The thousands of Basque students who these days are taking the new selectivity, which in Euskadi is known as the UAE, have had to analyze a text entitled ‘Pijos o cayetanos’ in the Spanish Language and Literature test. The article has sparked some controversy and many jokes, due to the sarcastic tone with which the author refers to these people.
As usual, one of the parts of the Spanish Language and Literature exam consisted of a text commentary on an article published in some media. In the Basque Country, the chosen text was a column published on April 12, 2022, in the Aragon Newspaper and signed by Miguel Miranda.
The starting point of the article analyzes a change in language: “young people no longer talk about posh, but about Cayetanos.” From there, the writer reflects on a social group that he defines as follows: “The Cayetanos are those from wealthy families who believe that they are above the populace simply because of their origin. They were born with money and often have not been able to prove themselves capable of anything else.
Miranda does not hide a certain resentment towards this group and questions the discourse of meritocracy, which they frequently use: “They will never admit that they have not deserved anything and they consider that others are simply lazy, bad workers, often perroflautas. That social mobility or social elevator sounds unnatural to them, to upstartsâ€. This annoyance is even greater in the case of those who “believe they are”: “The most assholes of the Cayetanos are, on the other hand, what they think they are, without being, because they behave as such but dissimulating.”
Miranda concludes by uncovering his animosity: “And I, the proud son of a bricklayer who never aspired to be an asshole Cayetano, always had repulsiveness, phobia and even a little disgust at them.”
The Basque students have had 90 minutes to discuss this article, analyzing the subject, making a personal critical comment or defining the textual genre.
The choice of text has been criticized from some groups and from certain media outlets, which consider the terms in which these people are referred to to be offensive.
