In the US, it seems that Buenos Aires has an almost mythical draw and is often postured as a cultured, European city in one of the only developed (more or less) countries in a continent that is still struggling to catch up to countries who have had so much influence over the region since its "discovery". You could spend hours or days pulling apart that characterization of the city and of the continent, but I can definitely say that BA is one of the most vibrant and interesting, and modern, cultural centers of South America, although great poverty exists in plain site as soon as you move away from the center of the city and the wealthier, more fashionable neighborhoods of Barrio Norte and into areas filled with victims of South America's great economic inequality and Argentina's financial meltdown in 2001 and 2002, which left almost 60% of the country below the state's (already low) poverty line.
That said, something of an educational revival is happening in certain parts of these stricken areas - a revival with notable community-driven projects that are completely unique in their approaches to education. One of the most powerful examples of these new ideas about education comes from the barrio of Barracas, a working-class neighborhood in the southeast of Buenos Aires. Formed in 2004, la Escuela de Recuperación de Enseñanza Media de Barracas is a school dedicated to the education of students who have dropped out of school for more than four months and want to return to finish "high school". The school is located in a fábrica gráfica - essentially a factory for printing - that was taken by the workers during the financial crisis almost ten years ago, and there has not been enough time or money to change the austere feel of the classrooms, but this location offers the opportunities that make this school so unique. The factory still functions (large windows inside the school overlook the operation) and collaborates with the students to create a magazine every year, with the hope of adding more projects in the coming years. Even more interesting is the community radio that operates out of the top floor of the building, just above the school, which offers workshops to the students and broadcasts oral projects created by certain classes every year. (A few dedicated students also work in the station before or after school.) Finally, a medical center occupies the building next to this school, and despite early apprehension, the two institutions have begun to collaborate, creating a learning environment entirely inseparable from its spacial context and the resources offered by the community on this small city block. This is a school that fiercely and openly challenges the all-too-apparent realities of public education in the poorer parts of Buenos Aires - a school that, as graffiti on the walls pronounces, is looking "siempre hacia la victoria": "always towards victory".
