Lay Education in Mexico

Definition

Laicity is a recent term practically unknown in the English language and commonly used in Latin American countries with a specific history in every State. This concept mainly refers to the dominance of the State over religious institutions. The use of the word laicity and its derived words (lay as adjective, laicization as process), in the sense of secularization of political institutions, took place in the context of the Latin continental European countries and other latitudes such as Canada, Latin America, and the Caribbean (Blancarte 2012). This concept takes special relevance with the formation of public institutions and in specific areas like education. In the case of México during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the Mexican education system was characterized by transformations and changes in its organization, structure, philosophy, and ideals. Lay education in Mexico was the result of a long and complex process that developed through military struggles and...