A proposal for approaching adult education in the grassroots sectors.

Adult education facing the challenges of modernization.

Francisco Josh Lacayo Paraj6n

Edition Marta Guadalupe Romero UNESCO El Salvador

2nd Edition August 1997

Translation Anne Kamsvaag ,

Cover Photo Mauricio Turcios

Designed, Diagramed and printed lmprenta Public El Salvador

This text can be reproduced total or partially, if the author and the source is named. The author is responsible for the selection and presentation of the facts and opinions contained in this bood, which are not necessarily those of UNESCO. They do not involve the organization.

A PROPOSAL FOR APPROACHING ADULT EDUCATION ...

A PROPOSAL FOR APPROACHING ADULT EDUCATION IN THE GRASSROOTS SECTORS. ADULT EDUCATION FACING THE CHALLENGES

OF MODERNIZATION’

Francisco Jose Lacayo Parajon

INTRODUCTION

The relationship between workand adult education has been a traditional topic of reflection: to educate for work?, to educate as part of work?, to educate the worker?, permanent adult education? Currently, in some of our countries w e can also ask ourselves: to educate from unemployment?, is work the goal of our adult education?, is the worker the privileged subject?, is work both the methodology and the content?, what education is offered to the unemployed adult?

Allow m e to begin my presentation by citing some“provocative”staternents by Peter Drucker, an 85-year-old scientist, with 19 Ph.D.s, author of 26 books translated into 20 languages and who has been classified as “the father of modern administration”. These quotes were taken from an interview by Silvia Riquelme of the Chilean newspaper El Mercurio.

The fundamental change w e face today, affirms Drucker, “Is knowledge. It has become the essential resource. Business is restructuring itself around information (...)today, in order to obtain a decent salary and position, a high level of formal education is required (...).”

The fundamental challenge that workers are going to face “ (...) is that their children are going to need a greater level of education”.

“The current system still believes that you stop learning when you start working, when in reality one begins to learn when one begins to work”.

“Our educational system is more than 300 years old. In the South it was invented by the Jesuits around 1670, and in the North, by the Protestants during more or less the same time period, and it hasn’t seen great changes”.

“The schools are very slow to incorporate technology because the belief still exists that when one finishes training one finishes learning. For this reason, if in the past one learned a skill at the age of 18, that individual had

1 Presentation made at the First International Encounter of CREFAL Graduates, February 14 - 16, 1996.

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FRANCISCO JOSE LACAVO PARAJ6N

already acquired everything he or she needed to know for the rest of his or her life. This was the case for farmers, shoemakers or printers”.

“( ...) our great challenge will not be the economy, but rather the educational system alongside technology. W e are going to have to reinvent education. Among all our institutions it is the one that has changed the least. Even the Catholic Church has changed more than the educational system”.

“( ...) Cheap laborcannot compete on the market. One can hope to begin

“The product that represented progress in the 1920s was the automobile”. “Outside of the raw materials, 70% of the total cost of the automobile corresponds to labor”. “Today, the microchip and the labor component of the microchip is nearly 2.5% of the total cost. The knowledge component, on the other hand, is nearly 80%.”

I will end this section of quotes with a memorable phrase by the author, “( ...) the unions will not survive because they base their power on the importance of intensive manual labor, but manufacturing is no longer powerful in the developed countries”.

W e may or may not agree with Drucker’s thinking, but it’s not in our interest to disregard it. What is true is that his affirmations about education acquire a much greater relevance when w e reflect on grassroots adult education in our countries.

Within the framework of adult education and work, our modest reflection will focus on the grassroots adult subject outside of the school system who works while studying, studies in order to work, studies working, or learns about science, art, and survival skills with or without work, in heretic forms that combine the formal and the informal with self-schooling experiences. W e believe that if w e are able to deepen our comprehension of the very particular nature of this subject, we will be in a better position to search for a pertinent, coherent and efficient educational answer.

this way, but not to last”. -

A N EDUCATIONAL C O N C E P T FOR POOR ADULTS

For purposes of this presentation w e will refer to that adult education which, in our countries, has been defined by some as “popular”2 education or adult education of the poor. The reason is obvious and simple: the populations that demand adult education in our countries come primarily

Translator’s note: The term ’;Oopular”, used extensively in the original Spanish version of this document, refers to the poor, marginalized, working-class sectors that in third world societies make up the majority of the population. For purposes of this document, the word has been translated as '@oar".

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A PROPOSAL FOR APPROACHING ADULT EDUCATION ...

from the most impoverished and excluded sectors. Within these sectors there exist both children and adults who either abandoned the formal education pyramid at an early age or were expelled from it.

It is a commonly accepted notion that educational processes are defined by the subject involved in the process and by the life project of this subject. The subject in the process of education and his or her life project are the starting points for defining the programmatic content, the methodology, the didactics, the rhythms and the modules, formal or informal, of an educational project. To this package is added the viable societal project.

W e can affirm that in the expression of education for the poor, “poor” is as substantive as “education” and is not simply its adjective. In this case, the science of education should go hand in hand with the science of that which is “for the poor”.

Therefore, the theory of adult education for the poor should include a theory of the poor sectors, as understood to be the poor, excluded subjects en route to pauperization and frequently searching for survival.

The first demand of this type of education is to study and comprehend who are the poor, what they are like and why they exist. This implies knowing and comprehending their levels of consciousness, their capacity to evaluate reality and their life aspirations, their daily projects and their strategic life goal.

In that world, the concept of the adult is different from that of other sectors. In fact, in many current societies w e can observe the following paradoxes: children of the poor sectors are obligated to exercise the socioeconomic functions of adults, and the poor adult is treated as a child in the educational realm.

Just as the child educator in modern pedagogy should know about child psychology, the nature of child physical and psychomotor development, and be conscious of the fact that a child is not a “little adult”; the adult educator should be sure that the poor adult is not treated as a “big child”, but rather as a social being with very particulartraits. The differences between the two subjects are qualitative and are not primarily based upon the age factor.

In child education there is an attempt to bring development and the healthy, harmonious growth of personality (psychic and physical) together, which ordinarily leads to maturity. The educational program is conceived, primarily, in function of who that child should and will be in the future. In the case of the poor adults (except in the case of children who are, socio- economically speaking, adults) they have already reached their human maturity, despite the many limitations they might have in order to “function” within the logic of any given system.

The education of poor adults should therefore start with who these

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adults already are. This will help them to achieve their project, which is frequently in contradiction‘ with what society has planned for them.

We must recognize that this field of education cannot only be approached from the position of pedagogy (etymologically defined as the art and science of directing and forming the infant). Elements of anthropology, economics, sociology and psychology are also necessary. We see it as an error that this type of education has not been recognized as an individual science, despite the fact that it possesses objectives, contents, subjects, methods and specific tasks.

