joint effort between Spain and Mexico, is also a symbol of a more harmonious, modern Mexico. The project also features relics from three historical periods, including a stone representation of Ehécatl, the ancient god of wind; candlesticks from the colonial period; and even a glass bottle of imported shoe polish, not to mention a few Coca-Cola bottles.
"The whole history of Mexico can be seen in one city block," says German Rostan, project coordinator for the Cultural Center of Spain.
By Sara Miller Llana, Staff writer / February 10, 2012An unearthed school shows that universal education got an early start in Mexico.... more
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In reaction to the 2008 acquittal of three police officers in the killing of Sean Bell in 2006, a group of New York City community artists, poets and activists organized an event called "50 Artists, 50 Shots: We Are All Sean Bell." The event featured poets, spoken word performers, musicians, painters, dancers, photographers etc., who each agreed to take one bullet for the 50 that were fired at Sean Bell and his friends, and transform each bullet into their art in order to honor his memory, and to express rage and grief for the decision to let the officers free.
The intention of this event was to have an open and safe space for New Yorkers to fully express themselves about the outcome of the Sean Bell case- to educate, to learn, to mourn, to grow, and to have honest dialogues. But most of all, to give inspiration for everyone to take action that would result in a real change in how police officers are trained, so that they can learn to respond to certain situations in a less aggressive and careless manner.
This video has been uploaded three weeks after Oscar Grant was unjustly killed in Oakland by a police officer who shot him at point blank range early on New Year's Day, 2009. Police brutality continues to plague our communities. How can we, as civilians, organize to help make fundamental, systematic changes to stop these tragedies from happening?In reaction to the 2008 acquittal of three police officers in the killing of Sean Bell... more
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The vast empires of the Incas and Aztecs were highly advanced. They kept detailed tax records, built elaborate temples, and at their height, Central and South America boasted a thriving population of as many as 60 million souls.
But their grand civilizations bore another trapping of modernity, scientists have found, one that until recently was thought unique to our industrialized world: human-induced climate change.
In the 16th century, the diseases Europeans brought to the New World decimated native peoples. With no natural defense against smallpox, yellow fever, and a host of exotic new pathogens, 90 percent of the population was dead by 1600.
We're talking about wiping out about 9 percent of the world's population at one time.
The killing left a lasting impact on the global climate. Suddenly as much as 500,000 square kilometers (193,051 square miles) of cleared farmland was no longer being tended, an area slightly larger than California. And as the rainforest crept back in, it vacuumed carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere in the process.
In all, the authors estimate that reforestation of South and Central America could have removed up to 10 billion tons of carbon from the atmosphere.
Around the same time, climate records show from that global temperatures cooled about 0.1 degrees centigrade (about 0.2 degrees Fahrenheit) from 1500 until 1750. But in northern Europe the dip was far more dramatic, and came to be known as the Little Ice Age.The vast empires of the Incas and Aztecs were highly advanced. They kept detailed tax... more
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….Forecast A Sarah Palin Victory In 2012 For President!!!
Seen recently while on Mexico… Unaltered photo from Mayan Ruins!!!….Forecast A Sarah Palin Victory In 2012 For President!!!
Seen recently... more
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Archaeologists are opening a cave sealed for more than 30 years deep beneath a Mexican pyramid to look for clues about the mysterious collapse of one of ancient civilization's largest cities.
The soaring Teotihuacan stone pyramids, now a major tourist site about an hour outside Mexico City, were discovered by the ancient Aztecs around 1500, not long before the arrival of Spanish explorers to Mexico.
But little is known about the civilization that built the immense city, with its ceremonial architecture and geometric temples, and then torched and abandoned it around the year 700.
Archaeologists are now revisiting a cave system that is buried 20 feet (6 meters) beneath the towering Pyramid of the Sun and extends into a tunnel stretching for 295 feet (90 meters) with a height of 8 feet (2.4 meters).
They say new excavations begun this month could be the key to unlocking information about the sacred rituals of the people who inhabited the city, later dubbed "The Place Where Men Become Gods" by the Aztecs, who believed it was a divine site.Archaeologists are opening a cave sealed for more than 30 years deep beneath a Mexican... more
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Archeologists are opening a cave sealed for more than 30 years deep beneath a Mexican pyramid to look for clues about the mysterious collapse of one of ancient civilization's largest cities.
The soaring Teotihuacan stone pyramids, now a major tourist site about an hour outside Mexico City, were discovered by the ancient Aztecs around 1500 AD, not long before the arrival of Spanish explorers to Mexico.
But little is known about the civilization that built the immense city, with its ceremonial architecture and geometric temples, and then torched and abandoned it around 700 AD.
Archeologists are now revisiting a cave system that is buried 20 feet beneath the towering Pyramid of the Sun and extends into a tunnel stretching for some 295 feet (90 meters) with a height of 8 feet.
Archeologists are opening a cave sealed for more than 30 years deep beneath a Mexican... more
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Scientists were fascinated by the ghostly find: a human skeleton buried in an Aztec temple with a clay, skull-shaped whistle in each bony hand.
But no one blew into the noisemakers for nearly 15 years. When someone finally did, the shrill, windy screech made the spine tingle.
If death had a sound, this was it.
Scientists were fascinated by the ghostly find: a human skeleton buried in an Aztec... more
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