REBELSGRAFFITI An inside view on graf f iti- .docx

REBELS
GRAFFITI
An inside view on graf f iti-
By Telia Humphrey
FEATURING:
CONTENTS
TABLE OF
* The History of graf f iti
* The af f ect of graf f iti in communities
* Graf f iti in today's society
* How graf f iti can be positive
* Is graf f iti really art or vandalism?
HOW
GRAFFITI
CAME INTO
EXISTENCE
3
So how exactly did graf f iti come into existence? Graf f iti has
actually been around

since the cave days. People used graf f iti as a way to mark
there territory f or ages.
Even though it isn't the traditional graf f iti that we think of
now days it was still a
f orm of graf f iti. Greeks and Romans even wrote poems on
walls to protest back in
the day. Funny how we still do the same thing to this day. Even
though graf f iti has
been around f or so long it really didn't begin to take of f until
the 1960's. When it
f irst started becoming popular it was in the f orm of name
tagging, basically when
you write your name or initials on something in public. It didn't
become popular
until it hit the streets of New York. It wasn't until af ter it
became popular in New
York in the 1970's that it f ormally received its name "graf f
iti". It only lasted ten
years bef ore it was considered illegal and government of f
icials tried to stop it.
Of f icials tried to stop it af ter it became popular in gangs.
Gangs of ten used graf f iti to
threaten other gangs or to mark a spot where one of there gang
members had died.
Gang graf f iti is easy to spot compared to regular graf f iti. In
gang graf f iti they use
code words to intimidate the other gangs, or numbers such as
187 which is a
Calif ornia code f or homicide and also a Calif ornia area code.
The gangs will of ten
write 187 over another gangs graf f iti as a threat to kill them.
ART SHOULD COMFORT
THE DISTURBED AND

DISTURB THE
COMFORTABLE- BANKSY
"
"
Although graf f iti can obviously be a negative thing I want to
inf orm how and why it
can be a positive thing in today's society. Graf f iti can have a
very positive af f ect in
troubled communities, especially those in rural countries. In a
couple of my
sources they spoke on personal work that they had done in
communities and how
it positively af f ected the people and the community as a
whole. El Seed is a graf f iti
artist that basically made up his own f orm of graf f iti that he
calls "calligraphy". He
has done graf f iti in many countries and actually gets paid to
do it. He is known f or
putting up positive messages in Arabic. He does this in order to
inspire people in
the communities. Haas & Hanh are also two popular graf f iti
artists known f or doing
graf f iti in slums in order to make the area more attractive, and
uplif t the people in
the area. These two men have painted slums all around the
world and actually
have even done so in some of our slums right here in America.
They told about
there experience in a Ted Talk and explained how much it
brought the people in
the community together. These people were eager to improve
their communities
and these two men had came at the right time. They all got to

know each other
through the use of cookouts and coming up with ideas f or what
exactly to paint. By
the time it was all done there was a noticeable dif f erence in
how the community
had became more united.
5
Another instance of graf f iti positively af f ecting communities
would be in Edi
Rama's Ted Talk. He was a local government of f icial who was
originally
interested in just changing the color of the gray buildings in his
community. It
didn't take long f or his project to get started or f or people to
realize how positive
it could truly be. By the time they f inished they realized that
people came out
more and stores would stay open longer, all because they said
the bright colors
on the buildings made it f eel so much brighter and saf er. Are
you still
questioning how graf f iti can be a positive thing? In the book
"Painting without
Permission" the author at f irst had believed graf f iti to be a
negative thing as
most of us would, but she later f ound out dif f erent af ter
talking with her
students and investigating some graf f iti on her own time. She
was a teacher in a
rough area, so automatically there was lots of graf f iti nearby.
She got a little
curious about it when she realized some of her own students

were involved in
doing graf f iti. So this is when she started her own
investigation. She would go to
old abandoned buildings and places with lots of graf f iti. She
soon realized that
most of this graf f iti was actually positive, this graf f iti was
anywhere f rom
positive quotes to just beautif ul pictures. She then noticed that
these students
that were doing graf f iti in her class were learning quicker, and
even had higher
test scores then some of the other students in her class.
"ART IS ANYTHING YOU
CAN GET AWAY
WITH."- ANDY WARHOL
"
6
We see that graf f iti can def initely be a positive thing, but
whether you see
it as art or vandalism is your personal perspective. In a two web
articles
they both had the same opinion that graf f iti can be art or
vandalism
depending on were it is at. They both had said that if graf f iti
isn't on private
property then it is obviously art or even if it is done at an art
show then it
can also be art. Graf f iti doesn't become vandalism until it is on
someone
else's property. I don't necessarily believe this because when it

is done on
public property it is still considered vandalism. In my opinion
graf f iti is
strictly art unless it is done on the side of someone's house
without
permission.
7
Graf f iti is mainly done on abandoned buildings and
subways so why is it illegal if it is done in places that
aren't even wanted to begin with. Simply because
of ten graf f iti is used to give someone's true opinion. In
other countries they use graf f iti to protest and it is no
dif f erent in America. Graf f iti artists of ten bring
subjects to light by depicting them through use of
graf f iti so that everyone can see them. The subjects
that are brought to light by graf f iti artists are the same
subjects that the government wants us to ignore.
People only consider graf f iti vandalism because the
government considers graf f iti illegal. If a f lower is
growing in between concrete is it still a f lower? The
obvious answer would be yes. So just because graf f iti
isn't in a museum is it still art?
Seed, el "Street Art with a Message of Hope and Peace" March
2015. Lecture. Ted.com. Ted
Conf erences, LLC Jan.31, 2015
Haas & Hahn "How Painting Can Transf orm Communities."
Nov.2014. Lecture. Ted.com. Ted
Conf erence, LLC, Feb.2,2015

Rama, Edi "Take Back Your City with Paint." Feb.2013.
Lecture. Ted.com. Ted Conf erence,
LLC, Feb.2, 2016
Rahn, J. (2002). Painting without permission: Hip-hop graf f iti
subculture. Westport, CT:
Bergin & Garvey. Print.
Felisbret, E. July 16, 2014. ??Legal Venues Celebrate Graf f iti
as an Art Form.?? Web. March
24, 2016
Beem, Edgar Allen. May 10, 2011. ??Graf f iti, Street Art or
Vandalism??? web. March23, 2016
sources
8
Running Head: Effective Education in South Korea and Saudi
Arabia 1
Effective Education in South Korea and Saudi Arabia 20
Effective Education in South Korea and Saudi Arabia
Name
Institution
Table of Contents
Abstract………………………………………………………………
…………
Introduction…………………………………………………………

………….4
History in South
Korea…………………………………………………………………
…..5
Education in the Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia………………………………………………………6
Thesis
statement………………………………………………………………
...7
Effective
Education……………………………………………………………7
Skilled Teachers in
S.K………………………………………………………7
Technology Usage in South
Korea…………………………………………..8
Classroom
management………………………………………………………9
Communicate…………………………………………………………
……...11
Skilled teacher
K.S…………………………………………………………12
Using Technology in the
Classroom……………………………………………………………
…........12
Classroom
Management.……………………………………………………….13
Communicate…………………………………………………………
……..14
Student perform
SK……………………………………………………………14
Grades
Scores………………………………………………………………...
14
Improvement…………………………………………………………
……........15
Student performance in

KSA……………………………………………………………….......
............16
Teaching methods – in
SK…………………………………………………….17
Using
Technology……………………………………………………………
…17
Collaborative
teaching………………………………………………………….19
Teaching methods-in
KSA……………………………………………………..22
Using
Technology……………………………………………………………
…22
Collaborative
teaching…………………………………………………………24
Conclusion……………………………………………………………
………..26
Summary………………………………………………………………
………27
Similar…………………………………………………………………
………..27
Difference……………………………………………………………
…………27
Limitation……………………………………………………………
…………28
References……………………………………………………………
…………29
Abstract
Effective education is considered to be vital for any society
regardless of the level of development of the society. In most
countries, governments set aside huge budgetary allocations
towards the improvement of education. South Korea and the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are some of the countries that have

take action to ensure that their educational institutions are
performing in the best manner possible. This is in the form of
budgetary allocation, legislations and reforms that are meant to
revolutionize the sector. However for education to be effective,
teachers and students have to take action. The teachers need to
have the necessary skills and use a variety of methods and
technologies to ensure diversity in teaching for the benefits of
the students. Students must also perform as a way to affirm the
success o these methods of teaching. A combination of these
factors proves the effectiveness of education.
Introduction
Education has always been considered to be one of the building
blocks of any society. This importance cannot be
overemphasized and almost all societies and indeed civilizations
have gone the extra mile to ensure that education is a priority
since this was synonymous to the advancement of the society.
Like the old adage goes, knowledge is power and this can be
proven by the amount of debt that parents, institutions and even
entire governments have gotten into ensure that people of all
ages get the necessary education (Gitsaki, 2011).
Most societies ensure that educational principles are instilled in
members of the society from a very young generation. In
modern times however, even people in more advanced stages are
going to get education. All this reinforces the need for having a
good education. The concept of education has come a long way
since it was established in its most rudimentary form.
Education or rather institutions were learning were began in the
earliest civilizations such as in ancient Greece and other ancient
civilizations of the Middle East.
These civilizations saw the need of education and reinforced
the need introducing children to the same. Suffice to say, the
boy child was more exposed to educational benefits compared to
the girl child. In such time educational lessons were limited to
broad topics such as philosophy, wood work, medicine, art,

