Financing Education and Socioeconomic Inequality in Mexico : New Educational Challenges

Notwithstanding the progress that has been made over the past decade, the challenges currently facing the Mexican education system must be tackled without delay. A preliminary step to developing appropriate strategies to compensate for the uneven results obtained by students as a result of socioeconomic and cultural factors was to analyze the relationship between the funding of education and equity in Mexico, as well as discern new challenges to be faced in this area in order to eliminate social inequialities and improve the quality of education. We collected information via participant observation and documentary analysis, using materials such as UNESCO’s Second Comparative and Explanatory Regional Study, and the Instituto Nacional para la Evaluación de la Educación de México [National Institute for the Evaluation of Education in Mexico] in order to further our knowledge of this complex area of study. The results we obtained confirm that formal education in Mexico in no way guarantees effective equality of opportunity, nor does it reduce the social inequalities stemming from socioeconomic context and family background; on the contrary it reproduces, multiplies and even intensifies the differences that exist before the pupil has even entered the school system.


Introduction
Boosting a country's educational performance is, without doubt, a highly complicated task and even education systems with a successful track record face important challenges in teaching standards, especially in the state sector.Naturally, the most difficult challenges are those faced by countries with the least favorable socioeconomic conditions.There is no question that objective results in education and social development will be achieved in the long term and after a good deal of hard work.However, this hard work is rewarded, in this sense, in the words of John W. Meyer (2010, p. 25): "Education restructures whole populations, creating and expanding elites and redefining rights and obligations of members".be inferred that their school systems are successful.This is an assertion with undoubted repercussions for the human and economic capital of countries that are growing.
The effect that education can have on a society, as a mechanism that generates human capital, has meant that today the principal motivation underpinning human capital theory has been extended from simply accounting for wage differentials between individuals to that of explaining economic growth (Willis, 1986).Indeed, according to Dickson & Harmond (2011, p. 1120), we can argue that "economics has perhaps been somewhat 'underpowered' in terms of research that recognises how education can define major life outcomes -occupation, marriage/relationships and so on -but also can change you as a person -increasing your sense of self esteem, self awareness and consideration of the future".
Based on these premises, our research focus is Mexico, which currently faces a significant challenge in pursuit of social and economic progress: to reinforce its education system by improving both its quality and equity (OCDE, 2010).Successfully meeting the challenge would imply making significant and comprehensive improvements such as, providing teaching staff with training to upgrade their work, strengthening the system of managing and financing schools and establishing a system for assessing quality, through which proposals for progress could be made to each teacher regarding, among other things, their own practices.
With regards to this matter, we should take note of the Mexican government.First, the Political Constitution of the Mexican United States of 1917 includes the right to education, the pursuit of increasing schooling rates and the duty of the State to ensure a quality education (Órgano del Gobierno Provisional de la República Mexicana, 1917).More recently, we found the mission of the Ministry of Public Education, which decrees, again, the right to access to quality education for all Mexicans.Also, the function of this organization is based on values such as equality, commitment, respect and honesty, among others (Secretary of Public Education of Mexico, 2013).

Method
The terms of reference for this study are the social sciences.More specifically, we opted to use documentary and field research to describe, analyze, and interpret the subject matter in order to gain a better understanding of its complex nature.The tools used for data collection were documentary analysis as well as participant observation, the results of which were then used to provide answers to our research objectives, which are set out below: • To describe and analyze the existing relationship between the funding of education and equity in Mexico, as well as discern new challenges to be faced in this area in order to eliminate social inequalities and improve the quality of education.
• To examine the effects of education on the social and economic development of Mexico, both now and in future years.
• To describe and analyze the relationship between the demographic bonus and the educational challenges involved in governing Mexico.
• To study the relationship between educational inequality arising from the segregated schooling variable-segregated, that is, by socioeconomic and cultural conditions-and differences in academic performance in the present-day education system in Mexico.
The series of questions that underpinned our research and guided our study were the following: What is the socioeducational profile of the population of Mexico?How does demographic change influence the country's development?What are the main challenges facing the education system in Mexico?What are the repercussions of socioeconomically-segregated schooling on academic results?Are there major disparities between rural and urban environments, or between federal entities as far as the learning outcomes of pupils are concerned?What new challenges face the Mexican government in eliminating socioeducational inequalities?
The observation has been understood as a process where an interaction is made, a participative relationship between the observer and the context being studied.As indicated by Alessandro Duranti (2000), at all times, it has been tried to keep a balance between passive and complete participation, depending on the response considered the most accurate for each case.Through the observation it has been obtained information about the environment that surrounds the families and the contexts studied, especially focusing on the socioeconomic inequalities in some states and in rural and urban areas.Undoubtedly, this process has encouraged a better understanding of the information obtained through documentary analysis.The instrument employed for the collection of information was the observation record, developed by the principal investigators of the study.

