THE POLITICAL EDUCATION OF CHILDREN IN THE CONTEXT OF THE OIL EXPROPRIATION IN MEXICO (1938-1940)

Abstract In this article I analyze the political education that Cardenist state promoted among school children around the oil expropriation that took place in 1938 in Mexico. The Cardenist government, through school programs configured around the oil expropriation, not only brought political events to the classroom based on the assumption that children had all the ability to understand the oil conflict and that it was their obligation to be aware of what it implied, but also invited children to take a leading and active role in national political discussions, encouraging them to express their opinions and become political activists. This shows that child participation, far from being an inherent characteristic of childhood, is an ideological, historical, and culturally situated action.