THE MORAL CONSTRUCTION OF STUDENT RIGHTS - DISCOURSE AND JUDGMENT AMONG MEXICAN SECONDARY-SCHOOL STUDENTS

This article describes the different forms of students' moral discours e at a Mexican secondary school, paying special attention to their jud gments about teachers' arbitrary use of authority, pedagogical formali ty, and favoritism. The article then analyzes the historical and cultu ral roots of this discourse. Taking issue with situationist and organi zational explanations of pupil resistance, the author argues that to f ully understand student's moral discourse at this school, one must exa mine the historical changes in local social relations and recently eme rgent cultural conceptions of ''rights'' that inform this discourse.