Abstract

This chapter describes and analyzes some of the main educational policies carried out in Mexico during the past thirty years. It is necessary to emphasize that the context in which these policies have been implemented was principally characterized by adherence to the neoliberal economic policies in the country, which started at the beginning of the 1980s with a so-called structural adjustment plan. Neoliberal policies continued throughout the final years of that decade under the denomination of “politicas modernizadoras” (modernizing policies) and, with some variants, were maintained in the subsequent governments and continued being applied up to the present day. It is remarkable that those policies have followed essentially the same direction despite the fact that, since 2000, two administrations of different political parties have handled the political power in Mexico. We explore this within the context of the acceleration of the process of globalization.