The paradox of the parents or the researchers?
By Pedro Romero / José Romero – UNR Researchers
The authors analyze the results of a survey with families' opinions about the educational system.
“Man is God when he dreams and a beggar when he reflects.” Hölderlin.
The results of a survey by the Argentinians for Education Observatory sparked controversy surrounding Argentine families' opinions on their children's education. The central question, or at least the most widely circulated one, sought two opinions: the first concerned the family's opinion on Argentine education. The second asked about their level of satisfaction with their own children's education.
The work yields “supposedly” surprising results, which can be summarized as follows so as not to get bogged down in numbers: the majority of parents believe that Argentine education is deficient or highly unsatisfactory. However, the same majority consider their children's education to be very good. This is an apparent contradiction, since the universe of respondents coincides but, when the question is modified, the opinion undergoes a radical change.
The publication of the survey elicited diverse reactions. Guillermina Tiramonti, an experienced researcher at FLACSO, argued that for over 20 years a gap has existed between parents' perceptions of their children's education and the quality of the national education system, without a clear explanation. Guillermo Jaim Etcheverry, former rector of the University of Buenos Aires, remarked that "parents are victims of an educational illusion, and they need to believe that their children are being saved—from the educational tragedy—in order to send them to school every day so that learning and preparation for future life can take place." The research group that conducted the study tends toward a relatively straightforward interpretation of the results and a decidedly positive assessment of parents. The data suggests a clear and unconditional support for education from families. Any problems should be directed to other responsible parties. Meanwhile, the teachers' unions interpreted the support as indirect. If a large majority of families are satisfied with their children's education, it can be deduced that they are also satisfied with their teachers. Again, any complaints can be addressed elsewhere. Therefore, the study is almost an invitation to celebrate. Complaints will be directed at educational policies, the weather, or whatever the current situation may be: the pandemic, lack of technological resources, insufficient teacher training, inadequate infrastructure, and so on.
The authors of this article wish to express their surprise at the study and, consequently, at its media reactions. The presentation quantifies the so-called "parental paradox," a phenomenon identified more than 25 years ago, the most widely accepted explanation of which lies in the nature of observation. In one case, the family's perspective is through their own child; in the other, it involves a political observation of the education system in general. It is not the purpose of this piece to clarify what is quite obvious. Educating one's own children implies a minimal affective mediation in the observation process. The education system, on the other hand, involves political mediation influenced by ideas, opinions, and the media when formulating responses. The consequence? The results will not be the same, even if the fields overlap. As an interesting aside, this phenomenon was already being observed in the first national assessment conducted by the National Quality Assessment Program, established under the Federal Law.
The disseminated study presents a very poor contribution to the interpretation of the difficulties of present education. We are inclined to think that their precariousness does not pursue much more than a media impact friendly to temporary fame. As Rancière said, these are times when researchers want to be more important than their research. The poverty of the content matters little if the presenter can be made visible. Any attentive viewer can appreciate the daily insolvency of interviewees concerned with legitimizing their incipient knowledge on the screen. We would not like to position ourselves as bearers of a repeated and often elitist complaint, but there is a certain fatigue of comfortable repeaters domiciled in their conceptual families looking at reality through a window.
«The parental paradox is a phenomenon revealed more than 25 years ago and has its most accepted explanation in the axis of observation»
Our objective is to address one of the problems that accompanies the difficulties facing education today: the current state of knowledge production in the field of education. We could consider various indicators, but let's focus on the most important one: the situation of educational research within CONICET (National Scientific and Technical Research Council). This implies not only the possibility of producing scientifically evaluated work at the highest level, but also the prospects for continuity in research groups or different alternatives for academic leadership. At the end of 2021, there were only 160 researchers in the field of educational knowledge production. They represented just 1,5 percent of the total CONICET staff. To provide a point of comparison, this is the same number as 30 years ago, and most of them are concentrated in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area.
Is education undervalued as a field of study? Are there insufficient scientific policies to encourage research in education? Does the low social legitimacy of this field lead to a decline in interest among those who could dedicate themselves to understanding it? These and other questions could be asked and require answers. The situation is serious. It is no longer effective to pit researchers against teachers. This is a foolish notion that leads to the deepest discrediting of the work of educating, confusing it with that of low-wage childcare providers. We must expand the spaces for knowledge production. If we don't, corporations that thrive on the stale, repetitive narcissism of the past will invade us with their mothball-like scent. Reality and necessity demand a shift in perspective, and as Gracián said, "paradoxes are the monsters of truth (...) On great occasions, great thinking is necessary."