School institution and formal youth organization: the emergence of a subject

Abstract

This article shows us some results from an ethnografic research performed in two high schools from poor urban environment. This research deals with the school juvenile culture by studying contents of values and rules that youngsters create inside their schools. The matter which this research deals with is the youngster culture inside the educational environment. An important place where this system is aplied is the students center organization where youngsters participate and which is recognized in the educational establishment. The research gives knowledge about the way youngsters take possession of organizative spaces, what contents they give to them, what problems emerge, what the mission of the leaders is and where the requests related to changes are jointing. From the relation "institution-student" we can see how the youngsters present an opposition about the educational institution, the elements that are hidden in that opposition and how the students center deals with this situation.This research gives knowledge in order to support the poorest youngsters protagonism in educational institutions, in the context of the social's modernization process and especially the Chilean educational reform.