Mr. Emil Krafft 1936 – 1946
Fortunately the school reopened a year and a half later when, at Miss Walsh’s request, 27 year old Emil Alfred Krafft bought the school and became its director. Mr. Krafft was born in Hawaii where at the age of seven he had lost the use of his legs after falling from a tree. He had studied with private tutors before going on to excel in business and law schools in San Francisco. He came to Guadalajara with his family in 1930. When he took charge of the American School there were about 40 students, though numbers grew significantly as news spread of the quality of teaching and administration at the school.
In 1939 the American School found it necessary to move to a larger building to accommodate growing student numbers. The 1943 Tapatiotl yearbook describes the move thus: “A sudden increase in interest on the part of residents of Guadalajara, due to better Mexican-American relations, made larger and more suitable quarters necessary to take care of the large number of new pupils seeking admission to the school. Avenida de la Paz no. 275 saw 10 classrooms, a laboratory, and a gymnasium handle an average of 250 pupils annually. A staff of 11 teachers for the English department took care of the Grammar and High schools; 11 teachers gave instruction in Spanish.”
The campus on La Paz took up an entire block, a total of 9000 square meters. The 1942 school Catalogue and Prospectus described the school’s location as the block “between Av. de la Paz and Av. Bosque from north to south, and Calles 42A and 42B from east to west.” Part of the land was given over to orchards and former student Mirielle Ortega remembers that students were forbidden from entering the orchard area behind the school. There were several interior courtyards in addition to the gardens, which were used for the separate recess areas for girls and boys beginning in fifth grade. According to former student Sergio Velázquez, there was also an entrance on the side street, now Nuño de Guzmán.
The English and Spanish programs were kept separate with English classes taught in the morning and Spanish classes in the afternoon. Many students took one of the two school buses home for lunch between morning and afternoon sessions. The English program consisted of grammar school from first to eighth grade. The high school offered an American high school curriculum with approval and validation by the SEP. The Spanish primary program, also SEP approved, was initiated in 1938 and included first through sixth grade, after which students entered the secondary Spanish program. On completing the secondary program students had the option of receiving training to become a bilingual secretary through the Commercial program. In 1938 the school also opened its doors to students who had no previous knowledge of English. Gretchen Vazquez, Emil Krafft’s sister, was responsible for teaching intensive English classes each morning to students of all ages. Programs at all levels of the school were based on the California educational system. Thus in 1942 there were four separate staffs under superintendent Emil Krafft: the high school/Commercial program with Jon Brille as principal had eight instructors while the grammar school had eight teachers led by Gretchen Krafft de Vazquez. The Spanish secondary program had eight instructors with Mercedes Loreto as principal, while Hildeliza Gómez was principal of the six teachers in the Spanish primary program. 1942 was also the year that saw the first group of seniors graduating as well as the publication of the first school yearbook, The Tapatiotl.
All those who remember the school at that time comment on the outstanding reputation that the educators carried, not only within the school but also throughout the community. Alfredo Bauche taught history, literature, and Spanish in the secondary school while his friend and business associate Ernesto Gómez Ibarra taught geography and civics. Both were also respected lawyers in the city. Mercedes Loreto was considered a magnificent teacher of mathematics, while the teaching talents of Hildeliza Gómez were renowned throughout Jalisco. Miss Amelia Bell was famous for the pageants and extravaganzas she would choreograph to celebrate festive occasions in which many of the students would participate.
Expansion was so rapid that within four years the school had outgrown its Avenida De La Paz location and in 1943 it moved to Avenida Vallarta 1901, an eye-catching Art Deco style edifice where students were to find that “23 airy and well-lighted classrooms have been equipped to allow the school to rank among the most modern educational facilities in the Republic.” Originally the building exterior was white and the doors red. The American School rented the whole house except for one apartment. Students played volleyball and did exercises on the patio.
Since Mr. Krafft took over the school there had been great emphasis on sports. The sports program for both girls and boys included basketball, volleyball, badminton, softball, swimming, and tennis. The highly successful girls’ volleyball team won the Jalisco state championships in both 1942 and 1944. Several of the team members were later selected to play in the Central American and Caribbean Games (now known as the Pan-American games). In 1943 Emil Krafft and Henry Cain, director of the American School of Mexico City, organized the first athletic competitions between the two schools which included volleyball, basketball, softball, and swimming events. These competitions expanded into what is today ASOMEX (American Schools of Mexico).