masonry and even metal work. Over time and depending on
discovery, educational topics improved in complexity.Teaching
were not as technical as it is in today’s society.
During ancient times, education was on topics that could be
directly applied to real life situations. Nowadays education has
some advantages that make it all the more appealing. Education
has been known to build character, enhance time management
and progressing of society. Due to the importance of education
there are a lot of parties that are interested in the same and are
instrumental in making the same a success in different societies.
In any civilization, one common element is the teacher. The
teacher is the educator that facilitates education and is largely
responsible for those being educated grasping the necessary
knowledge. In order to do their work effectively, teachers have
come up with teaching methodologies to help them execute their
mandate even more effectively. In addition to this technology
has also factored in a lot when it comes to ensuring that
education is dispensed in the best way possible.
Like mentioned above, education is one of the main pillars of
any society. In today’s society countries spend billions while
parents collectively prioritize schooling and education high on
their budget priorities. Different countries have different
approaches to education. This can be in terms of budgetary
allocations for education, the schooling system format and even
the education curricula. South Korea and the Kingdom of
Saudi Arabia are two such countries. Both have long histories of
education and the evolution that the educational system has
undergone.
History Education in South Korea
Education has always been a part of the history of Korea
and South Korea. Since the 19th century both private and
public forms of education were present in the country. The
educational format that is in the country presently were
established and implemented in the latter part of the 19tth
century. Currently, both private and public schooling systems
are thriving in the country. The reason for this is the fact that

they are supported by a large part by the government in place
and any government that was in place since the establishment of
the country.
While all levels of education are considered to be of great
importance, it is important to note that higher education is
considered in especially high regard. This is because this stage
of education is largely considered to be launch pad to a career
and therefore a better live depending on performance at this
level. IN addition to this, the importance of this level of
education has cultural significance in South Korea with those
who have attained higher levels of education getting
considerably better standing in society compared to those that
might have failed.
Education in the Kingdom of South Arabia
Saudi Arabia officially became a nation relatively recently in
1932. In the early years, education was rather limited. This
means that education was only limited to a few schools that
were monotheistic and leaning towards Islamic affiliation. Over
time education has evolved to become inclusive and open to all
Saudi citizens on all levels of education (Hefner & Zaman,
2007). It is important noting that the educational system in
Saudi Arabia is famous for its rather excessive religious
content. For example as of 2016, religious studies took a bulk of
the time, taking up 9 lessons in a week considering that all the
other lessons combined only take 23 hours (Gitsaki, 2011).
Schools are generally mixed but this was not always the case.
There were no girls schools since 1956 and the first two girls
schools were privately owned. Over time, more and more
schools girl’s schools were opened and operated by the state.
Thesis: The school systems in both countries have a lot in
common and thus, for education to be effective teachers must be
skilled, students must perform and various teaching methods
used in the classroom.
Effective Education
There is need for effectiveness in public school systems the
world over. The governments of both South Korea and the

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have done a lot male education the
most efficient. This is in the form of allocation of budgets,
teaching methods, teaching skills and even class room
management. The governments of South Korea and the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have different methods of
approaching and implementing effective education.
Effective Education in South Korea
In order to make education more efficient in the work place,
skilled teachers play the biggest role. Most teachers in South
Korea use a three pronged approach. These includes
1. The use of technology
2. Class management
3. Communication strategies
Skilled Teachers in South Korea
It is an actual fact that education has contributed a lot to the
economy of the South Korean country. As such the country has
invested a lot in the education of teachers and arming them with
the skills necessary to ensure they can dispense educational
services to those in need with the most efficiency as possible.
For example, the government embarked on ambitious reforms on
the ministry of education to ensure that the ministry is as
efficient as possible (Hefner & Zaman, 2007). The reforms were
implemented as they continue to enjoy a lot of public,
professional and private support. The broad spectrum of the
society in South Korea acknowledges the act that education is
important concept and a precept for both economic and social
improvement. This ensures that skilled professional educators
are highly sought after and have a high standing within the rest
of the society.
Technology Usage in South Korea
The typical class room in South Korea is packed with
technology. The government mandates that there must be
technology in class rooms. This includes but is not limited to
computers, internet, LCD screens and smart boards in the class
rooms. Skilled teachers use all these equipment to dispense
their services more effectively (Carlsen & Willis, 2007). This is

compared to the more traditional method of teaching whereby
teachers had to rely on text books and their communication
skills.
Technology is a great asset and is used by teachers for a variety
of reasons. First, it offers student differentiated learning. This
means that students can break away from the monotony of
traditional learning. This ensures that students are more
receptive the concept being taught to them. Another advantage
to using technology to teaching in South Korea and really any
other place is the fact that it avails a wealth of information to
both the students and their teachers.
This has the added advantage of efficiency since only a few
equipments are needed for education for both the teachers and
their students. With technology however arises the need for
skilled educators in the classrooms. Technology such as the
internet can be a substantial distraction to students constantly
interrupting them from learning. In addition to this, despite the
fact that there is wealth of information availed by technology
and the internet, not all of it is credible.
Teachers need to step in to ensure that students remain focused
and they do not get distracted when they are using technology in
the class room. This has been the case in most schools in South
Korea as can be evidenced by increasingly better performance
as evidenced by school evaluations and the overall support for
the usage of technology in the classroom.
Class Room Management in South Korea
In a typical classroom, there are many strategies that can be
used as a tool for education. Some of them are more effective
than others. The government in South Korea through its
ministry of education has not established a nationwide standard
for classroom management. This means that different
classrooms employ different classroom management techniques
while conducting their mandate and trying to be efficient as
possible (Kampylis et al., 2013). There are some classroom
management techniques however that are commonly used by
most public and private schools for the success of the teachers

and their students. These include;
1. Lesson planning
1. Engaging and inspiring students
1. Preparation before teaching
1. Building rapport
The lesson planning stage
The lesson planning stage is not only important for the teacher,
but extremely important for the students as well. Teachers in
South Korea ensure that they prepare a lesson plan way before
the semester begins and go over it before each lesson. This
serves a number of purposes. The first is the fact that teachers
are able to complete the course work in time without having to
rush the students. Students are able to manage their time better
as long as the teacher is able to pal their lessons.
Engaging and Inspiring Students
Educators in South Korea engage in activities that are sure to
engage and inspire their students. The reason for this is because
of the fact that this is really the only that students will respond
as appropriately. This is especially the case when it comes to
educators who teach younger classes of students. Younger
students are easier to distract and often lose focus without the
proper engagement. Educators in South Korea understand it is
their responsibility to engage their student in a manner that they
will concentrate on learning for a considerable span of time.
Teachers in schools in South Korea do this by employing a
variety of methods such as walking around the classroom and
talking to random students during the lessons so as to make the
students feel engaged (Kampylis et al., 2013).
Building a rapport
Teachers in South Korea strive to know their students at a
deeper level. This is so as to build a rapport with the students
by cultivating a more personal relationship with every student
within the right parameters. Having a rapport also means
understanding the students at a deeper level. This enables the
teachers within the South Korean schools systems can build
lesson plans around this understanding of their students for even

more effectiveness.
Communication in South Korea Schools
Communication is essential for effective education regardless of
where the class room is located. The ability of the teachers to
communicate directly corresponds to the ability of the students
to grasp the concepts that are being taught. It is important to
realize that education has links to globalization. Students need
to be prepared for the global stage and teachers realize this. The
concept of teaching students in English has therefore caught on
in the country regardless of the fact that students in South
Korea talk Korean when not in school. Teaching using the
English language while important has a set of challenges since
it is a second language.
Educators in South Korea have resulted in some techniques to
ensure that communication is as efficient as possible. The first
technique is hitting the ground running. This means that no
preparation is required. Educators who use English and other
foreign languages just use the language first then ease the
students in it. Another technique that teachers use is the
application of non verbal communication. Non verbal
communication is considered the bulk of communication even
more than verbal communication (Kim & Lim, n.d.). Teachers
therefore employ non verbal communication when taking in a
foreign language so that students can associate what they are
unfamiliar with gestures that are deeply embedded in their
psyche.
Finally, consistency is vital when it comes to communication.
This is especially the case when using a secondary language.
The reason for this is the fact that consistency helps the
students adopt the concepts that are being taught to them even
better. Communication challenges are not always focused
around the language being used. The verbal exchange is also an
important component for teachers in that it can either draw the
students or turn them away.
Skilled Teachers in Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has a rather unique approach to

education. The motivation to ensure that effective education is
facilitated to the students. The country has a set of goals to
achieve by 2030 and in order to achieve these goals, the country
is aware of its need of local, skilled and education workforce.
Towards this end, the country has ensured that it has hired the
most qualified teachers for the students. This includes teachers
from foreign countries who come and get tenure in institutions
of higher learning especially when it comes to teaching
languages. Teachers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia also use
technology, class management and communication techniques to
ensure that they dispense education with as much efficacy as
possible (Al-Soraiey-Alqahtani, 2010).
Using Technology in the Classroom
Teachers in Saudi Arabia have seemed to realize that it is
the age of technology and are using technology to their
uttermost capability so as to ensure that they conduct their
mandate in the best possible way. The emergence of
technological information and teaching or instructional
technologies and the influence that they have had on learning in
general has brought forth changes in the academic environment
of the country. Technology is a trend and is completely ever
changing. Teachers in KSA have ensured that they keep up with
the trends and the country has also taken measures to ensure
that teachers have the necessary skills to deal with the
challenges.
E learning was began in most public schools in KSA in 2002
and since then has gained considerable recognition and interest
in most institutions, educators and even students. Global trends
in e learning have increased pressure to the government and
educators to adopt technology uses in the classroom. Some of
the advantages that can be attributed to the use of technology in
education in KSA include convenience and efficiency for both
teachers and students. Students have access to a wealth of
information. Teachers have started adopting online teaching
whereby they teach students without physical presence which
breaks monotony and ensures students have access to their

