History and Policy of Argentine Education

Salta Distance Study Center – CEDSa.
LANGUAGE Teachers
HISTORY AND POLITICS of ARGENTINE EDUCATION Module I
TIMING
1. Timing
Approximately one month

Activities 1st week 2nd week 3rd week 4th week 5th
week
Reading the first part up to page 22. Carry

out reading and activities and presentation in
the first mandatory forum.
Read until page 34 then solve the proposed
activities and participate in the forum.
Read from page 34 to the end. Then carry
out the proposed activities and advance in
the integrative work.
Develop the proposed activities and we can
begin to solve the instructions .
Presents the final integrative practical work.
Perform self-assessments if you fail and
present the final integrative work if you have
to redo.
1
Salta Distance Study Center – CEDSa. LANGUAGE Teachers
HISTORY AND POLICY OF ARGENTINE EDUCATION
Program
Foundation
The History of Argentine Education is presented, in this proposal, as an
interdisciplinary field in which a historical-political view is articulated on nodal
aspects of the process of configuration of the educational ideological space,
from the process of formation of the National State.
It is a broad field of problems that refers to thought, to the role of intellectuals
who participated in the formation of the educational system, to the discourses
that were deployed on the political stage. It is necessary to connect aspects of
culture with the school review processes. .generally fragmented in traditional
analyzes –political history, of thought, of the creation of school institutions, of
pedagogical thought, etc.-
We propose an interdisciplinary perspective that contributes to taking a certain
distance, both retrospectively and from established logic, about the problems
more specifically linked to the classroom and our role as intellectuals.
These considerations propose recovering the historicity and politicity of the
educational act as strategies for complex analysis of reality, as spaces for
negotiation of subjects in the construction of social destinies, not limited to the
fulfillment of certain “inevitable” decisions.
by certain bodies of knowledge (such as administration, technocracy,
economics, planning, etc.) or established by the all-powerful and “unscrupulous”
actions of some.
With regard specifically to the historical, they propose that the solution will not
come from a “return to origins”, to “tradition” or to “lost values”, to an
“etymological” search for pure principles to be recovered in order to to
reestablish the old – and unquestionably correct – lost meanings, but our
proposal is oriented towards the “denaturalization” of the conditions in which the
educational phenomenon develops, eliminating from our vocabulary and
analysis terms such as “obvious”, “expectable”. , “logical”, “natural”, “only
possibility”, “it was always like this”.
2
On the contrary, they warn about the need to understand social and educational
issues not as inevitable situations of spontaneous origin, but as processes
framed in temporalities that account for their artificiality, contingency and
arbitrariness. That is, it is necessary to think about them “historically”,
understand how they have varied over time and have been modified, analyze
their diachronies and synchronies, and establish comparisons between them.
General objectives
 Promote the general training of teachers who act as critical trainers in the
sense of understanding the changes and permanences in the
“pedagogical imaginaries”.
 Contribute to the professional strengthening of future teachers through
raising awareness of the need for collaborative and institutional work
supported by ethical-democratic debate.
 Complement the analysis of educational policies in a comparative key
with a synchronic perspective.
 Raise awareness in a teaching-learning space conducive to democratic
and pluralistic debate.
Specific objectives
 Know the main stages in the development of Argentine education, its
debates and epistemological, cultural and political problems that are
sustained from the “pedagogical imaginaries”.
 Understand the complex dynamics that operate between educational,
political, social and cultural processes in the historical development of
the educational system, the country and the region.
 Compare different educational policies and their relationship with the
different conceptions of the State, society, power and education.
 Analyze and account for educational problems from the macro and micro
political levels, as well as the possibilities of transformation that every
political pedagogical practice entails.
3
Contents
Unit I
- The civilizing imaginary (mid-19th century)
The category “pedagogical imaginary”. The national educational system in the
context of the consolidation of the national State. The proposals of Domingo F.
Sarmiento: civilization and barbarism, democracy and exclusion. Debates of
other contemporary positions (Juan B. Alberdi, José M. Estrada).
- The normalist imaginary and the formation of the dominant elite (late 19th
century and first decades of the 20th century)
The State Centralized Public Instruction System. The national and provincial
legal framework. Hegemonic pedagogy. The training of teachers and the
National College. Liberalism and Enlightenment. Positivism and its educational
translation. The “traditional school”.
Bibliography
 Pineau, Pablo: Why did the school succeed? or modernity said: “This is
education”, and the school responded: “I'll take care of it”
 Puiggros, Adriana: What happened in education: brief history from the
conquest to e! present. Buenos Aires, Galerna, 2003
 Roitenburd, Silvia and Abratte, Juan (Comp.): History of Education in
Argentina: from the founding discourse to contemporary reformist
imaginaries. Ed. Bruges, 2010.
 Roitenburd, Silvia: Catholic Nationalism. Education in dogmas for a
restrictive global project. Córdoba (1862-1943), Ferreyra Ed., 2000.
Audiovisual resources
 They must have done something for Argentine history. Season 2 Episode
3 - Civilization and Barbarism. http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=KM9iI8CL80M
 History of a country: Argentina. Edition 1852-1880.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKN_H93tNrY
4
 Argentine History 1838-1880. Carlos Pellegrini School.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfTZdYzAz2E
 Educational project in Argentina in the 80s. Encounter Channel.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiOhUIMmKmY
 Argentine History 1880-1909 Felipe Pigna - Educational System.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZHucibvK-c
Unit II
- The spiritualist imaginary (first half of the 20th century)
Social and educational modernizations in the interwar period. The spiritualist
pedagogical imaginary. Philosophical reductionism and “comprehensive
education.” The “New School”. The new political-educational subjects and their
inclusion alternatives. The different conceptions of education in the Peronist
proposal.
- The developmentalist imaginary (first decades. from the second half of the
20th century)
The exhaustion of the foundational model. The answers: inclusive
modernization, exclusive modernization and defense of the founding canon.
The developmental pedagogical imaginary: technocracy, economic
reductionism and neo-behaviorism. Repressive educational projects.
Bibliography
 Aguiar, Leonardo: The tertiarization of teacher training. Between
Córdoba and the Nation (1967/1970). A historical-political reading. In
Roitenburd, S. and Abratte, J. op.cit.
 Bernetti, José; Puiggrós, Adriana: Peronism, political culture and
education (1945-1955)
 Carli, S. Childhood: Pedagogy and Politics. Transformations of
discourses about childhood in the History of Argentine Education. Ed
Miño y Dávila. Bs As. 2002
5
 Cucuzza, Héctor (Dir.): Studies in the History of Education during the first
Peronism (1943-1955). National University of Luján, Editorial Los Libros
del Riel, Bs. Ace. 2003.
 Puiggrós Adriana and Ossanna, E (coord): Education in the provinces
(1945-1985), Galerna, 2000.
 Puiggros, Adriana: “Dictatorships and utopias in the recent history of
Argentine education.” (1955-1983) Volume VIII. Ed. Galerna, 2000.
 Roitenburd, S. Foglino, A and Abratte, J “The DINEA CENS. Past and
present of alternative pedagogical experiences for adult students. Bruges
Publishing House. Cba. 2005
 Sigal, Silvia: “The university body (1918-1966)”, in Intellectuals and
power in the sixties, Buenos Aires, Puntosur, 2002.
 Zancov, Tomas: The relationship between education and work. The
Technical Schools and the Workers' University. In Roitenburd, S. and
Abratte, J. op.cit.
 They must have done something for Argentine history. Chapter 12.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOXM_Fc3-Ks&list=PLdgNY8-
IY3Jt91zw4GnoiUh0EaDW6NhWt&index=6
 History of a country: Argentina. The Peronist years.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkd3Y2escH4
 History of a country: Argentina. Eva Perón and the Peronist culture.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rgNGk4a9mg
 History of a country: Argentina. From Frondizi to Onganía.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axpICap31iY
 History of a country: Argentina. Society and culture of the 60s.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mMTIFjit30
Unit III
6
- The neoliberal imaginary (end of the 20th century and beginning of the 21st
century)
Neoliberalism and education. The business model. The new “star concepts”:
quality, equity, skills and management. The educational reform of the 90s. The
current situation: “post-neoliberalism”. New legal status of the system. The
National Education Law. Levels, modalities and orientations. Provincial
education law. The challenges of compulsory education at the Secondary Level.
- The construction of educational policies and practices in the NOA region.
Bibliography
 Abratte, J. The educational reforms of the '80s and '90s in the Province
of Córdoba. Between the democratic and neoliberal imaginary. In
Roitenburd, S. and Abratte, J. (Comp.) op.cit.
 Ansaldi, W. Silence is health. The dictatorship against politics. In Quiroga
H. and Tcach, C.: Argentina 1976-2006 Between the shadow of the
dictatorship and the future of democracy. Ed. Homo Sapiens. National
University of the Coast. Rosary beads. 2006
 Carli, S. Public education: history and promises. In Feldfeber, M. The
senses of the public. Reflections from the educational field. Noveduc
Editions. Bs. Ace. 2003
 Pineau, P. and others The beginning of the end. Policies and memory of
education in the last military dictatorship (1976-1983) Ed. Colihue.
Buenos Aires. 2006.
 Solis, A. Dictatorship, politics and society in the construction of a terrified
Córdoba. In Roitenburd, S. and Abratte, J. (Comp.) op.cit.
 Southwell, M. An approach to the educational project of post-dictatorial
Argentina: the end of some imaginaries. In “Pedagogy Notebook”
Rosario, 2002.
7
 History of a country: Argentina. The politics of democracy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYp_IcGSTuU
 History of a country: Argentina. The neoliberal society.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwwSozeSuEU
 History of a country: Argentina. Neoliberalism.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7AxYGv-cs8
 History of a country: Argentina. The politics of the dictatorship.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgNUTIdPhoI
8
9
Module content outline
10
1. The category “pedagogical imaginary”

