ABSTRACT

The manuscript proposes a critical analysis of the possibility of the psychoanalyst in the school institution. Taking advantage of Applied Psychoanalysis associated with bibliographical research and memories fragments from daily practice at school as a guiding axis, the psychoanalyst’s position in the institution is understood as that which aims at the promotion of the subject. Sites of three education systems highlighted in Brazil today are investigated. The significant performance linked to the promise of enrolling the university resulting from the use of the didactic material of each one of them is located. Lacan’s discourses theory is covered, demonstrating the capitalist, contemporary teacher and university discourses as predominant in current school. The psychoanalyst, when operating with the analyst’s discourse in his listening, allows the subject to say well, thus exercising the function of disalienists. This function is based on a distancing from the imaginary and totalizing identifications that express the education system in our country.

Keywords:
psychoanalysis and education; ideology; educational technology

RESUMO

O manuscrito se propõe a uma análise crítica da possibilidade do psicanalista na instituição escolar. Valendo-se da Psicanálise aplicada associada à pesquisa bibliográfica e a fragmentos de lembranças provenientes da prática no cotidiano escolar como eixo condutor, compreende-se a posição do psicanalista na instituição como aquela que visa à promoção do sujeito. Investigam-se sites de três sistemas de ensino em destaque no Brasil hoje. Localiza-se o significante desempenho vinculado à promessa de ingresso na universidade proveniente do uso do material didático de cada um deles. Percorre-se a teoria dos discursos de Lacan demonstrando os discursos capitalista, mestre contemporâneo e universitário como predominantes na escola atual. O psicanalista, ao operar com o discurso do analista em sua escuta, permite o bem dizer do sujeito, exercendo, assim, a função de desalienistas. Essa função se alicerça num distanciamento das identificações imaginárias e totalizantes, que expressam o sistema de ensino em nosso País.

Palavras-chave:
psicanálise e educação; ideologia; tecnologia educacional

RESUMEN

En el manuscrito se propone a un análisis crítico de la posibilidad del psicoanalista en la institución escolar. Valiéndose de la Psicoanálisis aplicada asociada a la investigación bibliográfica y a fragmentos de recuerdos provenientes de la práctica en el cotidiano escolar como eje conductor, se comprende la posición del psicoanalista en la institución como aquella que visa la promoción del sujeto. Se investigan sites de tres sistemas de enseñanza en destaque en Brasil de hoy. día Se localiza el significante rendimiento vinculado a la promesa de ingreso en la universidad proveniente del uso del material didáctico de cada uno de ellos. Se recurre a la teoría de los discursos de Lacan demostrando los discursos capitalistas, maestro contemporáneo y universitario como predominantes en la escuela actual. El psicoanalista, al operar con el discurso del analista en su escucha, permite el bien decir del sujeto, ejerciendo, así, la función de no alienistas. Esa función se cimienta en un alejamiento de las identificaciones imaginarias y totalizantes, que expresan el sistema de enseñanza en nuestro País.

Palabras clave:
psicoanálisis y educación; ideología; tecnología educacional

INTRODUCTION

This article is a communication of the research results carried out in a postgraduate program in Psychology. From clinical practice with children and adolescents and memories from everyday life in a private school, the research problem investigated emerged: what can the analyst do in the school institution in the face of the recurring and demanding discourse about students’ discipline and performance? The study proposed a critical analysis of the demand presented to the psychoanalyst in the school institution. From the school’s perspective, these students had problems that were detrimental to their learning, which would result in them not being admitted to university.

The modus operandi of work at this school was to refer undisciplined students and those with low performance in assessments for psychological assistance, which was carried out by the coordinators. In this way, assistance was requested especially from students in the 3rd year of High School, who had difficulty keeping up with the class performance. In this direction, we can find a requirement from the educational institution for the psychologist: the psychoanalyst needed to help students solve problems that hindered their learning, which could make their entry into university unfeasible. The main problems they presented were: anxiety, indiscipline, non-assimilation of the content, lack of interest in classes and difficulty in the relationship with the teacher.

