Misunderstanding or legitimizing the concept of authority. What are we pursuing in Ecuador?

Abstract

This article is part of the questions of political-educational philosophy. It aims to analyze the phenomenon of the “crisis of authority” in Ecuadorian education, both in its discernment and application.  Authority seems to have been improperly associated with power or delegitimized. It also appears that the difficulties within the school system are closely related to the “crisis of authority”. The research is documentary, theoretical, from the philosophical perspective through hermeneutics as a method and technique of interpretation and dialectics. This article highlights Robbes’ though, for whom authority holds a needed place in the educational process, specifying that “authoritarian authority” is an abuse of power while; “evacuated authority” is the deficit in the exercise of authority, and, therefore both types of attitudes entail risks for the child and-or adolescent.  Besides, the thought of Hannah Arendt, as well as other authors, has been considered to expand the meaning of authority for a healthy coexistence in the school environment, which requires it to make effective the educational work. The “crisis of authority” in testimonies of teachers in Ecuador and other countries faces them with the loss of authority, whether because students “do not respect them” or because the teachers themselves do not exercise it in the classroom (lack of legitimacy).