Primary Education in Ecuador's Chota Valley: Reflections on Education and Social Reproduction in the Development Era [Paperback]

Kevin Lucas (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 15, 2000

academic

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Abstract:
In November 1998, the author arrived in Mascarilla, a small village in Ecuador's predominantly-black Chota Valley, to begin a six-month teaching assignment at the Escuela "Hernando Taquez" (the local primary school). Based both on his own observations and on the assessments offered by various former students, parents, community leaders, and Ecuadorean scholars, the author judges the educational performance of the Escuela "Hernando Taquez" to be grossly inadequate. Indeed, the various shortcomings attributed to the school (and documented as a case study in chapters two and three of this book) are so glaring that the author was led to question how such a dysfunctional school could be allowed to exist in a country where the government states that "to improve education is to improve the quality of life of Ecuador's people." Ultimately, the school's failure to provide quality education to its students forced the author to reconsider the true purpose of public education.

Indeed, why does the state provide public education? It is generally assumed that the state builds and supports public schools because it believes in the potential of education to affect great changes in society. Specifically, most government officials contend that public school systems are designed with two primary goals: to contribute to the state's socio-economic development through the creation of "human capital," and to preserve and promote national unity and democratic values. Reflecting on the poor performance of the Escuela "Hernando Taquez," the author (in chapter four) asks whether there might be a hidden agenda regarding the state's role in public education. Perhaps the state's rhetoric regarding the potential socio-economic and political benefits of public education is used to obscure the public school system's true purpose. Perhaps the state (acting as the representative of the dominant classes) provides public education in order to control oppressed groups, to ensure that they do not challenge the status quo, and ultimately to ensure the social reproduction of injustice and inequality.

The final chapter considers the relationship between education and development, and how the prevailing definition of development as economic development has often led to increased inequality and injustice. Proposing a new understanding of development based on humanist ideals, the author explores how public schools such as the Escuela "Hernando Taquez" could be transformed from the control mechanisms that they are, into the instruments of social justice that they could be.

Product Details

• Paperback: 168 pages
• Publisher: Dissertation.Com.; 1 edition (August 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1581121024
• ISBN-13: 978-1581121025
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,454,540 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)