Regarding work requests at this school, the Federal Psychology Council (CFP) asserts that school psychologists, in their work, must assist: in (re)formulating and evaluating the school’s political pedagogical project; in intervention in the teaching-learning process; in the integration of cultural mediators in the learning process; parents and educators in reflecting about the social role of school and family; in the continued training of educators; and, finally, in working with groups of students about topics such as inclusive education, prejudice and professional guidance (CFP, 2013Conselho Federal de Psicologia - CFP(2013). Referências técnicas para atuação dos psicólogos na educação básica. Disponível em http://crepop.pol.org.br/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/MIOLO_EDUCACAO.pdf
http://crepop.pol.org.br/wp-content/uplo... ).

Concerning the psychoanalyst’s position in the face of impasses faced by students, teachers, coordination, management and the entire school community, through listening to the demands presented, we look for gaps for possible intervention with a view to building their place in the school space. We know that the analyst does not have the place to respond to such demands, however, welcoming him, through attentive and careful listening, is crucial in building a transference bond for his performance in the school field. So, our research was directed towards working on what the analyst can do at school in light of the demand for students’ discipline and performance.

In order to outline the possibilities of the psychoanalyst’s work in the school institution, we turned to Freud (1919/2006Freud, S. (2006). O mal-estar na civilização. In Freud, S ,Edição Standard Brasileira das Obras Psicológicas Completas de Sigmund Freud (Vol. 21, pp. 67-148). Rio de Janeiro, RJ: Imago Editora. (Obra original publicada em 1930).) in his note about the possibility of extending Psychoanalysis to the community, in order to take it to institutions, highlighting that the effectiveness of Psychoanalytic listening takes place through the premise of Psychoanalysis: the ethics of singular listening regardless of the place where it operates. We also turn to Lacan (1949/1998Lacan, J. (1998). O estádio do espelho como formador da função do eu. In J. Lacan,Escritos(V. Ribeiro, Trad., pp. 96-103). Rio de Janeiro, RJ: Zahar. (Obra original publicada em 1949)., 1966/1998) regarding the implication of the subject meeting their desire and confronting it, different from the institutional proposal, which aims to erase the subject’s desire for the benefit of the collective.

APPLIED PSYCHOANALYSIS AND BIBLIOGRAPHIC RESEARCH: METHODOLOGICAL DESIGN

In order to think about the work possibilities of the psychoanalyst at school, we used applied psychoanalysis associated with the bibliographic review as a method. We followed two axes of work: bibliographical research based on the memory of fragments of the researcher’s specific listening to everyday school issues and research on websites of three education systems considered to be of high quality in Brazil today due to their high level of passing university entrance exams.

The bibliographical research is in line with the principles of research in Psychoanalysis. This research methodology authorizes us to affirm that all research takes place under transference, as this occupies the position of epicenter of healing and also reveals the prevalence of the transference phenomenon itself in the relationships among subjects (Elia, 1999Elia, L. (1999). A transferência na pesquisa em psicanálise: lugar ou excesso? Psicologia: Reflexão e Crítica [online], 12(3), ISSN 1678-7153. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0102-79721999000300015.
https://doi.org/10.1590/S0102-7972199900... ). Thus, we understand that the presence of the researcher in the field is enough to change the relationships and discourses produced. Likewise, the memory of listening to fragments of sentences, complaints and demands from everyday school life is retained, demonstrating that the research problem arose from the transference phenomenon. We remember that the Freudian representation theory considers that representations have mnemonic traces, which arise from experiences lived by the subjects. In this way, stimuli coming from the external world allow a reorganization of these representations in such a way that they can be defined as mental productions, which make the object subjectively present.