EDUCATION A S AN AREA OF STRUGGLE AND ALTERN AT1 VE EDUCATION

If w e are certain that education for the poor demands a scientific knowledge of the conditions and goals of the poor subject, w e will see that the poor sectors possess educational spaces of a different strategy and nature; primarily the national, official educational plans and systems that are offered to citizens in general.

Poor adults should struggle for these plans and systems to respond to the interests of.the masses. They should demand access to them, with equal opportunity and conditions. It is the strategy of the “second chance” that should assume the experiences and lessons learnedfromthefirst “expulsion” and attempt to overcome them structurally .

These spaces should not be undervalued. O n the contrary, they should be struggled for just as workers struggle for a fair wage, a share in profits, fair prices for basic goods, etc.

As long as profound structural changes are not carried out, the poor sectors will always need to design and implement their own alternative education systems. This statement is based on various reasons: a) It is a proven factthat a high percentage of poor subjects, due to their socioeconomic condition, cannot access the national educational system. If they are able to access the system, they do so under very unfavorable conditions that impede their ability to take sufficient advantage of their education. b) On the other hand, even when the poor subject is able to go through the entire pyramid of these systems, “passing” all their evaluations in circumstantially subjective equality, the results of the educational process will count much less in their struggle for “success”, than what it will count for other socioeconomic sectors.

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A PROPOSAL FOR APPROACHING ADULT EDUCATION ...

BASIC ADULT EDUCATION FOR THE POOR AND ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

The challenge of adult education for the poor seems to demand that w e redefine the basic educational concept into acoherent, efficient concept with and for those adults.

If w e begin with a negative definition w e would say that this basic adult education forthe poor does not coincide with the basic educational programs that the educational system habitually offers children and youth.

Basic adult education for the poor ends up being, for objective reasons, an alternative education. This does not mean that there are no common elements between the two educational proposals.

Just as a matter of reference, for illiterate peasants the capacity to measure and plan their own land can be one of the most urgent and necessary contents of their educational curriculum. Nowhere do w e find in the basic educational curriculum for primary and intermediate levels a class titled something like “basic notions of surveying”.

It would be very useful to carry out historical-pedagogical investigations about the process of the construction of basic education among groups and concrete indidviduals. The history of our America is illuminated by examples of people who, without having followed the official road of the educational system, were able to build their own educational process which enabled them to play a significant role in society.

EDUCATIONAL PYRAMID OR M E T R O N E T W O R K ?

Definitely and categorically we should not renounce the possible dream of guaranteeing access to all levels of education for all people of our societies. Societies already exist in which higher education is accessible to practically all their citizens. But as long as the educational systems of our countries continue to be expressed by the image of the pyramid, w e have to search for an alternative for the adults who are expelled at some point along the climb up to the peak.

Statistics confirm that, until now, our adult education offerings have not guaranteed access to the top of the pyramid for the majority of adults who were expelled from the educational system. Not even most privileged in our societies see the image of the pyramid educational system as valid anymore. The accelerated mobility of the scientific-technological demands and the specialized skills in the world of work present us with a current image that, more than a pyramid, looks like a tropical pineapple, which is to say, it ends in many alternative peaks.

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Concretely, in the case of the majority of the poor adults in ourcountries, the alternative offer would seem to present itself beneath the image of a basic, common trunk that quickly forks into various main branches and then becomes acrest of branches that, more than a pyramid, looks like a network of stations from a modern metro system in which the learner can find a spectrum of coherent educational options that are.efficient and effective.

THE CONTRADICTION IS NOT BETWEEN THE F O R M A L AND THE NONFORMAL, BUT RATHER BETWEEN THE COHERENT AND THE INCOHERENT AND INEFFICIENT

W e have discussed many times the formal and nonformal units applied in the education of our adults. W e do not believe it is a matter of contrasting adult education for the poor with formal education. If, many times, the education of poor adults is carried out with nonformal units, this is not because of natural vocation, but rather because of the life conditions of the subject.

If the poor subject cannot become a “professional learner”, his or her educational process will not acquire the formality achieved by a child or adolescent, whose principle tasks, functions and status are defined by the educational process, to the extent that it becomes his or her principle status and identification. For this reason there is talk of a societal “student sector” and there are even identification cards for “students”.

If an adult peasant is in an educational process he or she will not be identified as a student, but rather as a farmer or worker.

Stated differently, the education of students takes its form from the formal educational system, that is to say, the school. The education of poor adults is taken from the concrete life project or from the survival that they are undertaking in that moment. Educational offerings for adults can be neither unsystematic nor improvised: they are also formal although their form or soul derives from other elements than those that create the form of traditional child education.

SCIENCE OR SUBJECTS

The reflection on science or subjects is another of thetopics of discussion that adult education presents us with from the beginning. Subjects have become, with the passing of educational history, the formula for offering the scientific menu to the “students”. But the subjects are by no means the science.

Subjects are a way to organize science within the educational system. It is not a matter of condemning or rejecting the school or subjects as

such in the education of poor adults, but rather, a question of examining them

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A PROPOSAL FOR APPROACHING ADULT EDUCATION ...

together with the learners with regard to criteria of efficiency and coherence. That coherence and efficiency will be conditionedand perhaps utlimately

determined by: a) The state of knowledge and liberation of the poor subject. b) The state of development of the poor adult’s project (at economic, political, cultural, social, group and individual levels). c) The rhythm of their daily life. d) The mioreseen issues that an unstable survival-level existence can impose.

In coherence with the prior reflections, w e would like to highlight briefly some of the principles that, to our way of thinking, should guide a process of teaching-learning with poor adults outside of the educational system.

Active protagonist participation of the learner at all times in the educational process

The learner always participates in the educational process in one way or another. What w e suggest here is a protagonist role in the participation, spurred on by initiative. This suggests that the educational project and its goals should arise from a reflection and an explicit demand from the learners, although, at first, this demand may not be expressed with complete coherence and clarity.

The cdQcation of poor adults begins there, accompanied and supported by an adequate methodology to define these demands and goals.

The quality and strength of the iniciative in setting demands and goals are indicators that allow us to know: a) The levels of development reached by the group. b) The function of the adult educator with regard to the specific group.

Synchronicity and respect for the life dynamic and rhythm of the poor sectors

The rhythm of work in the educational process of adults should be in synch with the rhythm and dynamic of their daily lives, both individually and collectively. It is the educational process that has to adapt itself to the rhythms, hours and “experiential shortcuts” of the poor adult and not vice versa. This does not mean that the educational offering becomes a collage. The challenge lies in not losing flexibility. W e need to be capable of building a true ad hoc system.

