PROBLEMS OF EDUCATION AT THE INTERNATIONAL LEVEL

Education in Mexico: a social problem more than an economic one

Education is the fundamental pillar of a country. The knowledge generated from it has become the
economic engine of modern societies, which strengthen their prosperity through their technological
innovation and the export of their intellectual capital. The issue is worrying if it is estimated that in
Mexico, of 100 students who enter the school system, only 36 finish high school.

Despite what one might assume, lack of income is not the main cause that forces young people to
abandon their studies. Public and private entities have developed financial support programs for low-
income students, among which the following stand out: Prepa Sí and Niño Talento of the Mexicanos
Primero association. Likewise, figures presented by the Undersecretariat of Higher Secondary
Education of the Secretariat of Public Education (SEP) reveal that, during 2012, 25% of the school
dropout rate in the country, 15.3%, occurred in high-income sectors. income and only 9.6% in
marginalized areas. Data that indicate that the problem goes beyond the economic limitations of the
population.

In the words of Blanca Heredia, Director of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD), the root of the matter is “in the lack of quality in educational models and job
opportunities in Mexico.” The International Labor Organization (ILO) indicated that 21% of young
Mexicans between 14 and 29 years old do not study or work. “A fact that in turn triggers other
inconveniences: on the one hand, the incursion into criminal activities by these young people to
generate income and, on the other, the migration of our intellectual capital to other countries.”

Although tests have been implemented to evaluate and, therefore, try to improve educational quality
in Mexico, such as: the Program for International Assessment (PISA), the Examinations of
Educational Quality and Achievement (EXCALE) and the National Evaluation of Academic
Achievement in Schools (ENLACE) these measures continue to be insufficient. Dr. Carlos Muñoz
Izquierdo, Director of the Research Institute for the Development of Education of the Universidad
Iberoamericana, stated that this happens because “these tests only measure educational quality at
the national level and therefore do not determine how education is in the country. Mexico compared
to the rest of the world. That is, they focus on factual knowledge and not on competency-based
education.”

In turn, Blanca Heredia concluded that the solution to the problem of school dropouts in Mexico is to
channel economic income to improve content and not schools. In betting on intellectual capital rather
than material. In beginning to understand that education, above all, is the source that will position
Mexico on the scale of global competition.
Education in Spain,

Spanish society has been pointing out the serious shortcomings suffered by the educational system
for decades. Every new government, we are seeing these days, tries to address difficulties without
ever reaching a solution. The problem has moved, logically, from the educational system to society,
which, as generations pass and join social and work life, bears the consequences of failure on its
shoulders.
Without a doubt, the causes of the problem are many, varied, therefore there will be the solutions
that must be addressed and various points of view that will have to be taken into account in order to
find a way out of such a painful situation. It is not simply about Education for Citizenship, neither its
contents nor the name adopted for such subject. I do not know if it is necessary, at this point, to
clarify to the reader that I am not talking only about instruction, transmission of knowledge that is
more or less essential for life, but also and especially about social norms that, previously at least,
must be complied with in order to circulate properly. around the world.
The root of the problem lies, understanding the long years dedicated to the education of numerous
generations of students, in the approach with which society approaches the school stage. To my
clumsy understanding, someone has said that children should learn without trying, without bothering
and without working, that all learning will be given to them by the grace of God (in the secularist
shoemaker times in which we still live, and what I will haunt you, brown, it should be said that it will
be given to them by the grace of the progressive State) without having to suffer mornings of attentive
classes, afternoons of disciplined work and nights of sacrificed personal impulse.
The situation has reached such a point of absurdity that asking students for sacrifice, struggle,
application, determination, work and discipline seems outdated, out of place, inappropriate. Saying
that without studying you should not pass should be a truism that in Spain must be remembered.
How Francoist it seems to some to ask for discipline, respect and obedience when, nevertheless,
Rubalcaba's words, asking in a press conference to be addressed about you, still resonate in our
ears, "Mr. Rubalcaba, what do you mean," he said to a daring journalist. We have reached that
point, where a high-ranking figure of the nation, several times a minister and at the time a candidate
for the presidency of the government, needed to demand the corresponding respect.
Respect and… discipline, of course. How many times do some parents, sometimes without knowing
how to make the “O” with the bottom of a glass, dare to challenge the authority of the teachers as if
they were upstarts or newcomers whom any whippersnapper can contradict without blushing. Would
these same parents contradict the technician who charges them fifty euros to fix their television or
washing machine?
Currently the problem of education in Spain does not reside in the model, the procedure or the
educational law. All this is important and should not be left aside, but it is not the priority. The first
thing of all is to recover the idea that without study you cannot learn, the idea that effort is rewarded,
that passing with a five is not the same as passing with a ten. But how does the mentality of a
society accustomed to hedonism and dolce far niente change so radically? Isn't learning with effort
Francoist, troglodyte and backward?
Oh, and it would also be advisable to convince whoever it is necessary that teachers are the
educational authority, they know as much about education and children as the corresponding
technician knows about washing machines or televisions and deserve the same respect. At least.
For years, a large part of the population has shown concern about the evolutionary process of
education, caused in large part by the generalized crisis facing society. Recently, statements made
Cuba: Education in crisis

in the ordinary session of the National Assembly of People's Power have been published that denote
the serious magnitude of the problems facing the sector.

