Undoubtedly his philosophy, the way he conceived the world and his way of thinking were decisive in the ideological construction of the Autonomous University of Zacatecas (UAZ), we are talking about Mr. Roberto F. Almanza who influenced from different areas for the creation of various instances of promotion, creation and dissemination of art and culture that are preserved to this day. Almanza shared his reflections through direct dialogue with his peers, in gatherings and in academic forums created to strengthen and transform the educational institution.
Regarding the absent teachers, one of the main problems that afflicted the University, he assured that it was necessary to have a committed and vocation teaching staff: “it starts from a false base, the supposed mistake that the absent professors they really are. But there being no vacation in them and depriving most of them of the idea that they are the ones who honor the University by teaching a class, that they are the ones who do the institution a favor, since they receive very low emoluments Therefore, they can afford to be absent as many times as they like, in addition to the fact that they consider that for the University it would be little less than a catastrophe to be deprived of its services. It will be necessary to do without those servers who do not understand their mission and the serious damage they cause to the student and to society. It is the feeling of duty, the awareness of the entrusted task, which will make the true teacher punctual.”
Regarding the dichotomy between educating and teaching, Lic. Almanza was firmly convinced that: “…educating is something much broader than teaching. What matters then is not the fact that the student passes this or that subject, but the evidence that he will continue to be interested in it indefinitely. The exam may disappear when the student's education is achieved, for which the teachers are responsible. The completion of university studies must be certified, yes, but looking for humanly possible formulas to achieve the certainty of such a thing.”
Lic. Almanza was truly convinced of committing to a comprehensive education in which not everything was focused on academicism, it was essential for him to promote art and culture, to reach the point of talking about a cultured society. "...more than diffusion of culture, the University must seek to interest society itself in culture, so that it seeks and follows the paths that lead to its spiritual enrichment."
In order to comply with the previous axiom, it was necessary to involve all university students: “this participation has to be generated in the chair; It must be part of the education of the students, so that the student is able to intervene, when appropriate, in the education of the people. And this cannot be achieved as long as work continues as up to now, creating closed, selfish individuals who always seek their own and exclusive benefit, far from any renunciation for the sake of a collective good and using, however, the weapons of acquired knowledge. in university classrooms, away from the drama of the world and becoming a factor in the accentuation of social problems.”
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Another subject on which he expressed his ideas was research. “The same can be said of scientific research: it is not the task of a few, specially dedicated to it. As long as there is no Scientific Research Institute, at least the task corresponds to all students and teachers; It must be part of the student's education, the research must be transcendental to what is studied and not simply something complementary. Thus, the borders of the textbooks and those of the classroom itself will be exceeded, to focus on the world that, after all, will be the one in which the student will have to live and for which he must be efficiently prepared”.
Roberto F. Almanza imagined the University as a cultural community, involved with society, participatory in its internal processes and with a great sense of belonging to its alma mater. “As long as the university authorities focus on purely bureaucratic tasks; while teachers limit themselves to attending with a certain punctuality, to teach their classes with more or less skill and then, once outside the university campuses, they become disinterested and even forget about university problems, believing that their duties reach the very limits from the classroom; as long as the students consider that their exclusive obligation is to study and see, as previously stated, as a primary purpose and sometimes until the end of their activity, passing the tests they are given and attending their classes only to avoid excessive faults; while teachers and students, like the university authorities, do not coexist in a certain constant way and with ordered cultural purposes for a better service to society, the university community will remain in the field of entelechy, with demagogic-political nuances.
The integration of an authentic university community was one of Almanza's central concerns, “if this is accepted, it must also be granted that it is essential to completely end the isolation in which each of the university schools lives, with the forms of educational life observed up to now, in which each teacher and student live apart from the others, refusing –with their passive resistance– to share the most arduous tasks of the diffusion of internal and external culture. There will be a need to modify –perhaps completely transform– the university concepts “school”, “student” and “teacher”, in order to understand them in terms of social service and active elements of a dynamic community that cannot be alien nor less contrary to the interest social, human.
One of the characteristics that he glimpsed in the university community to which he aspired, was its autonomy, as well as the correct meaning and interpretation of the concept: “it will be necessary to clearly establish this concept, since it is frequently interpreted differently different, that is subject to political expediency and that allows the intervention of people who are not only unaware of what its autonomy means for the University, but also bitter enemies of it”.
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*Researcher Professor of the Science and Technology of Light and Matter Academic Unit. LUMAT.* Research Professor of the Preparatory Academic Unit.[email protected]