teachers without hassle.
Classroom Management
For effective education, teachers also employ classroom
management techniques. IN the Arab world, class room
management is focused and meant to attain order in the
classroom and enhance learning. Effective learning is largely
considered by educators in the KSA to be based on achieving
order in the classroom and between the balance between the
teachers and their students. Achieving order means
understanding the temperaments of the different students in the
classroom and finding a way in which to build rapport between
the teachers and the students.
There are a number of class management techniques that
teachers in KSA schools have adopted for maximum effect.
First, teachers in the KSA take the responsibility in providing a
suitable environment for the students to learn. This environment
consists of the physical and psychological dimensions.
Teachers are also responsible for the making, implementing and
enforcing rules and laws in the classroom. These laws provide
boundaries within which students can operate. Such boundaries
allow the students to be free within acceptable boundaries for
educational purposes.
Another classroom management technique that seems to work
for teachers in KSA is taking measures and decisions before
starting teaching. Teachers that are proactive minimize the
chance of getting surprised by incidences of student misconduct
or other management issues. Establishing a positive rapport
with the student is also an effective classroom management
technique that is commonly adopted by teachers in KSA.
Interaction with the students in a cordial manner helps student
have a relationship that fosters education. In addition to
fostering interaction between the educators and their students,
teachers also ensure that they advocate for meaningful
interaction and educational discourse within the student body.
This ensures that students are able manage themselves while
conducting group work studies or class projects.

Communication
Teachers in KSA schools also employ communication
techniques so as to teach as effectively as possible. Teachers in
KSA have resulted in the more common communication
techniques to communicate as effectively as possible. Teachers
use verbal and non verbal communication techniques to ensure
that the message they are putting across is as effective as
possible. When considering communicating, teachers in the
KSA also consider the component of structuring
communication. Teachers use rhetorical techniques to ensure
that they have structured the communication in such a manner
that it resonates with the students. Some of the techniques of
structuring communication include observation of student body
language, clarification of the purpose of the class and even the
physical organization of the class.
Student performance in South Korea
Grade Scores
Schools in South Korea are known for their high performance.
Regardless of this fact, the government and other stakeholders
are continually passing reforms that are supposed to make
education performance even better. Two major interventions
that have been undertaken by the South Korean government
include the Schools for improvement plan and the multicultural
education. The South Korean schools have participated in
international performance test programs such as PISA and
TIMMS and has continually performed exceptionally well in all
the disciplines (Lin & Wang, n.d.).
Korean students perform the best in subjects such as reading
mathematics and science and their academic standards are
confirmed by the NAEA. The increasingly better performance
can be affirmed by the fact that research shows that the
percentage of underperforming students between 2008 and 2012
declined from 7 percent to just 2.3 percent (Mok & Welch,
2003). The performance can be directly attributed to the
national character regarding education and the educational
culture regarding education.

Improvement
The Korean culture towards education is that education is a
major contributing factor towards leading a good life. Devotion
to study is highly valued and highly respected in the society
which increases the motivation to perform better. Teachers are
proud of the students that perform well as it is proof of their
skills. Teachers then embark onto ambitious plans of
communication, class room management and even new
technology in order to dispense the best quality of education
possible.
Student Performance in KSA
The KSA has always intended to implement universal
education in the country. This effectively affected the
performance of students in KSA to the negative. Being a highly
developed country, the government has allocated generous
resources to ensure that education is dispensed in the best
possible manner. However, KSA has not yet established a
national assessment system to show statistically how well
students perform. Trends as shown by the TIMSS show that
performance on key subjects such as mathematics show that
student performance skew towards the negative. The
government has taken measures to ensure that students’
performance improves.
Improvement
IN order to improve student performance, the KSA has
resulted to measures that have proven to be successful in other
countries. The task of ensuring better performance is taken by
all parties involved such as the government, the students, the
parents and the teachers. Some of the measures taken by the
government include hiring if more qualified expatriate teachers
and larger budgetary allocations for the public schools (Synott,
2002). Teachers and students interact better in the classroom by
using better classroom management practices and the utilization
of better communication techniques.
TEACHING METHODS IN SOUTH KOREA
Using Technology Collaborative Methods

South Korea is a country that parents spend a lot on education
of their children which is more than any other nation. Most of
the things right from their social status to their marriages and
jobs is really determined by the institutions they went for their
higher education. Parents are judged on where they have taken
their children too. By doing so, both the parents and their
children are really motivated when it comes to education. IT
industry has remodeled and redefined the education system
(Grzybowski, 2013)
Teachers are another factor that helps so much in the success of
the students. They work smart and always do more than is
expected of them. They are paid very well and thus they enjoy a
high social status. Because of this reason, teaching has become
a top career choice for most of the young Korean’s in the
country. The Korean government has always made changes to
ensure that the education sector in the country is successful. For
example the government offered subsidized computers in 2008
to those schools in the rural areas so as to ensure that they are
on the same level as those in the urban areas hence giving the
pupils in rural areas an equal chance of success as those in the
urban areas.
South Korea is quite savvy when it comes to leveraging the
technology to improve their education institutions. The country
topped in PISA’s digital literacy exam in the year 2009. Almost
every school in the country has high speed internet to ensure
that they are always updated on educational matters. They have
digital textbooks to ensure that learning materials are more
accessible especially to the lower income pupils.
The government has ensured that each and every textbook
can be accessed from a computer, tablet and even smart phones
in all schools in the country. The government then created a
Cyber Home Learning System which is an online program that
was carefully designed to help the kids with their learning
during the times that they are at home or when they are away
from school. The year 2005 was the time that South Korea
started distributing and mostly utilizing the communication

technologies.
Some English teachers from Philippines usually teach students
in the elementary schools the English language. There are
robots such as the EngKey that has been developed by the Korea
Institute of Science and Technology. This type of robot is
usually used and controlled by teachers who are not in the
country who usually communicate by use of embedded
microphones and speakers. This robot has some features such as
the display of a woman’s face which by doing so mimics the
facial expression of the given teaching individual.
Another version of this type of robot usually doesn’t have the
students to teachers connections but uses voice recognition
technology that is designed to help the students practice their
pronunciation and dialogue in the English language.
Cloud Computing is also being used to make sure that all the
data and information or even the teaching materials are moved
to an online platform and hence made available to anyone in any
area to access and with little or no risk at all regarding ant
potential problems or damages to the devices that they are
using. Different schools are able to share what they are have
with others and hence they are all at the same level. The South
Korean government plans to replace the primary level of
education with digitalized materials by 2014 and deliver
computer notebooks to all its middle and high level schools by
2015 (Grzybowski ,2013)
Collaborative Teaching in South KOrea
Collaborative teaching is also used and the government has put
a lot of emphasis on it because this leads to a lot of educational
social networking which will hence lead to an improvement in
the quality of education. The social networking form are used
for many ways. For instance they are used to ask different kinds
of question regarding education and it doesn’t matter the field
or area of specialization since teachers who are qualified in
those areas are always standby to answer them (Hanson-Smith.
1997). The social networking has also helped the students to
develop the interactive social skills.

Another solution that is so common and applied in the ICT
education system is the Internet Protocol Television. This is a
kind of television service that is usually delivered using the
internet. It really helps and enables the broadcasting of classes
or lectures and lessons through the online channels to those
students usually chose or are being forced to learn while at
home any other place for any reason e.g. if the student is sick in
a hospital. This solution has been of great help in eliminating
the negative consequences of the absence from schools for
different reasons.
The government had a put a deadline in digitalization of schools
which was to be 2015. It had aimed in replacing all paperwork
the digital textbooks. This would help especially for the reasons
that incase the government wanted to updated any books, it
would do so easily and costs would be quite low. One of the
most important feature of the digital textbooks is multitasking
which means that apart from education matters, they would
provide different types of multimedia and would be used as
browsers of all knowledge sources.
When the learning tools are usually digital, it becomes no
longer important for students to go to school since they can
learn from any place that they are at their own convenient
times. There are a lot of games that have been created in Korea
to help the students learn the English language. Some of them
are Toca train and Make-up Salon. They help the pupils to be
creative and learn at the same time in ways that seem to be so
funny but are indeed helping the children
(Minjeong, 2014).
The SMART education was set available to all students in the
country especially the young hence giving them equal chances
of success. E-learning has twice an approach that provides a
clear difference between the employees and those graduates who
are still unemployed and thus offering to them different learning
platforms. The domain dream.go.kr was created so as to help the
women who wanted to go back to the workforce after their
maternity leave was over. Its aim was to provide education to

