October 2003

World View

Mexican University Students
By Rick Jenkins, missionary to university students in Guadalajara, Mexico

They call themselves “students.” If you ask them who they are, they will tell you, “I am a student at the University of Guadalajara in Political Science (or whatever campus they are a part of).” Their dress is different, their language could be considered a dialect in that they use different words to describe emotions, i.e. “Sale vale.” and they use language that pertains to their studies and interests.

New Middle Class

Most students are first generation educational adventurers. Their parents may have attended secondaria (secondary school) and worked their whole life either for, or in the shadow of, a family business. Some are the first people from their village to get an education higher than secondaria. Because of the changing economy and social situations the children have been motivated to proceed to the university and seek employment with an established company not owned by family members. This is where more opportunities are available.

The influx of young people attending university has created a diverse thinking process and a new middle class in society. Students are more prone to question authority and tradition, often a source of conflict within the family. The issue is that their worldview as been changed to the point that they do not think the same way as their parents think.

The new middle class of Mexico is increasing very rapidly. There seems to be two new classes of Mexican culture, the factory worker and the middle class management group. Students know that education will play a pivotal part in job advancement. Students have to strive toward certain standards because their new work usually is not found in a family oriented job market. This new job market pays more and is available only to university graduates. The other new aspect is a dependence upon friends to find you a job at the company where they are working. The dependence for these jobs is turning toward the friendship factor rather than the old line of depending on family members. This new and rapidly growing Middle Class will continue to grow at an exponential rate for at least the next fifteen to forty years.

University social life

The social organization on a university campus is built around two spheres. One is their class/major and the other is loosely based on friendships of common interest. A student enters the university and is put into a class, called a “generación.” He will be with this group of thirty plus students until he graduates. The class will stay intact except in case of dropouts, etc. The class that starts together is by in large the same grouping that will graduate together. In the “freshmen” class there may be as many as 20 classes in one major.

The friendship factor revolves around politics (which is very prevalent, actually pushed upon them by the select few politically active students on campus) and general interests, i.e. sports, parental level in society (as perceived in clothing and cars), computer skills, and evangelical church affiliation, etc.

To do anything of an evangelistic nature on a campus, you first have to find sponsorship from one of the student political parties. They then are your advocates before the administration. From there certain guidelines are set up for the group to follow. These are the formal gatekeepers of the organized events. We have found friends of Christians on campus that are willing for us to come with North American students, and work under their sponsorship. Once on campus, the party sponsorship is envied, because this party brought North American students on campus. Other parties are then asking how they may sponsor similar events with the group.

Sexuality

Sexuality is an area that is holding onto the old as well as being "liberated" by the new. The parents of students probably married when they were in their late teens or early twenties. Students are putting off marriage until their late twenties and sometimes into their early thirties. They probably have more sexual partners than their parents. While their fathers accepted promiscuity, it was never spoken of, and the females were governed by a double standard. Now the women are less “virtuous” in this area. It is not uncommon for male students on their eighteenth birthday to be taken to a prostitute by their father to be given their first sexual experience. The more open promiscuity and the Church being silent and frowning on birth control has opened the doors for AIDS and more children being raised by single mothers and their families. Also, because of the macho attitude, if you have not had a heterosexual experience by your time in the university you may be suspected of being homosexual. Unfortunately some have allowed this to question their own sexual orientation and have opened themselves up to this lifestyle.

Music

Students are leaning more toward using music to express their heart-language. The unusual aspect concerning this art form is that they are the mostly bi-lingual. They aren't sure what all the words mean, but they know that it expresses their love, loneliness or anger. The sold out crowds to concerts by North American groups and artists is evidence of this. This is also expressed in the number of artists that are recording in Spanish, using phonetics, i.e.- Madonna, Back Street Boys and Celine Dion to name a few. Their researchers must know something for them to invest the money into translating Spanish lyrics for their popular songs. The radio stations aiming at students use North American artists almost exclusively. This is also creating a bit of a dichotomy with the old music style and the new. Playing the guitar is of importance to many students. Their style are the old ballads and this is in conflict with their listening preference. The new style is not as playable but is enjoyable to listen to. Keyboard playing is now taking a new importance with students. Also in the aspect of music, discos are a very important part of university student life. Discos are packed out mainly by students, because they have the money, apx. 80 peso entrance fee and it is a meeting place for late nights. It is not uncommon to be there until 5:00 a.m.

Religious background

A given is that the overwhelming majority of students are from a Catholic background but they are not as devout as their grandparents, nor parents. They have a more ambiguous attitude towards the images and the saints. As one student told me when I asked her if she believed the story of the Virgin of Guadeloupe was true, “I don't know if it is true, but I believe it.” This would never have been said by a Mexican Catholic of past generations. This segment is more cosmopolitan about religion than youth that live in the villages or that work in family businesses, where parents have much more of a say about their attendance to mass. Most students experience in church usually is limited to confirmation, attendance at mass on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, and relics in the house. It was interesting when I asked a group of students, “what are you looking for in church?” They replied they wanted something on the supernatural basis yet usable daily. This reflects the want for magic that has been handed down by family and legend and yet they want a difference in the way they live from day to day. The point was that the Catholic church had not offered them either. In talking with one student, he told me that his religion was materialism. He wanted to do whatever he had to do to get ahead. Catholicism was his background but materialism was his religion. That is probably indicative of most of the student's worldview.

They still have a reverence toward Jesus and Mary. They have an eclectic theology that reveres the image but does not know much from the Bible. Their priority of recognizing spiritual truth is first; opinion and second; tradition. The Bible is a source of confusion for them. They may have one at home that is the family Bible, but it is not something to be studied.

At this point, Mexican students are an unreached people group. Less than one and a half percent of students in this region identified themselves as evangelical. They have not been given wide access to the Gospel relevant to their worldview. Churches are not reaching them because they do not understand their “language.” They are, for the most part, geared toward older adults who have fewer questions and a more traditional Mexican worldview, or toward the young children of those adults. The more aggressive Pentecostal churches are reaching youth who are looking for quick, ready answers found in “power evangelism,” but the more skeptical university student culture has not found a relevancy in that approach. There is a lack of spiritual depth that appeals to the intellect as well. The university student segment of the Mexican population is a segment that is not being reached. The investment with this segment is that the students will be looking for an evangelical church that matches their worldview in the years ahead, but still has a sense of community found in the traditional churches.