ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author examines the amgibuities of Mexican life as they affect the relationship between education and national consciousness. In particular, he considers how the effort to build a collective sense of nationality is affected by a structure of inequality, the identity of elites, and the difficulties of identifying cultural uniqueness. The author discusses more specifically how these tendencies have come to influence the school's role in shaping Mexico's national identity. The school may indeed play a critical role in shaping national consciousness and promoting high aspirations, with the effects on each interacting with and compounding the effect on the other, in countries like Mexico. Hence, the author considers the identity of Mexico's most economically disadvantaged population, the Indians.