It has been known that the lack of teachers and major pedagogical deficiencies of young people
prepared in emerging courses to take up the profession persist. The president of the Association of
Pedagogues of Cuba, Nidia González, explained that "young teachers lack training and experience,
and in some cases they lack adequate communication with their students to guarantee correct
discipline." It was also reported that more than 50% of basic secondary education teachers are in
the training process and in the city of Havana only 19% have a degree. This panorama is
complicated when we know the teaching methods used for years, consisting of these inexperienced
young people having to teach several subjects, without specialization by subject, which has resulted
in the precipitous drop in the quality of teaching. In the capital, the staff is made up of thousands of
emerging teachers from other provinces, many without a professional vocation, but stimulated by
arriving in a city, where, despite the existing difficulties, living conditions are superior to those in the
interior. of the country, and especially those of the eastern provinces.

In the summary meeting of the 2007-2008 academic year, serious deficiencies in Cuban education
were also analyzed, such as insufficient coverage and improvement of teachers, lack of quality of
classes, non-compliance with school regulations, problems related to vocational guidance and the
need to deepen the knowledge of Cuban history.

The new head of Education, Ena Elsa Velásquez, pointed out among the evils of the recently
concluded course and the challenges for the next one, the deficit of 8,192 teachers; the more than
21,000 pre-university and polytechnic students who stopped graduating in the last cycle; the
insufficient preparation of comprehensive general teachers, which affects the quality of the classes
and the knowledge levels of the students; spelling, handwriting and geometry problems; and
indiscipline in internal centers.

Under these conditions, the decline experienced by Cuban education is evident; highly dangerous
phenomenon for present and future generations taking into account the high competitiveness
present in today's world, a challenge that cannot be faced through misleading statistical figures, but
rather with a responsible and demanding quality education to promote true knowledge in young
people.

Now General Raúl Castro approved Decree-Law 260 on the labor and salary treatment of retired
teachers and professors, with which he seeks to improve the economic conditions of these people to
encourage them to return to the classrooms. To the extent that this objective is achieved, the quality
of teaching could improve to some extent in the next school year. But the complete solution to the
educational crisis can only be found through a comprehensive restructuring of Cuban society within
a framework of freedom and respect for human rights.

In the coming months it will be seen whether retired professors and teachers will be sufficiently
stimulated to return to the classrooms to collect the corresponding pension and salary, when it is
necessary.
It is known that many are teaching classes and revisions in their homes with incomes higher than
what they would obtain through the solution sought by the government, and without the unbearable
political and administrative pressures usually suffered by current teaching staff. At the same time, a
special condition should be granted to retired teachers who wish to join official education, which
excludes them from the concept of comprehensiveness, that is, from the obligation to teach a variety
of subjects for which they are not prepared, although they are. They are in their traditional
specialties. Although the best option would be to completely eliminate, or at least limit, the failed
concept of the Comprehensive General Professor that has caused so much damage.

An option that could help Cuban education considerably would be to encourage many people
trained as teachers and who today work in bureaucratic activities, sometimes unnecessary, to return
to teaching. Raúl Castro, upon his inauguration as President of the Councils of State and Ministers,
announced a radical transformation of the administrative apparatus to make it more efficient. It could
be a great opportunity to recruit teachers and professors, who would feel even more fulfilled by
carrying out an activity as stimulating as imparting knowledge.

On the other hand, it must be understood that education is a valuable investment for the future,
which requires a lot of work and resources. This capital must be used appropriately, as well as
updated so that it continues to be effective and does not lose its value. In Cuba this has not been
done for a long time and, along with the process of material decapitalization, there has been a great
decapitalization of human resources.

General Raúl Castro in the National Assembly on June 11 gave the example of agricultural
engineers who, the vast majority, do not work in agriculture. The same could be said of the 195,988
university graduates in pedagogy according to the 2002 Census, the last one carried out, or of the
78,848 mid-level technicians in the field, for possibly one of the highest rates of teachers per
inhabitant in the world. Meanwhile, paradoxically, classrooms lack teachers and professors, and
those who teach classes are not always adequately prepared.

The Cuban authorities should stop criticizing the brain drain abroad, a truly negative phenomenon,
and worry more about the correct use of university graduates (712,672 in total, according to the
2002 census) as well as plan the number to be trained, according to real needs and available
resources. The way Cuban education has been managed for propaganda purposes must end.
Nothing is done by graduating hundreds of thousands of higher-level specialists to underutilize them
and lead them to frustration, diverting resources and efforts necessary for the training of qualified
workers and average technicians essential for the development of the country.