El fin del siglo XX ofrece una excelente oportunidad para reflexionar acerca de los logros, fracasos, alcances y limitaciones de la educación, sobre todo por su potencial contribución al desarrollo económico y social. Sin embargo, esta esperanza aún no logra cumplirse de manera satisfactoria.

Nos urge un cambio radical en nuestros intereses educativo. Ya no solo debemos actualizar códigos y lenguajes, sino entender lo nuevo de estas formas culturales de representar e interesar. El conflicto que siempre entendimos entre grupos populares y grupos academizados, hoy se desplaza al grueso de la sociedad en un horizonte de cambio cultural.

This book seeks to offer the most up-to-date and relevant sample of contemporary research on Latin American education, by inviting the reader to understand the complexities, heterogenetics, nightmares, dreams, crisis and promises of education in the region.

Since the 1980s, Mexico has alternately served as a model of structural economic reform and as a cautionary example of the limitations associated with market-led development. This book provides a comprehensive, interdisciplinary assessment of the principal economic and social policies adopted by Mexico during the 1980s and 1990s.

Although in Latin America there are no educational programs specialized in comparative education, as there are in some European, Oriental and North American universities, there are scholars who cultivate this field. With the production of this book, the authors -most of them affiliated to member organizations of the World Council of Comparative Education Societies- are walking towards a Latin American network of researchers with an interest in establishing a dialogue with non-Spanish speaking colleagues from the rest of the world. This is the reason of our effort in writing most of the chapters in English. Comparative education, as all disciplinary fields, has evolved with different ways of thinking, approaching and constructing its objects of research and analysis, which are nurtured by different epistemological traditions living together in our times, enriching and bringing complexities. From Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Brazil, Peru, Venezuela, Costa Rica and Mexico, the authors of the book pose questions, historical descriptions, reflections, discussions and cases to set forth their views.