First and Second Objectives: Financing Education and Educational Equity
As we outlined in the introduction, the development of human capital is closely linked in every country with productivity, economic progress and, of course, social welfare.Investing in education, therefore, is a major key to progress in Mexican society, and is demonstrated in the comprehensive scope of the development strategies that are currently being planned.To take an example, we could cite the project Metas educativas 2021: la educación que queremos para la generación de los Bicentenarios, Educational goals for 2021: the education we want for the Bicentenary generation, whose objectives are "to improve quality and equity in education in order to combat poverty and inequality, and so favour social inclusion" (Organización de Estados Iberoamericanos para la Educación, la Ciencia y la Cultura (OEI), 2010, p. 9).
The right kind of investment in education is essential for Mexicans to adapt to technological and demographic change, as and when it occurs.In 2006, Mexico spent 5.7% of its GDP on education, on a par with the OECD average; in 2008, Mexico's education expenditure increased to 6.27% of its GDP, of which 4.69% corresponded to public sector investment in education made at national, federal entity and local levels, as well as 1.32% made by private individuals.
As can be seen, national expenditure on education is similar to, and even higher than that of countries that have education systems of better quality, such as Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, and others (INEE, 2009).
Even so, we should bear in mind that spending more on education does not necessarily imply that there is an improvement in its quality, but that this expense must be distributed effectively, and this is one of the inescapable challenges that Mexico has to face (OCDE, 2010).
If every Mexican is to receive a basic education, as stipulated in the constitution, it is necessary to work out a suitable formula for financing it, to favour the equitable development of education throughout the country and redress the current imbalances between the various federal entities that arose when education was decentralized in 1992.In fact, the main problem of the present system (approved in 2007) stems from the criterion that was established by the Fondo de Aportaciones para la Educación Básica y Normal (FAEB), Fund for Contributions to Compulsory Basic Education, for allocating state education expenditure to the various federal entities, since it "does not take into account the size of the entities or the magnitude of its educational obligation" (Mancera, 2010, p. 167); as a result of this criterion, the largest entities were penalized.At present, an alternative is being considered: to allocate national education expenditure according to the effort made by each federal entity.
Likewise, since the central government is aware of the geographical, social and economic diversity existing in Mexico, it should play a countervailing role in order to achieve genuine equity in education irrespective of where it takes place.According to the estimates made by Mancera, there is a significant difference in the expenditure required-more than double, in fact-to educate a student in a small locality, compared to what is needed for one in a city centre school (Mancera, 2010).In the same vein, another criterion being considered for the proper distribution of national education expenditure concerns the financial resources of each federal entity.
In the following section we can observe how factors of a socioeconomic and cultural nature, among other things, have a considerable influence on student performance; all the more reason for creating the conditions necessary to favour or compensate for the limitations of certain marginal areas of the country in offering its students a quality education that is also equitable, as we were able to verify from our observations on the ground.We understand, in line with Mancera (2010), that in addition to the equitable allocation of funds for state education between the various federal entities, compensatory measures should be taken to redress the weaknesses of particular schools in obvious conditions of inequality.