them that was necessary.
The cyber home learning system helps the pupils to undertake
more classes when they are free so as to help them acquire more
knowledge. This also helps the parents spend less on hiring
teachers. There is also the cloud based testing whereby exams
and tests are done by students using their numbers and not their
names. The Cyworld standardized platform is used to share
contents and spreading the news regarding education and
keeping each other updated on class matters. Cyworld is really
important to those students who miss their classes for different
reasons because they will see what others have shared on the
platform.
Teachers in South Korea have been coming together so as to
share what their experience have been and hence improve each
other’s level of knowledge. Collaboration has been rooted in the
social area of education whereby groups of individuals who
share an interest in the education sector through regular
interactions learn how to do teach better. The teachers usually
view one another as part of group that is working hard towards
the achievement of different goals that they have set aside.
Collaborative learning in South Korea is quite evident in that,
there is collective knowledge whereby the teachers of a certain
teaching and learning community engage each other in a serious
dialogue about the knowledge they have been achieving,
interpreting it communally and the sharing it among themselves.
This helps them to be able to teach easily using different tactics
to make sure that their students are able to understand and pass.
The most effective teachers will be fostered by the grounding
professional development in the collaborative learning
communities that usually highlight the teachers’ mutual
engagement in different actions they are involved in. It makes
them feel valued and hence they are able to talk about their
different experiences or even understandings.
The collaborative process helps in engaging different types of
teachers in joint reviews and giving feedback while trying to
really encourage them to work together so as to consider,

explore and reflect on the different types of issues and
approaches that are related to questions and issues that have
been raised and shared. By doing so, the students are the ones
that benefit since their teachers will be more knowledgeable on
most issues regarding their fields of expertise.
Teaching in Saudi Arabia using Technology and Collaborative
methods
Education has always remained as one of the most important
indicator of economic development in Saudi Arabia. This is
quite evident in the developments and enhancements that are
being made by the government. In 2007 the government of
Saudi Arabia invested almost 2 billion pounds in the education
sector which was used in reforming and improving the
education using the modern technologies. Furthermore the
curriculum was revised electronic gadgets were introduced so as
to facilitate the teaching. In the year 2015, about 25% of the
country’s total budget was dedicated to the education sector.
This money was used to implement new technology and also
improve the ICT facilities in the different schools (Ministry of
finance, 2015).
The SMART technology is really of great help to the students
and teachers in the country in the processes of accommodating
both the technology and new information that comes up. The
SMART technology has enhanced the flexibility within the
education systems hence improving the education at large
(Smith & Abū ʻAmmuh, 2013). The application of the
technology has helped the young pupils to interact, share and
discuss information that they have acquired from their teachers.
The students are able to explore different digital lessons, form
teams of discussing different topics in education and also take
part in types of educational games that have been developed to
help them have a clear understanding of what they are learning.
The teachers in Saudi Arabia have lessons that they attend so as
to ensure they are taught how to use the technologies that are at
their disposal in their classes. The head teachers have also been
encourage embracing technology in their schools so as to

improve the quality of education offered.
Classroom teaching practices in Saudi Arabia that involve
collaborative learning are an important innovation.
Collaborative learning plays an important role in in the process
of delivering and following up professional development
workshops. Teachers in Saudi Arabia have been collaborating in
the social media so as to change different views that they may
have on certain aspects about education in their country.
Educational technology plays an increasingly important role in
the teaching and learning process. (Gashan & Alshumaimeri,
2015 )
Saudi Arabia introduce the Interactive Whiteboards in their
schools. This has increased the students’ motivation and focus
while they are in their classrooms. The interactive whiteboards
have introduced new learning methods that are either audio or
even visual hence enabling the importation of various resources,
offer greater lesson planning for the teachers and hence present
learning resources in the best possible way.
The effective use the Interactive whiteboards has required the
educators to have a good understanding of the methods of
interactive teaching by using the available technology to
influence and improve the students learning. The teachers have
had trainings like the large scale project of 2007 called the King
Abdullah project for General Education Development that was
launched to train the teachers on matters of technology and
about collaborative learning.
Through collaborative teaching, the teachers in Saudi Arabia
have been able to learn more about the interactive whiteboards
and hence they have had their confidence levels improve as well
as improving their creativity. This has in turn had a positive
impact on the students since the teachers are now able to convey
their information in the best possible ways.
Collaborative Teaching in KSA
According to the Communications and Information Technology
commission, Saudi Arabia is one of the fastest growing
economies in the world in terms of e-learning. The collaborative

learning approach has been able to play quite an important role
in the enhancement of the effectiveness of the e-learning.
Collaborative e-learning has been having many advantages in
Saudi Arabia in that students are able to interact and share what
they know with each other and their teachers (Carlsen & Willis,
2010).
The collaborative e-learning has helped students in the country
who are quite shy in having face to face discussions, to
participate in the online discussions that offer and receive
critiques, negotiate and even build a given consensus. This has
really helped the students in Saudi Arabia because face to face
interactions between the two opposite genders aren’t often an
option. The schools in Saudi Arabia are providing the training
and technical support to their staff as they change their teaching
materials and methods of teaching.
In the Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia, dedicated
teachers, school administrators and supervisors who were
interested in technology have come up with ways of using
technology in their schools. Technology programs were
designed which have reflected on the educational needs others
were programs that were used for schools’ management. The
government had not been so supportive in the early stages but
has since come to the rescue and helped integrate technology in
the schools country wide.
Since then, confidence, competence and accessibility to
technology have been the areas the government has concentrated
on so as to integrate technology in schools. This has then
improved performance and collaboration hence having a
positive impact on learning outcomes.
Saudi Arabia has worked to modernize the educational process
by introducing computers to the education field for more than a
quarter of a century.(Alturki, 2014) These websites offer
theoretical and practical information regarding what the
students need. The use of sites such as YouTube has been of
great importance to the teachers and students as a learning aid
since they are able to clarify anything or use it as an example

during lectures.
The government has been conducting surveys so as to discover
what hindrances there may be to effective use of technology.
Teachers have been asked to attend the trainings so as to
acquire more knowledge on the use of technology. The
government has also hired private investors to aid in teaching
and distributing technological materials to different parts of the
country. The size of the country and students in different parts
of the country have gained positively from the use of internet
since they are able to socialize with the others hence learn from
each.
The government of Saudi Arabia, though facing numerous
challenges continues to make huge steps in ensuring technology
is widely used in the education sector. The government is trying
to make sure that the teachers find time to use technology in
their classrooms. The government has been showing teachers
how to prepare for teaching materials using technology and also
encouraging head teachers to allocate more time for lessons for
the teachers so that they can use the available technology
effectively. The Internet is a powerful tool for communication
between teachers and students, among teachers and among
students. In the Saudi context, it offers a cheap and convenient
way of communication. (Al-Maini, 2011).
CONCLUSION
All over the world education will continue being integral in the
development of different nations. Saudi Arabia and South Korea
are some of the countries that have invested a lot and also tried
very much to embrace technology in their schools. This has not
come easily as they have faced numerous challenges over the
way but also have gained a lot.
The government of Saudi Arabia was in the early stages not so
supportive of the technology in education there by those
individuals that were involved faced rather a very difficult time.
There has always been questions raised on various projects that
the governments undertake since they do not seem so clear in
the eyes of the citizens (Aldossari, 2009). Sometimes the

governments change the curriculum without having engaged the
stakeholders in an adequate manner there by having difficulties
in implementing the strategies.
All in all technology and collaboration in these countries has
helped achieve new levels of education that would otherwise be
so difficult to achieve without them. Technology continues to
evolve each day hence the governments are trying as much as
they can to keep up with the developments (Ally & Khan,
2007). Students have been able to learn a lot and furthermore
become more creative hence helping the country in different
areas and helping the government achieve their development
goals.
The governments should undertake surveys so as to know what
areas they need to improve on in their respective countries.
Many other countries are using them as roles models for what
they have achieved so far. Students should also be involved in
curriculum developments since the curriculum applies to them.
By doing so, great strides will be made in achieving the
education goals that have been set.
The educational systems in both Saudi Arabia and South Korea
have made strides in the right direction. This is so as to improve
the quality of education that the students receive which will
make the students better reproductive members of the society.
Some of the similarities include;
1. Both countries put a lot of emphasis on the importance of
education.
2. Education for the younger generation is considered to be
mandatory in all schools.
3. The number of expatriate teachers in both countries is on the
increase considering that none of the countries are native
English speakers.
4. Both countries are advocating for trends on education such as
the use of technology in education and international exchange
programs.
5. The governments of both programs have seen the need of
education reforms and ultimately embarked on programs that

have been proven to work.
The countries are also vastly different when it comes to their
approach to effective education. Some of the differences
include;
1. The education system in KSA seemed largely reflect religious
undertones while education in South Korea is more
contemporary.
2. Education in South Korea seems to be more advanced with
students performing better in subjects that are considered core
such as Mathematics and sciences. On the other hand, KSA
schools are noted to experience a decline in the same categories.
3. Finally, South Korea schools have already established a
student assessment system based on the results of the students
both locally and internationally while schools in KSA despite
considerably larger budgetary allocations have not established
such a system yet.
Limitations to the study
Although the study met its intended requirements, there were
some limitations to the research. The first limitation was the
fact that the time needed to research such a broad topic was not
the time available. One therefore had to rely too heavily on
online research albeit on credible library resources. Another
limitation of the study was the limited sample size possible to
obtain for the research. This effectively limited the data that
could be used for the analysis. Finally, some information
regarding student grading is considered confidential which
resulted in overgeneralization which might not exactly represent
all schools’ performance.
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Why native American convert to Christianity
· Were they not confident of their religion?
· Were they forced to be Christian that they didn’t have other
choices to be Christian or die?
· Were they lost and find the right path by following
Christianity?
· Why did they leave everything behind and just do what the
Europeans did?
The sources included in the other file supporting the subject of
native American. I want you to write about these four points
and make arguments with most of them. the total of the words
should be no less than 1000 words. With each page you’ll have

