This Wednesday (15), student organizations held an act calling for the repeal of the new high school. The 2017 law established a new curriculum that began to be implemented obligatorily in 2022. Students and teachers gathered in the morning on Avenida Paulista, in front of the Museum of Art of São Paulo (Masp) and marched towards the Legislative Assembly of State of São Paulo.
Words of order were called from the sound car, asking for the repeal of the new curriculum that reduces the obligation of some disciplines and creates itineraries, which allow students to delve deeper into topics of interest. Among the options is the emphasis on languages, mathematics, natural sciences, human sciences or technical education. The offer of itineraries, however, depends on the capacity of education networks and schools.
Unprepared for the entrance exam
With banners and posters, students criticized the changes, which they see as an emptying of teaching that, among other problems, leaves them less prepared to enter public universities. “How are we going to prepare for university, for the entrance exam, for the job market if we are concerned with making brigadeiro? While private schools are preparing to take the best university places”, criticized the 2nd year high school student, Júlia Oliveira.
The 17-year-old, who is also on the board of the Municipal Union of Secondary Students of São Paulo, claims that a new curricular base should be based on a broad debate. “We know that the previous high school, before this reform, wasn’t all those things. Everyone complained. Certainly, a new high-quality secondary education should be created with dialogue with the students, with the Department of Education, the teachers, those who are involved in the day-to-day activities of the school. They should have more dynamic classes, precise content about the entrance exam and about everyday life in fact”, she says.
A resident of Osasco, in Greater São Paulo, 17-year-old Sofia Almeida says she already perceives the negative impacts of changes in education. “We feel how much this affects us on a daily basis. Mainly people who come from public schools”, she emphasizes. For her, the contents are now offered “too over the top”, without the necessary depth. “We missed a lot of subjects. We no longer have biology, sociology, and this will spill over into college entrance exams for sure,” she adds.
For geography teacher Alex Guedes, the new high school reduces students’ horizons. “This counter-reform came in the direction of making teaching even more precarious, even more technical, not allowing the development of students, of critical thinking that goes towards transforming this society, of guiding the interests of the majority of the population.”
Prison
The act arrived in front of Alesp after walking down Avenida Paulista and down Avenida Brigadeiro Luiz Antonio. At the scene, military police carried out some personal searches on people who were carrying backpacks. A young man was arrested and taken to the police station after a stone was found in his pants pocket. According to Lieutenant Artilha, from the 12th Military Police Battalion, the stone could be used against the police and the boy was taken to the 27th Police District, in Campo Belo.
