A school with many values and few virtues

What had been an advanced and exemplary Catalan education system is experiencing a downturn, to put it mildly. And what is most surprising about this decline, for those of us who follow it with attentive—but distant—concern, is that the causes have not been diagnosed in time, just when the system has been evaluated more thoroughly than ever. What is it, despite all the available data, that has not allowed us to see the main obstacles and challenges that were deteriorating it?

It used to be said that the blame is black and no one wants it. The current version of the saying says that the causes are "multifactorial," and thus all responsibility is diluted. And yes, in matters as complex as an education system—allow me not to call it educational, in an age when, if we educate, we educate everyone—it is true that the causes of its deterioration are multiple. Now, there are unforeseen ones, yes. There are also uncontrollable ones. But some can be identified and acted upon. Therefore, the first thing to point the finger at when asking for explanations is those responsible for analyzing the school system and those who, from within or outside, have advised the government.

A very relevant factor in the current state of the Catalan school system is demographics. In this regard, the school lacks the capacity for forecasting or control and can only act after the fact. However, in this case, political precautions to avoid stigmatizing foreigners may have diminished its capacity to respond. The massive influx of cheap labor has created a productive system based on miserable wages. It has led to a system of low productivity and general impoverishment, hypocritically masked by GDP growth. And it has fostered a model that has covered up its shame through protectionist policies. But, at the same time, it is a growth model that entails the entry into the school system of even more individuals—there were already some—with very low cultural and expressive levels and little family support, who instead transmit a lack of aspirational attitude. And it's empirical evidence that the family framework, although rarely discussed, can undermine—or strengthen—a school's good intentions. Of course, it's necessary to have a school that combats inequalities at the entrance level, but it can't be burdened with all the inequalities at the exit level, nor can it be so conditioned by its operation that it is forced to lower any ambition for quality. As is happening now.

Because, and this is a fact I know firsthand, the public administration pressures teachers with reductions, forcing false passes and the need to move up a level—with threats to the administration if they don't comply—perhaps thinking that by lying the official data, the failure of the system will be hidden. Until the situation explodes, as is happening right now. And it's also a fact that when we talk about addressing the decline in quality, it seems everything has to be solved with classrooms with lower ratios and more teachers. But who can guarantee the quality of a teaching staff that results from massive and indiscriminate hiring? Who evaluates the quality of the training of teachers graduating from universities? How do we deal with manifest incompetence? If I had to choose, I would prefer a more crowded classroom with an experienced teacher than a classroom with fewer students and an inexperienced teacher. And since we're talking, in addition to the evaluations of students' competencies, perhaps we could find some good answers in the evaluation of new teachers. And, very specifically, we would find reasons in how the system supports teachers who do work rigorously and to the point of exhaustion. After all, nothing dissolves professional commitment more than a lack of recognition and being abandoned in the midst of general irresponsibility.

Naturally, the current mess has intellectual fathers—and mothers. The ideologues and their organizations that have been providing cover for the current system, who have influenced political decision-making, who have suggested their priorities and methodologies, who have stigmatized those who were warning of disaster, and who still cynically claim that the problem is that they have been ignored, should not be leading it.

The current challenges of the school system can no longer be addressed by hiding their causes for reasons that are somewhere between pious and self-serving. I have never trusted the moralistic overload that has been placed on the school and that has derailed it from its true emancipatory capacity. To put it simply, values have swallowed up the school's virtues. That is, its true transformative power.