Introduction
An imaginary is always defined from the social, not the individual, that is, it is
socially and historically constructed. When characterizing it, we must keep in
mind:
1- The imaginary is the result of a complex network of valuations, it is
manifested in the symbolic, in turn it is concretized in the actions of the subjects
through different social practices. It is a collective "construct", it is installed in
the institutions that make up society.
2- The imaginary becomes independent of individual wills to begin to function,
but it needs them to materialize; that materiality resides in the effects it achieves
on reality.
3- The imaginary is related to collective memory. A collective imaginary is
closely related to the memory of the social group to which it belongs, precisely
because an imaginary is socially and historically constructed.
Pedagogy, sooner or later, faces its own imaginary or, at least, the imaginary
that is woven around education, the subjects who intervene in its work
and the imprint that each generation assigns to it in its redemptive or
socializing task.1 .
2. The national educational system in the context of the consolidation of

the national State
2.1. Period 1810-1850

to. Advances and setbacks in the formation of the Argentine educational
system
The beginning of the 19th century accentuated the action of new ideas in
education. Study trips abroad by the men of Mayo and access to literature or
periodicals received from Europe legally and illegally allowed innovative ideas
to take over education.
1
The imaginary of pedagogy. By Angelina Uzín Olleros.
11
Education focused on utilitarian learning and knowledge of the basic notions of

mathematics and language. In Argentine classrooms, starting in the second
decade of the 19th century, the Lancasterian Method was implemented, which
had a successful
experience in London.
The lack of political
stability did not make the
implementation of the
national educational
system possible, for this
we will see later that the
sanction of the
Street in Buenos Aires at the beginning of the
19th century. The “New ideas” of Enlightenment Constitution is the most
arrived during this stage and innovated on the valuable tool in the
education of the colonial period.
realization of this ideal.
b. Educational policies
The twists and turns in the establishment of a lasting political system were
reflected in the absence of enabling the establishment of an educational
system. Likewise, it can be observed that during the different governments that
passed, there was always one constant: finding a solution to the development of
an educational policy in our country.
At the beginning of the 19th century, terms such as equality, justice, politics and
utility were appreciated in the speeches of the revolutionaries.
Later the ideas of romanticism, in the so-called Generation of '37, Juan María
Gutiérrez, Esteban Echeverría, Juan Bautista Alberdi, Domingo F. Sarmiento,
among others, sought to give a predominant role to education. Since they
understood that it was the only means to constitute a free citizenry capable of
exercising their true rights and obligations.
c. The pedagogical ideas
12
The ideal of enlightening the citizen was one of the objectives on which the
discourse of the revolutionary men of the first decades of the 19th century
focused. During this time, the need to create a school that would train men
prepared for the world of work was thought about, thus seeking to highlight the
importance that utilitarian education had for the time.
Already late in the 19th century, the appearance of Domingo Faustino
Sarmiento with the founding of the first School for Girls of San Juan (1839) and
Marcos Sastre with his Anagnosia (1849) mark the activities developed by the
Student Monitor or instructor