to have a photo related to the subject and write underneath it
paragraphs just like the example I attach to this project.
The Americas
65:2 October 2008, 137-159
Copyright by the Academy of American
Franciscan History
THE NATIVE ENCOUNTER WITH CHRISTIANITY:
FRANCISCANS AND NAHUAS
IN SIXTEENTH-CENTURY MEXICO*
mong the nations of the New World, Mexico is probably the
coun-
try in which the Franciscans worked most intensively. Having
been
the first missionaries to arrive in Mexico, they covered most of
its
territory and worked with numerous native groups: Nahuas,
Otomies,
Mazahuas, Huastecas, Totonacas, Tarascans, Mayas. Their
intense mission-
ary activity is evident in the many indigenous languages the
Franciscans
learned, the grammars and vocabularies they wrote, the
numerous Biblical
texts they translated, and the catechisms they wrote with
ideographical tech-
niques quite alien to the European mind. This activity left an
indelible mark

in Mexico, a mark still alive in popular traditions, monumental
construc-
tions, popular devotions, and folk art. Without a doubt, in spite
of the con-
tinuous growth of the Spanish and Mestizo populations during
colonial
times, the favorite concern of Franciscan pastoral activity was
the indige-
nous population. Thus, Franciscan schools and colleges,
hospitals, and pub-
lications were addressed to it. For their part, the native
population showed
the same preference for the Franciscans. To the eyes of the civil
and eccle-
siastical authorities, Franciscans and natives appeared as an
inseparable
body, an association not always welcomed by the Spanish
Crown. In fact,
since the middle of the sixteenth century bishops and royal
officials tried to
separate them, assigning secular priests in the native towns and
limiting the
ecclesiastical authority of the friars.
This peculiar symbiosis is the topic of this lecture. My question
is: how
did this association occur? What sort of obstacles did both the
Franciscans
and the natives have to overcome to achieve such an
understanding? Were
there only Franciscan missionary ideals, or were there also
native motiva-
tions behind this mutual and singular encounter?
* I thank Dr. Jeffrey M. Burns and Dr. Hilaire Kallendorf for
their help in reviewing the English ver-

sion of this lecture.
137
THE NATIVE ENCOUNTER WITH CHRISTIANITY
I will focus this lecture on the sixteenth-century Nahuas, among
whom
the Franciscans worked most intensively, as can be seen in
countless docu-
ments. This documentation provides the possibility of catching
a glimpse of
the way in which this encounter was carried out. The greater
part of the
information is found in documents written by the Franciscans,
but it is also
present in the Nahuatl texts reporting the relationship between
Christian and
Nahua religion. Among the Franciscan texts, I will use those
that were writ-
ten by the friars directly involved with the Nahua community,
such as fray
Toribio Motolinia, fray Jer6nimo de Mendieta, and fray
Bernardino de
Sahagtin. The Nahua texts are from the pre-hispanic and the
post-conquest
traditions.
THE FIRST ENCOUNTERS: UNDERSTANDINGS AND
MISUNDERSTANDINGS
Jer6nimo de Mendieta, writing at the end of the sixteenth
century, pro-

duced a very interesting text in which he describes the first
encounter of the
Franciscans with the Tlaxcalans.
When [the first Franciscans] arrived to this land of the Indies,
walking on
barefoot and wearing poor and patched habits, the Tlaxcalans
began to
exclaim, pointing at them, "motolinia," a word which in
Mexican language
means poor. Fray Toribio [de Benavente] hearing repeatedly
this word and
wishing to learn the nahuatl language, asked for its meaning.
And when he
found out that it meant poor, fray Toribio said: "this is the first
word that I
have learned from this language; from now on I will use it as
my surname so
I would not forget it."'
As is well known, fray Toribio seldom used his last name
"Benavente"
and at least from 1529 on he always signed his name as
"Motolinia." But
this idyllic account of the first Franciscan encounter with the
Nahuas has to
be compared with other narratives. One of them comes from the
same
Motolinia who, with particular anguish, writes about his first
experiences in
Mexico Tenochtitlan.
Upon their arrival in 1524, Herndn Cort6s sent the Friars to four
native
cities: Mexico, Tlaxcala, Tezcoco, and Huejotzingo. Motolinia
was assigned

to Mexico. The friars used for their living headquarters one of
the halls of
the great Nahua ceremonial center, right in the middle of the
city where the
natives continued practicing their religious cult. Here is how
Motolinia nar-
rates this experience:
I Jer6nimo de Mendieta, Historia Eclesidstica Indiana, Libro IV,
capftulo 22.
138
FRANCISCO MORALES, OFM
This land was a transplanted hell, seeing how its people would
yell at night,
some invoking the devil, others in a drunken stupor, and still
others singing
and dancing. They had kettledrums, trumpets, horns and large
conches, espe-
cially at the feasts of their demons. It is incredible how much
wine they con-
sumed at the drinking orgies which they held very often and
how much one
poured into his body. Before they cook it with certain roots
which they throw
into it, the wine is clear and sweet like mead. After it is boiled,
it becomes
somewhat thick; its odor is bad; but much worse is the odor of
those who
intoxicate themselves with it. They commonly began to drink in
the afternoon.
In groups of ten or fifteen, they drank so greedily that the wine-

servers had to
bestir themselves. And so meager was the food they ate that
already by night-
fall they were losing their senses, now falling to the ground,
then lying quiet,
then again singing and calling up the demon. It was very pitiful
to see men,
created after the image of God, becoming worse than brute
animals.
2
This text makes evident the tremendous shock that certain
practices of the
native religion caused the friars. On their part, the Nahuas
considered
equally aberrant the religious practices of the Franciscans. An
interesting
text of a Tlaxcalan native, Diego Mufioz Camargo, who wrote at
the end of
the sixteenth century, gives us an idea of what the natives
thought about the
Franciscan way of living. Mufioz Camargo writes:
These poor men have to be ill or insane. Let this miserable
people yell. Their
madness has taken hold of them. Let them stay and manage their
madness as
they could. Do not harm them: by the end of the day these and
the rest of them
will die from their madness. And, have you noticed how these
men, at midday,
midnight and sunrise, when everybody rejoices they yell and
cry? No doubt
that they must undergo a serious illness; they are senseless
since they do not

seek joy and pleasure, but sadness and loneliness.
3
As these texts point out, two absolutely different worlds were
confronting
one another face to face. On one side was the Christian religion
in its
medieval manifestation, enriched by Franciscan mystical
practice. The first
12 Franciscans were exceptional representatives of that
religious current.
They formed part of a spiritually radical group that since the
early fifteenth
century was trying to return to the original ideals of the
Franciscan order
based on the strict observance of St. Francis' Rule and
Testament. Their
struggle for a simple way of living, their evangelical values,
combined with
a missionary idealism was in tune with some of the old
thirteenth-century
spiritual movements close to the millennialism of Joachim di
Fiori. Without
reaching their extremism, the first Franciscans of Mexico were
anxious to
2 Toribio Motolinia, Historia de los Indios de la Nueva Espaha,
Tratado 1, capftulo 2.
1 Diego Muhioz Camargo, Historia de Tla-xcala 2' Ed.
(Guadalajara: Avifia Levy, 1966), p. 166.
139

see an almost immediate conversion of the natives to
Christianity. The best
representative of this idea was fray Martin de Valencia, the first
major supe-
rior of the Franciscans in Mexico whose idealism deserves a
longer com-
ment than can be given in this short lecture.
On the other side was the complex and, to the western Christian
mind,
incomprehensible Nahua religion. While not attempting to
simplify its com-
plexity, some fundamental elements are worth noticing in order
to see which
ones could offer a link to Christianity and which ones were
totally unac-
ceptable to it.
Mesoamerican religion was based on a strong relationship of
humanity to
the universe of the gods. According to the primordial events in
Mesoameri-
can cosmogony, life-both human and cosmic-was only possible
through
the sacrifices and penance of the primeval gods, one of whom,
Quetzalcoatl,
the Feathered Serpent god, symbol of divine wisdom, bled his
body to give
life to human beings. In fact, the Nahuatl word for human
beings was
"macehualtin," which means "those made worthy [of existing]
by divine
sacrifice." Thus the "detestable human sacrifices" reported by

the Francis-
cans in their chronicles were reenacting the primeval action
through which
life took place in the universe. Mesoamerican natives felt the
necessity of
constantly propping up the cosmic order which was always in
danger of
being destroyed.
But in spite of this religious burden of human sacrifice, in many
ancient
texts the Nahuas expressed the value they placed on human life
and their
concern about what was appropriate and right. Nahua children
were taught
at home, schools, and temples what was good and righteous and
how to
avoid evil; to live in accordance with one's destiny and to
perform properly
the ritual acts through which one became worthy of his destiny
in relation to
the plans of the "Ometeotr'-the dual divinity and supreme god.
It took a good while for the Franciscans and Nahuas to know
each other
and establish the first steps of mutual understanding.
Ceremonial practices,
rather than doctrinal discussions, were the first points where
real contact
began. Let us look at the following text of Motolinia.
THE BEGINNING OF UNDERSTANDING
Motolinia writes, "For five years the Indians of Mexico were
very apa-
thetic, either because of the arduous works with which the

