On the Assertion of Equality of Opportunity Upheld by the Federal Education Law: Comments on a Case

Abstract

Does equal opportunity in education actually exist, as proposed in our country in the statements of the Federal Education Law, Law 24195, April 14, 1993, Title II, Chapter I, Article 5, Paragraph f?

The objective of this paper is to open a discussion on this proposal by providing empirical information on a specific case.

The methodology follows the approach of analytical ethnography: the importance of recording the concrete details of practices and, at the same time, the presence of a theoretical function for constructing knowledge through the reading and interpretation of what is directly observed, “being there... knowing and understanding the actors...” (Geertz in Beatriz Calvo, 1992).

The results are presented through the discourse of E.G.B. school principals, who contributed their knowledge of the everyday life of schools.

By analyzing the complete web of exogenous and endogenous factors, it is possible to affirm, at least with regard to the school realities studied, that situations of social inequality and the unjust distribution of goods have a very significant impact on students’ learning and on the realization of the transformation that must take place in them through the process of education.

We therefore conclude, always with respect to the cases studied, by affirming the idea that school failure is not produced solely by the internal functioning of the system, but rather is the product of prevailing social patterns; that is, of the influence of factors arising from the broader socioeconomic context. Educational change makes sense as part of a broader process of socio-political change (J. C. Tedesco, 1986, p. 96).