romanticism movement in Argentine education.
d. Classroom practices
The mutual teaching method was implemented during the Rivadavia
government in all schools. This teaching system, transferred from London to our
classrooms, consisted of the transmission of knowledge through the division of
the class, placing in front a young man of superior ability with the name
MONITOR and under the immediate inspection of the Master. The objective
pursued by the implementation of this system was the massive arrival of
13
education to society. Unfortunately we will observe that its objective was not
met.
The school books that circulated in Argentine classrooms focused on primers,
syllabaries and political catechisms, setting standards of courtesy, civility and
civilization.
14
I invite you to watch the institutional video “Sarmiento's schooling”
15
2.2. Period 1850-1880

to. Formation of the Argentine educational system
In 1852, with the battle of Caseros, the hegemony of the province of Buenos
Aires was questioned and a period marked by the search for a new form of
articulation between the provinces, Buenos Aires and the forces of neighboring
countries began. Marked by conflicts, uprisings and rebellions, the foundations
for the organization of national unity were laid.
Source: author's elaboration
In this way, the three decades that followed the overthrow of Rosas constituted
a period of rapid and profound social, political and economic changes. The
State was strengthened by defining national borders and integrating the territory
through modern communications.
To expand on the characteristics of Argentina during this period you can

consult: Argentine History 1838-1880. Carlos Pellegrini School.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfTZdYzAz2E
To enter this site you must be connected to the internet.
During this stage, the civil codes were approved and the public powers and the
professional army were organized. In turn, the growth of the internal market,
16
Pampas production and sectors linked to trade expanded the circulation of

products and the articulation with the world market, thus contributing to the
strengthening of the State. The strong economic growth of this stage favored
immigration and, therefore, the formation of a heterogeneous and mobile
society.
The educational system was a fundamental mechanism for the formation and
consolidation of the National State. In this context, the National Constitution of
1853 established the right to educate and teach as a responsibility attributed to
provincial governments. The first experiences were carried out in the province
of Buenos Aires, and immediately after the central power was consolidated with
the presidency of General Roca, an education law was approved.
In 1869, the first national census was carried out with the purpose of carrying
Extension of the railway lines around 1880

out an inventory of the population and diagnosing the country's wealth. Among
other queries, the census form asked if the children attended school. When the
results of the census were published, it was learned that one and a half million
people lived in Argentina, of which there were 413,459 school-age children,
while only 82,671 attended school.
17
The census confirmed with figures the shared diagnosis of the elites who
disputed the leadership of the country, for whom Argentina was a 'rich' territory
but with a 'scarce', 'backward' and 'lack of willingness to work' population, to the
' order' and 'discipline'. There was no doubt that 'progress' would only be
possible through rapid population growth and the ability to shape its lifestyle
habits.
The mere fact of asking (on a form with few questions) about the children's
attendance at school is an indication of the triumph of the Sarmiento project.
Domingo Faustino Sarmiento placed the organization of the educational
system, called “common education” at the time, at the unavoidable center of the
transformations that the country required. Sarmiento, with extensive experience
in educational issues, directed the organization of the school system in the
province of Buenos Aires between 1855 and 1860, a role to which he returned
in 1875 when his presidency ended. This experience constituted the starting
point for the expansion of “common education” to the nation as a whole.

Educational policies, together with various
pedagogical currents, were part of the
programs, inventories and explorations of
the first educators for whom everything
was about to be done in the Argentine
"desert."
Especially the North American educational
experiences but also the French and
German ones, as well as the ideas of
Rousseau, Pestalozzi, Frobel and Mann,
were the object of study for those who
dealt with education in Argentina.
"The President Sarmientson

leaving Vashington [sic] to come
to take office with his future
ministry." Caricature of opponents
of Sarmiento
18
The central idea of developing a “common

education”, that is, educational policies aimed
”Who is the donkey?” at the entire child population, led to analyzing

the most appropriate methods and content to
Domingo Faustino
Sarmiento, visiting a school teach and learn. This was one of the axes of
in his capacity as General Domingo Faustino Sarmiento's observations
Inspector of Schools, notices
that the teacher does not in his travels and reflections.
give importance to the In a country that had more than 70% illiteracy
placement of the comma.
and in a time in which civilization was
When alerting him about the
topic, the teacher tells him equivalent, first and foremost, to literate
that the comma does not culture; The teaching of reading and writing
make much sense and that it
is not necessary to place it. had a privileged place. Educational methods
To that response Sarmiento were another important challenge. The
goes to the blackboard and
writes: "The teacher says, rejection of physical violence and also, to a
Sarmiento is a donkey" and certain extent, of psychological violence in the
then the same phrase
educational process, was one of the most
changing the place of the
comma: agreed upon notes among the educational
"The teacher, says leadership.
Sarmiento, is a donkey."
Then turning to the students
he asks:
-In the first sentence, who is Although we have indications rather than
the donkey? Sarmiento! the certainties regarding what was happening in
students answer.
-And in the second sentence, the classrooms during this period, the
who is the donkey? Teacher! approach to its spaces, actors and practices
the students answer.
With this he showed the will allow us to understand even more what
teacher his mistake. was happening in the nascent educational
system.
One way to do this is to start from the ideas
that educational elites had about correct and
appropriate practices for the classroom, through, for example, current
regulations.
However, it is necessary to consider that there is always a distance between
provisions and daily practices. Precisely, many of the prohibitions referred to
situations that were in reality a non-legitimized norm.
19
corporal punishment
Corporal punishment was in line with a popular sensibility that imposed
discipline through physical coercion. Although these popular notions were
changing and educational authorities considered it necessary to eradicate
them, it took several decades for the new principles to become part of
educational common sense. In this way, educational practices were
slowly transformed and many schools did not feel the impact of the
developments arising from the Common Education Law until after 1900.
This seems to happen in the case of two topics that are strongly insisted on in
the regulations of the second half of the 19th century: physical punishment and
the use of memorization for learning.
Along these lines, Law 1420 (1884) prohibited teachers from physically
punishing children. The palmettes and the corcorones were portrayed as the
symbol of obscurantism and backwardness. In a similar way, the rejection of
memorization condensed the momentum that new educational methods took.
Teaching had to be gradual, based on the children's interest, observation and
experience.
The emphasis placed on these prohibitions suggests that they were quite
widespread behaviors, both before and after the new legislation was approved.
3. The proposals of Domingo F. Sarmiento: civilization and barbarism,

democracy and exclusion
Sarmiento thought that Argentina's great problem was the dilemma between
civilization and barbarism. Like many thinkers of his time, he understood that
civilization was identified with the city, with the urban, what was in contact with
the European, that is, what for them was progress.
Barbarism, on the contrary, was the countryside, the rural, the backwardness,
the Indian and the gaucho. This dilemma, according to him, could only be
20
resolved with the triumph of "civilization" over