In “Constructions in analysis”, Freud (1937/2006Conselho Federal de Psicologia - CFP(2013). Referências técnicas para atuação dos psicólogos na educação básica. Disponível em http://crepop.pol.org.br/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/MIOLO_EDUCACAO.pdf
http://crepop.pol.org.br/wp-content/uplo... ) highlights that the analyst’s task is to transmit the constructions and explanations that accompany it and complete what has been forgotten. Ratifying the Freudian position Dunker (2013Dunker, C. (2013). Sobre a relação entre teoria e clínica em Psicanálise. In C. Dunker, A psicose na criança: tempo, linguagem e sujeito(pp. 63-73). São Paulo: Editora Zagodoni.) elucidates, when investigating in the limited space of applied Psychoanalysis, what the method conditions for constructing clinical evidence would be. Thus, he highlights three relevant characteristics: recall, implication and transfer. Remembrance, extensively used in this research, concerns history and the contingencies it implies; the second requires ethical interrogation about the strangeness that the researcher is faced with; and the third presupposes the assumption of knowing. These characteristics revealed in the search for remembered fragments of the other’s speech, Dunker (2013Dunker, C. (2013). Sobre a relação entre teoria e clínica em Psicanálise. In C. Dunker, A psicose na criança: tempo, linguagem e sujeito(pp. 63-73). São Paulo: Editora Zagodoni.) tells us, “make applied psychoanalysis and the analytical discourse linked to it a method of invention, a method of discovery” (p. 71).

In this way, we sought to implement the research method based on the literature review. In order to achieve this, our research is supported by the Freud’s work and the Lacan’s teaching. We emphasize that the authors do not have specific texts on the topic, but they cover the themes that interest our manuscript: education, subject of desire and social ties, among other essential concepts for this work.

With a specialized listening to the requirements and demands in everyday school life, we understand that the significant performance seems to reveal something beyond the school. This is because good academic performance required of students in high school suggests the possibility of their insertion into the job market and their professional success.

RESULTS

In an attempt to locate the significant performance, widely demanded as a sure path to student success, we researched the websites of the three main education systems, which prevail in Brazilian schools today and serve as a model for the others, since they are in the level of the list of students who obtain the best grades in the National Secondary Education Exam (ENEM) and, therefore, enter universities.

When searching the website of a mining group, which we call Group X, we evidenced, through reading the words highlighted on the page, an insistent focus presenting “teaching solutions”, which call on students to prepare for their studies and, as a consequence, for the possibility of entering university. Therefore, the signifiers that we can highlight in this presentation are anchored in performance and approval. When accessing the Group X education system website, it offers support to students, but mainly to teachers, in adapting to the proposed teaching method. In several items available on the website, we identify the teacher’s search for efficiency in teaching content, through teaching material, to guarantee student performance.

Group X also promises “teaching solutions” and the use of “technological tools” with constant monitoring, guaranteeing quality education as well as excellence in the application of the method. We emphasize that this Group’s education system is the biggest reference in Brazil, as it has the highest rate of students entering universities.

We similarly highlight an education system in the city of São Paulo, which we call Group Y. Such a system implies a dynamic educational model, open to new ideas, which aims at interaction both among students and between students and teachers attentive to reality transformations. The proposal we find on this site is to train individuals for the globalized world.

Group Y also aims to ensure that its students pass university entrance exams. We found this statement in the item referring to the teaching material of this teaching system, which says: “When you have in your hands an activity notebook, a book or a leaflet from Group Y, remember that each page and each word resulted from a single purpose: to see you on the approved lists”.

We also investigated the teaching system of a group in the interior of the state of São Paulo, which we named Group Z. It proposes a partnership among schools that use such material, so that they can share pedagogical projects in order to build the better to serve each school in the training of students. On his website, he claims to think about education through partnerships, to be able to share knowledge, develop solutions and create meaning for students’ learning.

On the Group Z website, we found an item referring to teaching material for the 3rd year of high school, which promises to provide adequate and preparatory training so that students are able to take the ENEM exams.

We realized that, although the teaching methodology has undergone some changes over the years and students have gained an active place in the classroom, the teacher remains the protagonist of teaching and learning, as he has the preparation and the tools to apply knowledge in the classroom.

DISCUSSION: IDEOLOGY AND SCHOOL INSTITUTION

DISCOURSE

What we recognize as the contemporary dominant ideology that concerns not only school, but the values that prevail in society, is a competitive race to achieve success, first place, the best job and to stand out in society. It seems to us to be work towards competence outlined from a social requirement.

