Women had been given the primary responsibility for raising children. That responsibility, Mujeres Libres argued, required that women educate themselves in order to raise their children properly. But it also required that women struggle to see that children had the best education possible.
Mujeres Libres' attitudes toward children were expressed almost as often through pictures as through words. Issue after issue of the journal contained pictures of children – playing, exploring, working; hopeful and sad; in schools or out in the world. The captions and articles that accompanied such pictures emphasized a number of characteristics of children that formed the basis of virtually all Mujeres Libres' programs in the field of education. Children were naturally enthusiastic and open, constantly taking in information from the world around them; adults (and especially teachers) ought to guard against doing anything to dull that youthful enthusiasm. Children were the hope of the future; they should never be made to feel ashamed of themselves or their bodies; they should be allowed to remain open to all points of view. Children should never be used for propaganda purposes: the vision of young children marching through streets in uniform – even those of workers' organizations – was an abomination. "Children cannot, and ought not, be either Catholics, socialists, communists, or libertarians. Children ought to be only what they are: children." Finally, a child's curiosity and adventurousness ought to be encouraged as much as possible. Rather than punishing a small child for breaking something valuable, adults should keep valuables in a place where children cannot reach them.
Mujeres Libres' philosophy of education drew on anarchist theory and practice, and was consistent with these views of childhood. Education ought to be viewed as a process of development and exploration, rather than as one of repressing a child's instincts and inculcating obedience and discipline. Children learn best when they feel good about themselves, others, and the world. The best education, therefore, would orient the child to the world, facilitating the child's learning from others and from his or her environment. Furthermore, it would engage children as fully as possible (taking advantage of all the senses), encouraging them to develop and value their own abilities as well as to cooperate with others. Education, that is, should be active, noncompetitive, and as nondirective as possible, relying heavily on children's natural curiosity.
Respecting children and educating them well was vitally important to the process of revolutionary social change. Ignorance made people particularly vulnerable to oppression and suffering. More importantly, education prepared people for social life. Authoritarian schools (or families) based on fear, prepared people to be submissive to an authoritarian government. Different schools would be necessary to prepare people to live in a society without domination.
Teachers would have to be specially trained to prepare children for a more egalitarian world. They would have to think of themselves as artists, able to spark creativity in others: "Let no one without imagination, without intuition, without inspiration become a teacher!" And these new teachers must be taught new principles of education: