The educational miracle that no one believed in
In a turn of events as unexpected as finding a diamond in a mud, the states that traditionally occupied the last places in education – our beloved Oaxaca, Guerrero, Chiapas and Michoacán – have experienced a miraculous academic transformation. Overnight, and thanks to the brand new Integrative Learning Exercises (EIA), they have become the most diligent students in the class. The secret of this success? A revolutionary formula: that the teachers themselves evaluate their students. What could go wrong, right?
The Ministry of Public Education, in a burst of creativity worthy of an award, decided to replace the boring and objective diagnostic tests with this new system where the one who judges is also the one who teaches. Imagine a soccer match where each team scores its own goals and proclaims itself champion. Well, basically, that’s what EIAs are. The data, to which EL UNIVERSAL had access, reveal that Oaxaca and Chiapas are now powers in Languages, while Michoacán leads in Scientific Knowledge and Guerrero stands out in that ethereal thing called “Of the human and the community.” Because, of course, who better to evaluate ethics and community than a state with serious social conflicts?
The experts, with their eyebrows raised
Faced with this panorama of self-inflicted excellence, education specialists, those professional killjoys, have not been able to contain their laughter (or tears). Erik Avilés, from the Michoacan Institute of Educational Sciences, pointed out with enviable delicacy that EIAs reflect a “subjective perception of learning.” Come on, it’s like asking a street artist if his work is the best in the world: the answer, dear reader, we know in advance.
But the award for the most caustic comment goes to Eduardo Backhoff, former president of the INEE, who suggested that this methodology is “prone to teaching laxity.” “Laxity” is a very fancy way of saying that teachers may be painting a much rosier picture of reality. Backhoff, with the patience of someone who has seen too much, recalled that historically these states have had the worst results in serious external evaluations such as PISA. And now they are the first? Come on, even the most optimistic student in the class would blush at such… improvement.
The conclusion among experts is unanimous: these results lack the slightest reliability and objectivity. The EIAs would be nothing more than an administrative screen, a brilliant exercise in statistical makeup designed to hide the harsh reality. It’s the educational equivalent of putting a new curtain on a house that’s falling apart: it looks pretty, but the structural problem is still there.
So now you know: if you want your children to be listed as geniuses in official records, make sure their teacher is also their evaluator. It’s the new magic formula for instant educational success. Because in the Mexico of the fourth transformation, meritocracy has been replaced by “self-qualificationocracy.”
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