Abstract:

With the incorporation of Information Technology and Communication (ICT) in education, it was thought that many educational goals would be achieved; a reduction in the educational gap, higher education levels, and attention to the problems of slow learning; that failure and dropout rates would be history, in short, a decrease in social exclusion. But that has not happened, even with the increase of knowledge, there are millions of people worldwide who have no schooling and lack access to labor markets, or ICT’s. Today the focus is in training us to meet our daily needs such as food, clothing, educating children, work, status, etc. However, we rarely look at the community as an asset that could help to satisfy our current problems or reach our goals: how can a community establish a vision supported by the traditions of the past? How to live in a globalized world, with localized roots? How to harmonize the spiritual and material aspect in such a compartmentalized existence? How to bridge the gap between everyday knowledge and the so-called scientific knowledge? Our response is directed towards education. We believe that education has the substantial role of aiding us in living together in a highly technical and connected time. Education can give us the opportunity to harmonize the distances of time and space. In this sense the present research analyzes the institution of primogeniture in New Spain, which was designed to protect the assets and rights related to each other, a chain usufruct that the holder could not dispose of or sell. The "Mayorazgo de Salvatierra" (landholder of Salvatierra) was founded in 1607 and its legal existence ended in 1820, the Salvaterria’s creoles had a clear view of the economic power of primogeniture and it added significant value to the economy and culture, creating a social space essentially Salvatierra as a city-educator, where the population learned arts and crafts. It was constituted by a large amount of land and property, with mills and small factories where wheat, sugar and maize products were produced. It was also a place of prayer and devotion, with its chapel and patios where catechism to children and other community activities occurred. At present there are still significant traces of the original buildings, which makes us think and feel traces of what past lives entailed, not as a patrimonial usufruct used to control assets, but as an educational environment, which established institutions from within the community, Municipal Government and the University of Guanajuato. The results show that as a response to social demands, in recent decades the nearby area created institutions of secondary and higher education, including graduate studies. The House of Culture and the School of Music are located near the original buildings, which now houses a university social outreach center. It seems that the old spirit of primogeniture is still in force in a more humane way at the beginning of the XXI century, which is to convert communities into city-educators, bridging the informal and formal fields undoubtedly including ICT.

Keywords:

Education, ICT.