Justo Sierra, the Man Who Gave Mexico Its UNAM

Recognized as the Master of America for his invaluable contributions to education and culture, Justo Sierra Méndez is considered one of the most complete characters in the history of Mexico: writer, historian, novelist, journalist, politician and a determined promoter of the design and creation of the National University of Mexico, today the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).

For Hugo Casanova Cardiel, coordinator of the Academic Council of the Humanities and Arts at UNAM, and senior researcher at the Institute for Research on the University and Education, he was a man of his time.

Although he was part of the group of intellectuals of the Porfiriato, such as Ignacio Manuel Altamirano and Guillermo Prieto, he was also a character who opened the doors to Mexican thought in the 20th century, from a liberal and enlightened perspective.

“He was an advanced Mexican who envisioned education as one of the most certain paths for the intellectual emancipation of a society, until then, characterized by ignorance and servitude. Sierra advocated compulsory education as a means for the improvement of individuals and as an element of social bonding and the common good,” Casanova Cardiel emphasized in an interview.

Considered a free thinker in academia and public service, he conceived a national educational project and sought ways to disseminate culture and science in Mexico as the best way to forge the national soul.

His vision was inspired by the ideas of positivism, opposing those of religious interpretations of the world; he advocated the collective good over individual interest, always from a scientific perspective, based on technical foundations.

As a teacher at the National Preparatory School, he taught history and published what is considered his fundamental work: “Evolución política del pueblo mexicano (1900-1902)”, a textbook that has contributed to the political education of several generations.

In that sense, Casanova Cardiel points out: although it is difficult to qualify as a revolutionary an intellectual who was part of the group in power, Sierra Méndez's proposal contributed ideas that sought -within the framework of the Porfirian structures-better conditions for a population, mostly rural and needy.

“Although Justo Sierra would not deepen the acute social contradictions that led to the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution of 1910, he did, however, grant national education enormous possibilities for the strengthening of the homeland, development and democracy,” he adds.

Regarding the validity of his postulates on educational matters, and in particular on the National University project he dreamed of, Hugo Casanova affirms that university institutions develop under a duality that responds to their historical roots and the challenges of the present. In the case of the National University, he does so with clarity to this double dimension: it finds a solid base in its original proposals and responds with great relevance to the current social environment.

“In today's National University, Sierra's original thinking has become a model that accommodates the most diverse expressions of thought. It is a free, pluralistic institution oriented to the solution of complex national problems,” says Casanova Cardiel.

Based on its national and autonomous character, he explains, the National University exercises self-criticism and combines the best of its traditions with the challenges imposed by the present. In this way, the legacy of the thousands of women and men who, from the most diverse fields of knowledge and for more than a century, have passed through its classrooms is honored.

Among other essential contributions of Justo Sierra are the establishment of the first secular system of public instruction in Mexico; the promotion of the linguistic unification of the country; the granting of autonomy to kindergartens; he promoted the recognition of teachers at the higher level; and the establishment of a system of scholarships for students with the best academic performance.

Through education

He was born in Campeche on January 26, 1848; he began his studies in that state and continued them in Mérida, Yucatán. Later, in 1861, after the death of his father, the family moved to Mexico City where he entered the Liceo Franco Mexicano, to continue his academic education at the Colegio de San Idelfonso.

In 1871, he finished his law studies and began to work in public life, serving as a deputy in the Congress of the Union and magistrate of the Supreme Court of Justice. He was also head of the former Secretariat of Public Justice and Fine Arts and of the Secretariat of Public Instruction, from 1905 to 1911.

One of his main tasks was the promotion of compulsory primary education, since he considered that the country's development was only possible through education. His greatest legacy was the creation of the National University of Mexico in 1910, now UNAM.

In the journalistic activity, he was founder and director of the newspaper La Libertad, from 1878 to 1880; he collaborated in the newspapers El Monitor Republicano, La Libertad and La Tribuna; as well as in the weeklies El Renacimiento and El Federalista; he was also one of the directors of the Revista Nacional de Letras y Ciencias, from 1889 to 1890.

During his political career he served twice as federal deputy in the Congress of the Union, from 1881 to 1884; president of the Mexican Academy of Language, 1887; minister and president of the Supreme Court of Justice, from 1894 to 1900; secretary of Public Instruction and Fine Arts of Mexico, from 1905 to 1911, during the Porfiriato. Later, he was minister of Mexico in Spain for the government of Francisco I. Madero, in 1912, and represented Mexico in the Hispano-American Congress of Madrid.

He died on September 13, 1912; his remains were repatriated to be buried in the Rotunda of Illustrious Persons in Mexico City. His name is inscribed on the Wall of Honor of the Chamber of Deputies.

His extensive written legacy includes newspaper articles, epistles, political and educational doctrines, critical essays, speeches, short stories, poems, narrative, historical and biographical books.

His Obras Completas were published by UNAM in 1948 and republished in 1977; they are integrated in 15 volumes, supervised by the writer Agustín Yáñez.