Each culture or subculture has its own rhythm and its own concept of time. The concept of “time is money” is not a universal cultural value. This does not mean w e should enshrine all of the contents, logic or internal cohesion of a given cultural system or subsystem, but rather, w e should start with them as a basic reality, as a grafting point and as a guide for coherence.

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THE SYSTEMIZATION OF PO P U L A R WISDOM

In education for the poor one never starts from zero and one can begin at any level.

When a concrete educational project is begun, the poor adults are already living immersed in their issues. They are already struggling to move forward in their life projects. They are already satisfying and achieving, at least in part, their needs and goals, regardless of the official or traditional educational level they possess.

All educational projects for the poor must begin by systematizing the knowledge that poor adults already possess in order to:

Evaluate their level of objective coherence and efficiency with and in response to the needs and goals of the group or community. Discover the popular history and logic of the acquisition of knowledge and the process of development. Invent, based on a fluid starting point of the people’s knowledge, organizational techniques and forms that will be necessary for the teaching and learning process. Detect the levels of coherence of a system of knowledge that, very probably, arises out of different systems and logic.

ECONOMIC AID OR SUBSIDIES IN EDUCATION FOR TH E POOR

W e have seen that from a pedagological point of view the poor adult is not just a big child. W e have affirmed that in education for the poor one never starts at zero and w e have sustained the need to sustematize the knowledge of the poor.

W e can therefore conclude that a process of education for the poor should handle any type of economic aid with great austerity. In this way it can be a promotional tool for self-sufficiency and not an anchorto dependency.

In fact, the poor adult does not only represent potential development, as do children, but rather, that potential has already reached a certain degree of completion and maturity. In some cases, it is qualitatively superior to that of adults from other sectors.

Even more than other adults, the poor subject has to liberate and develop him or herself, beginning with his or her own resources. More than other adults, they need to develop their own creativity and ability for self- promotion and instruction.

How will we know then, when to allow for subsidies and how much to allow for?

W e believe that the answer is not only the fruit of scientific principles, but also an art form.

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A PROPOSAL FOR APPROACHING ADULT EDUCATION ...

Nevertheless, w e believe that some guiding criteria can be suggested: All education subsidies for the poor should be approached by the educational collective (including the educator) as something that is consciously evaluated. To the extent that there is active participation, the poor subject him/ herself will reject any kind of subsidy that is unnecessary or generates dependency. It is necessary to place closing dates on every subsidy. It is preferable to move slowly but freely toward independence, rather than quickly toward greater dependency. The principle of “going from simple to complex” will allow for successful experiences and a viable self-evaluation that will protect against the unnecessary and alienating demand for aid. Try not to do anything that the learning-educating collective can do for itself, even though this may imply a slower rhythm.

In many cases, an unnecessary subsidy is nothing more than a projection from the educator (which many collectives of the poor have learned to manipulate) and a sign of hidher impatience and erroneous evaluation of the poor subject and hidher educational goals. With an excess of subsidies, the educator looks, at times, for his/her own success over that of the collective of the poor.

It is also worth pointing out that the very presence of the educator is the first subsidy, and one that is not outside of the established criteria.

Correct administration of aid helps to promote self-management. That is to say that participation should not only grow quantitatively, but also in levels and functions, to such a degree that, in the foreseeable future, external support becomes less and less necessary to the educational process.

The promotion of self-management does not mean renouncing necessary assistance and consultation. No one is self-sufficient,

WITHIN THE LEARNING-TEACHING PAIR PLACE EMPHASIS O N THE LEARNING. T H E P R O M O T I O N OF SELF-TEACHING

Representatives of countries from all over the world formulated and drafted a “World Declaration on Education for All. Meeting the Basic Needs of Learning” in Jomtien, Thailand in 1990. The task of bringing this declaration to life in every country and region still remains.

O n this occasion w e would like to underline one of the articles that we believe to be particularly relevant to the reflections made over the course of these days.

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Article four “Concentrate attention on learning” affirms:

In order for the increase of educational opportunities to translate into the genuine development of an individual or society, those individuals must trulv learn as a result of those possibilities. That is to say, they must truly acquire useful knowledge and the ability to reason, along with attitudes and values. As a consequence, basic education should center on the acquisition and effective results of learning, instead of exclusively placing attention on the act of registration, continuous class participation in programs of instruccion and the awarding of a final certificate.

Placing privilege on learning is a valid principle in all current educational spheres. Nevertheless, education for the poor has its own legitimate reasons.

The poor subject is, in official jargon, an “extrascholastic” individual. That is to say, that unlike the case of children, the educational system and institutions are already things of the past. On the other hand, outside of the school, our societies are very poor in permanent educational institutions (libraries, museums, radio and television programs, educational clubs, etc.).

In other words, accompaniment and support for the poor adult in educational matters will always be very meager. H e or she must be prepared for survival, as an explorer, in the new social jungle, with the necessary capacity, ability and skills to create and produce, using the available tools, the necessary educational fuel. The “supermarkets” of the educational system are not made for him/her and are usually inaccessible.

The education for poor adults should tend to produce people who are efficient and opportune “inventors and producers of knowledge”.

W e can outline three methodological elements that favor the formation of self-learning:

a) Awaken intellectual curiosity through the discovery of their own capacity to learn and produce gratifying and efficient knowledge.

b) Information about sources of knowledge should be at the disposal and in the interest of the poor sectors.

c) Familiarity with successful and viable self-learning experiences in the poor sectors.

CONSCIOUSNESS RAISING AND PROBLEM SOLVING

In terms of wisdom and knowledge, no poor adult is a blank page. If he or she has survived, it is because he or she has been able to build a more or less coherent and efficient system of knowledge and wisdom. Education

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A PROPOSAL FOR APPROACHING ADULT EDUCATION ...

forthe poor begins and continues to be aprocess of dialectical consciousness raising that furthers a process of “problem solving” on the basis of popular wisdom.

The production of knowledge and the transformation or acquisition of values, attitudes, habits, skills and abilities should, in this type of education, form a thesis-antithesis-synthesis with what it already is, and with what it already practices.

It is necessary to recognize what is already known through problem- solving, pushing it, through the Socratic method, until it is questioned. It is necessary to re-make what is already made and re-form the way it is done.

It is time for the question as didactic. The educator who continually asks “why?” in order to put existing knowledge in question.

Raja Roy Singh, in his article “Changing education in a changing world” affirms:

Two essentialcharacteristics of the state of learning are fundamentally important for qualitative transformation. Thefirst is the development of the abilities of young people to form problems and questions for themselves (...) What is essential is that a student actively form the problems and questions.

