The dispute regarding the curriculum in Mexico

• In Event: The case of education in Mexico through empirical research

Proposal

Jürgen Habermas explored the complex relationships of research with different conceptions of human interests, change projects and modes of reflection that organize social science practices (Herrero, 1986). Perhaps this approach will help to understand the connection between politics and the proposal for a new Curricular framework for basic education 2022 that the Mexican Ministry of Public Education (SEP) published in three working documents (Dirección General de Desarrollo Curricular, 2022a, 2022b, 2022c). It seems the wager of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) to put an end to the “misnamed” educational reform of the previous government and the neoliberal period. However, if it goes into practice, perhaps the implications of this project will be even greater.
Although the proposal states that the promised change will be an act of social and curricular justice and inclusion of marginalized social segments, it seems that it will lead to the opposite: exclusion and perhaps even more school dropouts. Moreover, with the argument of seeking cognitive sovereignty, this proposal goes against universal knowledge and transfers the pedagogical functions of the school to the community. Such initiative reproduces notions that President López Obrador spreads daily in press conferences.
Surprisingly, teachers are not protesting the threat to drastically change their subject matter and way of relating to students and parents (Guevara Niebla, 2022). The only ones who overtly disagree are the teachers of the left-wing dissident faction has opposed the government's education policy since the 1980s.
This proposal fits with sub-theme 1, Social Justice and Inclusion, and goes to the heart of the signature phrase of the CIES 2023 Conference: “All improvement requires change, but not every change is (an) improvement.” Indeed, the Mexican school system needs improvement, has deficits in equity, quality, and efficiency, and there is corruption. Worse, inequality gaps in enrolments, permanence and student learning grew during the covid 19 pandemic. However, the AMLO government's bid for change does not imply improvement. On the contrary, it seems more like an ideological tender to achieve political and cultural hegemony. I conjecture that, given the management of symbols and the technology of power that puts the figure of President López Obrador at the center, he would like to rebirth the imperial republic of the regime of the Mexican Revolution (Krauze, 2018).
This proposal is part of an ongoing research project whose main purpose is to compare educational reforms that began in Mexico in the 1990s.
I will draw conceptions from various neo-Marxist, Weberian and institutionalist approaches. Key concepts for interpretation are ideology, hegemony, and political power. Finally, the notions of educational policy and official knowledge will guide empirical exploration (Apple, 1987; Gramsci, 1976; Sypnowich, 2019). With support from classical authors and contemporary essayists, I will define political power as where actors in positions of command impose strategies and visions (of education, for example) that can generate consensus and credibility—but also opposition—to the rulers and the institutions charged with implementing those strategies (Carnoy, 1984; Machiavelli, 2003; Merquior, 1980; Weber, 2014). To exercise power and achieve hegemony, the dominant groups also hand out myths and symbols widely shared (March & Olsen, 1984).
For Fan & Popkewitz (2020), “educational policy is a code of conduct, a normative existence, and a tool employed by a public entity to govern the educational cause.” Based on a documentary review and academic and journalistic articles, I will attempt to answer three questions that are grounded in the logic proposed by Habermas and build an argument to highlight the leading edges of the relationships between politics (the technology of power) and the main actors in the educational sector:
1. Is there an interest in the government to improve education, or is it a proposal to entrench the political power of President Lopez Obrador and his party?
2. What is the outstanding concept in the project of curricular change? Does it reveal any pedagogical current?

Author

• Carlos Ornelas, Universidad Autonoma Meropolitana