The color of school failure: the place of the young perpetrators in Brazilian schools

Abstract

This paper aims to reflect the place of systematic marginalization of adolescents in conflict with the law, with a special focus on young black people (black and mixed race), in the Brazilian school context. The critical analysis highlights how formative process, throughout its social history, contributes to the segregation of these students, perpetuating social and economic inequalities in line with the interests of modern capitalist society, i.e., with a society based on the logic of the panopticon. By exploring educational dynamics, or at least part of it, the article highlights those pedagogical practices that, in most cases, fail to understand the complex realities faced by these adolescents, resulting in stigmatization, discrimination and exclusion. In this sense, school failure is converted into an individualistic and reductionist production, whose motive can be summarized simply as an almost “classification of species”. The lack of cultural sensitivity and the absence of truly inclusive pedagogical approaches exacerbate existing disparities, further harming the educational and social trajectory of these young people in conflict with the law. Furthermore, the analysis proposes a reflection on how educational structures can inadvertently perpetuate social inequalities, contributing to the maintenance of a system that benefits capitalist society to the detriment of marginalized populations. This paper seeks not only to highlight the gaps that exist in the school sphere, but also to offer a critical vision that provides reflection and discussion about the place occupied by pedagogy today and its predilections.