Many things were different about being at the American School in the 1940s…
- Most boys left to study high school elsewhere so they could get into a Mexican university
- Often students would be in two grade levels simultaneously (i.e. seventh grade in Spanish, sixth grade in English)
- School administrators would occasionally host afternoon tea at their home for the students
- There was a formal breakfast held before the graduation ceremony
- Students would perform a musical at the Degollado Theater every Christmas
- The American School participated in the parades held downtown on national and state holidays
Some traditions that have not changed since the 1940s…
- Athletic competitions with other American Schools in Mexico
- A yearbook and a student newspaper (The Student Voice) were published
- Annual Easter egg hunts held for younger students
The years of Mr. Krafft’s ownership of the school were again turbulent ones in Mexico and throughout the world. President Lázaro Cardenas encouraged the growth of industry which brought many workers to the factories of Guadalajara. Then in 1938 the government expropriated Mexican oil wells that were being run by foreign companies and announced the nationalization of all oil production in Mexico. This caused outrage in countries which had company investments in the production of Mexican oil. However the coming of World War II strengthened ties between Mexico and the United States as leaders grew mindful of the growing threat in Europe. In May 1942 Mexico entered World War II after German submarines in the Gulf of Mexico torpedoed and sank two Mexican tankers. Mexico supported the war effort by patrolling the coastline, by sending an Air Force squadron to take part in the final attack on Japan and by providing much needed minerals for the United States’ war effort. The Mexican economy received a huge boost during the war years though many everyday items were in short supply.
At the American School, according to alumni Beatriz Soto, the students felt some of the effects of the war. They saw it on newsreels, heard about it on the radio, and noticed that there seemed to be less money, fewer things to buy in the stores, and a scarcity of gasoline. The 1945 Tapatiotl yearbook reported that due to the shortage of paper very few copies of the student newspaper The Student Voice could be printed that year. Alumni Martha Farah reported that although life continued as normal, people were aware of the war and were worried about its possible outcome. Maria Teresa Rodríguez remembers Mr. Krafft summoning everyone to the main school patio to announce the bombing of Pearl Harbor, saying “Today we are witnesses to history. America will now enter the war.”
In 1942 the city of Guadalajara celebrated its 400th birthday. President Avila Camacho attended ceremonies and witnessed a parade that included students from the American School led by its victorious volleyball team. To mark the occasion, the city built the triumphal arch, Los Arcos, at the end of Avenida Vallarta at what were then the city limits. American School students were able to see President Avila Camacho for themselves when he visited Guadalajara again in 1944. His entourage traveled along Avenida Vallarta, passing in front of the school from where former student Daniel Renteria remembers watching the procession.
In February 1946 Mr. Krafft traveled to Mexico City to undergo surgery to restore the use of his legs. Sadly he did not survive the operation. The shock to the staff and students alike was immense. He had been a universally admired individual and an inspirational leader of the school. The seniors who graduated that summer dedicated the yearbook to him and included his photograph in their group graduation photo. With his passing, some families left the school fearing it would never be the same without Mr. Krafft’s leadership.
His sister, Gretchen Vazquez, ran the school for the remainder of the year and then sold it to J. M. Domínguez who managed the school for two years. According to the owner of the building, Benjamin Lozano Agraz, Mr. Domínguez lived in an apartment in the Avenida Vallarta school building. In order to improve the physical education program Mr. Domínguez hired Modesto C. Careaga who led the school’s sports teams to success on numerous occasions.
At some point in the late 1940s, a rival American school was opened on the corner of La Paz and Simon Bolivar. In order to avoid confusion, the new school was called the Nuevo Colegio Americano while the original American School was referred to as the Antiguo Colegio Americano. This name can be seen stamped on the back of graduation tickets from 1949 and on the front of the new building into which the school moved.
Life in Mexico at the Time
Luis Barragán builds several houses in Guadalajara
José Clemente Orozco paints murals at the Instituto Cabañas
First tourist flights to Acapulco
Radio and movies are the principal means of entertainment
1936 First stop light installed on Avenida 16 de Septiembre
1940 Leon Trotsky murdered in Mexico
1942 Mexico declares war on Japan and Germany
1943 Paricutín volcano first erupts in Michoacán
Mexican population: 19 million (15 million of which live in rural areas)
Guadalajara covers 2000 hectares, population 229,000 |
World Events of 1936-1946
1936 Civil War in Spain, oil found in Saudi Arabia,
China declares war on Japan
1939 World War II breaks out in Europe
1941 Pearl Harbor is attacked
1942 The Holocaust begins
1945 World War II ends with 51 million dead
US population: 127 million |
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