Education in Argentina: two decades of changes.

The evolution of the educational system in Argentina has been rather slow. With the
sanctioning in 1884 of the first piece of legislation pertaining education, the first steps
towards an inclusive educational system had been taken and, for over a hundred years,
this approach on education would define our national identity. Before this law, formal
education was almost non-existent. Subsequent and fairly recent modifications to the
legislation were made in order to adapt the institutions to the modern world. Still, these
changes proved to be inconsistent if not downright detrimental for the social actors
involved in the educational process. Following this line of thought, we can assert that,
even though attempts had been made to improve the educational system to a certain
extent, it is still affected by a deep crisis that has not been addressed effectively.
The first modification of the educational system was made in a neoliberal context
that redefined the role of schools and educational institutions. A stagnant and flawed
system based on archaic conceptions of knowledge and heterogeneity, that had survived
mostly unaltered for over a century and which only required a mandatory attendance of
five years failed to prepare the newest generations for the challenges of the outside
world. Without a meticulous assessment of the current situation, a new law of education
was passed in 1993. The mandatory attendance was extended, the system was
reorganized and the curricula were modified, altering the basic concepts of knowledge
with ambiguous notions that were not correctly defined.
The current law of education sanctioned in 2006 attempted to repair some of the
damage caused by neoliberal policies, however it failed to grasp the importance of a
deeper transformation over superfluous restructuring. Once again, major foundational
changes were made to the organizational aspect without proper appraisal of its current
state. The inability to acknowledge the changes the role of teachers and pupils have
suffered represents yet another challenge to be faced that has gone underestimated by
the new normative. The current law of education establishes the bases for an educational
system that is inclusive and democratic but it lacks the operational approach needed to
achieve the goals it proposes.
The two major modifications to our educational system were set in the last twenty
years after the system that had been in place for over a century proved its inefficiency in
providing high quality and competitive education. By attempting to implement
generalized solutions to specialized problems, it will be hard to achieve a reorganization
truly aimed at improving the social factors behind the problematic of our current

system, leading to further turmoil and institutional unease. After what has been stated
above, it can be concluded that despite the attempts made to improve the situation, the
background question that affects the educational system remains unaddressed.
CONSULTED BIBLIOGRAPHY:

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