"barbarism." He said in certainly barbaric language:
Growth model
“We would like to remove from all American social
From the national
government, Sarmiento tried questions the savages for whom we feel, without
to carry out renovating being able to remedy it, an invincible repugnance.”
projects such as the
founding of colonies of small In a letter he advised Miter: “…do not try to save
farmers in Chivilcoy and gaucho blood. This is a fertilizer that must be made
Mercedes. The experience
useful to the country. Blood is the only thing that
worked well, but when he
tried to extend it he these savages have as human beings.”
encountered strong Between 1845 and 1847, commissioned by the
opposition from the
landowners grouped in the Chilean government, he visited Uruguay, Brazil,
recently founded Argentine France, Spain, Algeria, Italy, Germany,
Rural Society, who
Switzerland, England, the United States, Canada
considered it “inconvenient
to establish colonies like and Cuba. In each of these countries he was
Chivilcoy where the livestock interested in their educational systems, the level of
industry was already
rooted.” teaching and communications.
Sarmiento got angry and When Sarmiento assumed the governorship of San
declared: “Our landowners Juan, he issued an Organic Law of Public
don't understand a thing
Education that imposed compulsory primary
about the matter, and they
prefer to build a palace on education and created schools for different levels
Alvear Avenue than to get of education, including one with capacity for a
into business (...) They want
the government, they want thousand students, the Preparatory School and a
us who don't have a cow, to school for training. of teachers. From the
contribute to doubling or
presidency he continued to promote education,
tripling them their fortune to
the Anchorena, the Unzué, founding some 800 schools.
the Pereyra, the Luros, the Sarmiento learned in the United States the
Duggans, the Cano and the
Leloir and all the millionaires importance of communications in a large country
who spend their lives like ours. During his government, 5,000 kilometers
watching the cows give
of telegraph cables were laid and in 1874, shortly
birth.”
before leaving the presidency, he was able to
inaugurate the first telegraph line with Europe. He
modernized the mail and was particularly
concerned about the extension of railway lines.
21
In 1875, Sarmiento took over as General

Director of Schools of the Province of Buenos
The urban-rural in Aires. Although he was obsessed with primary
Sarmiento
education, he limited the convenience of
“The man of the city wears
popular education to that level of education: “I
the European dress, he lives
civilized life, as we know it despise education above primary education as
everywhere: there are the a means of civilization. It is primary education
laws, the ideas of progress,
the means of instruction, that civilizes and develops the morality of
some municipal people. “All peoples have always had doctors
organization, the regular
and wise men, without being civilized for that
government, etc.
reason.”
Leaving the city precinct,
everything changes its During Roca's presidency he held the position
appearance: the country of General Superintendent of Schools of the
man wears another suit,
which I will call American, National Education Council and achieved the
because it is common to all sanction of Law 1420, which established free,
towns; their life habits are
compulsory, gradual and secular primary
diverse; their needs, peculiar
and limited; They seem like education.
two different societies, two
peoples who are strange to
each other. There is still 3.1. The civilization/barbarism dichotomy
more: the man of the The basis of Sarmiento's conceptual scheme,
countryside, far from
which emerges from his interpretation of
aspiring to resemble the
man of the city, rejects with Argentine reality, is summarized in the
disdain his luxury and his civilization-barbarism dichotomy - clearly
courteous manners, and the
dress of the citizen, the expressed in the Facundo and present in all
tailcoat, the cape, the chair, his work - which he takes as a starting point to
no European sign can
present itself. with impunity develop his proposal for transformation. This
in the campaign. arrangement of his thinking based on two
Everything that is civilized in axes: one positive and the other negative,
the city is blocked there, which oppose each other, allows him to
banned outside, and anyone
who dares to show himself question social reality and propose a
in a frock coat, for example, transformative project in which civilization
and riding an English saddle,
triumphs. This requires granting education the
would attract the mockery
and brutal attacks of the dynamic role of society and demanding direct
intervention from the State in that area. From
22
his perspective, the public school would systematize the destruction of

barbarism and structure a new society. In this way, Sarmiento theoretically
solves the problem of order and progress - factors that appear in all State
construction projects - while believing that the social costs of the latter can be
overcome.
Although the generic Europe-America opposition is latent in all his work, either
explicitly or implicitly, a deeper examination allows us to visualize particular
oppositions, both at the general level and at the local level. In principle, "
cultured and progressive " Europe tends as a natural fact towards the
democratic republic, while America, " submerged in barbarism ", is a favorable
environment for despotism. However, the scheme is not absolute, as it presents
contradictions that make the model to be implemented more complex.
Thus in Europe, which in general is a symbol of progress, Spain appears "on
the dubious limit that divides civilized peoples from barbarians" and in America,
which as a whole is a symbol of backwardness, are the United States, which
"have marched from progress to progress until today they are the admiration of
the very people of Europe...". At the local level, the existing situation - a product
of the Spanish colonial heritage - is the framework in which particular
oppositions are developed, among which civilization-barbarism should be
highlighted; city field; unitary-federal; army-montoneras; citizen-gaucho, which
multiply the actions to be developed.
In formulating the concept of barbarism,
Sarmiento starts from the analysis of the
environment and its effects on the human
To expand on Sarmientino's element, associating barbarism with the
ideology and its historical countryside. In this way it expresses that
context you can see: They
must have done something the hostile nature, the isolation and the
for Argentine history. Season dispersed population make up
2 Episode 3 - Civilization and
Barbarism. individualistic and anarchic forces that
http://www.youtube.com/ oppose any attempt at organization. In its
watch?v=KM9iI8CL80M
Don't forget to be connected historical tracing, the effect of the May
to the internet revolution was to free them not only from
Spanish rule but from all authority; The
unitary party that brought together the
23
most enlightened men of the cities could not organize the national State neither
legally nor territorially. His mistakes, his lack of political realism, his
intransigence, his excessive intellectualism, weakened him in the face of the
campaign that was assembled and gathered around the leaders and the flag of
federalism, understood rather as self-determination and independence of the
provinces against to Buenos Aires, which as a feasible political project.
According to Sarmiento, with the victory of Rosas the forces of the campaign
triumphed against the cities, making the unitary party disappear and projecting -
from Buenos Aires - the barbarity of the campaign towards the interior of the
country. In this way, the prolonged hegemony of Rosismo resolves all
oppositions and tensions because it reduces them to one: civilization and
barbarism, with the predominance of the second.
3.2. The identity construction strategy

