By VINÍCIO CARRILHO MARTINEZ, LUCAS GAMA & SAMUEL CERQUEIRA MELO*
Even though education meets the requirements of its time, it cannot be reduced to the mechanistic discourse of economic development
“The education crisis in Brazil is not a crisis: it is a project”
(Darcy Ribeiro)
On the occasion of the approval of the legal regulations on the “new” secondary education project, in the Chamber of Deputies, we constructed a reflection based on the phrase (realistic sentence) by Darcy Ribeiro: “The crisis in education is not a crisis, it is a project ”.[I] In other words, it is a political project that makes public education always subject to systemic crises and, practically, unable to move away from this situation – especially if we think about quality, critical, secular, emancipatory education.
In this initial sense, we will say that there are countless ways to understand former senator Darcy Ribeiro's phrase; however, an unquestionable approach tells us that, in Brazil, what is done or not done in education is, without a shadow of a doubt, a set of actions (or inactions) that make up a political project. And what is this political project, claiming to care for the future of young people, but which is incapable of freeing itself from the weight of the past that limits and brutalizes us?
There is also a capitalist, reproductive, ableist and disinterested view of sociability – and many other readings between one field and another, as we have in the famous constitutional “triple helix” thesis.[ii] In comparison to this, there is an attempt at an answer, based on a half-correct thesis: this thesis says that society is within the school and, therefore, the school cannot change much. This is an interpretation that proposes to be materialist, but which is reductionist and mechanistic. Sociologically, it reproduces Émile Durkheim's functionalism, without anyone knowing it.
A simple binary, Manichaean evaluation would show that there is a possibility of reverse engineering this mechanized logic. And, thus, the school could go to society, with the critical training of young people and no longer “passive”.
It is also possible to understand this thesis based on organic relationships (as occurs with the metabolism itself “capital x State x society”) – and these relations would prove revealing. In other words, organically, the school (public education) both reflects the dusty backwardness, the resentment of the past, Fascism and the class struggle, and is an empowered warehouse of resistance.
The relationship between society (State) and education is a multi-way process, it is not just a “two-way”: there are advances towards the Civilization Process and there are setbacks; however, even in advances, disturbances can occur, and in setbacks, resistance actions can create confrontations and ruptures.
So, public education (public school) can and should be thought of as resistance and change, and not just, under reductionism, as “resistance to change”. 2015, in São Paulo, is historical, concrete and precise data for this organic analysis.
In fact, if the mechanized thesis were correct (after all, one wheel pulls the other), right now we would be teaching strange things about Brazilian society: (i) What to do to be a tyrannical populist? (ii) how to steal from the State and “launder money”? (iii) fascism is top; (iv) racism is widespread; (v) the future depends on the toxic male; (vi) become a millionaire with drugs.
Or, simply, we would be maintaining subjects in high school alerting us to surprising facts of reality, aware of the critical capacity that we deserve to see in those who seek knowledge – as is the case of one called “What’s going on out there?”. In particular, this subject was or is an active part of the so-called “training itineraries” of the “New high school”.[iii]
Lastly – and not least – another conclusion, very different from education on training wheels, tells us that: if public schools are militarized, permeated with religion, reproducing social crimes, it is because this is due to a political project; If the public school – combating social crimes – is of quality (integral), secular, libertarian, it is because it is due to a political project.
If there is financial education – notably for young people who have nothing to eat except lunch –, instead of sexual education, this is a political project. As much as it is a political project, not to give up the robotics kit, but to implement the teaching of sociology and philosophy, with emphasis on the classics and Brazilian social formation. Why not teach Spanish?
At the other extreme, we have ChatGPT's Artificial Intelligence (AI) producing a text about the “new” high school that, upon quick reading, resembles the legal device's own description – or would resemble an advertising piece.
ChatGPT AI production
The New Secondary Education in Brazil is an educational reform implemented with the aim of modernizing and making the teaching structure more flexible to better meet the needs and interests of students. Instituted by Law No. 13.415/2017, this change aims to promote more integrated and dynamic teaching, preparing young people for the challenges of the XNUMXst century.
Main characteristics of the New Secondary Education:
(a) Flexibility of the curriculum – one of the main changes is the flexibility of the curriculum. The new model allows students to choose areas of knowledge or technical and professional training according to their preferences and future aspirations. This is possible thanks to the creation of training itineraries, which are sets of subjects grouped by areas of interest, such as languages, mathematics, natural sciences, human sciences and technical and professional training.
