Mass education, privatisation, compensation and diversification: Issues on the future of public education in Mexico

The corrosion of public education in Mexico by institutional rigidities and decades of underfunding have placed the system in severe crisis. The rich have opted out and the poor are dropping out of it. The failure of incomplete and politically decentralisations to address poor quality and persisitent inequalities have resulted in widespread applause for special compensatory programmes aimed to reach the most underprivileged students. This article argues that the disappointing results are due their sidestepping needed reforms within the system in favour of targeting the students it is incapable of retaining, and an erroneous view of the underpriveleged as possessing educational aspirations and abilities completely distinct from the rest of society. The article proposes a more inclusive educational approach to provide high quality high quality education for all. (DIPF/Orig.)