In this vision of reality we must place “ Popular Education”, a work in which
Sarmiento develops a proposal whose objective is to modify existing conditions
and guide the country towards civilization. For him, moving a country towards
civilization is the vital interest of every society. To achieve this goal, it proposes
popular education, the only effective means of preparing new generations to
face challenges and establish in our territory the cultural conditions to achieve
indefinite progress.
At the international level, Sarmiento observes that the universal trend is the
implementation of democratic republics
and the rapid development of
capitalism. It finds the only way to The civilizing path
"Without civilization, without
overcome barbarism and integrate enlightenment, there is no possible
under the best conditions into this government; but despotism, there is no
public opinion, there is no freedom,
"inevitable progress" the structuring there are no institutions, there is no
of a public education system that industry, nor wealth."
Sarmiento. popular education
enables the emergence of a
democratic republic and leads to the
prosperity of the State.
24
Latin American liberals

In this aspect, Sarmiento agrees with the group of intellectuals of his
time who, imbued with liberal currents, focused the dynamism of
society on the force of transformation of the individual and on the
establishment of republican institutions, whose functioning would
ensure the validity of pure forms of democracy. However, the
particularity of his approach with respect to this ideology is that the
State acquires an active role by intervening directly in education, the
axis on which his entire model revolves.
Sarmiento sets public education as the starting point for creating a republic of
citizens, that is, a society of intelligent men who, for the most part, know their
rights, are aware of their value, can respect them and demand their fulfillment:
"... a 'association' of free and equal men... who without pretensions to
possessing a high and developed civilization, nevertheless know enough to be
intimately aware of their own dignity and their rights to freedom." In his vision,
the republic is a form of government that educates; Within it, the community
discusses and approves its own projects, transforming the institutions into
citizens.
It must be taken into account that among these future citizens Sarmiento
includes the great mass of immigrants who will populate our territory; situation
in which it was necessary to take measures that would allow, on the one hand,
to train the natives to prevent them from being displaced due to the supposed
greater aptitude of the newcomers for progress and, on the other, the
integration of foreigners into the republics. to establish."A strong national unity,
without traditions, without history and between individuals coming from all parts
of the earth, cannot be formed except by a strong common education that
amalgamates the races, the traditions of those peoples and the sentiment of the
interests of the future and the glory of the new country".
For Sarmiento, educating is a primary function of the republican form of
government, but, at the same time, its existence depends on the level of
education of the people. Its ideal is the construction of a democratic republic -
which recognizes the participation of all citizens in public affairs - and this
25
requires citizens, that is, subjects aware of

the responsibility that falls on them in the
The society that must be election and control of those who exercise
transformed
political power. .
“(In the rural Argentine
In his approach, the concept of democracy
society of the time) the
culture of the spirit is useless takes on another dimension when he
or impossible (…) where the postulates the need to educate not only to
public good is a meaningless
word, because there is no achieve freedom but also equality. He
public, the eminently gifted maintains that common education given to
man strives to produce
all equally "... without the odious distinctions
himself and accepts to do so
the means and the paths it between rich and poor, masters and
finds. servants, nobles and commoners...", will
The gaucho will be an establish the basic conditions so that all
evildoer or a leader,
depending on the direction individuals can develop "... . his intellectual
that things take at the capacity, his moral aptitude and his potential
moment in which he has
for work..." With these actions, individual
become notable. (...) The life
of the Argentine countryside, deficiencies are overcome, guaranteeing
as I have shown it, is not a equal opportunities, integration and social
vulgar accident; It is an
order of things, a system of valuation. The massiveness of education
association, characteristic, will cause a change in individual mentality,
normal, unique in my
as it gives those who receive it the
opinion in the world, and it
alone is enough to explain possibility of promotion, greater
our entire revolution. Before consideration and respect, and training for
1810 in the Argentine
Republic there were two productive work. Man thus modifies his
different, rival and passive attitude, becoming interested in
incompatible societies; two
diverse civilizations: one improving his standard of living in a constant
Spanish, European, cultured, effort of personal improvement that benefits
and the other barbaric,
society as a whole. This change in attitude
American, almost
indigenous.” is the basis on which the prosperity of the
Sarmiento: Facundo State will be built, because: "What is the

prosperity of the State if not the sum of
individual prosperity?"
26
Sarmiento affirms that "... the intervention of the State is legitimate, and the
State can compel people to educate themselves, because education is
necessary for industry, for the use of free institutions and for all the things that
constitute prosperity." ". Throughout his works this concept is reiterated;
Sarmiento does not believe in the efficiency of the private school that dominated
education throughout the colonial period, reproducing Hispanic traditions, alien
to all progress and directed only at the ruling groups. The priority need is "... to
change the face of America, and especially of the Argentine Republic, by
replacing the European spirit with the Spanish tradition, and with brute force as
a motive, cultivated intelligence and the remedy for needs." .
It is the State that must promote a system that establishes the obligatory nature
of primary education, the only way to overcome the "intellectual backwardness,"
industrial incapacity" and "civil ineptitude" that characterize the American
people. It is essential to implement an educational system based on the public
school, since "... an education system is nothing more than a means of
distributing, in a given time, the greatest possible instruction to the greatest
number of students, to achieve this the school becomes in a factory, in an
instruction plant equipped with sufficient material, the necessary teachers, an
adequate location so that the system of procedures can be played without
embarrassment and then a method of proceeding in teaching that distributes
the studies with economy of time and give greater results.
3.3. The “Common Education”

