Education, Pathologization and Medicalization: Is it possible to break this chain?

Abstract

What makes us put such trust and credibility in the use of medicines as a way to solve our daily dilemmas? How far do we fit into the notorious normalcy? What to do with those who behave so heterogeneously that they persistently bother those with whom they relate? As a rule there is a belief that science can answer these questions. But the problem is not whether or not it responds, that is, once it is answered, the important thing is to identify how science responds to the problems and conflicts faced by individuals. In this text we will discuss how medical knowledge, represented by medicalization mechanisms, has responded to the demands related to school learning. Our objective is to reflect on the epistemological principles of this biologizing / classifying knowledge and the consequences of its exercise for the comprehension around the educational practices focused on the pathologization of children. We emphasize that medicalization generates an emptying of the teacher's role as one capable of interfering, in a practical-symbolic dimension, in children's learning and development processes. We conclude by stating the need to build de-medicalization processes in education that opposes the logic of denial of the multiple ways of being in this world.