Introduction
Recently, I visited a public high school during an activity day with first-grade students, aiming to find a school for opening a new Plantel Azteca. In a simple exercise, I asked students to write in their own words what they had learned that day. One student mentioned, “Photosynthesis is how plants use light to grow and give us air.” When I asked how this works or why it’s important, he fell silent. He confessed that he had merely copied it from the blackboard. This was not an isolated case; several classmates could recite concepts but couldn’t explain or relate them to daily life.
The Learning-Repetition Confusion
This scene encapsulates one of the significant flaws in our education system. We have mistaken learning for repetition, and memorizing text is not the same as understanding it.
For decades, public policies have prioritized school coverage as a measure of success. Quantitative advances are evident: in the 2023-2024 school year, basic education coverage was 90.6% for children and adolescents aged 3 to 14, according to the Secretaría de Educación Pública (SEP) data. However, these numerical achievements starkly contrast with learning outcomes.
Mexico’s performance in Mathematics and Reading Comprehension places it third among the worst-performing countries, according to the OCDE. How can so many young people fail to grasp basic texts after years in the classroom? The answer is complex, but it starts with a clear point: we continue training students to repeat rather than teaching them to think.
The Impact on Skill Development
This issue not only affects school performance but severely limits the development of life skills. A student who memorizes can pass, but a student who understands can transform their environment.
Let’s be clear: this does not mean opposing more children attending school or minimizing the importance of educational coverage. Instead, it’s about understanding that expanding coverage and improving learning quality must advance in parallel and integrated fashion. Filling classrooms is insufficient; every student needs an education that genuinely enables them to understand, reflect, and develop skills for their life and future.
This involves teacher training, curriculum content redesign, and acknowledging that true learning isn’t measured only by attendance or grades but by the ability to understand, argue, and propose solutions. Only then can we form better citizens, committed to their environment and contributing to collective well-being.
Key Questions and Answers
- Q: Is the author against more children attending school? A: No, the author emphasizes the importance of educational coverage but stresses that it must go hand-in-hand with improving learning quality.
- Q: What is the main issue in Mexico’s education system? A: The system confuses learning with repetition, focusing on memorization rather than understanding.
- Q: How does this learning crisis impact students? A: It limits the development of life skills and prevents students from critically and creatively understanding concepts.
- Q: What solutions does the author propose? A: Teacher training, curriculum redesign, and recognizing that learning is about understanding, arguing, and proposing solutions, not just attendance or grades.
