MERIT OR BIRTH? SOCIAL ORIGIN AND PERFORMANCE IN ACCESS TO HIGHER EDUCATION

Abstract

This paper discusses the association between social origins and academic performance on the probability of access to higher education in Brazil. The data derives from a sample of high school graduates in 2012, followed for five years after completing basic education, from cross-checks with Instituto Nacional de Estudos e Pesquisas Educacionais Anísio Teixeira data. It was observed that, for access to the public sector, performance is the most important predictor, regardless of the socioeconomic level of the applicant, reinforcing a merit dimension in access. The same cannot be said in relation to the private sector which, besides having a strong socioeconomic gap, allows the most privileged social strata to have higher chances of accessing it, even if their school performance is worse.

SCHOOL PERFORMANCE; MERITOCRACY; SOCIOECONOMIC LEVEL; SOCIAL REPRODUCTION