We can think that the school does not differ from this social position, since it reproduces, based on the significant performance and approval, a search for a competent subject. In this sense, it is essential to think that a group, which registers under the performance requirement and approval, seems to respond to a social imaginary in which the signifier of competence underlies. Furthermore, we may wonder whether this excessive demand for performance and approval “marked in each person” does not reflect an ideology of success.

It is true that the concepts of ideology referring to the mode of production are close to the demands of society today, marked by entry into universities. To do this, the student must adequately reproduce the content studied.

Ideology is related to political and social systems, obeying the dominant class, as proposed by Marx and Engels (2007Marx, K., & Engels, F. (2007). A ideologia alemã. São Paulo, SP: Martins Fontes.). We understand ideology as a set of ideas oriented towards the reproduction and maintenance of the established order, in which economic and social powers influence people’s worldview, as Mannheim (1968Mannheim, K. (1968). Ideologia e utopia. Rio de Janeiro, RJ: Zahar.) invites us to think.

Furthermore, Althusser (1996/2010) highlights that teaching methods in schools and the requirement for discipline are justified by ideology. Thus, the alienated subject takes for himself something that belongs to the other, believing it to be his own, as highlighted by Zizek (1996Zizek, S. (1996). O segredo da forma-mercadoria: Por que Marx inventou o sintoma? In S. Zizek, O mais sublime dos histéricos (pp. 131-148). Rio de Janeiro, RJ: Zahar.). Furthermore, we point to ideology as the link in the way which the subject relates to others and lives in the social environment, as indicated by Eagleton (1997Eagleton, T. (1997). Ideologia: Uma introdução. São Paulo, SP: Editora Boitempo.).

In order to associate such statements with our research problem, we emphasize Althusser (1996/2010Althusser, L. (2010). Ideologia e aparelhos ideológicos do Estado. In S. Zizek (Ed.), Um mapa da ideologia (pp. 105-142). Rio de Janeiro, RJ: Contraponto. (Obra original publicada em 1996).) regarding the ideology present in schools. According to him:

In addition, Althusser (1996/2010Althusser, L. (2010). Ideologia e aparelhos ideológicos do Estado. In S. Zizek (Ed.), Um mapa da ideologia (pp. 105-142). Rio de Janeiro, RJ: Contraponto. (Obra original publicada em 1996).) states that ideological society challenges subjects as individuals; in other words, it alienates the subject from their desire, as the individual is the one who obeys social beliefs and norms, and not the one who bets on their desire. That’s the guy. Thus, social ideology is valid for everyone and everyone.

Given this, we believe that, for Psychoanalysis, ideology supports security for the subject’s helplessness and his need to be loved as he becomes anchored in already existing truths without questioning them. In this way, prohibiting thought and interrogation ensures the self-preservation of the ideology present in the school institution.

Regarding the teaching methods of today’s schools, we believe that they respond to the fascination of our time as they legitimize economic power and guide the subject’s social and political actions.

In order to address the link between Psychoanalysis and institution and to place the psychoanalyst’s work within it, it is necessary to define what an institution is. For Baremblitt (1992Baremblitt, G. (1992). Sociedade e Instituições. In G. Baremblitt, Compêndio de análise institucional e outras correntes: teoria e prática (pp. 25-35). Belo Horizonte, MG: Editora Record.), an Argentine psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, the institution constitutes the requirement to comply with rules already imposed, an organization that implies functioning, being full of roles and functions defined for those who operate there, each with their function, but working together. The institution is crossed by other institutions, mainly the social one. Therefore, it meets social demands to maintain itself as such.

We highlight the school, a priori, based on a social ideology, which means responding to a demand that meets the subject’s professional advancement, success at work and, consequently, financial return and social prestige. In order for this objective to be achieved, the school proposes teaching aimed at preparing students for entry to university, which makes entry into the job market viable. Therefore, the school requires the student to have discipline in the classroom as a way of certifying the effectiveness of performance.

In this way, an institution works as professionals work together, one of them being the psychoanalyst, who arrives at the institution hired as a psychologist to join the team in order to collaborate with the institutional functioning. To this end, there is a pre-established role for the psychoanalyst: a place of knowledge. What we read in our practice is the psychoanalyst being called upon to take the place of being able to solve the problems of students who have already gone through other attempts at resolution in the pedagogical and medical spheres, so that they fit into the school norm.