Spaniards aggra-
vated them for the reconstruction of Mexico or because the old
folk showed
140
little interest [in their conversion to Christianity]." 4
Fortunately during this
period there were events that provided opportunities for
unexpected mutual
encounters. One of them happened in 1528.
In the fourth year after the arrival of the friars in this land it
rained very much,
ruining the corn fields and causing many dwellings to collapse.
Up to then no
processions had ever been held among the natives. On that
occasion the
natives of Tezcoco held one with a simple cross. And, having
rained inces-
santly for many days, it pleased our Lord in his mercy, through
the interces-
sion of His Holy Mother and of St. Anthony, who is the chief
patron saint of
this town, to put a stop to the rains on the day of procession, in
this way con-
firming the newly converted Indians in their languid and weak
faith.'
From then on, Motolinia continues,
The Indians made many crosses, banners of saints, and other

ornaments to be
used in processions. And forthwith the natives of Mexico came
[to Tezcoco]
to get patterns of them. Soon after, in Huejotzingo, the Indians
began to fash-
ion rich and elegant drapery for crosses and also processional
platforms of
gold and feathers. Before long the Indians everywhere began to
adorn their
churches, to make altarpieces and ornaments, and to hold
processions while
the children learned dances in order to make the processions
more attractive.
6
In other words, what seemed like a simple public prayer became
the
beginning of a meaningful encounter. In sixteenth-century Spain
a good
number of religious demonstrations-such as processions-were
held on
the occasion of natural disasters to implore the local saints'
help, whose
chapels proliferated in rural areas. The Franciscans, most of
them formed in
the local religion of their original towns, discovered an
important point of
contact in these rituals that were common to both religious
systems. In fact,
before the Spanish conquest the Nahuas invoked their supreme
god in natu-
ral disasters, just as the Spaniards did, as can be seen in many
passages of
the Florentine Codex. Thus, on the occasion of epidemic
diseases the

Nahuas used the following prayer:
O Master, 0 Our Lord, 0 You Tloqueh Nahuaque, Night, Wind,
now in truth
I come before you, I reach you. I am macehualli, unrighteous,
evil. Let me not
meet Your annoyance, Your wrath. In truth, now, Your
annoyance, Your anger
descended; they remain. Indeed Your castigation, pestilence,
grow, increase.
For the plague is reaching the earth. The macehualtin, people,
are destroyed.
4 Motolinia, Historia, Tratado II, capitulo 1.
5 Motolinia, Historia, Tratado II, capftulo 2.
6 Motolinia, Historia, Tratado II, capftulo 2.
141
O Compassionate One, verily now may Your rage have passed,
may Your
macehualtin learn from your castigation. 0 Master, 0 Lord, the
city is as a
baby, a child.7
Besides responding to natural disasters, the friars found in these
celebra-
tions an excellent opportunity for transmitting the Christian
message. In
another interesting text from Motolinia, he describes the
solemnity with
which the Nahuas, by the beginning of the 1540s, were

celebrating the most
important liturgical feasts, and how the friars used them to
instruct the com-
munity in Christian doctrine. Motolinia writes, "The Indians
celebrate the
feasts of the Lord, of Our Lady and the principal Patrons of the
towns with
much rejoicing and solemnity." These celebrations, which can
be considered
as the origin of the fiesta system so characteristic of popular
religion in
today's Mexico, are reported in the following way:
They [the Nahuas] decorate their churches very tastefully, . . .
with tree
branches, flowers, reed mace and sege. These they spread on the
ground,
together with leaves of mint, which has thrived incredibly in
this land. Where
the procession is to pass, they erect numerous arches made of
roses and
adorned with trimmings and garlands of the same flowers. The
wreaths of
flowers they fashion are very attractive.
8
After this description in which the flowers are the most
important ele-
ment, Motolinia continues:
Attired in white shirts and mantles and bedecked in feathers and
with a bou-
quet of roses in their hands, the Indian lords and rulers perform
a dance and
sing in their language the songs with the explanation of the

feast which they
are celebrating. The friars have translated these songs into the
Nahuatl lan-
guage and the Indian masters have put them into the rhyme that
would fit and
be sung in accordance to the rhythm of their old songs.9
This short text provides us with one of the most important
moments in the
origin of Mesoamerican Christianity. There appear, naturally,
the Christian
elements (liturgical cycles and saints' advocations), but at the
same time, the
Mesoamerican ones ("Flowers and songs" in xochitl in cuicatl,
the core of
the Mesoamerican culture). A remarkable feature is the role
played by the
lords and rulers in these celebrations, "attired in white shirts
and mantles and
bedecked in feathers and with a bouquet of roses in their hands,
dancing and
singing in their language the songs with the explanation of the
feasts which
7 Bernardino de Sahag6n, Historia general de las cosas de
Nueva Espafia, Libro VI, capitulo 1.
8 Motolinfa, Historia, Tratado I, capftulo 13.
9 Motolinfa, Historia, Tratado I, capftulo 13.
142
they were celebrating." And, contrary to what is so often said,

the participa-
tion of the friars in these feasts is quite relevant: they translated
the songs
into the native languages. But at the same time, the holders of
the native
wisdom, the sages who are compared in the Nahua documents to
"a light, a
torch, a stout torch that does not smoke," are present. They put
the songs
translated by the friars "into the rhyme that would fit and be
sung in accor-
dance with the rhythm of their old songs." In sum, what this text
suggests is
that the fundamental architects of Mesoamerican Christianity
are not only
the Franciscans who provided the new events and characters for
the new cel-
ebrations, but also the Nahua community with their lords, the
tlatoani, and
their sages, the tlamatinimeh (those who know what is Above us
and the
Region of the Dead). In other words, both friars and natives
made possible
the spiritual and intellectual transfer of the Nahua religion to
Christianity.
THE BRIDGE FOR UNDERSTANDING:
THE THEOLOGY THAT ST. AGUSTINE IGNORED
What made this transfer possible? Jer6nimo de Mendieta, in a
delightful
narrative on the Twelve Franciscans' arrival to the city of
Tezcoco, has a sin-
gular answer. He writes that when these Franciscans met the
three Belgian

friars (Peter Moer, Johan Dekkers [or van der Tacht], and Johan
van der
Auwera, who had arrived a year before), "observing that the
temples and
idols were still alive and the Indians were practicing their
idolatries and sac-
rifices, they [the 12 Franciscans] asked fray Juan de Tecto
[Johan Dekkers]
and his brothers: 'What have you been doing or taking care of
[during this
time]?' To which fray Juan de Tecto answered: 'We are learning
the theol-
ogy that St. Agustin completely ignored,' meaning by theology-
Mendieta
adds-the native language and giving them to understand the
great profit
that they would get from its knowledge."'
0
The importance of the native languages was perceived from the
begin-
ning of the process of evangelization; Motolinia writing in the
1530s, says:
It is a great science to know the language of the Indians and to
understand
these people. Knowledge of the Indian language is necessary for
speaking,
preaching, teaching and administering the Sacraments. No less
necessary is it
to be informed concerning the natives of New Spain, who are by
nature shy
and very reserved.... [Thus] it is a mistake for priests, beginning
to instruct
them, to expect that after two days or so the Indians be as pious

as if they had
been under instruction for ten years, and on finding them not so
pious, to
10 Mendieta, Historia eclesidstica indiana, Libro V, capitulo 17.
143
abandon them. Such priests are like a man who buys a very lean
sheep and,
after giving it a piece of bread to eat, feels its tail to see if it
has become fat."
It was not an easy task to learn the native languages. A great
help for the
Franciscans was their humanistic education. Thanks to their
familiarity with
Antonio de Nebrija's Latin grammar, by 1531 they had a first
draft of a
Nahuatl grammar. In 1547 fray Andr6s de Olmos-one of the
greatest lin-
guists of Mexico-wrote a full grammar, comparable to any
European
grammar of his time (and in some cases, for example the
French, written
prior to them).
The way to learn the native languages was a very Franciscan
one: namely,
becoming children with the native children. Mendieta writes:
[Those venerable old friars], getting rid of their persons'

seriousness, started
to play straw and little stones with them [native children]
during the recreation
time. The friars always had paper and ink in their hands, and on
hearing a
word they wrote it down, indicating the circumstances in which
it was said. In
the afternoon the friars used to meet to interchange their
writings and, the best
they could, adapted the Nahuatl words to the Spanish terms that
they consid-
ered most appropriate. And it used to happen that what one day
they had
understood the following day they would find out not to be so.
[After some
time] some of the grown-up children, as they saw the friars'
desire to learn the
language, not only corrected their mistakes, but also asked them
many ques-
tions that were a source of happiness [for the friars]."2
The friars' desire to learn the native languages was not always
successful.
Fray Martin de Valencia, for example, the spiritual leader of the
first Fran-
ciscans, "was not able to learn it," Motolinia says, "even though
he tried
three or four times to acquire a knowledge of it, he did not get
beyond a few
general words, sufficient to enable him to teach the children
how to read, a
task at which he worked hard."' 3 On the other hand, other friars
were able
to master it in a few years. When fray Juan de Zumdrraga
arrived in Mexico
at the end of 1527, fray Pedro de Gante was already an

