Representações sociais de alunos do ensino médio de escolas públicas sobre a universidade

Abstract

In contemporary society, education is strongly connected to social development, as it is a relevant possibility of change in the individuals’ lives. Therefore, students hold school and education in high regard, hoping to achieve gigher social status and more qualified jobs. Such students have the right to attend to college, and must have that possibility assured. The main objective of the present paper is to understand how public school students perceive the public university. The main understanding is that the target demographic desires to attend the university, but believes that such space is unreachable from their context. 11 high school students from public schools in the municipality of Juiz de Fora were interviewed, with two main discussions: if such students perceive the public universities as achievable, and, if so, how is such perception. A qualitative investigation was performed, with semistructured interviews. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, all the interviews were by WhatsApp. Five interviews were by video call, three by voice messages and three by text messages. The hypothesis of this paper was debunked by all the 11 interviews, in which nine of the students made clear that they perceive the university as a possibility and aim at such goal in different manners. The other two students put the university education not as a priority, but as a second option. Every student is searching for a change in their families trajectories, since their parents have not attended the university but they seek such goal for themselves. Even those who do not contemplate the university as their first option desire to be approved for public positions, aiming the stability they did not perceive in their parents’ lives. Thus, different strategies are employed by both the students and their parents, such as moving to other cities, seeking for schools that are regarded as better, paying for private prep courses, expenses with public transportation, as well as investment both in time as in giving up on regular activities. Whatever the investments by the students or their parents, aim the profits that they wish to obtain in medium to long term in the student market, for they see real possibilities of such payback due to a record of educational success throughout their student life