Public Education Policies in Brazil: Which subjects are of interest to educate today?

Abstract

In this article I develop theoretical reflections on the most recent legal update on secondary level studies in Brazil, the Law N. 13.415/2017 (Brasil, 2017) and the Law N. 14.945/2024 (Brasil, 2024), that make up the New Secondary Education. Argument in favor of understanding that public policies are social policies, created to promote structural transformations in order to constitute bodies and emotions adequate to the demands of the global system of social production and reproduction and I classify this Reform as a social policy, a policy of adjustment of youth bodies for the present and future of the country. The main educational changes focus, on the one hand, on increasing the total class load across the three years of secondary school, and, on the other, on reducing the number of core subjects shared by all students in the country. After my análisis of the Reform from the perspective of bodies/emotions, seeking to understand what bodies/emotions are being prepared based on the new school model, I conclude that bodies/emotions are expected to be ready to enter the labor market according to the rules of capital, with the minimun necessary training, maximun energy, and without labor rights.