Resumo

CARRAHER, Terezinha Nunes  e  SCHLIEMANN, Analúcia Dias. Fracasso escolar: uma questão social. Cad. Pesqui. [online]. 1983, n.45, pp.3-19. ISSN 0100-1574.

It is widely known that in several countries the poor are much more likely to fail in school than the well-off. This fact calls for explanations which take into account economic, social and cultural factors. However, lest one fall prey to mechanic determinism of these factors, one mustanalyse what actually goes on in schools and the child’s role in the acquisition of school knowledge. The present study, carried out within the Piagetian framework, attempted to examine the traditional immaturity hypothesis as an explanation for the poor child's school failure. It involved: a) an analysis of the relationship between school learning and intellectual development; b) a description of the poor child's cognitive development and school learning of mathematics; and c) systematic comparisons between lower and middle class children with regard to their cognitive development and performance in mathematical tasks. Results showed that, when children from lower and middle class start their mathematical instruction in Brazil, they do not differ with respect to their cognitive developmental levels. Further, mathematical learning is related to cognitive development independently of social class. Finally, despite the fact that children's mathematical competence showed no significant social class differences, school failure rates still differed tremendously. These results confront the cognitive deficit hypothesis and underline the importance of studies describing what actually happens in schools.

Palavras-chave : Ensino de matemática; Fracasso escolar; Questão social; Desenvolvimento cognitivo; Carência cultural.

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