Universal education was the most successful project in history but today, its ailments have caused many to wonder if the enlightened project has died of success and what we can do to save it. J uan Manuel Moreno (Madrid, 1961) and Lucas Gortazar (Bilbao, 1986) carry out in their essay ‘Universal Education’ (Debate), a diagnosis of the educational evils that plague the world, with a special stop in Spain, and which starts from a great paradox: the greater the equality of opportunities, the greater the inequality of results. Or, put another way, if the Olympic marathon is run by a hundred people, there will be less difference between first and last than if the entire city of New York runs it. Moreno is a professor of Didactics and School Organization at the National Distance University (UNED) and dedicated two decades to education at the World Bank and Gortazar is director of the Education Area of the Center for Economic Policies of ESADE, as well as a consultant in the department of Education, also at the World Bank. We asked them about some of the concepts and challenges they raise in their book, such as the crisis of meritocracy, the challenges brought by the demographic winter, the role of global educational elites, identitarianism in teaching or the degree bubble.— They say in their book that meritocracy has become right-wing.—Meritocracy changes sides at the moment when a part of the left considers that it perpetuates privileges through other means and that it is a purchased system where there is no equal opportunity real. They believe that merit – with some reason – is conditioned by the influence of genes or zip code and is no longer useful to them. In this context, the right, in an intelligent and somewhat self-serving maneuver, discursively appropriates meritocracy. 70 years ago it was unthinkable that a conservative government would talk about merit as something that represented them. However, the current left has forgotten that merit has never ceased to be that which allows the lower classes to overcome their home disadvantage or their birth disadvantage. We say, simplifying, that meritocracy has become right-wing, since it is the parties of this sign that defend it most emphatically with the tagline of effort. Of course, it is a regime that is somewhat out of touch, but the alternatives are the same as the radical alternatives to democracy: very dubious and unpromising. —On the other hand, identitarianisms have become left-wing. —Just as there are financial bubbles, there is an identity bubble in which merit has been replaced by identity pride. It is curious because, returning to the previous thing, merit, which was a very left-wing thing, is now very right-wing, and identity pride, which was very right-wing, is now also very left-wing. The consensus in politics is about an unstoppable fragmentation of identities placed, furthermore, as proof of the cotton of equality in education. But, contrary to what it intends, this identitarianism ends up leading to new types of inequality. In fact, with more forms of inequality, since everything that is common is reducing in size, there are no longer collective menus and we are moving towards à la carte restaurants for more and more groups.—They also allude to another bubble: that of credentials .— Credentialism occurs when there is a gap between what is learned and what is verified through credentials, diplomas. The gap is growing and sometimes it is an abyss so, in this system, these diplomas are worth less and less. The consensus that has long existed between labor market employers and educational institutions has been broken. Now you have to do a lot more research before hiring someone. «The problem of the Selectivity is not the excess of passes, but of high grades»—The Selectivity makes the headlines today, is it an example of credentialism?—The competition we have in Selectivity for the highest grades is understandable to a certain extent taking into account the reward of being able to study careers such as Mathematics or Medicine. After the 2008 crisis, many families realize the importance of choosing the right degree, since we have ‘suffered’ from a phenomenon of overqualification. There has been an increase in the competition effect at PAU and also grade inflation due to an erratic legislative agenda since 2010. The risk is that great academic opportunities are decided in hundredths between 13 and 14. We have proof that it is equalizing from above and which is a bit the opposite of what we propose in the book. It is not so much the problem of excessive passing grades, but rather an excess of very high grades. —Without leaving Spain, do we give excessive weight to reports like PISA?—In Spain we oversize PISA and its results because we do not have our own evaluation system with a face and eyes sustained over time. His contribution is enormous, as he has stopped triumphalist and also apocalyptic speeches. But despite PISA, those speeches continue to appear. What is true is that it is not going to give you the keys to what you have to do in educational centers, to the specific policies to apply.JOSÉ RAMÓN LADRA— The demographic winter is one of the challenges they face the classrooms of the future. Will resources per child increase?—With fewer students, it is likely that there will be governments that will save part of the education bill and invest it in paying pensions. The paradox is that this demographic winter that is also felt in regions of the world that are not as rich as Latin America will not necessarily come with better ratios and better teachers, but on the contrary, it may be accompanied by a winter in the recruitment of teachers. , in a profession that will become less and less attractive. —Why are the elites interested in improving the educational level?—Although it sounds contradictory, there are many elites in the world right now. The elite that we try to portray in the book is the global educational elite, we are talking about Silicon Valley and much beyond. This elite is not rentier, but rather works hard and has come to the conclusion that rampant inequality is not only bad for security or social justice, but it is bad for their business and their interests. Many are investing large amounts of money in education, not just Bill Gates or Elon Musk. The reason? Favors your business.
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