School and Youth participation: Is this dialogue possible?

Abstract

The social participation of young people depends on the way society provides opportunities in which they can involve in participatory experiences and inform themselves about the possibilities in this field. Based on the data of a national research about the social participation of the Brazilian youth, the aim of this paper is to discuss the role that the school experience of young people has fulfilled in this process in the Metropolitan Region of Belo Horizonte. According to the presented data, the schools have timidly acted in this field, which seems to be a result both of the conceptions that guide the school organization and the social reality that narrows the political and social participation of the Brazilian young people. This paper presents some data about the condition of the young people in the Metropolitan Region of Belo Horizonte and analyzes the youth representation towards the social participation demonstrated in the research. Finally, it discusses the role of school as a fomenter of participatory experiences among its students.