The article discusses the ways of confronting issues about thinking in education, based on the Brazilian experience of the National Examination of Secondary Education (Enem). Considering the political importance of this examination, especially in relation to the current conditions of access to higher education, this practice is effective as both evaluative and curricular. From a theoretical perspective that asserts the implications between language and power, the analysis is based on the thought of Friedrich Nietz sche and Michel Foucault, particularly in relation to the question of knowledge production and its effects against the current configuration of thought in society. We point out that discussions of these authors contribute to the current debate about the quality of basic and higher education, because it enables questioning aspects of recognition and performance in this educational practice.
Enem; Thought; Recognition; Performance; Curriculum