Consumer education: a debt of the school system in El Salvador

Abstract

Currently, hyper-consumption has become not only a standard practice but also a symbol of personal worth. The possession of material goods is usually perceived as a conditioner of one’s own value before others and, in this logic, various adverse impacts are generated both for the individual and for the environment. In this context, what has been the position of the national educational system to contend the narrative of the consumer society? Certainly, in El Salvador, some initiatives have been implemented to respond to this problem through education in school. However, they have not been able to impact significantly in the consumption habits of Salvadorans.

This article serves two purposes. First, it develops the thesis that consumer education has been a neglected topic in the school system of El Salvador, despite being one of the cross-cutting themes defined in the Curricular Foundations of National Education. Second, it proposes the key elements that a pedagogical intervention should consider when approaching consumer education from school, since it is argued that it can play a crucial role to promote consumption based on the dignity of the human person.