Despite economic achievement and school participation, favelados remain overlooked and ignored by the larger society. They participate fully in economic relations and create structures that strive toward middle class values and acceptance. Investigations of the urban poor suggest that they share the same cultural values as the middle class but demonstrate these values in a modified, situational context. These alternative structures give rise to "mother schools," cement houses with refrigerators, radios, painted fences, and local community development programs. Favelados remain the struggling, silent illiterates who strive for acceptance in a society that looks upon them as marginals.
The basic attitude of the favelado is one of acceptance, where "something is better than nothing," and this prevails through all aspects of life. Favelados demonstrate the "aspirations of the bourgeoisie and the perseverance of pioneers" (Perlman, 1976, p. 4).
Within the favela, the "outsider organized" school presents a picture of commitment and conflict. Nossa Senhora de Merces generated community involvement and community pride. It employed teachers, made semi-official contacts with government organs, and presented an organized educational institution with some resources. It used standard curriculum guides distributed in the larger society and shared these guides with "mother schools" while entering into meaningful dialogues with parents and residents.
The conflict facing the "outsider organized" school became crystallized in its attempts to address the social processes of education in a complex and stratified society where dire poverty and stereotypic notions shape the overall reality of favelados. Both the "mother schools" and the "outside organized" schools attempted to implement a modified version of Freire's educational methods. The "outsider organized" school became set in a dialectical interplay between its structural position and philosophic beliefs, while "mother schools" continued the task of education.
In looking at "mother schools," it seemed appropriate to ask to what problems are they a viable solution? The answer does not rest in educational achievement. It lies in the spirit of hope generated by their existence.