On this same topic, the thoughts of Einstein are pertinent:

The formulation of a problem is many times more important than the solution, which is only a matter of mathematic or experimental ability. To present new questions and new possibilities, to examine the old problems from a new angle requires imagination and is the sign of true scientific progress.

This re-knowing, this re-making, are the first steps in the production of knowledge and the acquisition of new attitudes, skills and abilities.

Re-knowing, re-making, re-forming does not mean the negation of what already exists, but rathertaking it to higher levels of synthesis, consciousness, universality and efficiency.

ARTICULATING THE MACRO BEGINNING WITH THE MICRO

The affirmation of a basic alternative, demand-driven educational model that begins with the daily and concrete, from the “daily needs”, from the local subsistence and survival goals, etc., is not an option for national self- sufficiency or locally based organization.

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In order forthe local project to be feasible, it is necessary for the learning adults to know and understand the overall dimension and the system model from which they have been excluded.

The macro is present in the micro in an increasingly more totalitarian form. What is clear is that the local project is the point of support, requested by Archimedes, for understanding the macro level and confronting it.

It is for this reason that the study of the macro system is imposed as a educational topic for basic adult education for the poor, not in the abstract, but rather beginning from the manifestations and presence of local projects.

These raflections that you have kindly allowed m e to present here are the fruit of many years of searching, together with colleagues and poor adults with w h o m w e forged a path together, some of w h o m are now my teachers. O n this path CREFAL was always a guiding light, that without having completely clear answers, never stopped illuminating our way.

W e all knowthat the crisisfaced by modern society presents inescapable and peremptory questions to our current educational models and in this w e agree with the striking comments of Drucker cited in the beginning of this presentation.

Perhaps the great changes that our educational model urgently needs will not occur internally, but will be imposed by the logic of other dimensions of society, those laws that are nowadays imposed, such as the goddess of socio-economic efficiency.

If those of us who have craftily kneaded the bread of adult education for the poor in our communities over the years have one advantage it is the following. Since w6 were many times seen as marginal for having frequently occupied the status of an appendage in the educational systems, w e have more freedom to question the models and experiment with more effective and coherent alternatives. It would not be strange, and is already happening in some fields, for the proposal for a more coherent, efficient and human- centered educational model to reach the formal scholastic educational systemsfromthe hundreds of experiences gainedfrom the education of poor adults.

This would only give meaning to the many efforts and initiatives that at times might have seemed disperse to us. In any case, if w e can offer something immediately, it is to place the already-cited quote from Einstein into practice, with which I would like to end my modest reflection.

The formulation of a problem is many times more important than the solution, which is only a matter of mathematic or experimental ability. To present new questions and new possibilities, to examine the old problems from a new angle requires imagination and is the sign of true scientific progress.

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" . .

Una propuesta de aproximaci6n a la educacion de adultos de

10s sectores populares.

La educaci6n de adultos frente a 10s desafios de la

modernizaci6n.

Francisco Jose Lacayo Paraj6n

Edici6n al cuidado de: Marta Guadalupe Romero UNESCO El Salvador

29 Edicion Agosto 1997

Traduccion: Anne Kamsvaag

Foto Portada: Mauricio Turcios

Diseiio, Diagramacion e Impresion: lmprenta Public El Salvador

Se puede reproducir total o parcialmente el texto publicado siempre que se indique el autor y la fuente. El autor es responsable por la seleccion y presentacion de 10s hechos contenidos en este libro, asi como de las opiniones expresadas en el, que no son necesariamente las de la UNESCO, y no comprometen a dicho organismo.

U N A PROPUESTA D E APROXlMACldN A LA EDUCACldN D E ADULTOS ...

UNA PROPUESTA DE APROXlMAClON A LA EDUCACION DE ADULTOS DE LOS SECTORES POPULARES. LAEDUCACION DEADULTOSFRENTEALOS

DESAFiOS DE LA MODERNIZACION*

Francisco Jose Lacayo Parajon

INTRODUCCION

La relacion entre trabajo y educacion de adultos ha sido tema tradicional de reflexion: jeducar para trabajar?, jeducar trabajando?, jeducar al trabajador?, jeducacion permanente del adulto? En el momento actual de algunos de nuestros paises podemos tambien preguntarnos: jeducar desde el desempleo?, jes el trabajo la rneta de nuestra educacion de adultos?, jes el trabajddor ei sujeto privilegiado?, jes el trabajo la metodologia y el contenido?, jque educacion ofrecen al adulto desempleado?

Permitanme iniciar estas palabras citando unos textos “provocadores” de Peter Drucker, cientifico de 85 ahos, con 19 doctorados, autor de 26 libros traducidos a 20 idiomas y quien ha sido calificado como “el padre de la administracion moderna”. Las citas estan extraidas de una entrevista que Drucker concedio a Silvia Riquelme, del periodic0 E/ Mercurio, de Chile.

El cambio fundamental al que hoy nos enfrentamos, afirma Drucker, “Es el conocimiento. Este se ha transformado en el recurso esencial y 10s negocios se estan reestructurando alrededor de la informacion [...I hoy en dia, obtener cargos y salarios decentes requiere un alto nivel de educacion formal [..,I”

El desafio fundamental que van a enfrentar 10s trabajadores “[ ...I es que sus hijos van a necesitar u n mayor nivel de educacion”.

“El sistemavigente todavia Cree que dejas de aprender cuando empiezas a trabajar, cuando en realidad se comienza a aprender, cuando se entra a t r a b ajar”.

“Nuestro sisterna educacional ya tiene mas de 300 ahos. Fue inventado por 10s jesuitas en el sur, alrededor de 1670 y por 10s protestantes en el norte, mas o menos en la misma epoca y no ha tenido grandes cambios“.

“Las escuelas son muy lentas en incorporar tecnologia porque todavia existe la creencia de que cuando terminas el entrenamiento dejas de

* Ponencia presentada en el Primer Encuentro lnkrnacional de Egresados del CREFAL. del 14 al 16 de febrero de 1996.

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aprender. Por eso, si en el pasado uno aprendia una habilidad a 10s 18 ahos, ya habia adquirido todo lo que necesitaba saber para el resto de su vida. Esto era valido para granjeros, zapateros o impresores”.

“[ ...I nuestro gran desafio no va a ser la economia, sin0 la educacion a la par que la tecnologia. Vamos a tener que reinventar la educacion que, de todas nuestras instituciones es la que menos ha cambiado. Hasta la lglesia Catolica ha cambiado mas que la educacion”,

“[ ...I no se puede competir en el mercado con mano de obra barata. S e puede tener la esperanta de empezar asi, per0 no de perrnanecer”.