At school, in an antagonistic way, there is a request that the intervention produce instant effects and suspend the student’s symptoms so that they can perform well. We are, at this point, faced with an impasse faced by the psychoanalyst in the institution, which makes us continue our research using Lacan’s teaching and seeking to elucidate the issues already highlighted by Freud regarding the practice of Psychoanalysis.

Lacan (1964/2003Lacan, J. (2003). Ato de fundação. In J. Lacan, Outros Escritos (pp. 235-247). Rio de Janeiro, RJ: Zahar. (Obra original publicada em 1964).) emphasizes the ethics of Psychoanalysis as the commitment to the subject’s desire. This means that the work ethics of Psychoanalysis implies that the subject meets his desire and confronts it; different from the institutional proposal, which is concerned with the collective.

The focus of Psychoanalysis is on the knowledge that comes from the subject himself, and not from outside - neither from the psychoanalyst nor from the institution. Psychoanalysis is based on knowledge to be constructed by and for each subject. On the one hand, the institution demands an urgency for prompt, quick and standardized responses; on the other hand, the psychoanalyst does not have them and does not operate with generalized responses. Therefore, the institutional demand that the psychoanalyst has the solution to adapt the subject to institutional requirements does not match the ethics of Psychoanalysis. We ask how the psychoanalyst can operate within the institution without responding with absolute knowledge at the same time that it is necessary to express themselves as part of the team.

We can make some notes by referring to Lacanian teaching on the occasion when Lacan (1967/2003Lacan, J. (2003). Ato de fundação. In J. Lacan, Outros Escritos (pp. 235-247). Rio de Janeiro, RJ: Zahar. (Obra original publicada em 1964).) questions how to place the singular in the universal field; in other words, how would it be possible to work with the analyst’s discourse in the institutional scope, which is guided by the master’s discourse, with the two discourses being opposites?

With regard to discourses and their form of social bond, Freud (1930/2006Freud, S. (2006). O mal-estar na civilização. In Freud, S ,Edição Standard Brasileira das Obras Psicológicas Completas de Sigmund Freud (Vol. 21, pp. 67-148). Rio de Janeiro, RJ: Imago Editora. (Obra original publicada em 1930).) reveals to us that entry into the symbolic universe brings about a renunciation, which caused discomfort and, thus, the impossibility of accounting for everything concerning civilization. Freud (1925/2006Freud, S. (2006). O mal-estar na civilização. In Freud, S ,Edição Standard Brasileira das Obras Psicológicas Completas de Sigmund Freud (Vol. 21, pp. 67-148). Rio de Janeiro, RJ: Imago Editora. (Obra original publicada em 1930).) already presented us with the three impossible jobs: educating, governing and healing. Healing is replaced by analyzing. These three professions represent, in Freudian theory, different ways of making a bond.

Lacan (1969-1970/1991Lacan, J. (1991). O Seminário, livro 17: O avesso da psicanálise. Rio de Janeiro, RJ: Zahar. (Obra original publicada em 1969-1970).) considers that there are four ways of creating a bond, from the three mentioned by Freud, adding one more: making one desire, which is not a profession, but stands out as a type of bond with hysterical discourse.

Regarding the speeches, the author clarifies the way of thinking about the subject inserted in his social ties, articulating the field of language, enjoyment, the subject and unconscious knowledge. Through discourse, the subject forms a bond, states Lacan (1969-1970/1991Lacan, J. (1991). O Seminário, livro 17: O avesso da psicanálise. Rio de Janeiro, RJ: Zahar. (Obra original publicada em 1969-1970).), as it is he who orders and regulates the bond among subjects. The three modes identified by Freud (1930/2006Freud, S. (2006). Construções em análise. In S. Freud,Edição Standard Brasileira das Obras Psicológicas Completas de Sigmund Freud (Vol. 23, pp. 275-287). Rio de Janeiro, RJ: Imago Editora . (Obra original publicada em 1937).) as sources of man’s suffering are, in the Lacanian reading, corresponding, respectively, to the four discourses: master, university student, analyst and hysteric. Later, in 1970, Lacan introduced capitalist discourse as a new configuration of the master’s discourse. According to Lacan (1969-1970/1991Lacan, J. (1991). O Seminário, livro 17: O avesso da psicanálise. Rio de Janeiro, RJ: Zahar. (Obra original publicada em 1969-1970).), the four discourses work in an integrated way, making a quarter turn to structure themselves; to do this, they use the same elements.

