INTEGRATED HIGH SCHOOL AND MERITOCRATIC IDEOLOGY: meanings of school for young people in a context of social inequality

Abstract

Seeking to understand the experience of integrated high school students (EMI) from a federal campus located in Vale do Ribeira (SP), we found that the desired training is one that allows young people to enter higher education and academic training; placement in the world of work in dignified conditions, not in alienated underemployment; and an education that develops critical awareness, with information that expands the repertoire of experiences. Effort is closely linked to individual merit; Not keeping up with the pace means some “character defect” (laziness, ill will, trickery) or little dedication. In this way, the processes of exclusion caused by the structure of the institution or by the policies and conditions of access and permanence continue to act silently, reproducing the conditions that keep society unequal and that result in the reported suffering.