The Pedagogy of the Burro

Abstract

I’m walking down the hallway and take notice of the hundreds of books stacked on the large rectangular tables at the front entrance. It does not surprise me to see Jimenez and las madres standing informally around the tables and working in what appeared to be a highly organized assembly line. I had grown accustomed to seeing las madres every morning, seated at the school entrance and oftentimes completing a task, or a so-called favor, for the school administration or teachers. “Señoras, ¿tienen tiempo para hacerme un favor?/Ladies, do you have time to do us a favor?,” is how las madres were officially approached. Some of the mothers were paid staff and others were registered on the official school docket as volunteers. Some others were just passing by to break from the monotony of house duties, or to share a passing word or gossip with their comadres.

“Friend Big-ears, what do you carry on your back?”

“I carry many cheeses for my master, friend Too-whay-deh,” answered

the Burro.

“Then give me one, friend, for I am hunger-dying.”

No, said the Burro, I cannot give you one, for my master would blame me—since they are not mine but his, and a man of the pueblo waits for them.

Pueblo Indian folktale

Un burro usted lo carga donde usted lo jala/A donkey you carry wherever you pull it.

Maria Jimenez