The illusion of freedom to choose

The problem of the curricular “customization” of the training itineraries of the Reform in Higher Secondary Education

Abstract

This article aims to discuss the curricular “customization” promoted by the Reform of Higher Secondary Education (Law no. 13,415/2017), when the offer of training itineraries to be chosen by the students, according to their interests, was established. The text points out the main problems of this approach of differentiation of training routes in the face of a weakened public secondary education in the training and appreciation of teachers, in the physical structures and in their teaching quality. Based on a bibliometric study on the subject, the hypothesis is sustained that these itineraries, despite being permeated by a customized curriculum discourse, that is, adapted to the interests of each student, ends up promoting an illusion of freedom of selection, not impacting the conditions of inequality in the opportunities of choice of students belonging to the poor class of the population. In general terms, the text analyzes the context of how the mechanisms of the training itineraries sustain the hidden normative logic that produces the illusion that everyone is free to decide about their future. In the final considerations, he emphasizes the existence of innumerable contradictions inherent in the curricular organization through the problem of “customization.” Among them, the idealization that students can build their own freedom through competition-oriented knowledge and economic logic stands out.