Public high school and college in São Paulo: the contrast between meritocratic curriculum policies and affirmative policies

Abstract

This study evaluates the importance of quota policies for the democratization of higher education. In a quantitative analysis, we analyzed the differences in performance between students from public and private schools in the state of São Paulo, also considering ethnic self-declarations in applications for the vestibular system of the Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). This research is part of the project School: neoliberalism, necropolitics, and the processes of resistance, which investigates data on exclusion and the social resistance classes and ethnic groups seek to establish in confronting the neoliberal policies applied to education. We examined candidates’ results in the exams from 2010 to 2018 to investigate which policy determined the access of students from public schools in São Paulo to the public university. To this end, we analyzed the inclusion policies adopted by UNESP in 2010 and 2014 in contrast to the curriculum policies of the state of São Paulo, implemented under the discourse of improving public schools. We show that the percentage of vestibular candidates who attended secondary education in public schools increased from 30% in 2010 to 44% in 2018, and that this was only possible because a vacancy reservation program ensured access to these candidates. We also highlight the maintenance of performance differences between Black and white students, and the slight increase, produced by this vacancy reservation policy, in the number of Black students, who mostly come from public schools, admitted to the university. These results show that the struggle and social organization strategies of Black communities, in the consolidation of affirmative policies, are fundamental for their access to public higher education.