Why school? The question still torments and guides educators’ debates. One month after the massacre that killed students, staff and managers at the Raul Brasil school, in Suzano, teachers from the Faculty of Education (FE) at Unicamp promoted an open event to discuss youth, school and violence.
In two shifts, afternoon and night, researchers in the area presented data, reflections and questions about the meaning of school for young Brazilians, especially those who use public education. Furthermore, they promoted a debate on civility, solidarity, life perspectives and discipline.
Telma Vinha, FE teacher, opened the first round table with considerations about the lack or inefficiency of policies for good coexistence in schools. She highlighted that many schools are not what they should be: a space for welcoming and educating young people, today bombarded by a series of difficulties.
Often, he highlighted, school is the only public institution that these young people attend and they find very precarious conditions that encourage a negative climate such as broken bathrooms, very hot rooms, lack of spaces for coexistence and expression. Teachers have not received training to deal with conflicts and the rules imposed do not have much meaning for students. The teaching and learning process is mechanistic and disconnected from the student's reality, considered the speaker.
Added to this school model is the most recent "rupture of the civilizing pact" in Brazilian society, with the legitimization of the use of violence to resolve conflicts. Telma Vinha also reflected on the clamor of a certain wing of society for the militarization of schools. She said the police are necessary to protect people in the most vulnerable areas, but they do not discipline students.
“We have to act in search of a positive meaning for the school. The school has to be more receptive, aggregating and connected with reality. It can indeed be a privileged space for positive coexistence where young people will learn dialogue and socially important values,” she said. Differentiating conflicts, not outsourcing problems, dealing with incivility are the roles of the school, educators and not parents or the police, as the teacher highlighted.
Victims and suspects
Sociologist Helena Abramo also participated in the round table and delved deeper into youth issues beyond the school environment. She highlighted that young people today, especially black and poor people, are the main victims of homicides and accidents. “They have a life experience crossed by different levels of violence.” At the same time, they are the main suspects.
She reiterated that school is one of the few spaces for relationships with the state that young people know. “Brazilian youth have not yet become subjects of public policies,” she stated. The sociologist drew attention to the problem of mental suffering, depression and data on suicide in this population.
Another issue highlighted was the increased isolation of young people who spend much more time in the virtual environment than recommended. In any case, Helena highlighted that solutions are not being provided and not just by the school. “There is no possibility of local resolutions to the problem of violence. Society needs to be able to think of solutions beyond the control of young people.”
Public place
The event was coordinated by professor Nora Krawczyk, from the FE Research Group on Educational Policy, Education and Society (GPPES). For the professor, Brazilian youth, like society as a whole, is involved in a process of great competition and uncertainty. “Violence is being placed as a banner of honor. A good person becomes a violent person who does not seek solidarity and dialogue.”
Public schools have problems, but, according to the researcher, from an institutional point of view, the education system was democratized a considerably short time ago compared to other countries. “Public schools, before the 1980s, were only accessible to an elite. It began to democratize in the 1980s and we cannot compare ourselves with countries that democratized education much longer ago. What has been done since then has been enormous. We have universal primary education and almost 70% of young people are in school. Dropout and repetition have decreased,” she pointed out.
Nora Krawczyk states that public schools are threatened by an education market that benefits from their fragility and are also threatened as public spaces. “What is currently being attacked is the public space that is at the service of society as a whole. No one can prohibit anyone from going to a square or a school.”.
