Years of inconsistent public education policies, combined with market opportunism, have turned Brazilian education into a rather unintelligent machine. Amid layer upon layer of trivialities and rhetoric that never move beyond the realm of imagination, the school often resembles a coat hanger that has disappeared beneath the weight of all the clothes hanging from it and piled on top of it. Students leave poorly educated and, generally, frustrated.

Basic questions such as “Who does school serve?” or “What is its role in the contemporary world?” should be brought to our attention fairly often; otherwise, the very pace of societal change causes us to lose sight of the big picture. After all, without that perspective, it is impossible to get anywhere—just like a pilot who has no map and flies solely based on real-time information.

If we think of the school as an onion and try to peel away the layers of unnecessary trappings—from bureaucracy to so-called necessities—what would we be left with? Layer after layer peeled away, three pillars would remain: the student, the teacher, and the administrator. Even so, we can go deeper if we consider for whom the school was created. We would arrive at the students alone—the very subjects of education.

What do they think of the school designed for them? Little is known, except for rare surveys conducted by research institutes and foundations. Active listening and student participation—ever since the disastrous British Summerhill experiment in the 1970s—send shivers down the spines of many administrators and are sometimes restricted to student councils (important bodies) or institutions that call themselves “democratic.” It’s no wonder that many schools are cold, adult-dominated environments attended by children and young people.

See also:

• Public Education Takes a More Prominent Role at Bett Brasil
• Basic Education Conference: Panels Explore Current and Future Trends in Education
• Check out the Bett Brasil 2024 schedule and register

You don’t have to look very far to see the connection between educational quality and an active voice within the school community. As early as the beginning of the 2010s, UNICEF studies (such as Aprova Brasil) established a direct link between institutions that had mechanisms for listening to their students and those that ranked highest in MEC (Ministry of Education) assessments. The Ruth Cardoso Center, for its part, created a sort of festival showcasing school-based solutions developed by students: student-run radio stations and spaces for peer-to-peer knowledge exchange were the most common outcomes.

In the area of high school education, thanks to surveys conducted by “Todos pela Educação,” it was found that 98% of students agree (fully or partially) that there should be educational programs geared toward the job market, and that 92% agree (fully or partially) that they should be able to choose areas in which to further their studies.

School dropout rates, which currently stand at nearly 10 million young people in Brazil, strongly suggest that the educational environment is out of step with those who should be attending school. According to the Roberto Marinho Foundation, 73% of these young people would be willing to return to school. Many of them cite difficulties in balancing their studies with the need to work; others perceive a disconnect between these two worlds. 

In an era when companies have open channels for listening to consumers—and use that feedback to refine their products—it is finally time for us to find out what our students think, in a systematic and robust way. Only coordinated efforts among governments, the private sector, and civil society will be able to resolve this issue. That is why Bett Brasil’s creation of a space for students to speak and be heard is a fundamental step toward establishing a new culture of participation.

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*This text does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bett Brasil.