Mexico, Feedback, Guidance - understand-culture

The Words of the Elders

The huehuetlahtolli, “the old words,” are Nahua exhortations in which parents and elders counsel the young. A study published by the Institute of Historical Research of UNAM credits the work of collecting them to the Franciscan friar Andrés de Olmos: “la labor de indagar sobre ellas y hacerlas copiar fue, sin duda, de fray Andrés de Olmos” (the work of seeking them out and having them copied was, without doubt, that of Friar Andrés de Olmos).

In an old Spanish rendering, one father’s exhortation begins: “Hijo mio… has salido á luz del vientre de tu madre como el pollo del huevo” (My son, you have come into the light from your mother’s womb like the chick from the egg).

The Tutor

Jóvenes Construyendo el Futuro is a federal program that places young people in workplaces for training. Its rules, published in the Diario Oficial on October 1, 2019, set the training at up to twelve months. Each trainee has a tutor, “la persona designada por el Centro de Trabajo para instruir, orientar, dar seguimiento y evaluar” (the person designated by the workplace to instruct, guide, follow up and evaluate). One tutor may have at most 25 trainees.

Tutoring Hour

With the reform of secondary education of 2006, Mexican secondary schools introduced Tutoría, in which one teacher accompanies one class. A paper presented to COMIE, the Mexican council for educational research, describes it as an “espacio de acompañamiento, gestión y orientación grupal” (a space of accompaniment, management and group guidance). Each group has one tutor, who must be one of its subject teachers.

The Moral Primer

In 1944, the writer Alfonso Reyes wrote the Cartilla moral, a primer of moral guidance. Its text states: “La moral nos obliga a una serie de respetos” (Morality obliges us to a series of respects).

In January 2019, the government of President López Obrador began distributing a new edition of 10,000 copies. Expansión reported that the reissue had stirred controversy.

Almost Like a Family

In 1918, the Cervecería Cuauhtémoc of Monterrey founded a cooperative for its workers. In 2011, Expansión described it: the company “creó una sociedad cooperativa, que se encargaría de manejar los servicios para los empleados y sus parientes, casi como si se tratara de los miembros de una familia” (created a cooperative that would manage services for the employees and their relatives, almost as if they were members of a family).

Unasked Advice

In October 2023, the columnist Mauricio Candiani wrote in El Financiero about giving advice. He ended with a saying of his grandmother: “un consejo no pedido, jóvenes, es una agresión manifiesta” (unasked advice, young people, is an open aggression).

His point was that advice works when it is asked for, or offered with permission, and at the right time.

Listen to Advice

El que no oye consejo no llega a viejo. “Whoever does not listen to advice does not reach old age.” In Decires, a journal of UNAM, José Carlos Escobar Hernández lists it among the sayings that propose rules of life: “Es aconsejable escuchar los consejos de quienes tienen la experiencia” (It is advisable to listen to the advice of those who have experience).

Benevolence and Control

In 2003, P. G. Martínez published “Paternalism as a positive form of leader-subordinate exchange: Evidence from México” in the journal Management Research. The study draws on field data from organizations in Mexico and from U.S. organizations owned by Mexican immigrants. The leaders it describes look after their employees’ welfare at work and in their personal lives.

Martínez concludes that “paternalism combines paternalists’ benevolent acts with their subtle control over subordinates’ flexibility.”