We are interested in four discourses: the master, the analyst, the university student and the capitalist. The master’s speech, as it is the preponderant speech in the institution; that of the analyst, as it is the discourse with which Psychoanalysis operates; that of university students, for being present in schools regarding the use of handouts; and that of the capitalist, as it is the discourse of the contemporary master and is intertwined with university discourse.

Quinet (2009Quinet, A. (2009). Psicose e laço social: esquizofrenia, paranoia e melancolia. Rio de Janeiro, RJ: Zahar.) presents the master’s speech - present in the institution - as the one who institutes and determines who commands and who obeys. This discourse is the civilizing bond, which requires the renunciation of instincts to live in civilization, which implies the rejection of jouissance, capable of generating the feeling of guilt through the gaze of the other, who watches, and the voice, also of the other, who criticizes. In this discourse, instead of truth, there is the divided subject, who is hidden under the power of the master. This discourse of power represented by the master puts into practice something that he hides as truth; in other words, that there is a subject, who puts the master’s power into practice, but who does not appear. Likewise, this master does not care about knowing how things work as long as everything goes well.

On the other hand, continues Quinet (2009Quinet, A. (2009). Psicose e laço social: esquizofrenia, paranoia e melancolia. Rio de Janeiro, RJ: Zahar.), the analyst’s discourse is characterized by being the one that displaces the place of the totalitarian master by proposing the ethics of difference, based on one by one, and not on segregation, as the institution intends. In this discourse, the agent is the analyst in the position of object a, who interrogates the subject, leading him to produce new signifiers represented here by S1. In place of truth, we have S2, the knowledge that is not known, represented by the unconscious knowledge. The analyst, in the place of object a as an agent of discourse, places himself on the opposite side of the master’s discourse. The reference of a discourse, as Lacan (1969-1970/1991Lacan, J. (1991). O Seminário, livro 17: O avesso da psicanálise. Rio de Janeiro, RJ: Zahar. (Obra original publicada em 1969-1970).) tells us, “is what he confesses to wanting to dominate, wanting to teach (...) this is exactly the difficulty of the one I try to bring as close as I can to the analyst’s discourse - he must find himself at the opposite pole to any desire to dominate” (pp. 65-66). The psychoanalyst, regardless of where he works - as Freud (1919/2006Freud, S. (2006). Linhas de progresso na terapia psicanalítica. In S. Freud, Edição Standard Brasileira das Obras Psicológicas Completas de Sigmund Freud. “Uma neurose infantil e outros trabalhos (1917-1918)” (Vol. 17, pp. 173-181). Rio de Janeiro, RJ: Imago Editora. (Obra original publicada em 1919).) explained - operates with the analyst’s discourse, because for each particular experience, there is no universal solution.

Following the order in which Lacan (1969-1970/1991Lacan, J. (1991). O Seminário, livro 17: O avesso da psicanálise. Rio de Janeiro, RJ: Zahar. (Obra original publicada em 1969-1970).) presents the speeches, Let us take university discourse, fundamental in our research. For Silva (2018Silva, M. (2018, janeiro/junho). O discurso universitário e a clínica contemporânea. Caderno de Psicanálise (CPRJ), 40(38), 161-182.), university discourse invites the subject to a new commitment to knowledge, not a requirement, but a seductive invitation to know more and more. Knowledge, in the place of the agent, as dominant, is considering that there is knowledge that exercises power and universality. In this position of power, he makes the Other - here, we can put the student - in the place of the object. In this way, the subject, a product of university discourse, is erased. Within the scope of its truth, Lacan (1969-1970/1991Lacan, J. (1991). O Seminário, livro 17: O avesso da psicanálise. Rio de Janeiro, RJ: Zahar. (Obra original publicada em 1969-1970).) tells us, “finds the master signifier, insofar as it operates to carry the master’s order” (p. 97). This is how he shows where the discourse of science is based. Thus, he opposes the analyst’s discourse, which proposes knowledge to be constructed, and not that it comes ready-made or is located somewhere, but knowledge that comes from the subject himself. In the author’s words, “knowledge, in the dominant place of university discourse, does not mean knowing everything, but a bet that everything is knowledge, so that the subject must be subjugated by the mastery of knowledge” (p. 171).