accomplished Nahu-
atl speaker, which was one reason why Zum,urraga took him as
his transla-
tor. In 1529, writing to his Franciscan brothers in Belgium,
Pedro de Gante
confessed that he had forgotten his native Flemish language and
that if he
would write in his new one (Nahuatl) he would not be
understood. He then
wrote in Spanish, admitting that he was just beginning to learn
it. But as a
' Motolinfa, Historia, Tratado II, capftulo 4.
12 Mendieta, Historia eclesidstica indiana, Libro III, capftulo
16.
1D Motolinfa, Historia, Tratado III, capftulo 2.
144
sign of his preference for the Nahuatl language, he writes his
goodbye in
Nahuatl: "Ce ya ixquich, ma moteneoa in toteh in totlatocauh, in
Jesu
Christo" ("That is all; that our God and our Lord Jesus Christ be
blessed").' 4
STRENGTHENING THE BRIDGE: THE SCHOOL SYSTEM
The language was only the first step toward a mutual
understanding; educa-
tion was the cornerstone for building what the friars, by the

second half of the
sixteenth century, called "La Iglesia Indiana," the Indian
Church, as opposed to
the post-Constantinian Church of the Spanish laymen and
secular clergy, or
what present scholars have called, "The Nahuatlization of
Christianity."'
15
From the beginning the Franciscan educational system followed
two tra-
ditions: the European and the Mesoamerican. As soon as the
friars estab-
lished themselves in their monasteries, Mendieta says, they
asked the native
community to build in the lower part "a large room, in the form
of a hall
where their children would be lodged and taught, and [in the
same area,
Mendieta adds] to build some small rooms for the children's
service."
16
These buildings replaced the native calmecatd, a Mesoamerican
educational
institution of long tradition. It was located in the old ceremonial
centers.
There the pipiltin, children of nobility, received religious,
military, and civic
education. The early Franciscan educational system was
addressed to both
the pipiltin [children from the native nobility] and the
macehualtin [children
from the lower classes]. The relationship of this system with the

medieval
Franciscan monasteries was very close. In the latter there was
the practice of
accepting young boys for educational purposes. During the
fifteenth century
there was an effort to stop this custom, but it met with little
success. Even
those monasteries where the Franciscan Rule was observed very
strictly
maintained this practice, arguing that these young boys assisted
in many
occupations outside the convent walls, thus making it possible
for the friars
to live a much more cloistered life.
The way of life of children in the European Franciscan
monasteries was
very similar to the one described by Mendieta in Mexico. In
Spain the young
boys received education in Christian manners and were taught
how to read
and write. They could leave the monastery whenever they
desired, since they
1' Fidel de Jes6s Chauvet, ed., Cartas de fray Pedro de Gante,
O.EM. (M6xico: editorial fray
Junfpero Serra, 1951), p. 9.
1' John L. Phelan, The Millennial Kingdom of the Franciscans
in New Spain (Berkeley: University
Press, 1970), p. 56; Charles E. Dibble, "The Nahuatlization of
Christianity," Sixteenth-Century Mexico:
The Work of Sahagtn (Alburquerque: University of New Mexico
Press, 1974), pp. 225-233.
16 Mendieta, Historia eclesidstica indiana, Libro III, capftulo

15.
145
were not specifically destined for the religious life. In Mexico
too, the chil-
dren learned not only Christian doctrine, but also reading and
writing, the
liturgical hours, and how to serve the Holy Mass. As in Spain,
they were not
destined to become friars, though at the very beginning it seems
that Fran-
ciscans thought otherwise. Motolinia says that in 1527 the friars
received
three young natives into the Order. None of them persevered
because,
according to the same chronicler, the friars "tried to test them
before they
[the natives] were ready."' 7 This unfortunate experience had
critical conse-
quences for their admission into the Order during the rest of the
sixteenth
century, a topic that by itself deserves a complete lecture.
Coming back to the school system, by 1532 over 5,000 children
were
receiving education in various monasteries of central Mexico,
such as
Cholula, Huejotzingo, Tlalmanalco, Tepeaca, Tezcuco,
Cuahutitlan, Tula,
Coyoacdn, Cuernavaca, Acapistla, and Tlaxcala. The largest
group was in

Mexico City, where fray Pedro de Gante taught some 600
children. This
school was famous not only for its large number of children, but
above all, for
its advanced educational program. Thanks to the friars'
humanistic training,
this school's program included the study of Latin. A French
Franciscan,
Arnald of Bassac (who arrived in 1530), was the first Latin
teacher. Not many
years later, this educational system culminated in the foundation
of the "Cole-
gio de Santa Cruz" in Tlatelolco, which was the first college in
the Americas.
Much controversy surrounds the foundation of this college.
Many church-
men of the time, including some Franciscans, questioned the
profit of teach-
ing Latin and Philosophy to the natives, citing the danger of
heresy among
the newly converted people. A present-day scholar describes it
with a
grotesque image: "[It was] another manifestation of conquest's
cruelty....
While young natives learned Latin declensions by heart, their
people suf-
fered from epidemics and exploitation."' 8 I do not support any
of these opin-
ions. I maintain that there is enough documentation to support
the remark-
able significance of this college for the formation of the
"Iglesia Indiana,"
or the Nahuatlization of Christianity.
SANTA CRUZ DE TLATELOLCO: COLLEGE, SEMINARY,

SCRIPTORIUM?
A large proportion of the controversies about the establishment
of Santa
Cruz de Tlatelolco are centered on its plan and objectives. Was
it only an
1' Motolinfa, Historia, Tratado II, capftulo 8.
18 Louise M. Burkhart, Holy Wednesday: A Nahua Drama from
Early Colonial Mexico (Philadel-
phia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1996), p. 59.
146
establishment of higher education or was it a seminary for
priestly educa-
tion? We do not have enough evidence to give a definite answer.
In contem-
porary Europe there was no clerical institution comparable to
Santa Cruz
College. In the first half of the sixteenth century there were
only cathedral
and parish schools, or houses of studies in the Franciscan Order
where
young people were trained for the priesthood. Diocesan
seminaries were
founded later after the decrees of the Council of Trent. Higher
education was
imparted in the Universities. Considering these institutions,
where can we
place Santa Cruz College?

From the commentaries circulating at the time of its
establishment we
can conclude that rather than the formation for the priesthood
(though it
was not excluded), the main motive which gave rise to Santa
Cruz College
was the persuasion that higher education for the natives
constituted an
indispensable lay support for the Franciscan missionary efforts.
In fact, by
the middle of the sixteenth century Santa Cruz College had
already formed
the first group of Mexican humanists, perfectly trilingual,
speaking and
writing Latin, Spanish, and Nahuatl fluently. This group did a
splendid
work for the formation of a native Christianity, translating from
Latin into
Nahuatl many Biblical texts and some Franciscan classics, such
as the
"Legenda Minor" by St. Bonaventure, which was printed in
Mexico City in
1577 [Nican moteneua yn nemilitzin yn totlacotatzin sant
Francisco], a
book that, if I am not mistaken, is the first printed translation
into a ver-
nacular language of St. Bonaventure's work.1 9 Other materials
translated
from Latin into Nahuatl were the popular "Flos Sanctorum" and
"Con-
temptus mundi," or from Spanish, "Dialogo de la Paz y
tranquilidad del
alma" and "Libro de la vanidad del mundo" by the famous
mystic writer
fray Diego de Estella.z°

In a manner somehow similar to the medieval scriptoria, Santa
Cruz de
Tlatelolco also became the privileged place to copy or to
illuminate manu-
scripts and to prepare them for the printing press. Its central
achievement,
however, was to turn the Christian message into Nahuatl
thought. It is only
recently that scholars are paying attention to this extraordinary
enterprise.
The best example is the Coloquios y doctrina cristiana, which is
considered
a classic of Mesoamerican Christianity.
19 La Vida del bienaventurado Sant Francisco... traducida en
lengua mexicana por el muy R. Padre
Fray Alonso de Molina (MExico: en casa de Pedro Balli, 1577).
1o Joaquin Garcia Icazbalceta, Bibliograffa mexicana del siglo
XVI, 2'. Ed. (Mkxico: Fondo de Cul-
tura Econ6mica, 1954), p. 475.
147
THE "INDIAN CHURCH"
All these experiences contributed to a much-beloved project of
the Fran-
ciscans: the establishment of a Church different from that of the
Old Conti-

nent. One can approach this issue from various angles. One
perspective is
the (at times veiled, at times open) Franciscan criticism of
European Chris-
tianity for its lack of appreciation for evangelical poverty. As
has been men-
tioned already, by the end of the fifteenth and beginning of the
sixteenth cen-
turies various Franciscan groups had founded places where they
could put
into practice their favorite ideals of poverty and the evangelical
simple life.
None of these places, however, was comparable to the lands and
people of
Mexico. Jer6nimo de Mendieta expressed it in this form, "It can
be asserted
as truth that no nation or people have been discovered in the
world better
disposed and prepared for salvation (if they are helped to) than
the natives
of this New Spain."'
21
Mendieta explains the reasons for his assertion, namely the
simplicity and
poverty of the natives' life. The Franciscan chronicler expresses
it with these
strong words, "The common native's dress is an old mantle torn
into thou-
sand pieces, that if St. Francis were still living in this world and
would see
these natives, he would feel ashamed of himself and be
confused, admitting
neither that poverty was his sister nor that he should be praised
on her

account."'
22
The same chronicler applies these strong words to himself.
Arguing of the
natives' great dispositions to reach salvation, he says: "I say
that many
natives, in spite of being so lowly and despised ... have shown
by their
deeds that they spurn the world and wish to follow Jesus Christ
with such
efficacy and such good spirit as I, a poor Spaniard and lesser
brother, might
wish to in following the evangelical life."'
23
This idealistic approach to the natives' conversion, motivated
undoubt-
edly by the unfulfilled yearnings for apostolic poverty and
simplicity that
the Franciscans could not find in Europe, persuaded the friars
that they were
founding a new church quite distant, geographically and
spiritually, from the
church of Europe. Mendieta called it the "Iglesia Indiana," the
"Indian
Church" as opposed to the "Church of Indies."24 Behind this
idea was the
image of the Primitive Apostolic Church as a prototype of their
missionary
21 Mendieta, Historia eclesidstica indiana, Libro IV, capftulo
21.
22 Mendieta, Historia eclesidstica indiana, Libro IV, capftulo

