Culture, education and human development in Latin America

This present paper claims that human development in Latin America is not promoted by education and economic investments only. Programmes in both domains have hardly succeeded at lessening poverty indices in the continent. There is at the basis a cultural problem that undoubtedly deserves more attention. Different investigations have concluded that among the people suffering from exclusion there is a kind of mentality characterised by learned helplessness, lack of any expectation of improving their life and a dearth of dispositions and preparation to any productive activity beyond everyday survival. For all these reasons, their motivation for an educational process that breaks the poverty circle is severely undermined. We analyse the social dynamics that engendered this situation. Some initiatives that have succeeded are mentioned, but to conclude that the problem of human development in Latin America is by nature systemic and it has to be dealt with through a coordinated socio-political action at the different fronts of economy, education and cultural change.