In view of this, we can make the following reading: when the school bets on the knowledge found in the booklet and passes this illusion on to parents and students, it is operating with university discourse, which encourages the knowledge necessary for success of the student is found in the booklet and teaching method adopted by the school and that it is the school which has the tool - the teacher - that makes teaching and learning possible. In other words, if the booklet, both at school and in the course, takes the place of Knowledge (S2), there is an address of this Knowledge to the students (object a) - as objects to be shaped by the booklet. These students respond to this knowledge as divided subjects ($), erased in their desire, as they rely on a truth (S1) about the booklet (S2), thus representing university discourse.

From this speech, we can make a progression, in our thinking, about the place of the booklet today. Under the aegis of the university student’s discourse, we have knowledge of the booklet (S2), which has as its underlying truth about the booklet (S1) located in the master signifier, which is used in classrooms, namely: discipline and performance. This truth emanates the master’s order; that is, put into practice the master’s order: use the booklet and you will perform. From then on, it seems possible to make a progressive quarter turn in university discourse, which will spill over into the master’s discourse. That is, the booklet, as a representative of knowledge, nowadays, from the progressive turn, can become an agent of the master’s discourse. It converges with the discourse of the contemporary master (capital), who enunciates the use of handouts to achieve performance. No more than that, the teacher acts as a tool for transmitting such handbook knowledge. The teacher, we could invoke, is the hidden subject in the truth of a knowledge of mastery, a hidden knowledge that puts the master’s knowledge into practice. It is not an agent for transmitting knowledge, but an instrument that facilitates learning.

We bring a possible elaboration that we can anchor in the analyst’s own position as object a and discourse agent. When in this position, he addresses the subject by interrogating him; very different from the master’s discourse, in which the Other is treated as a slave, and from university discourse, in which the Other is treated as an object. Treating the Other as a subject is what differentiates the analyst’s discourse from other discourses. We know that Psychoanalysis works in the field of not knowing, the knowledge that comes to be constructed. On the other hand, in university discourse, knowledge is the agent, which does not allow space for not knowing. The subjects at school - students, parents, teachers and coordinators - seem to be identified with university discourse.

In 1972, at the conference in Milan entitled “The psychoanalytic discourse”, Lacan included another discourse: the “capitalist discourse”, with his own formula - despite having the same elements as the others, the capitalist discourse takes a different turn. In the Lacan’s words (1972), there is “(...) a tiny inversion simply between S1 and $... which is the subject...” (p. 17). Just as in the master’s discourse, the capitalist’s discourse is directed to knowledge (S2), however, the agent in the capitalist’s discourse is the subject, who is above the master signifier as truth. In other words, the subject reverses position in both discourses: actually in the master’s discourse, he begins to occupy the place of agent in the capitalist’s discourse. Castro (2019Castro, J. (2019). O discurso do psicanalista. In J. Castro, Os operadores éticos da psicanálise: O desejo, o ato, o discurso e o saber da psicanálise (pp. 51-65). Curitiba, PR: Editora CRV.) points out that the subject in capitalist discourse is the one who “acts in the market scene as a subject-consumer” (p. 58).

We emphasize that, at the moment when the school emphasizes the importance of its product - teaching material and the teacher who knows how to transmit it - to students and parents, the capitalist discourse is in force. The author continues by pointing out university discourse as one that is at the service of capitalist discourse and corresponds to what we witness in the contemporary market - the imperative of consumption and the search for knowledge.

