From egalitarianism to veiled selectivity: education, social mobility and the reproduction of inequalities in contemporary Argentina

This article examines how the Argentine education system, historically characterised by an egalitarian matrix and an open access model, contributes to processes of stratification and social mobility through covert social selection mechanisms. To this end, historical statistical data showing the evolution of educational distribution by socioeconomic level are presented, and performance patterns in language and mathematics are analysed according to management sector and income quintile. This evidence highlights the persistence of inequalities in secondary school completion and academic performance, and shows that the non-selective nature of the system coexists with forms of stratification that are expressed through differentiated school trajectories. The article also includes the results of recent research based on a survey of 588 families in different cities across the country, which provides insight into the strategies deployed through school choice to mitigate downward social mobility. The analysis shows that families' choice of private schools, particularly at the secondary level and especially among the lower classes and impoverished middle classes, is a response to the need to ensure continuous and successful school trajectories in a context where selectivity operates through academic performance. The identification of two large family groups within the private demand, with different positions in the social space, reveals that private education fulfils various functions: as a mechanism of social closure for consolidated sectors and as a preventive strategy for groups in transition seeking to ensure educational stability and better academic results. In summary, the paper provides a structural reading of recent transformations in the relationship between education and inequality in Argentina. Although the open access model that historically distinguished the system retains its normative and symbolic validity, its current functioning is strained by mechanisms of veiled selection that are linked to social stratification. By showing how the choice of private secondary schools has become a strategy for coping with uncertainty and avoiding interrupted school trajectories, the article highlights a process of increasing segmentation that is reshaping the educational landscape and contributing to the redefinition of contemporary forms of social reproduction and differentiation through the role played by schooling processes.