The course is over and the country is suspended. . The level of mathematics of sixth grade students is approved with 70.4 points, which began in 2009. They must also improve technology and engineering skills, the only subject suspended with 66.3 points. To overcome a competition, 70 points must be reached. Instead, primary students progress with English and Spanish.
The ESO fourth results must also be promoted. Instead, there are advances in Catalan language, and good results, in the Castilian language. The data is not so dramatic if we consider that the suspended subjects are very close to the approved and, in addition, in mathematics five points have been traced.
The detailed study of the evaluation overwhelms more nuances than the suspense of a competition. For example, a third of elementary school students have a high level of the three languages, and about 40% have a medium-high level in all disciplines. The results are similar in high school students. Consequently,
The young people evaluated were born in 2009 and 2013. In between we have lived important cuts in education; a migratory wave of hundreds of thousands of people in Catalonia; and three educational laws, two state, and one Catalan. And, the worst, during these 16 years a lethal weapon was born for children and young people to pay attention: social networks and screens.
Generally, the bad results are attributed to the teachers, who have a part of responsibility. But given the complexity of the problem, the (in) competencies should be distributed among more actors, especially the political system and parents. We ask politicians to better plan the arrival of new students, who make laws that go beyond tacticism, and that are thoroughly used in attention to inequality. Parents must be required to set limits to our children, stop pampering them in excess, and limit the use of mobiles and devices.
Teachers do not have it easy. They are educating for an unknown future in which our young people’s works are still inventing. However, there is hope. Teachers have the power of illusion. We see the enthusiasm of four children in Kenya, India, Argentina and Morocco. Kilometers walk on impassable and dangerous roads to get to school and have better living conditions than their parents. It is time to help our teachers transmit the dream of learning. Let’s respect your work, the results will come.
Carles Pont Sorribes is UPF Communication Professor
