The analysis of 109,195 data taken from the Saber 11 tests carried out between 2017 and 2019found that a slight increase in the educational level of mothers is enough for young people to perform better, and that having a motorcycle at home is related to lower results in these, except in two subregions: Bajo Cauca and Magdalena Medio , which it positively influences.
Diana Paola Ahumada Riaño, Master in Statistics from the National University of Colombia (UNAL) Medellín Campus, affirms that “although we usually hear that private schools perform better than public ones, when comparing them we find that the differences are minimal; in fact, in some cases the students of public schools have better results than those of private ones”.
For the study to be equitable, the researcher grouped the students into 10 socioeconomic strata that have nothing to do with the conventional stratification (1 to 6 and with which the cost of public services is estimated). This was done using the cluster statistical process with K-Means.
“We use the RStudio and Python programs to group individuals with similar characteristics. We take data from students between the ages of 15 and 25, Colombians, and from a single, full academic day tomorrow. Likewise, we took 37 socioeconomic variables provided by the Colombian Institute for the Evaluation of Education (Icfes)”, he explains.
Thus, 10 new strata were established. For example, 10 is characterized by having a majority population of students from urban areas, full-time attendees of mixed schools, who spend between 1 and 3 hours a day using the Internet and between 30 and 60 minutes reading. They do not work, have between 26 and 100 books at home and have a car.
On the other hand, stratum or cluster 1 is distinguished by having a population made up of urban students, who attend mixed schools in the morning, spend 30 minutes or less reading, and their parents only have high school studies. In addition, they do not have a car, but in some cases they do have a motorcycle.
“Contrary to what one might think, in all strata we find students who are in both public and private schools, so everything becomes more even. For this reason, in the statistics we do not include students who work at night or work on Saturdays and Sundays, because these tend to present greater inequalities”.
“From the analysis of the data we found that, when making fair comparisons like this, public and private schools do almost equally well. Even in subregions such as the Northeast, North, Urabá, and Southwest Antioqueño, officers do slightly better in cluster 10,” says Magister Ahumada.
Mother’s education essential
It was also determined that the education of the mothers, more than that of the fathers, influences the results of the tests. “The education of the father is also important, but not as much as that of the mother. We saw that a slight increase in their educational level is enough for young people to do a little better”.
“This would be due to the fact that in general the woman is the one who stays with the children doing the chores, she is the emotional support, and in some cases also the economic one”, she affirms.
Therefore, in this sense, “the result is revealing because it means that, in addition to meeting the need to divide care work well, it is important to support the study of women, because it is to guarantee generations of boys and girls with a better educational level.” ”.
Another relevant finding was that motorcycle ownership tends to coincide in all subregions, except Bajo Cauca and Magdalena Medio, with poor results.
“In the Aburrá Valley, those who have a motorcycle report lower scores, but in remote subregions those who have a motorcycle have better scores. In a distant town, on the sidewalks, this vehicle is a means of transportation, however, in cities like Medellín it can represent more of a distraction”, highlights the researcher.
He also considers that these results are key not only for basic education but also for universities. In general, only the global result is considered for the admission exam, while socioeconomic conditions are only used to determine matters such as the cost of tuition.
And he recommends that “the public university, and even Saber 11, could carry out important social work if instead of choosing the best of the best, they choose the best of each proposed stratum (taking into account socioeconomic characteristics), thus privileging the potential”.
UNAL NEWS AGENCY
2023-08-09 20:19:50
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