title: Conceptions of Educational Practices Among the Nahuas of Mexico: Past and Present.
abstract: Historical documents and recent fieldwork indicate that, since the sixteenth century, there is robust continuity in central beliefs about learning among Nahuatl families. Nahuatl documents from nearly five centuries ago and current Nahuatl adults consider guidance and teaching to be accompaniment of the learner, more than direct action, because nobody can enter the minds and personalities of others. Learning by observing and pitching in is valued: The adults can organize good conditions of apprenticeship, they can indicate the good direction and the goal, serve as examples, and protect the learner. Across centuries, Nahuatl educational practices consist of facilitating observation by copresence, early training for attentive engagement, hiding nothing, and not preventing children from trying, as well as persuading children to be responsible, to work, and to adopt a calm attitude for paying close attention.
authors.affiliation: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and CERMA-Mondes américains (UMR 8168), École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, 190 Avenue de France, 75013 Paris, France. Electronic address: chamoux@vjf.cnrs.fr.
authors.forename: Marie-Noëlle
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Chamoux
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001288:Attention; D002648:Child; D002668:Child Rearing; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D004493:Education / Q000266:history* / Q000639:trends*; D005260:Female; D049669:History, 16th Century; D049670:History, 17th Century; D049671:History, 18th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006801:Humans; D007198:Indians, North American / Q000193:education* / Q000266:history*; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008800:Mexico; D000067570:Social Learning; D012945:Social Values / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000266:history*; D012951:Socialization; D013663:Teaching / Q000266:history* / Q000639:trends*
keywords: Anthropology; Attention; Child development; Copresence; Education; Knowledge; LOPI; Learning; Mexico; Nahuatl; Responsibility