This article is based on a team ethnographic study in the province of Yauyos in the Peruvian Andes. It focuses on rural education and the inequalities surrounding it. Teachers and parents exchange mutual recriminations as they seek to explain why some children have greater difficulties than others and why urban schools achieve superior results as…

The phrase "ready to learn" has been widely used and researched by scholars, policy makers, and education practitioners. School readiness, as a construct, has referred to the basic skills that children need to transition to elementary school. However, there is no consensus on which basic skills students should possess when entering…