Transforming education: the lesson from Argentina.

• Author: Dupre, Anne Proffitt

ABSTRACT

This Article traces education reforms in Argentina from the colonial period to the present. Specifically, the Article focuses on La Ley Federal de Educacion, passed in 1993, which sought to reform primary and secondary education throughout Argentina by promoting educational equity through a just distribution of educational services and opportunity.

The Article begins with a description of the current Argentine federal republic and the relationship of the federal government and the provinces. Next, Article describes the development of the Argentine education system.

It continues by explaining the backdrop of the adoption of Ley Federal. The Author describes the act's twenty-three rights and principles and outlines the reforms envisioned under the law. The Article then turns to an evaluation of the effects and the effectiveness of Ley Federal. The Author specifically addresses the pervasive problems with dropout rates, funding, special education, and teacher salaries.

The Author then undertakes a review of the development of a national curriculum with a special focus on diversity issues. The Article concludes with an evaluation of the current state of education reform in Argentina and suggests that the United States could learn a valuable lesson from Argentina's experience.

In Argentina we all wish to transform education because we share the view that through it we can make the greatest contribution to the building of a new society, with reflexive, constructively critical, helpful people. Nobody doubts either, that a society educated to appreciate international values is the guarantee to ensure a democratic lifestyle, based on respect and self-dignity.(1) I. INTRODUCTION: THE PROBLEM

When I was in Argentina researching this article, a person I was interviewing asked me, "What do Americans think of when they think of Argentina? Do they think it is good or bad?" The truthful answer was that most people in the United States do not think much about Argentina at all. Not wanting to offend a gracious host, I answered carefully that people in the United States who thought about Argentina probably thought about the film Evita, soccer, or beef. That seemed to satisfy my questioner, but it made me uncomfortable to think how little we consider this fascinating country that is the eighth largest in the world. Perhaps it is time to take notice.

The Republic of Argentina has attempted to transform its education system by passing a federal law that calls for profound changes in structure and curriculum. Although the law was passed in 1993, the question remains whether this use of federal law will improve the quality of education that is delivered to the citizens of Argentina.

The United States also has used federal law to improve education services for its citizens. Without a doubt, federal statutes and court opinions have significantly affected the education services that are available to minorities, the disabled, and females.(2) Yet serious, seemingly intractable, problems still plague schools in the United States.(3) Political candidates from both major parties cite education reform as a top priority.(4) If presented with an inspired design, the United States appears to be ripe for a profound transformation.(5)

The United States is not alone in its search for an answer to the education dilemma, however. As the world moves into the early years of the twenty-first century with excitement and trepidation, national governments throughout North and South America are grappling with the demands that emerging technologies and a complex global economy have placed on each nation to provide a well-trained and educated work force.(6) Only five countries in the Americas have lengthy experience with federal systems of government: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and the United States.(7) The need for profound readjustment in education presents an important issue for the United States--as well as some of its neighbors--about the precise role the central government in a federal system should play in redefining the delicate interplay between economics, politics, and education.(8)

The federal government of the United States has sought to meet this challenge by taking a long, hard look at the achievements and limitations of the nation's current educational system. In 1994 Congress passed Goals 2000: The Educate America Act.(9) Through consultation with business leaders, economists, politicians and educators, Congress attempted to design an educational reform program that would prepare the next generation to meet the economic and technological challenges of the next century.(10) Not a single one of the legislation's eight goals was reached by the year 2000, nor are any of the goals likely to be reached in the foreseeable future.(11) Critics of Goals 2000 state that the text of the law is too vague and too unrealistic, and that it is unnecessary federal legislation in an area that is a concern of the states.(12)

About the same time the U.S. Congress was debating and passing Goals 2000, the federal government in Argentina began a dramatic transformation of its educational system. Beginning in 1992, the Argentine Congress, with the support of then-President Carlos Menem, passed three laws that profoundly changed the nature of education in Argentina. The basic legal framework for this transformation is comprised of the Law of Transfer of Educational Services to the Provinces,(13) the Federal Law of Education,(14) and the Law of Higher Education.(15)

This Article will focus on the Federal Law of Education, La Ley Federal de Educacion, or what the Argentines call "Ley Federal."(16) Like Goals 2000, Ley Federal, passed in 1993, addresses education reform at the primary and secondary level with the aim of promoting educational equity through a just distribution of educational services and opportunity.(17) The legislation set forth the objective of education as a social good and a common responsibility, created the rules concerning the organization and unity of the National Education System, and emphasized that the national government would assume full and undelegable responsibility regarding the supervision and implementation of education policy.(18) Although the Argentine provinces were responsible for the management of educational services after the in the world in science and mathematic achievement; and (8) every adult will be literate, with the necessary knowledge and skills to compete in a global economy and to exercise the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. 20 U.S.C.A. [sections] 5812(1)-(8). Transfer of Educational Services Act was passed in 1992, Ley Federal nonetheless set up "a markedly federal educational system in which all of the provincial educational systems, both public and private, are brought together in a process of coordination and consensus-building."(19) It emphasized the need to agree on education policies "within the Federal Council of Culture and Education," which consists of "the highest educational authorities of the twenty-three Argentine provinces and the City of Buenos Aires," and over which the National Ministry of Education presides.(20) Described in greater detail below,(21) Ley Federal increased the years of compulsory education from seven years to ten years, changed the curriculum, and changed the method of school funding.(22) In addition, Ley Federal set forth the rights of students(23) and the rights and obligations of parents.(24) Ley Federal also established the right of teachers to academic freedom and to advance in their profession based on their own merits.(25)

Ley Federal was an ambitious undertaking, and its implementation has been rocky and unsteady. The rapid pace of privatization, trade liberalization, and financial market reform have seriously limited the ability of the government to allocate adequate resources to educational reform.(26) Distrust of government intervention in this nation that has been a democracy only since 1983 fosters cynicism about the efficacy of the new programs.(27) Yet, the desire for knowledge and the willingness to teach has survived years of even worse turmoil in Argentina, and Ley Federal's focus on the essential values of education may help Argentina to endure this latest crisis.(28)

This Article examines Argentina's dramatic reform plan and, while acknowledging its shortcomings, suggest that it nevertheless offers inspiration for education reformers in the United States. It explores Argentina's political and social landscape, focusing on the historical underpinnings of its educational system before this most recent reform effort. Argentina's return to democracy in the 1980s set the stage for education transformation, and the Article describes the major reform that Argentina has attempted in the last decade. Using insights gained from personal interviews with educators in Buenos Aires, the Article dissects the complex issues that have hindered progress and analogizes these problems to similar issues in the United States. The Article evaluates the extent to which aspirations emanating from the national government, in either the United States or Argentina, can ever compel needed educational reform. It argues that although neither nation has achieved success in revamping its educational system, each can learn something from the other's experience. The Article concludes by questioning why the United States which unlike Argentina, has achieved a stable economy and an enduring democracy, has been unable to solve so many of the serious problems in its educational system. Although the Argentine model may not offer a definitive answer to the many complex issues that bedevil our nation's schools, the broader spirit behind the reforms can and should energize the United States in its own efforts.

2. THE STATE AND THE STUDENT

   To better understand the transformative process that Argentina has attempted in its education system, one must consider the...