“El product0 representativo del progreso de 10s aRos veinte era el automovil”. “Aparte de la materia prima, el 70°/0 del costo de un automovil corresponde a la mano de obra”. “Hoy dia el microchip y el componenete de mano de obra del microchip es cercano al 2.5%. El componente de conocimiento, en cambio, es cercano al 80%”.

Y termino las citas con esta frase lapidaria del autor “[ ...I 10s sindicatos no sobreviviran, porque basan su poder en la importancia del trabajo manual intensivo pero, la manufactura ya no tiene poder en 10s paises desarrollados”.

Podemos estar o no de acuerdo con el pensamiento de Drucker, pero noseriaconveniente despreciarlo. Lo que haya de cierto en sus afirmaciones sobre la educacion, adquiere una relevancia mucho mayorcuando reflexionamos sobre la educaci6n de 10s adultos populares de nuestros paises.

Nuestra modesta reflexion en el marco del tema educacion de adultos y trabajo, la vamos a centrar en el sujeto adulto popular extraescolar que trabaja estudiando, estudia para trabajar, estudia trabajando o inventa y aprende la ciencia, el arte, la habilidad, la destreza de la sobrevivencia con o sin trabajo, en modalidades herejes en donde se combina lo formal y lo no formal, con experiencias de autodidactismo. Creemos que si logramos profundizar la cornprension de la naturaleza muy particular de este sujeto, estaremos en mejor posicion para buscar una respuestaeducativa pertinente, coherente y eficaz.

UNA CONCEPCldN DE LA EDUCACION DE A D U L T O S P O P U L A R E S

Para las intenciones de esta exposicion, nos vamos a referir a esa educaci6n de adultos que, en nuestros paises, ha sido definida por algunos como educacion popular de adultos o educacion de adultos de 10s sectores populares. La razon es obvia y sencilla: las poblaciones que demandan educaci6n de adultos en nuestros paises, proceden en su mayoria de 10s sectores populares mas pobres y excluidos, dentro de 10s cuales, cronologicamente, coexisten tanto adultos como niAos que abandonaron temprano la piramide del sistema educativo formal o fueron expulsados de ella.

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Por lo comun es aceptado que 10s procesos educativos estan definidos por el sujeto en proceso de educacion y por el proyecto de vida de este sujeto. Sujeto educando y su proyecto de vida, son el punto de partida para definir 10s contenidos programaticos, la metodologia, las didacticas, 10s ritmos y las modalidades, formales o no de un proyecto educativo. A ellos se atiade P I proyecto viable de la sociedad.

Podemos afirmar que, en la expresion educacion popular, “popular” es tan sustantivo como “educacion” y no es simplemente su adjetivo. La ciencia de la educacion debe ir, en este caso, de la mano de la ciencia de lo “popular”.

Por ello, la teoria de la educacion de adultos populares debe ser o conllevar una teoria de 10s sectores populares, entendidos estos como sujetos excluidos, pobres y en vias de pauperizacion y en busqueda frecuente de sobrevivencia.

La primera exigencia de este tipo de educacion es estudiary comprender cuales son 10s sectores populares, como son y por que son. S e impone conocery comprender sus niveles de conciencia, su capacidad de evaluacion de la realidad y sus aspiraciones, sus proyectos cotidianos y su proyecto estrategico.

En ese mundo de lo popular el contenido del concept0 adulto no es igual al de otros sectores. En efecto, en muchas sociedades actuales observamos las siguientes paradojas: 10s niiios de 10s sectores populares se ven obligados a ejercer funciones socioeconomicas de adultds y el adulto popular es tratado en educacion como nitio.

Asi como el educador de nifios en la moderna pedagogia debe conocer la psicologia del niiio, la naturaleza de su desarrollo fisico y psicomotor y estar consciente de que un niiio no es un “adulto chiquito”; el educador de adultas debe estar seguro de que el adulto popular no es “nitio grande”, sin0 un personaje social con rasgos muy particulares. Las diferencias entre 10s dos sujetos son cualitativas y no dependen, en primer lugar, de la dimension etaria.

En la educacion de 10s niRos se trata de coadyuvar al desarrollo y crecimiento sano y armonico de una personalidad (psiquica y fisica) que va ordinariamente camino a la madurez. Los planes educativos estan concebidos, principalmente, enfuncion de lo que ese niiio va a ser y debe ser en elfuturo. En el cas0 de !os adultos populares (exceptuando el de 10s niiios-adultos- socioeconomicamente) estos ya alcanzaron su madurez humana, por muchas limitaciones que esta pueda tener para “funcionar” en la Iogica de un determinado sistema.

La educacion de adultos populares debe entonces partir de lo que estos adultos ya son, para ayudarles a realizar su proyecto que con frecuencia esta en contradiccion con el que la sociedad tiene de ellos.

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Tenemos que reconocer que este campo de la educacion no puede abordarse unicamente desde la pedagogia (que etimologicamente es la ciencia y el arte para conducir y formar al infante). S e hacen necesarios tambien 10s instrumentos de una antropologia, de una economia, de una sociologia, de una psicologia. Nos parece una carencia el que este tipo de educacion no haya sido reconocida todavia como ciencia especifica, a pesar de que posee objetivos, contenidos, sujetos, metodos y tareas especificas.

EDUCACldN RElVlNDlCADA Y EDUCACION ALTERNATIVA

Si estamos seguros de que la educacion popular exige un conocimiento cientifico del sujeto popular, de sus condiciones y de su proyecto, veremos que 10s sectores populares poseen espacios educativos con estrategias y naturaleza diferentes; principalmente 10s planes y sistemas educativos oficiales nacionales ofertados a 10s ciudadanos en general.

Los adultos populares deben luchar porque estos planes y sistemas respondan a sus intereses de mayorias y deben exigir su acceso a ellos, en igualdad de condiciones y oportunidades. Es la estrategia de la “segunda opotiunidad que, en todo caso, debe asumir las experiencias y lecciones de la primera “expulsion” e intentar superarlas estructuralmente.

N o hay que desechar ni subvalorar estos espacios, por el contrario, deben ser reivindicados al mismo nivel que se reivindica el salario justo, la participacion en las utilidades, la canasta basica, etc. de 10s trabajadores.

Mientras no se realicen profundos cambios estructurales, siempre necesitaran 10s sectores populares diseiiar e implementar sistemas alternativos de educacion popular propios. Esta afirmacion se sustenta en varias razones: a) Esta demostrado por 10s hechos, que un alto porcentaje de 10s sujetos populares, por su propiacondicion socioeconomica, no pueden incorporarse a 10s planes y sistemas educativos nacionales, o si logran acceder a ellos, lo hacen en condiciones muy desfavorables que les impiden aprovecharlos suficientemente. b) Por otra parte, aun cuando un sujeto popular lograra recorrertoda la piramide de estos sistemas, “aprobando” todas sus evaluaciones en igualdad de circunstancias subjetivas, 10s resultados de su proceso educativo contaran mucho menos en su lucha por el “exito”, que Io que cuenta para otros sectores socioeconomicos.

