Book description
In the 1960s and 1970s, El Salvador's reigning military regime
instituted a series of reforms that sought to modernize the country
and undermine ideological radicalism, the most ambitious of which was
an education initiative. It was multifaceted, but its most
controversial component was the use of televisions in classrooms.
Launched in 1968 and lasting until the eve of civil war in the late
1970s, the reform resulted in students receiving instruction through
programs broadcast from the capital city of San Salvador. The
Salvadoran teachers' union opposed the content and the method of the
reform and launched two massive strikes. The military regime answered
with repressive violence, further alienating educators and pushing
many of them into guerrilla fronts.
In this thoughtful collaborative study, the authors examine the
processes by which education reform became entwined in debates over
theories of modernization and the politics of anticommunism. Further
analysis examines how the movement pushed the country into the type of
brutal infighting that was taking place throughout the third world as
the U. S. and U. S.S. R. struggled to impose their political
philosophies on developing countries.
Héctor Lindo-Fuentes is professor of history at
Fordham University.
Erik Ching is associate professor of history at
Furman University.
