of the 222 municipios in the State of Puebla, Mexico. From prehispanic times, Zacapoaxtla has been a "region de refugio" where groups of American Indians cluster, isolate themselves from the rest of the world, and maintain their cultural traditions insofar as the national economic and political organization permits. To the south of Zacapoaxtla is the village of Xalacapan, the largest and oldest village of the rutire municipio. Nahuat is still the most prevalent Indian language spoken. Yet, during the last decade, there has been a considerable reduction in the number of monolinguals in Indian languages and an increase of bilinguals in an Indian language and Spanish. The rural schools in the State of Puebla have a long history of interventions by civil and religious authorities concerned with the education of the Indians. From the revolution in the second decade of the 20th century, through the years of Cardenas' socialist regime, to the enthusiastic literacy campaigns of the 1940's there have been dramatic changes in the village life and in the school. This ethnographic study describes the rural school in the Nahuat village of Xalacapan in Zacapoaxtla. The school's history from 1893 through 1973 is discussed.