Compromisos are an essential part of the daily life of Mexican schools, one of these things the teachers and students of schools here take for granted. Because we grow up with them, because they are a part of how we define schools, we often don't see clearly those things that are extraordinary about our cultures way of educating children. When I grew up in the United States, every elementary school classroom in our public school had a piano, and most of my teachers could bang out a few notes on it. Our day would often begin with a series of songs. I never thought about this much before, but it is quite amazing to start every day singing songs with your teachers and your classmates. It's simply one of those things I never paid much attention to.
Compromisos in Mexico have that same taken-for-granted quality. It's just part of how things work. Compromiso roughly translates to "promises." At the beginning of the school year, the students have a conversation about what they promise to each other, to the school, and to the teacher. They collaboratively develop a list of the compromisos, every student signs them, and they are posted in the classroom.
What strikes me is how different they are than the typical rules that teachers tell their students on the first day, "Keep your hands to yourselves" etc. The compromisos are much more gentle, they are a way of defining what the ideal community might look like, viewed through the eyes of a child. They are a vision of a utopia we might reach as a little society.
Note: I first heard about Compromisos from Professor James McLaughlin from Florida Atlantic University. Professor McLaughlin has spent many years in Mexico, observing classrooms around the country, and bringing teachers from the United States to exchange teaching practices with Mexican teachers.