MOISÉS SÁENZ GARZA: BIOGRAPHY - HISTORY - 2026

Moisés Sáenz Garza (1888, Nuevo León - 1941, Lima) was a Mexican pedagogue, politician and diplomat, considered the person who founded the Second School System in Mexico (today Secondary Education). He was one of the greatest promoters of indigenous education and the founder of the Rural Indigenous School.

He was director of education at the National Preparatory School of Guanajuato and at the Summer School of the National University of Mexico. He founded the modality of Secondary School, which was later created throughout Mexico. He also gave courses at the Normal School and the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters of the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

He held the position of mayor and undersecretary of Public Education. He directed the Public Charity and chaired the Indigenous Investigations Committee. He organized the First Inter-American Indian Congress and was the director of the Inter-American Indian Institute. He was ambassador to the city of Lima, Peru, and died in that city in 1941.

Biography

Childhood

Moisés Sáenz Garza was born on February 16, 1888 in El Mezquital, in the municipality of San Francisco de Apodaca, Nuevo León state. El Mezquital was at that time a small town that had a small number of houses. Sáenz was the fifth child of Don Juan Sáenz Garza and Doña Concepción Garza de Sáenz.

Studies

Despite being born into a family with few economic resources, her parents manage to provide her with a great education. He received a scholarship at the Laurens de Monterrey Institute, at the Civil College, to carry out his primary studies.

The whole family of Moisés must move to the city of Monterrey so that the boy can carry out his studies. Access to education at that time was somewhat restricted. In 1910, 110 university degrees and 188 military degrees were awarded.

Moisés Sáenz Garza also finished his secondary studies at the Civil College. He then went to high school at the Presbyterian School of Coyoacán in Mexico City, where he graduated with five seminarians.

There he begins to demonstrate a passion for the education of adolescents, forged through the experience of being an internal student from the interior of the country.

Graduation

At the age of 21 he graduated as a teacher at the Escuela Normal de Jalapa, Veracruz. This was considered one of the most prestigious educational centers in the country. This is how he begins to demonstrate his great spirit as an educator and his pedagogical trend.

Training in the United States

Moisés Sáenz Garza moved to the United States to do a specialization in Chemical and Natural Sciences from the University of Jefferson and Washington. He also obtained a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Columbia University.

There he made his thesis Comparative education. In this thesis he included an adaptation project for secondary schools in Mexico (secondary education).

Contact with John Dewey

At Columbia University he meets John Dewey, an American philosopher and academic. Dewey is recognized for having created the concept of Active School, postulating the unity between theory and practice.

Dewey sought to obtain a pragmatic education that would have direct effects on the community. He is considered one of the most important educational philosophers of the early 20th century.

This influence leads Moisés Sáenz Garza to direct his pedagogical ideas to the educational development of the communities with the most needs. It is especially dedicated to indigenous communities.

I return to Mexico

Moisés Sáenz Garza returned to Mexico in 1915 during the Mexican Revolution. With 27 years and an excellent academic training, he holds the position of General Director of Education in the state of Guanajuato.

In 1917 he moved to the Federal District to serve as director of the National Preparatory School until 1920.

There he reaches the position of senior officer and undersecretary of Public Education. From this position, he promotes the cultural missions that will affect the entire country.

Secondary schools

Moisés Sáenz Garza established secondary schools in Mexico. He converted the pre-vocational education of the high schools into the high school.

In this way, it was possible to facilitate the transition of adolescents from primary schools. In addition, the educational quality of students who aspired to professionals rises.

This generated interest in the international educational community. During this stage, prestigious thinkers and educators from around the world visited, such as John Dewey himself from the United States.

Important figures from the area from countries such as Chile, Peru, Bolivia and Guatemala also attended. In some of these countries, educational inclusion actions similar to those developed by Sáenz were carried out.

After this role as a public education official, Moisés Sáenz Garza holds the position of Minister of Mexico in Denmark and Ecuador. Finally he moved to Lima as an ambassador.

Sickness and death

After a serious pneumonia, Sáenz died on October 24, 1941 at the age of 53 in the city of Lima, Peru.

In 1981 the President of the Republic, José López Portillo y Pacheco, decreed that the remains of Professor Moisés Sáenz Garza be transferred to the Rotunda of Illustrious Persons in the Civil Pantheon of Dolores in Mexico City.

Literary work

Among its main productions are the following:

- The Ecuadorian Indian.

- Carapan: sketch of an experience.

- The Peruvian Indian.

- A day of the dead in Janitzio.

- Complete Mexico.

Contributions to education

The main contribution of Moisés Sáenz Garza to Mexican education is the creation of secondary education as a complement to the rest of the educational process.

It emphasized the organization and systematization of education in a scientific way, as a set of systematized knowledge.

He managed to promote secondary education as a possibility of development for students with a tendency towards scientific and professional preparation.

Furthermore, he was striving for a long-term, scientific and democratic pedagogy. He was fighting for the separation of educational institutions from Catholic ones.

In his lectures, he attributes the failure of Mexican education to the lack of scientific and pragmatic education. As a consequence, he attributes the tendency to lyricism, vagueness, theorization and the lack of solidity in idiosyncratic Mexican thought.

References

1. Guerrero, FJ (1975). Moisés Sáenz, the forgotten precursor. UNAM.
2. Mejía Zúñiga, R. (1962). Moisés Sáenz Garza Educator of Mexico (Life, his Work and his Time). Monterrey Nuevo León Mexico: Department of Press and Publicity of the State Government.
3. Murillo Garza, AM (2013). Moisés Sáenz Garza, Benemérito de la Educación en Nuevo León. Nuevo Leon, Mexico.
4. Murillo Garza, AR (2012). Moisés Sáenz Garza and rural education. Monterrey.
5. Pedraza Salinas, J. and. (2001). Moisés Sáenz Current Educator. Mexico: 150 Years Making the Future Apodaca.