Sarmiento proposes the system he calls "common education", implemented
through public schools, not supported by the State or Province, nor directly by
the Municipality, but by the residents of each school district into which the
country will have been divided. Although school income is basically the
responsibility of the neighbors, it is the duty of the State to create Normal
Schools and organize the Inspection; For the former, it ensures the training of
competent and suitable teachers; The second ensures the supervision and
control of the functioning of the educational system.
The Normal School is the essential institution of a country where it is about
organizing a public system of popular education, since this requires trained
personnel who have acquired the necessary knowledge and pedagogical
27
Normal school in Salta, year 1909
methods for "the transmission of the benefits of civilization." The graduate of the
normal school, the National Teacher, will be in charge of the task of "...providing
to all classes of society that indispensable instruction to form the reason of
those who are called to influence later with their lights or with their ignorance
the future fate of the country.
Primary school, for him, "raises moral character, develops intelligence and
predisposes to action", basic conditions for the greatness of the Nation.
Through example and method, values are instilled that "create habits of
regularity" in the behavior of children, "respect for authority, the law and private
property." Through the teaching system, the instruments of knowledge, the
rudiments of science and technology, and all the general knowledge necessary
to achieve the gradual development of their intelligence and accustom them to
taking practical advantage of their studies are made available to students. that
they acquire. In short, the objective of the school "... is to modify the vices of
character, to discipline intelligence to prepare it for instruction, to begin to form
habits of work, order and voluntary submission."
The action of the State is not limited to the organization of the school, it also
extends to the provision of books and popular libraries, essential components to
complete instruction. Primary education is the first step that stimulates the
28
ability to learn and generates aspirations to improve; For this reason, the State
must be responsible for opening dissemination channels in all parts of the
country so that those who have learned to read can establish their knowledge,
deepen their convictions and be aware of the movement of ideas in the world.
Activity
Watch the following video then answer

Why does Tedesco maintain that Sarmiento is not a pedagogue? Do you
agree? Fundamentally. Share this activity with your peers and Tutor during the
Meeting.
SYNOPSIS In 1849, Sarmiento wrote

Popular Education, a book that
gave the beginnings to what would
later become the Common
Education Law (law 1420). In this
episode, the educator and
pedagogue, Juan Carlos…
Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foHkw3GtBF4
3.4. Debates of other contemporary positions (Juan B. Alberdi, José M.
Estrada).
The official history presents us with Sarmiento's and Alberdi's thoughts as parts
of a single and coherent whole, hiding the differences and disputes they had
between them.
29
Alberdi and Sarmiento had a

thought and political line that
wanted to build a Europe in
America, but they had specific
differences, which ultimately
expressed class issues. They
were part of an intellectual and
political movement that had the
purpose of interpreting
Argentine reality. They fought with different strategies.
Alberdi did not have physical courage, he always tried to influence with his
ideas, he was a typical intellectual without masses, who could not tolerate
concrete politics. Alberdi did not want public positions. Sarmiento had many. In
this controversy, both build a passionate debate about the construction of a
country.
The controversy had a strong political component. Alberdi was convinced that
the Buenos Aires landowners and the merchants of the port of Buenos Aires
would divide Argentina, creating the Republic of Plata; consequently, he thought
of a country without the province of Buenos Aires.
On the other hand, Sarmiento aims to subdue the entire interior, and subject it
to the hegemony of the group that had not joined the confederation, and at that
historical moment, directed the Province of Buenos Aires.
Alberdi Sarmiento
Education: less effective instrument Education: priority factor in the process
compared to mass immigration and of change and modernization
railroad expansion
Conservative character Combative character
He stood on the side of the In favor of Buenos Aires politics
30
Confederation in its fight against

Buenos Aires
For José M. Estrada education has an eminently moral purpose, since it leads
to perfection, which is the destiny of man. "Man marches towards God, through
the truth." It also has a social purpose, because the community requires that the
individuals that make it up actively participate in the reciprocal exchange of
thought and effort. And, finally, education is a civic duty in every democracy,
since, thanks to it, citizens are enabled to exercise their rights.
Estrada recognizes that society exerts an extraordinary influence as an
educating agent. "Society," he says, "educates not only by the ideas it instills,
but by the work it provokes. "He educates with his flattery, and even more so,
with his torture." But man cannot surrender, without violating the law of his
direct responsibility, to the influence of other people's suggestions, abdicating
his personality. Education is essentially personal in its object.
Every man must strive to highlight his individuality, to know his personality
removed from external influences and to be his own arbiter, responsible and
free author of his own destiny. He considers that it is nothing more than a
chimerical purpose to try to spread enlightenment throughout the mass of the
people through popular schools. Primary education must not be limited to the
rudiments of reading and writing, but neither can it have an encyclopedic
nature, limiting its purposes to mere intellectual discipline.
31
Its mission should be more educational than

informative. The popular school has an essentially
Morality in education educational and disciplinary purpose.
Consequently, it must incorporate to this purpose
“There is a sovereignty the moral elements and the religious element,
superior to all those that "without which morality neither recognizes sources
have disputed the dominion
of society and the honors of nor has criteria nor brings vigor to consciences nor
history. carries sanctions that ensure and fertilize it."
In the midst of human An ardent defender of freedom of education, which
vicissitudes and the extreme
he considered necessary in every democratic
mobility of passions, it
remains immutable with political regime, Estrada condemned the State
that august identity of the monopoly. In his opinion, the State, the organ of
absolute. This sovereignty is
that of moral good. society to preserve the legal order at home and to
Consequently, man's social represent the country abroad, does not have
relations are governed by
teaching as its primary and exclusive function.
moral good, and a horrible
blasphemy is uttered when it This corresponds primarily to the parents, the
is stated that politics can family, the scientific corporations, the appropriate
dispense with its rules. ...
Thus, neither governments organizations in society. Only when private action is
nor people can do missing or insufficient or weak, should the State, in
everything. The caprice of
charge of promoting collective well-being, intervene
tyrants and the enthusiasm
or fearfulness of crowds to supplement, help or stimulate it.
have a limit that they cannot Now, we must establish that the freedom of
overcome. That limit is the
fundamental moral teaching that Estrada advocated was not the
principles.” unlimited and absolute freedom of the teacher to
Estrada, José: Morals and impart any kind of ideas to the youth, but rather it
democracy, in the Argentine
was the freedom restricted by moral truth, which is
Magazine
developed within of the limits imposed by divine
and human precepts and by public order and in his
opinion, the only environment conducive to the
empire of a truth correctly understood was the
Christian order; as long as this subsists in the
institutions, "the truth will remain intact in its eternal
beauty, always ancient and always new, and
nations will grow preserved from that anarchy of the
32
spirits, subsequent to the spread of error, which dislocates civil harmony,

demoralizes the individuals and bastardizes or destroys civilizations.
ACTIVITY
Make a conceptual scheme that explains the main difficulties that, in

Sarmiento's understanding, prevented progress towards “civilization”
in the country. What role should education play in that model?
Observe the proposed documentaries and prepare a short description
of the most important changes that occurred in the field of politics,
society, economy and education in Argentina between 1850-1880.
At what points do the thoughts of Alberdi and Estrada differ from the
Sarmiento model?
Share this activity with your peers and Tutor during the
meeting.
4. The normalista imaginary and the formation of the dominant elite

(late 19th century and first decades of the 20th century)
Period 1880-1910
33
to. The national school system