21.
23 Mendieta, Historia eclesidstica indiana, Libro IV, capitulo
21.
24 Phelan, Millennial Kingdom, p. 56.
148
labors. One of the main features of this new church was its
independence
from the institutions that, in the eyes of the Franciscans, had
caused the ruin
of European Christianity: wealthy parishes and bishoprics. The
new church
had to be under the mendicant orders and under bishops elected
by the friars
as they elected their provincials. Mendieta was convinced that a
project of
this nature would let them establish "the best and healthiest
Christian soci-
ety of the World."25
This Franciscan project has singular importance. At a time when
the
Catholic European Church, motivated by the Protestant
reformation, was
emphasizing her juridical and hierarchical aspects-Pope,
Bishops, Pas-
tors-the Franciscans in Mexico were trying to go back to the
Apostolic
Church, such as the protestant reformers intended. The
Franciscan project,
though, has some strong differences with the protestant

movements. The
friars never claimed that the hierarchical Church had to be
abolished. They
simply said that such a Church was not fitting the realities of
the new lands
in Mesoamerica. For a new land and people, new forms of
service and min-
istry were necessary. Mendieta, in a letter to the President of
the Council of
the Indies in Spain, wrote a paragraph worth transcribing here:
Some people might argue, as the bishop of Michoacdn Vasco de
Quiroga use
to: quod est nephas pervertere ordinem hierchicum Sacrorum
Canonum [It is
against God's will to disrupt the hierarchical order of the sacred
ecclesiastical
law]. Against that argument one must realize that people were
not created for
the laws or for the ecclesiastical decrees, no matter how holy
they are. On the
contrary, the laws and the ecclesiastical decrees were instituted
on men's behalf
and for his profit and utility. It would be hard words to say that
what really mat-
ters is to observe inviolably in the Indies what the sacred
canons have instituted
even though the natives never become good Christians by
changing some of
the sanctions and decrees that the Holy fathers have
promulgated.26
COLOQUIOS Y DOCTRINA CRISTIANA:
ITS ORIGINS AND THEOLOGICAL CONTENTS

The Franciscan project of a new face for the native Church was
drawn up
not only with innovative ideas for its organization; it also was
supported by
a remarkable effort to express the Christian message in Nahua
terms. The
best testimony of such a project is the previously mentioned
"Coloquios y
doctrina cristiana," a work that was written by the group of
native human-
"25 Joaquin Garcia Icazbalceta, ed., Cartas de religiosos de
Nueva Espahia, 1539-1594, 2'. Ed (edito-
rial Sivador Chdvez Hayde, 1941), p. 6.
26 Icazbalceta, Cartas de religiosos, p. 106.
149
ists of Santa Cruz of Tlatelolco College under the direction of
fray
Bernardino de Sahag6n.
Bernardino de Sahagdn and other sixteenth-century Franciscan
chroni-
clers tell us that, upon the arrival of the first friars to M6xico,
Hernan Cort6s
called the native rulers of Tenochtitlan and of the nearby towns
to introduce
the newly-arrived missionaries. Sahagdin writes:
Once they [the rulers] met, Hemdn Cort6s, in front of the friars

and through
his own interpreter, made a long discourse in which he gave an
explanation on
who the [newly arrived] persons were, who had sent them and
for what pur-
pose, as well as on the reverence and obedience that [the native]
rulers should
give them. From then on, those apostolic men began to call the
[native] rulers
every day and through an interpreter had long talks on the
motives of their
coming [to Mexico] and on our Holy Faith matters.27
A rough draft of these early dialogues preserved in some old
papers was
obtained by Sahagfin in 1564. With his trilingual humanists of
Santa Cruz
College and the editing assistance of some old sages-experts in
the Nahua
language and of the native religious beliefs-Sahagdn turned this
old ver-
sion of the dialogues into a refined text ready for publication.
The manu-
script, which never reached the printing press, has two columns:
in the first
one Sahagdn reproduces the polished Nahua text prepared by
the Tlatelolco
students and sages; in the second one, parallel to the first one,
he wrote his
Spanish translation. As it happens in many of Sahagdn's works,
the Spanish
translation does not exactly correspond to the concepts
expressed in the
Nahua text. Thus, if one wishes to know the theological
contents of the
"Coloquios," he or she has to go to the Nahuatl text (which,

fortunately for
those who are not familiar with the Nahuatl language, is
available now with
a new Spanish translation by Miguel Le6n Portilla). Going
through this text,
one has to conclude that the "Coloquios" are one of the greatest
efforts to
express the Christian message in an ideology totally different
from that of
Western thought. In this sense one can consider it as one of the
most valu-
able contributions to Christian literature.
THE CONCEPT OF DIVINITY
Without a doubt, the basic theme of any religious system is
divinity. The
discussions of this issue have been one of the most challenging
problems in
the history of Catholic missions, hence the importance of
examining this
27 Bernardino de Sahag6in, Coloquios y doctrina cristiana .. ,
ed. Miguel Le6n-Portilla (Universidad
Nacional Aut6noma de Mdxico, 1986), p. 73.
150
matter in the "Coloquios." A close reading of this work will
show us that the
friars, as limited as they were, opened the doors to what in our

present day
is called, "inter-cultural dialogue."
The concepts of Christian divinity are treated in four chapters
of the
"Coloquios," namely chapters 4, 9, 18, and 19. What interests us
in the
exposition of this theme is its closeness to the Nahua idea on
divinity. For
example, in chapter four, which in the Spanish text has this
heading: "Quien
es el verdadero Dios, Sehior universal, que da ser y vivir a
todas las cosas"
(Who is the True God, Universal Lord, Who gives being and life
to all
things), in the Nahuatl text becomes: "Who is He, the Very True
God, the
Lord, He by Whom all live, The One that is Near, The One that
is Close"
(Onca mitoa in ac iehoatzin, Uel Nelli Teod, TPatoani, in
Ipalnemoani in
Tloque Nahuaque).28 Anybody acquainted with the Nahua
religion knows
that the attributes Tiatoani, Ipalneomani, and Tloque Nahuaque
are the same
that are attributed to the most important Nahuatl god,
Tezcatlipoca. Thus,
one gets the impression that the main purpose of this chapter is
not to
explain the doctrine of God according to the catechisms of that
time, but to
argue that the "Nelli Teotd" (the True God), the "Tlatoani" (The
Lord), the
"Ipalnemoani" (He by Whom all live), the "Tloque Nahuaque"
(The One
that is near, The One that is close) is the Christian God.

Notwithstanding the closeness of these attributes to the Nahua
god's, the
"Coloquios" could not ignore the fundamental truths of the
Catholic faith
about God, namely, incarnation, redemption and Holy Trinity.
The "Colo-
quios" treat these concepts not with the techniques of scholastic
theology,
but with the poetic technique of Nahua literature-a kind of
Nahuatl "ken-
ning," says Le6n Portilla-using synonymous images. For
example, the
incarnation is expressed in the following way: "And specially,
surpassing
all things, in love for people, in mercy for them, for us, He
made Himself
a man here on earth, a male He came to make Himself, such as
we, we
common people, He took for Himself our flesh of common
people." Two
Nahuatl expressions attract our attention in this text, both of
which have a
profound and remarkable meaning: "In tiuhque, in tehoantin
timacehualti"
(such as we, we common people) and "Oquimocuilico in
tomacehual-
nacaio" (He took for Himself our flesh of common people). As
mentioned
earlier, the original meaning of "macehualtin" (plural of
macehualli) was
"those made worthy [of existing] by divine sacrifice."2 9 By the
time of the
Spanish conquest, the word was applied only to common people.
Thus in

28 Sahag6in, Coloquios, pp. 120-121.
29 Sahagtin, Coloquios, pp. 124-125.
151
the "Coloquios" it is quite clear that the identity of Jesus Christ
is with the
poor Nahua people.
The redemption is expressed in the same manner: "Likewise for
us, He
came to die. He came to shed His precious blood for us. By it,
he came to
make us free from the hands of those very evil ones, those who
hate people
very much, those very wrathful ones, evil hearted ones, those
who are our ene-
mies, the devils."30 In these and other texts dealing with the
concept of divin-
ity, the "Coloquios" avoid making a clear reference to the
Persons of the Holy
Trinity and to the Person who became man and shed His
precious blood for
us. No doubt Sahag-in and the first Franciscans were worried of
the danger of
falling into the polymorphism of the native deities. For that
reason, very likely,
there are only general references to God ("Huel Nelli Teotf').
On only one
ocassion, in the context of the "dialogue" with the native sages,
when they
asked, "What is the name of your God?" the Franciscans

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