EDUCACldN P O P U L A R BASICA DE A D U L T O S Y EDUCACldN ALTERNATIVA

El reto de la educacion de adultos populares parece exigirnos una redefinicion del concept0 de educacion basica coherente y eficaz, con y para ellos.

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Si empezamos con una definicion negativa, diremos que esta educacion biisica de 10s adultos populares no coincide con 10s programas de educacion basica que habitualmente ofrece el sistema escolar a 10s jovenes y niiios.

La educacion basica de 10s adultos populares termina siendo, por razones objetivas, una educacion alternativa. Est0 no quiere decir que no puede haber, entre ambas propuestas educativas, elementos comunes.

Unicamente a manera de referencia, la capacidad de medir y planificar su propia tierra puede ser para campesinos analfabetas un contenido m a s urgente y necesario que otros contenidos clasicos de la educacion basica, y sabemos que no encontramos en 10s planes y programas de estudio de 10s niveles primarios y medios, algo asicomo'bociones basicas de agrimensura".

Seria muy uti1 realizar investigaciones historico-pedagogicas sobre el proceso de construccion de la educacion basica en grupos e individuos concretos. La historia de nuestra America esta iluminada por ejemplos de personalidades que, sin haber recorrido el camino oficial del sistema educativo, pudieron construir un proceso educativo propio que les permitio ejercer un papel significativo en la sociedad. ~ P I R A M I D E EDUCATIVA 0 RED DE METRO?

Definitiva y categoricamente no debemos renunciar al sueRo posible de garantizar a todas las personas de nuestras sociedades el acceso a todos 10s niveles educativos. Ya existen sociedades en donde la educacion superior es accesible practicamente a todos 10s ciudadanos. Per0 mientras 10s sistemas educativos de nuestros paises sigan siendo expresados por la grafica de la piramide, tenemos que buscar una alternativa a 10s adultos expulsados en algun momento de la linea ascendente hacia la cuspide.

Las estadisticas nos confirman que, hasta ahora, nuestras ofertas de educacion de adultos no han garantizado, a la mayoria de adultos expulsados del sistema educativo, el acceso a la cuspide piramidal. Y es que ya ni siquiera para 10s mas privilegiados de nuestras sociedades sigue siendo valida la imagen de un sistema educativo piramidal. La movilidad acelerada de las demandas cientifico-tecnicas y de las tareas especializadas en el mundo del trabajo nos presentan una grafica real que, mas que a una piramide, se asemeja al penacho de unapiiia tropical, es decir, un desenlace con muchas cuspides alternativas.

Para el cas0 concreto de la mayoria de 10s adultos populares actuales de nuestros paises, la oferia alternativa pareciera presentarse bajo la imagen de un tronco comun basico, que muy pronto se bifurca en varias ramas principales para luego convertirse en un penacho de ramas que mas que a una piramide deberian semejarse a una red de estaciones de un metro moderno, en donde el sujeto educando puede encontrar un abanico de opciones educativas coherentes, eficientes y eficaces.

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LA CONTRADlCClON NO ESTA ENTRE LO F O R M A L Y LO NO FORMAL, SIN0 ENTRE LO COHERENTE Y EFICAZ Y LO INCOHERENTE E INEFICAZ

Hemos discutido muchas veces sobre 10s espacios de las modalidades formales y no formales en la educacion de nuestros adultos. Creemos que no se trata de contraponer la educacion de adultos populares a la educacion formal. Si la educacion de adultos populares se lleva a cabo, muchas veces, en modalidades no formales, no es por vocacion natural, sin0 por las condiciones reales del sujeto.

Si el sujeto popular no se puede “profesionalizar” como “educando”, su proceso educativo no podra adquirir la formalidad que logra en un niiio o un joven, cuyas principales tareas, funciones y estatus estan definidos por proceso educativo, a un punto tal que se convierte en su principal estatus e identificacion. Por eso se habla del “sector estudiantil” de una sociedad e incluso, existen 10s carnets de identificacion para 10s “estudiantes”.

Si un campesino adulto esta en un proceso educativo no se le identifica como estudiante, sino como productor o trabajador.

Dicho de otro modo, la educacion de 10s estudiantes toma su forma del sistema educativo formal, es decir, de la escuela. La educacion de 10s adultos populares la toma del proyecto concreto de vida o de sobrevivencia que intentan realizar en ese momento. La oferta educativa para 10s adultos no puede ser asistematica, ni improvisada; tambien es formal aunque su forma o alma proceda de otros elementos que 10s que crean la forma de la escuela tradicional de 10s niRos.

‘ClENClA 0 ASIGNATURAS?

La reflexion sobre ciencia o asignaturas es otro de 10s temas de discusion que nos plantea desde sus inicios la educacion de adultos. Las asignaturas se han convertido, con el correr de la historia educativa, en la forma de ofertar el menu cientifico a 10s “estudiantes”. Pero, las asignaturas no son la ciencia. ni mucho menos.

Las asignaturas son una forma de organizar la ciencia en 10s sistemas escolares.

No se trata de una condena o rechazo a priori de la escuela o de las asignaturas en la educacion de adultos populares, sin0 de someterlos a criterios de eficacia y coherencia con 10s educandos concretos.

Esacoherencia y esa eficiencia estaran condicionadas y quiza determinadas por: a) El momento de ciencia y liberacion del sujeto popular. b) El momento de desarrollo de su proyecto de adultospopulares (en sus niveles economico, politico, cultural, social, grupal y/o individual). c) El ritrno de su vida

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cotidiana. d) Los imprevistos que impone una sobrevivencia inestable. En coherencia con las reflexiones anteriores, quisieramos sefialar

brevemente algunos de 10s principios que, a nuestro parecer, deben guiar un proceso de ensefianza-aprendizaje con adultos populares extraescolares.

lniciativa y participacion protagonica del educando en todos 10s momentos del proceso educativo

Siempre existe algun tipo de participacion del educando en 10s procesos educativos. Lo que plantearnos aqui es una participacion con iniciativa y protagonica que supone, incluso, que el proyecto educativo y sus metas deben ssrgii. de ilna reflexion y de na demanda explicita de 10s educandos aunque, al principio, esta demand i no logre expresarse con toda coherencia y claridad.

La educacion popular de adultos empieza alli, con el acompafiamiento y el aporte de una adecuada metodologia a la definicion de esas demandas y de esas metas.