(b) Expansion of course load – The total course load of High School was also increased. Previously, the minimum charge was 2.400 hours over the three years. With the New High School, this load increases to 3.000 hours, with 1.800 hours allocated to the National Common Curricular Base (BNCC) and the remaining 1.200 hours distributed among the training itineraries chosen by the students.
(c) Integration with the job market – New Secondary Education also seeks to bring young people closer to the job market, offering the possibility of technical and professional training during their school years. This is done through partnerships with technical education institutions and companies, allowing students to acquire practical and specific skills that facilitate their insertion into the professional world.
(d) Development of skills and abilities – The reform prioritizes the development of skills and abilities essential for life in society and the exercise of citizenship. The BNCC establishes the general skills that all students must develop, such as critical thinking, communication, problem solving, creativity, teamwork and socio-environmental responsibility.
(e) Implementation and challenges – the implementation of the New Secondary Education is gradual and faces several challenges, including the adaptation of schools, the training of teachers and the adequacy of teaching materials. Furthermore, it is necessary to ensure that all regions of the country are able to offer different training itinerary options, which requires investments in infrastructure and human resources.
ChatGPT AI Conclusion
The New High School in Brazil represents an important step in the search for a more relevant education that is connected to contemporary demands. By offering greater curricular flexibility, expanding the course load and integrating education into the job market, the reform has the potential to provide more complete training aligned with the interests of young people. However, for its objectives to be fully achieved, it is essential to face implementation challenges and ensure that all students, regardless of their location or socioeconomic status, have access to quality education.
our conclusion
The general, initial conclusion indicates the fact that the “new” secondary education – like the previous ones – is a political, societal project, which is based on the systemic crisis, surrounded by this crisis(s) without being be guided by the interest of its minimum resolution. The denial of citizenship, of critical, participatory and purposeful training, has not gone away - on the contrary, in a certain sense, it has worsened, if we think that the Robotics Kit is a placebo of modernity, especially when we reflect on the depth that a discipline , a set of disciplines (aimed at the 21st century), would take the form, for example, of digital/environmental Education. After all, these are the serious questions that “go around”.
In this context, it is understood that even though education meets the requirements of its time, it cannot be reduced to the mechanistic discourse of economic development. This means that critical education needs to be faced as one of the founding pillars of this ecosystem – expanding the social, cultural and political dimension of the participants, engendering possibilities to modify themselves and the world that is formed around them.
*Vinicio Carrilho Martinez He is a professor at the Department of Education at UFSCar. Author, among other books, of Bolsonarism. Some Political-Legal and Psychosocial Aspects (APGIQ). [https://amzn.to/4aBmwH6]
*Lucas Gama He has a PhD from the Postgraduate Program in Chemical Engineering at UFSCar.
*Samuel Cerqueira Melo is a master's student in Science, Technology and Society at UFSCar.
Reference
DURKHEIM, Émile. Education as a socializing process: homogenizing function and differentiating function. In: Foracchi, Marialice M. (org). Education and Society. Sao Paulo: Companhia Editora Nacional, 1979.
Notes
[I] https://noticias.unb.br/artigos-main/6081-a-crise-da-educacao-no-brasil-nao-e-uma-crise-e-projeto.
[ii] Federal Constitution (Art. 218) “The State will promote and encourage scientific development, research, scientific and technological training and innovation”.
§ 1 – Basic scientific research will receive priority treatment from the State, with a view to the public good and the progress of science.
§ 1 Basic scientific and technological research will receive priority treatment from the State, with a view to the public good and the progress of science, technology and innovation.
§ 2 Technological research will focus predominantly on solving Brazilian problems and developing the national and regional production system.
§ 3 The State will support the training of human resources in the areas of science, research and technology, and will grant those who work in them special means and working conditions.
§ 3 The State will support the training of human resources in the areas of science, research, technology and innovation, including through support for technological extension activities, and will grant those involved in them special means and working conditions.
§ 4 The law will support and encourage companies that invest in research, creation of technology suitable for the country, training and improvement of their human resources and that practice remuneration systems that ensure the employee, independent of salary, participation in the economic gains resulting from productivity of your work.
§ 5 The States and the Federal District are entitled to link part of their budgetary revenue to public entities that promote teaching and scientific and technological research.
§ 6º The State, in carrying out the activities foreseen in the caput, will encourage coordination between entities, both public and private, in the different spheres of government.
§ 7 The State will promote and encourage the activities abroad of public institutions of science, technology and innovation, with a view to carrying out the activities foreseen in the caput”.
[iii] https://www.terra.com.br/noticias/educacao/camara-aprova-versao-final-da-proposta-do-novo-ensino-medio-veja-o-que-muda,3218a12be97db9c60e87372d6c2853732ygysgnw.html#.
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