Although political elites had long trusted in the importance of immigration and
education for national progress, from 1880 onwards the novelty lay in the
possibility of influencing these areas from the National State. Then, in the
following years, this idea became more established and strengthened.
Source: Author's preparation
Roquismo, which emerged from a political scenario crossed by struggles

between autonomists and nationalists, gave shape to a new political order that
achieved institutional stability, based on the ability to articulate alliances and
pacts between the Buenos Aires and provincial elites, in a system of restricted
political participation, from a National State in full consolidation.
Along with this conservative political order, a liberal program for society and the
economy was promoted. Thus, the cereal and livestock production of the
pampas allowed the growth of the country and its customs resources, to whose
doors the recent railroad tracks reached.
34
Education played a central role in the

constitution of the Nation. It was considered a
central condition to make Argentina a citizen
Normalism and the
“abnormal” and civilized republic, although in this way the
system excluded numerous citizens from
“It can be said that these
institutions, which were born school. For this reason, the educational
under the mantle of the
system was one of the first scaffolding that the
positivist paradigm, had the
objective of imposing norms still weak National State built. On the other
that, through a cascading hand, this State push for universal public
effect, would spread
throughout the nascent education was in contradiction with the
educational system. The restrictive political system. The consequences
Normal School was offered
of this tension will explode in the first decades
as a model to be followed by
all institutions, even when its of the 20th century when the new expanding
fundamental objective was middle sectors put an end to the conservative
oriented towards the
teaching population, regime.
because it not only
attempted to guarantee the
academic training of
teachers, but also to The advance of the National State on new
homogenize it by intervening areas of political and economic life was
directly in the curricular
contents and on everything strengthened after 1880. Education was one
in the methodology with of the most relevant spheres of this process of
which these were taught.
transfer to the State of functions that were
(…) Putting the adjective
previously attributed to religious, ethnic and
“Normal” into play
immediately leads to its civil corporations.
antonym: abnormal. Education was one of the first public policies
Therefore, implicitly, the
label “abnormal” was implemented by the National State. This
assigned to the rest of the meant the allocation of economic resources,
educational institutions, to
the creation of a power structure – with
teachers who had not gone
through the training authorities who had control over a growing
institution par excellence, staff – whose legitimacy consisted of the value
either because they taught
with another methodology, of their knowledge and their dedication to a
or because they deviated goal of public interest.
from or modified the
curricular contents. ”. The educational system of the province of
Buenos Aires had been set up by Sarmiento's
35
efforts, but it was necessary to decide whether its same guidelines would be
adopted on a national scale. This sparked many discussions. There were
different opinions about the ways of financing education, the means of
distributing the resources to be invested, the obligatory nature of the school or
the powers of the Church in the educational organization. Other topics of debate
were related to educational content. There was no doubt about the convenience
of imposing the gradual reading method, but issues such as mixed education
and religious teaching divided educators.
The educational policy and those involved in its execution sought a
comprehensive education that would develop the physical, intellectual and
moral capacities of the students, seeking to establish a universe of values on
which the nascent community would be founded. The enlightened heritage was
recovered, a true testimony of the conviction that it was possible to achieve
happiness by eradicating error through knowledge. That was the significance it
acquired for the liberal elite since it expressed its willingness to work to extend
the benefits of an educational policy taken to its highest expression.
The students of the Normal Schools

The “poor provincial gentlemen”, the children of immigrants and women,
had a common denominator in their studies in the Normal Schools: faith in
personal progress through the work and grace of the school. Everyone
believed – they directly or their parents – that as a result of studying, in the
Normal School in this case, they would progress economically, socially
and culturally.
There was in them, conscious or not, a complete coincidence with the
characters that gave rise to Normalism: faith in progress, faith in the use of
reason, faith in enlightenment as the essential driving force of men and
peoples.
In the context of this movement in favor of enacting a public education law, the
Pan American Pedagogical Congress was convened in Buenos Aires in 1882.
Renowned teachers and pedagogues from the country and Latin America
participated in this “true intellectual contest.” As concluded, it was essential that
public and private schools teach the National Language, National Geography,
36
National History and Civic Instruction, in accordance with the political regime of
each country.
The main points that were agreed

upon at that meeting were taken up
in the text of 1420 of 1884. The
predominance of liberal ideas made
it possible for this modernizing and
secularizing educational project to
take shape, which, in its article 1,
established: “Primary schools have
“What the pedagogical Congress would have
the objective of simultaneously been with Agniello (bishop of Buenos Aires)
promoting and directing the moral, - It's you. Catholic?
- Apostolic and Roman
intellectual and physical development - Between"
of children.” In article 2, it was Cartoon of El Mosquito that satirizes
educational clericalism
determined that “Primary education
is divided into six grades and will be given in Infant, Elementary and Higher
Schools.” Regarding the contents, in article 6, it was specified that “The
minimum of mandatory instruction includes the following subjects: Reading and
Writing; Arithmetic (the first four rules of integers and knowledge of the decimal
metric system and the national law of currency, weights and measures),
Particular Geography of the Republic and notions of general History; National
Language, Morals and Civility; notions of Hygiene; notions of Mathematical,
Physical and Natural Sciences; notions of Drawing and vocal Music.
Mandatory Forum Activity
37
1- Read the fragment related to Law 1420

"One of the most debated topics of the initial proposal consisted of the
inclusion of religious content in school programs. There were conflicting
opinions about the role of the Church in society and the State. The
liberals promoted a secularizing program, through which the Catholic
Church lost part of its powers regarding civil registration, education and
marriage. In this framework, religion in schools was the crux of the
debate. Finally, the approved law made no mention of the secular nature
of education, but religious instruction remained optional, with parental
authorization, and dictated outside of school hours."
Let's start the debate:
a- What is currently happening with the secular nature of Education?