In this way, we highlight the university discourse and the capitalist discourse in force when the student and their parents, seduced by the promise of acquiring knowledge and the resulting social ascension offered by the school through the textbooks and the teacher, try to buy the knowledge that will lead to student when entering university: the booklet and the teacher, a means of teaching the content contained therein.

At this point, we can reveal our previously mentioned reasoning regarding the intertwining of university discourse with the discourse of the contemporary master: the discourse of the capitalist. Through a fragment of memory, we can remember how educational institutions, both traditional and current, have always been supported by the master’s speech. Fixated on this discourse, they believed that everything would work out well, as there are masters (teachers) and disciples (students and parents) who serve this master. In current times, we have witnessed a shift in discourse in which the knowledge placed in the handbook method takes the stage as a discursive agent, in which the slogan called for by the courses is underlying this knowledge: performance, success and entry into university. In this discourse, there is a privilege in the knowledge of the booklet as Other, and the student is treated as the object of a methodology in which the booklet rules. The displacement, which can be operated for the capitalist’s discourse, is supported by the agent - the subject; that is, as a consumer.

The Capitalist discourse presents a particularity, because in it the agent does not relate to the Other, but directly with the truth. This means that, instead of the agent, we have the consumer in direct relationship with the truth of capital. On the other side of the matheme, we have the Other in the position of knowledge - the knowledge of science in relation to production - and products for consumption, as object a.

We follow our reasoning of the intertwining of university discourse with the discourse of capital considering that the booklet, until then located by us as a place of knowledge in university discourse, has, in capitalist discourse, a direct relationship with the production of objects to be consumed.

We maintain that the analyst, unlike occupying the place of mastery to which he is summoned in the institution, carries the necessary tools to listen to what is particular about the subject. Through the interventions that are appropriate - his listening, cuts, punctuations, interpretations and questions -, it is possible for the subject - student and/or teacher - to build knowledge about themselves.

In an attempt to ensure students’ learning and good performance in assessments, the use of booklets is the key tool proposed by the school. At this point, we highlight the university discourse as one that demonstrates the effectiveness of the teaching method used and presents the handouts and the teaching method to parents and students as safe ways of obtaining admission to university.

FINAL CONSIDERATIONS

We can say that the possibilities of the psychoanalyst’s work in the face of the demands of discipline and performance in the educational institution are anchored in the ethics of Psychoanalysis, which implies listening to what is unique. As a priority, the psychoanalyst differentiates, through his listening, what is the demand of the school institution and what is the demand of the subject, operating under transfer with both the student and the institution so that his work is viable.

We believe that, guided by listening to the subject in the face of contemporary malaise, the psychoanalyst operates where the system falters. In this unobstructed space, it is possible for the psychoanalyst to welcome and listen to the subject’s suffering in the face of the malaise in their relations.

Therefore, throughout this research, we believe that the work of the psychoanalyst is that of a de-alienist operating with the aim of helping the student to detach themselves from the totalitarian Other. The psychoanalyst questions the absolute knowledge of the Other in order to open space for the subject to emerge, thus causing a detachment from the Other and enabling the subject to take responsibility for their act and be involved in their desire. We believe that, in this way, the student can find other ways to integrate and maintain themselves in a social place, other than through suffering.

What can a psychoanalyst do at school? The psychoanalyst can, with his private listening and his ethics of blessing desire, work as a disalienist, that is, as one who will know how to listen, distancing himself from the imaginary and totalizing identifications that express the education system in our country. Acting as a disalienist means being able to listen to the student’s symptomatic expression and, based on it, seek to detach the student from institutional prescriptions.

This manuscript highlights the relevance of the work of a particular listening to the psychoanalyst not only in the school institution, but in any place where he may work. We believe in this listening and we consider that the role of the analyst as a disalienist must be, in the institution, a position supported by all those who are affected by the analytical cause.

Thinking about the analyst’s work in a school institution linked to education systems, as we have indicated, means reflecting on teaching work, which is often alienated by a repetition of the method proposed by the system. Thus, new studies about teaching practice and its impact on students’ interest in the content taught can support future discussions. Finally, we believe in the work of the psychoanalyst as the possibility that the discourses present in the school institution circulate and can be transformed.

Publication Dates

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