La calidad y fuerza de la iniciativa, en plantear demandas y metas, son indicadores que nos permiten conocer: a) Los niveles de desarrollo alcanzados por el grupo. b) La funcion del educador de adultos ante ese grupo concreto.

Sincronia y respeto con la dinamica y el ritmo de vida de 10s sectores populares

El ritmo de trabajo en el proceso educativo de 10s adultos debe sincronizarse y sinergizarse con el ritmo y la dinamica de la vida cotidiana, tanto individual como colectiva. Es el proceso educativo el que tiene que adaptarse a 10s ritmos, horarios y “atajos vivenciales” del adulto poular y no viceversa. Esto no significa que la oferta educativa se convierte en un collage, el reto estriba en que, sin perder la flexibilidad, seamos capaces de construir un verdadero sistema ad hoc.

Cada cultura o subcultura tiene su propio ritmo y su propia concepcion del tiempo (el time is money no es un valor cultural universal). Est0 no significa sacralizar todos 10s contenidos, la Iogica o la coherencia interna de un determinado sistema o subsistema cultural sin0 partir de ellos como una realidad basica, como un punto de injerto y como una guia de coherencia.

LA SlSTEMATlZAClON DEL S A B E R P O P U L A R

En la educacion popular nunca se parte de cero y siempre se puede

Cuando se inicia un proyecto educativo concreto, 10s adultos populares partir de cualquier nivel.

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ya estan viviendo sus problematicas, ya estan intentando llevar adelante sus proyectos vitales, ya estan satisfaciendo y alcanzando, al menos en parte, sus necesidades y sus metas, independientemente de 10s niveles educativos oficiales o tradicionales que poseen.

Todo prcyocto de educacion popular exige comenzar sisitematizando el saber que ya poseen 10s adultos populares para:

Valorar su nivel de coherencia y eficiencia objetivas con y ante las necesidades y metas del grupo o comunidad. Descubrir la historia y la Iogica popular de la adquisicion del saber y del proceso de desarrollo. Inventar, en un “a partir” continuo del saber popular, 10s metodos, tecnicas y formas organizativas que requerira el proceso de enseiianza- aprendizaje. Detectar 10s niveles de coherencia de un sistema de conocimiento que, muy probablemente, es deudor a diferentes sistemas y logicas.

EL SUBSlDiO EN LA EDUCACION P O P U L A R

Hemos visto que el adulto popular no es un niRo grande, desde el punto de vista pedagogico. Hemos afirmado que nunca se parte de cero en la educacion popular y hemos sostenido la necesidad de sistematizar el saber popular.

D e ellos se desprende que un proceso de educacion popular debe manejar cualquier tipo de subsidio con gran austeridad y celo para que sea un instrumento promotor de autosuficiencia y no un ancla de dependencia.

En efecto, el adulto popular no es solo pontencialidad de desarrollo, al igual que el niiio, sin0 que dicha potencialidad ya alcanzo un cierto grado de realizacion y madurez, en algunos casos, superiores en calidad a las de adultos de otros sectores.

Mas aun que otros adultos, el sujeto popular debe liberarse y desarrollarse a partir de sus propios recursos. Necesita mucho mas que otros desarrollar su inventiva y su capacidad de autogestion y autodidactismo.

‘Como saber entonces cuando y cuanto debe permitirse el subsidio? Creernos que la respuesta no es solo fruto de principios cientificos sino

No obstante, creemos que se pueden avanzar ciertos criterios guias: a) Todo subsidio en educacion popular debe ser vivido por el colectivo

en educacion (incluso el educador) como algo analizado y consciente. b) En la medida en que haya participacion con iniciativa, el mismo

sujeto popular rechazara cualquier subsidio innecesario o generador de dependencia.

que es tambien un arte.

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U N A PROPUESTA DE APROXlMACldN A LA EDUCACl6N DE ADULTOS ...

c) Hay que ponerle fecha finales a cada subsidio. d) Es preferible caminar lento per0 libre hacia la independencia, que

rapido hacia una mayor dependencia. e) El principio de “ir de lo simple a lo complejo” permitira experiencias

de exito y autovaloracion viables que vacunaran contra la demanda innecesaria y alienante de subisidio.

f) Procurar no hacer nada que el colectivo educando pueda hacer por si mismo, aunque esto suponga un ritmo m a s lento.

En muchos casos, el subisidio innecesario no es mas que unaproyeccion del educador popular (que muchos colectivos populares han aprendido a manipular) y un signo de su impaciencia y de su incorrecta valoracion del sujeto popular y de sus metas educativas. Con el exceso de subsidio, el educador popular busca, a veces, mas su propio exito que el del colectivo popular

N o esta de mas seiialar que la presencia del educador popular es el primer subsidio y no escapa a 10s criterios aqui enunciados.

El correct0 manejo del subsidio conlleva la promocion de la autogestion, es decir, que la participacion no solo debe crecer cuantitativamente sino en niveles y en funciones, de manera que, en un futuro programado, el aporte extern0 se vuelva cada vez menos necesario para el proceso educativo.

La promocion de la autogestion no supone renunciar a la necesaria complementariedad y asesoria. Nadie es autosuficiente.

EN EL BlNOMlO ENSENANZA-APRENDIZAJE H A C E R ENFASIS EN EL APRENDIZAJE. LA PROMOCION DEL AUTODIDACTISMO

Los representantes de 10s paises del mundo entero formularon y redactaron la“Declaraci6n Mundial sobre Educacion para Todos. Satisfaccion de las Necesidades Basicas de Aprendizaje”en Jomtien, Tailandia, en 1990, per0 queda la tarea de darle a esta declaracion, su expresion nacional en cada pais y en cada region.

En esta ocasion quisieramos resaltar uno de 10s articulos que nos parece particularmente relevante para las reflexiones de estos dias.

El articulo cuarto “Concentrar la atencion en el aprendizaje” afirma:

Que el incremento de \as posibilidades de educaci6n se traduzca en un desarrollo genuino del individuo o de la socedad depende, en definitiva, de que 10s individuos aprendan verdaderamente como resultado de esas posibilidades, esto es, de queverdaderamente adquieran conocimientos utiles, capacidad de raciocinio, actitudes y valores. En consecuencia, la educacion basica debe centrarse en las adquisiciones y resultados efectivos del aprendizaje, en vez de prestar exclusivamente la atenci6n

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al hecho de matricularse, de participar en forma continuada en 10s programas de instruccih y de obtener el certificado final.

El privilegiar el aprendizaje es un principio valido en todos 10s ambitos educativos actuales. No obstante, en la educacion popular tiene sus razones de legitimidad propias.

