By ANTONIO SIMPLICIO DE ALMEIDA NETO*
Far beyond the “ideological apparatus of the state”, in the current situation, as we know, “education” has itself become a commodity that moves a large volume of capital
Let us take an assertion from André Chervel: “The problem of the purposes of the school is certainly one of the most complex and subtle with which the history of education is confronted. (…) The set of these purposes gives the school its educational function. School subjects are at the center of this device.”[I]
At different historical moments, the most different purposes attributed to school are observed, such as training for work, moral and religious training, socio-educational, psychological, diverse cultural, guardianship, civics, etc. They are all equally imperative, at varying levels of priority, depending on the disputes between the social groups that operate this intricate game.
This is how, for example, we observe in São Paulo, among other states, the creation of civic-military (public) schools aimed at “regions of greatest vulnerability”, with the objective of “confronting violence and promoting a culture of peace in the school environment.”[ii]. The recipe is simple and practical: for the dangerous classes, precarious workers, military discipline and civility. Likewise, there are those who defend religious education (in public and secular schools) as a way of cultivating values and morals, whatever that means.
The information contained in the documents of the recent curricular reform of basic education – National Common Curricular Base and New Secondary Education – leaves no doubt as to the current purposes attributed to the school by the dominant classes in the intense clashes established, which simulate consensus: (a) understanding that there must be a national curriculum, diluting local differences and specificities; (b) the grouping of curricular components (which are different from school subjects!) by areas of knowledge in high school, disregarding the epistemological differences of the reference sciences.
(c) The exclusion of the History subject from High School, inserted in the large and ill-defined area of Applied Human and Social Sciences, a mess that mixes history, sociology, philosophy and geography; (d) the adoption of a pedagogical-business lexicon, with the intention of inventing concepts, such as “life project”, “entrepreneurship” and “training paths”, which barely disguise the objectives of strict professional training for students from the precarious working class, the precariat, as well as their self-responsibility for the eventual success or failure of their own trajectory and e) the generalist training of teachers who will work in basic education.
Considering that the dominant classes do not renounce the solid training of their children (and their children's teachers...), which in Brazil occurs in elite private schools and, in part, in institutions outside the country, it is not difficult to see who is intended for the purposes mentioned above. Now, for the precarious working mass, which includes chunks of the ignorant middle class, certain knowledge became dispensable, because, let's face it, topics such as the Renaissance, the Vargas Period, Industrialization Processes, Indigenous, African and Afro-Brazilian Culture and History, among others, they are absolutely useless if the aim is to train individuals to meet market demands, whether as precarious workers or as mere consumers.
It's the game played. It is the game of curricular disputes in which different social groups move and act with the weapons at their disposal. It is a game of asymmetrical relationships that corresponds to the correlation of forces in society, in which hidden interests, obscure rules, cheating and… business$, lots of business$$…
Far beyond the “ideological apparatus of the state”, in the current situation, as we know, “education” has itself become a commodity that moves a large volume of capital (national and foreign),[iii] with multiple branches in private basic education schools (from kindergarten to high school), education systems, franchises, private colleges and universities, teacher training courses, production of teaching material (textbooks, handouts, games), consultancies, refresher and training courses, preparatory courses, language schools, platforms and applications, educational TV channels, publishers, etc.
In this game it is evident that the definition of the school curriculum, in its multiple aspects, is a central element of business architecture. The case of the recent platformization of education by the governments of Paraná (Rato Jr./Feder) and São Paulo (Tarcísio/Feder) is the most notorious and shocking example of this situation that is plaguing public schools at the present time.
Thus, if the premise that school subjects correspond to the purposes attributed to school by society is correct, as André Chervel maintained, it can only be concluded that the subject History – as well as sociology, philosophy and geography –, its contents and its epistemology they have become useless and unnecessary, which is verified by their exclusion, purely and simply, or by giving way to the new alien “disciplines” mentioned above (life project and entrepreneurship).
It is still surprising, however, when one notices, not without apprehension, that some educators, researchers and historians, including those in the field of History teaching, capitulate so easily in the face of the “new” purposes announced for school, which result in the unprecedented uselessness of historical knowledge and of critical thinking. And they are already preparing webinars, workshops, seminars, workshops, training, in line with the novelty taste of the brand new market, to discuss the “challenges in renewing teacher training”. It's the end, after all!
*Antonio Simplicio de Almeida Neto is a professor at the Department of History at the Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP). Author, among other books, of Utopian representations in history teaching (Ed. Unifesp). [https://amzn.to/4bYIdly]
Notes
[I] CHERVEL, André. History of school subjects: reflections on a field of research. in Theory & Education. 2, 1990, pp 187-188.
[ii] https://www.educacao.sp.gov.br/programa-escola-civico-militar-proposto-pelo-governo-e-aprovado-pela-alesp/
[iii] I draw your attention to the figures traded by some of these education companies on the stock exchange: https://expressaopopular.com.br/livraria/a-educacao-brasileira-na-bolsa-de-valores-impactos-da-pandemia-e-do-capital-disponivel-apenas-em-pdf/.
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