ENTRE LO COLECTIVO Y LO INDIVIDUAL. La experiencia de la escuela a través de relatos de vida

The article offers an analysis of the experience of school as an expression of the interdependence between the individual and his or her social participation. The question about how individuals interpret collective cultural models about the value of school is explored. The relationship between the collective culture and the subjective, personal experience is examined using the concepts of cultural models and personal agency. Through the stories of ten "railway" families, the narrative constructions that express a change among generations in the role of family in education, and the role of education in relation to the labor market, are studied. The stories of children about their school experiences are analyzed, as well as their choices to leave school or continue with their studies.