En efecto el sujeto popular es, en la jerga oficial, un “extraescolar”. Es decir, que el sistema educativo y las instituciones educativas ya quedaron atras de su marcha en lavida, no estan por delante como en el cas0 del niiio. Por otra parte, fuera del cas0 de la escuela como institucion, nuestras sociedades son muypobres en instituciones educativas permanentes (bibliotecas, museos, programas radiales y televisivos, clubes educativos, etcetera).

En otras palabras, el acompaiiamiento y el apoyo para el adulto popular en materia educativa seran siempre muy exiguos. Hay que prepararlo para subsistir, como un explorador, en la nueva jungla social, con la suficiente capacidad, habilidad y destreza para inventar y producir, con 10s elementos a su alcance, la alimentacion educativa necesaria y que no le proporcionaran 10s “supermercados” del sistema educativo que no estan hechos para el y que ordinariamente le son inaccesibles.

La educacion de adultos populares debe tender aformar personalidades “inventoras y productoras de conocimiento” eficaz y oportuno.

Podemos seiialartres elementos metodologicos que favorecen la formacion en el autodidactismo:

a) Despertar la curiosidad intelectual a traves del descubrimiento de la propia capacidad de aprender y producir conocimiento gratificador y eficiente.

b) La informacion sobre las fuentes de conocimiento al alcance de 10s sectores populares y de interes para 10s mismos.

c) El conocimiento de experiencias de invencion y autodidactismo viables y exitosas en 10s sectores populares.

CONCIENTIZAR Y PROBLEMATIZAR

Ningun adulto popular es una pagina en blanco en el saber y el conocimiento. Si ha sobrevivido es porque ha logrado construir un sistema mas o menos coherente y eficaz de conocimiento y sabiduria. La educacion popular empieza y continlja siendo siempre un proceso de concientizacion dialectica que conlleva un proceso de “problematizacion” del saber popular.

La produccion de conocimientos y la transformacion o adquisicion de valores, actitudes, habitos, destrezas y habilidades, en estetipo de educacion, debe formar una estructura de tesis-antitesis-sintesis con Io que ya es, y con lo que ya ptactica.

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Hay que reconocer Io ya sabido problematizandolo, empujandolo, por medio del metodo socratico, hasta su cuestionamiento. Hay que re-hacer lo ya hecho y re-formar la forma de hacerlo.

Es el momento de la pregunta como didactica. El educador preguntando continuamente ipor que? para problematizar el saber ya existente.

Raja Roy Singh en su articulo “Cambiar la educacion en un mundo que cambia” , af i r m a:

Dos caracteristicas esenciales de la situacion de aprendizaje presentan una importancia fundamental para la transformaci6n cualitativa. La primera es el desarrollo de las capacidades de 10s jovenes para formular problemas y preguntas por si mismos I...] Lo esencial es que el alumno se formule activamente 10s problemas y las preguntas.

Sobre este mismo tema es pertinente el pensamiento de Einstein:

La formulacion de un problema es muchas veces mas importante que su solucidn, que puede ser s610 cuestion de habilidad matematica o experimental. Plantearse nuevas preguntas y nuevas posibilidades, examinar losviejos problemas desde un angulo nuevo requiere imaginaci6n y es el signo del verdadero progreso de las ciencias.

Este re-conocer y este re-hacer son la primera practicade la produccion de conocimiento y de la adquisicion de nuevas actitudes, destrezas y habilidades.

Re-conocer, re-hacer, re-formar no es negar Io que ya existe sin0 llevarlo a niveles superiores de sintesis, de conciencia, de universalidad y de eficiencia.

ARTICULAR L O M A C R O A PARTIR DE LO MICRO

El afirmar un modelo de educacion basica alternativo, reivindicativo, el partir de lo cotidiano y concreto, de la “necesidad de cada dia”, de las metas locales de subsistencia y sobrevivencia, etc., no son una opcion por la autarquia o por el localismo.

Para que el proyecto local tenga viabilidad es necesario que 10s educandos adultos conozcan y comprendan la dimension macro y el modelo del sistema del cual han sido excluidos.

Lo macro esta presente en lo micro en forma cada vez mas totalitaria. Lo que siesta claro es que el proyecto local es el punto de apoyo, que pedia Arquimides, para comprender el nivel macro y enfrentarse a el.

Es por eso que el estudio del sistema macro’se impone como contenido de la educacion popular basica de adultos, pero, no en abstracto, sino a partir de sus manifestaciones y presencia en 10s proyectos locales.

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Estas reflexiones que ustedes gentilmente me han permitido exponer son el fruto de muchos aRos de busqueda con colegas y adultos populares con quienes algun dia hicimos camino juntos, algunos de 10s cuales son ahora mis maestros. En ese caminar el CREFAL fue siempre como una lampara marinera, que sin tener respuestas de claridad total, nunca dejo de alumbrar nuestros pasos.

Todos sabemos que la crisis que vive la sociedad moderna plantea ineludibles y perentorias interrogantes a nuestros modelos educativos actuales y en eso estamos de acuerdo con las frases lapidarias de Drecker que citamos al inicio.

Quiza 10s grandes cambios que necesita con urgencia nuestro modelo educativo no surgiran de su dinamica interna, sin0 que seran impuestos por las logicas de otras dimensiones de la sociedad aquellas que hoy en dia imponen leyes de la diosa de la eficacia economico-social.

Si algunaventajatenemos 10s que casi artesanalmente hemos amasado por aAos el pan de la educacion de 10s adultos populares de nuestros pueblos, es que por haber sido vistos muchas veces como marginales, por haberocupadofrecuentemente estatus apendices en 10s sistemas educativos, hemos tenido, de hecho. mas libertad para cuestionar 10s modelos y para experimentar alternativas mas coherentes y eficaces. No seria extraho, y ya lo esta siendo en algunos campos, que la propuesta para un modelo educativo m a s coherente, mas eficaz y m a s centrad0 en la persona humana, llegue hasta 10s sistemas educativosformales escolares desde las experiencias cenicientas de la educacion de 10s adultos populares.

Est0 solo daria sentido a tantos esfuerzos yvigores que a veces pueden habernos parecido dispersos. En todo caso, si algo podemos ofrecer de inmediato, es la practica del pensamiento de Einstein, ya antes citado y con el que quisiera terminar mi modesta reflexion:

La formulacidn de un problerna es muchas veces mas importante que su solucidn, que puede ser s610 cuesti6n de habilidad matematica o experimental. Plantearse nuevas preguntas y nuevas posibilidades, examinarlos viejos problemas desde un angulo nuevo requiere imaginacidn y es el signo del verdadero progreso de las ciencias.