"It is not free like that!!": Quota Act and challenges of difference

Abstract

The qualitative study investigated the experience of schooling experienced by a group of quota students, from a Campus of the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Rondônia (IFRO), through focus groups. The students treat quotas as the result of a right, in function of the process of social inequality historically experienced by the groups to which they belong and point out the maintenance of the meritocratic principle in quotas, from a perspective of attribution of merit, in which the differences are considered. The ethnic-racial criterion of quotas, specifically regarding the establishment of quotas for blacks, reveals that the tensed discourses in Brazilian society on the subject also manifest among students. It is argued that Psychology has much to contribute in the process of insertion of students who are beneficiaries of affirmative action policies, grounding their work in analyzing the dynamics of inclusion / exclusion established in institutions.