New Learning MOOC’s Updates
The New Ethos of Mexican Education
In the cited web article, the president of México, Andres Manuel López Obrador, describes what, according to his perspective, constitutes the most urgent changes to improve mexican education. Most of what he preaches are sound and highly desirable routes to ameliorate education: Availability and cost-free institutions, incentivicing students with scholarships to prevent drop outs, and involvement of the magistery, parents, and goberment in decision taking on the administration of the institutions. Nonetheless, much is left to be desired by his approach. One of the his "pilars" for this new education is the removal of testing mesaures for teacher performance, which deprives the valuable feedback to get to active teachers. Also, this renders an educational system lacking a scale for teacher performance, potentially leading it to overlook deficiencies at different levels (Learning community, curriculum, and pedagogy).
Another artifact of his proposal is the fact that the national budget designated for scholarships has been in a steady decline since 2016, leaving as much as 260,000 off this benefit. In addition to this contradiction, he even asserts that 100% of scholarship requests will be granted, no questions asked. Considering my country's background, this sounds like corruption potential. From another angle though, again, no measure is provided to evaluate or optimize the distribution of scholarships.
Finally, the new Educational Reform, which entered the legislation in 2019, specifies that parents and the magisterium are to be the sole providers of maintenance, infrastructure, and inventory for educational institutions. Essentially removing the government from taking responsibility in these affairs.
In conclusion, most is left to be addressed to enhance our educational system, and the approach to improve it relies in taking a synergy of the government, private institutions, the magisterium, and the parents involved. Only with a multifactorial, eclectic approach will overcome the insuficiencies of the mexican education system.
Link: https://lopezobrador.org.mx/2018/05/12/104356/