Puerto Vallarta, Mexico — A FEW years after retiring to this Pacific resort city, David Bender was bored with golf. His new hobby, the American decided, would be tackling Mexico's income inequality. He would do it by teaching English to Mexican children.
Never mind that Mexico didn't ask for his help. Or that the former advertising executive knew nothing about running a school. Bender saw working families hungry for affordable English-language instruction and a shot at upward mobility for their kids.
Credit a seasoned adman for knowing his market. Less than five years since its founding, \o7Colegio Mexico-Americano\f7 has become the largest school in Puerto Vallarta. The nonprofit's tuition is 70% cheaper than that of the city's priciest bilingual academy. Enrollment has grown to 1,135 students, with dozens on the waiting list.
Friends who thought Bender had gone off the deep end were right in one respect; the private institution boasts Puerto Vallarta's only Olympic-size swimming pool.
Not bad for a project that began in August 2002 with a few preschoolers learning their ABCs. It is vindication for Bender, a preacher's son who never lost faith when the current campus was a weed-choked vacant lot with no funding and plenty of doubters. "We saw a tremendous need," said the former Chicagoan, 71. "We are trying to build a middle class in Mexico."
Some might chafe at the notion of an American who speaks little Spanish presuming to remake Mexican society. But the school's enthusiastic reception here speaks of parents' desire for their kids to learn English in a town where most of the good jobs require it. It's also a testament to how badly government educators are failing many of Mexico's youths.
There are few developing nations with more to gain by teaching its citizens English. About 85% of Mexico's exports go to the U.S. Americans and Canadians comprise the majority of its international visitors. More than 400,000 Mexicans migrate illegally to the U.S. each year in search of work. The money these expatriates send home -- $23 billion last year alone -- is a pillar of Mexico's economy.
But while Latin nations such as Costa Rica and Chile have seized on English fluency as a key to their global competitiveness, Mexico has done little to prepare its youngsters. The state requires just three hours a week of English instruction for three years during Mexico's equivalent of junior high school, often by teachers who don't speak the language well.