Third Objective: Demographic Factors and Academic Performance
Mexico is currently undergoing a process of demographic transition; from 1970 to the present day the rate of population growth has slowed from 3% to 0.77% (Consejo Nacional de Población, 2010).If we look at the population pyramid on January 1, 2011 (graph 1), we can see that the two subgroups that include adolescents and young adults predominate over all the others; more specifically, citizens between 15 and 24 years old form 18.6% of the population in 2011.This is a significant figure in the context of making education policy decisions.As can be seen from the table above, in 2005 and 2008 the federal entities of Chiapas, Guerrero and Oaxaca had the highest percentages of students with an unsatisfactory standard of Spanish.In Mathematics, Chiapas, Guerrero and Oaxaca, along with Tabasco, stand out yet again.We may, therefore state that some of the federal entities with the highest concentrations of seriously and very seriously marginalized students of school age in compulsory basic education-namely, Chiapas, Guerrero and Oaxaca-also have the highest percentages of students in Grade 3 of Secondary Education with an unsatisfactory standard of educational achievement.
On the other hand, we were unable to confirm an expected relationship between federal entities with a lower incidence of marginalized and highly marginalized students (of school age and in compulsory basic education) and lower percentages of unsatisfactory educational achievement.To demonstrate this, Aguascalientes and Nuevo León were the federal entities with the least incidence of extreme marginalization and, if the relationship held, they would also have the smallest percentage of students with unsatisfactory educational attainment.However, if we look at Table 2 above, we see that it is the Federal District that stands out, in both 2005 and 2008, as having the lowest percentage of students with deficient standards in Spanish and Mathematics.
An important point is that of the 32 federal entities in Mexico, only 13 remained, in both 2005 and 2008, below the average percentages of unsatisfactory educational attainment at national level in Spanish; in Mathematics, the figure fell even more, with just 9 of them in the same situation.Another point to be brought out is that the national average for Spanish for the indicator analyzed (unsatisfactory standard) increased significantly from 32.7% in 2005 to 35.9% in 2008 (see Table 2) instead of progressively falling in order to approach an ideal distribution: fewer students of an unsatisfactory educational standard, more students attaining an advanced level of achievement.
As mentioned above, we now turn to consider the percentages of students by federal entity at Grade 3 Secondary level who achieved an advanced standard in knowledge, skills and abilities.This time, the trend is not as clearly marked as in the previous case; Oaxaca, Chiapas and Guerrero continued to have lower percentages of pupils than the national average obtaining advanced standards, although other federal entities were in a similar position.It must on the other hand be pointed out that there were significant differences between the percentages of pupils with advanced standards in Spanish and Mathematics, with the higher values being obtained in Spanish.The national averages illustrate this: Spanish: 5.3% in 2005, 6.1% in 2008;Mathematics: 1.4% in 2005Mathematics: 1.4% in , 2.1% in 2008. .The Federal District, however, did maintain its position as the entity with the best results in Spanish and Mathematics during the years studied.Generally speaking, the federal entities in the table below increased or maintained the number of its students achieving an advanced standard in Spanish between 2005 and 2008.Only in Nayarit did the figure go down, from 2.9% in 2005 to 2.1% in 2008.This trend, however, was not maintained in Mathematics in all federal entities; those with percentages above the national average in 2005 showed improvements in their results in 2008, whereas those with percentages below the national average in 2005 tended to show worse results in 2008, except for Oaxaca, where they improved.

Discussion
In view of the preceding analysis, and using the research objectives presented at the beginning of the study as a reference point, the following are our capitals considerations: With respect to the first and second objectives: - In recent years, Mexico's investment in education as a percentage of GDP has been practically on a par with the OECD average.At the same time, the quality of its results still leaves a good deal to be desired, particularly those relating to equity between students, irrespective of where they live in the country.
-Mexico needs a new financial formula for allocating national educational expenditure better between the different federal entities, one which will eliminate existing imbalances.

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The federal government should play a countervailing role so that true educational equity exists, irrespective of where the education takes place.
With respect to the third objective: - The process of demographic transition in Mexico may have some effect on improving the country's economic growth in the coming decades, as long as the government invests in the development of its human capital, particularly the young.One of the short and medium-term challenges that most concerns the Mexican authorities is to improve the quality of education for students in High Schools (15-17 years) and Higher Education (18-24 years).This would be the best investment for developing the human capital that must enter the labor market under the best possible conditions.

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We consider that the pressing educational challenges that Mexican society must address without delay are, according to the Secretaría de Educación Pública de México (2008): a.To reduce the school drop-out rate; b.To promote teaching at the higher educational levels, giving priority to its relevance and making it commensurate with the needs of the labor market; c.To improve the quality of education; d.To reduce social inequalities and optimize educational achievement in schools.

With respect to the fourth objective:
-There is a great difference between the rural and urban environments with regard to the numbers of students who live in marginal and very marginal conditions: rural students are significantly more vulnerable.

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Irrespective of the subject area or educational level evaluated, we have confirmed that the academic results of students in urban schools are better than those who attend rural schools.
-Factors of a socioeconomic and cultural nature have a considerable bearing on student performance.In fact, we were able to confirm that particular federal entities with high and very high levels of marginalization have, in turn, higher proportions of their student population with unsatisfactory educational standards.

Conclusion and Final Considerations
As a conclusion, this research raises the need of further deepening in the study of the causes of the existing inequalities arising from socioeconomic and cultural deficits in Mexican education.A quality and equitable education system must be able to precisely eliminate the differences in educational performance which have been shown in this paper next to their factors and reasons.In this sense, one of the lines of research derived from the present study is trying to shed light on to what extent it is the performance of the whole school community (teachers, family and students) one of the main factors that are causing the impossibility of guaranteeing an effective equality of opportunities in formal education.Also, another line of research would be investigating those other good practices that are being carried out to reduce current social inequalities.The results of the studies in this line will be of particular importance to attain improvements in the educational system of Mexico.

Table 3 .
Percentage of students attaining an advanced educational standard in Spanish and Mathematics in 2005 and 2008, Grade 3 Secondary Source: Compiled by the authors using data from the INEE, 2009, p. 242