b- What is society demanding? What is your position? Argue. Remember
to return to your colleagues' contributions to enrich the debate.
38
Author's elaboration
39
From its very constitution, the educational system gave pedagogy a central
place. Nobody doubted the existence of methods and knowledge that favored
learning and that they should be applied in the classrooms. For this reason, the
pedagogical theme had a prominent place in the debates, definitions and
policies of the time.
It can be said that, over time, a kind of pedagogical common sense was formed.
One of his ideas was the importance attributed to the relationship between the
teacher and the students in the learning process. The teacher was an
irreplaceable figure in the educational process. Teaching had to avoid fatigue
and violence, the teacher had to appeal to the ideas, intuition and observation
of his students. To guarantee this process, it was necessary that the contents
were linked as much as possible to the experiences and living environment of
the children. Along these lines, it was expressly prohibited to teach exclusively
through memorization.
Little by little these notions spread and
became an undisputed platform. On this
basis, different theories and approaches
were developed. Initially, pedagogical To expand on the
educational project of Law
frameworks were validated by positivism. 1420 you can see:
But as the educational system Educational project in
Argentina in the 80s.
consolidated, pedagogy became Encounter Channel.
increasingly legitimized in an experimental http://www.youtube.com/watc
h?v=KiOhUIMmKmY
scientific discourse and, simultaneously, in Don't forget to be connected
a psychological perspective. to the internet
Between 1880 and 1910, to a greater or
lesser extent, life in classrooms was
transformed within the framework of the expansion of the educational system.
Three specific phenomena can be identified that contributed to this process of
change: the growing regulation of school activity, new pedagogical paradigms
and changes in educational spaces. Although these factors were already
present, at this stage they were extended and disseminated to an increasing
number of educational experiences.
40
The regulation and normalization of the activity of teachers, educational content

and the learning process was contained in Law 1420 itself. But gradually other
regulations were approved – both by the provincial governments and by the
National Education Council – that advanced new aspects of the learning
process. Thus, for example, regulations were issued for the use of reading and
textbooks, the distribution of
time in schools, and the rights
and obligations of teachers.
The dissemination of
pedagogy and didactics,
together with the training of
normal teachers, was a
significant fact that modified
educational practices.
Argentine teachers graduated from Normal
School No. 5. Year 1909. Reflection on the learning
process, educational methods
and study techniques were part of teacher training, Pedagogical Conferences
and the ideas discussed in books, magazines and educational settings.
Finally, the school building was of special importance. Domingo Faustino
Sarmiento had already drawn attention to its importance for the learning and
training of children. The construction of schools was one of the most urgent
tasks for the educational authorities. In 1886, more than 40 schools were
inaugurated, some of them were the so-called “school palaces” that contrasted
with the usual premises for the time. The luxurious buildings represented the
value placed by political elites on education but were not the norm. Many
schools continued to operate in small houses, with poor hygiene and little
furniture.
Of course, these factors did not act simultaneously. On the contrary, the
changes were marked by the unequal distribution of resources and the social
and cultural diversity of the country. Transformations in everyday life are visible
large-scale processes over several decades. Even despite this trend towards
homogenization of educational content, methods and spaces, daily experiences
in the classrooms were extremely dissimilar.
41
4.1. The State Centralized Public Instruction System.

Schools turn out to be these “inferior” instances of execution of a highly
cohesive system, which obstructed any possibility of centrifugal dispersion and
Source: author's elaboration

consolidated a strongly centralized system model.
According to Puiggrós (1990), the dominant educational model, which he
conceptualized as the State Centralized Public Instruction System, had the
following characteristics:
 State hegemony and private subsidiarity.
 Secularism or Catholicism subordinated to the logic of the state.
 Schooled.
 Verticalized.
 Bureaucratized.
 Oligarchic-liberal.
 Not participatory.
 Ritualized.
 Authoritarian.
 It discriminates against the popular sectors (through expulsion, repetition,
non-admission, dislocation and marginalization of social subjects who belong to
subordinate sectors).
 Producer of networks or hierarchical educational circuits.
The central purpose of the system was the ideological-cultural standardization
and homogenization and the incorporation of the population into this new
42
economic order. This normalizing “outward” required the constitution of the

norm as an absolute value.
Penetration,
intervention,
homogenization and
“normalization” are
only possible from a
strongly centralized
and normative
system.
The educational
system actively
intervened in civil society as a whole, normalizing practices and constituting
social subjects towards the construction and consolidation of the nation-state.
But this conception begins to weaken with the first attempts to transfer schools
2
from national jurisdiction to provincial jurisdictions, which we will address later.
4.2. The training of teachers and the National College.

4.2.1. Normal Schools
In 1869 (on the Law of October 6) the Paraná Normal School was founded, the
first Argentine normal school. According to the analysis of H. F. Bravo, this act
represents the “foundation of the first permanent normal education facility.”
Under the direction of Jorge Stearns (American), the Paraná school expanded
its teachings, governed by a curriculum that included four years of training.
In 1874, two normal schools were created in Buenos Aires, one for women and
the other for men. Both adopted study plans similar to
2
Pérez, Horacio and Alonso Brái, Mariana: The current Argentine educational reform and the
institutionalization of the school space: From bureaucratic administration to educational
management?
43
those from the Paraná normal school. However, to establish a homogeneous

system of recruitment and training of teaching staff, institutions of this type had
to be increased and developed.
Referring to the legal bases
that supported the expansion
of normal schools, we find
that by Law of October 13,
1875, the Executive Branch
was authorized to: “establish
a Normal School for Primary
Instruction Teachers in the
capital of the provinces that
requested and that offered
as a base an appropriate local, provincial or municipal (...) Once the first
teaching course was completed, the PE "will deliver the Normal Schools to the
Provinces that are obliged to cover the expenses required for their support,
whether in their entirety or in accordance with the law of September 25, 1871."
(Art. 1).
The latter prescribed the obligations of the Nation and the provinces regarding
the support of normal schools.
When the draft law of 1875 was presented to Congress, it was intended to
create fourteen normal schools, one in each province. Although this aspect did
not materialize immediately, by 1885 fourteen schools had been founded,
which, added to those already existing, gave a total of eighteen schools that
trained teachers.
Now, the institutions that were coming into existence, “in the need to provide the
Nation with normal school teachers,” differed in terms of “quality” from the
original ones. This is one of the characteristics that guided the process of
creation and development of normal schools: the quantity of schools at the
expense of quality in training.
To analyze the Argentine case, we can say that the deterioration of teacher
training was a peculiar note that defined the process of institutionalization of
teaching practice. Such an appreciation is even more evident if one considers
44
that the original curriculum, by which teacher training was extended to four
years in duration, was supplanted by a three-year plan.
In the case of the schools that also trained teachers (the one in Paraná and the
two in the Capital) the study plan contemplated five years of preparation. It is
necessary to remember that while a type of specialized training for the teacher
was defined, a series of struggles took place between different power fractions.
When reconstructing the struggle unleashed, in the Ministry of Public
Instruction, we find those who defend the quality of teacher training, compared
to those who promote limited training plans, motivated by an “eminently
practical” need.
4.2.2. National Schools
Already before 1863, an important movement in favor of secondary education
had begun in the provinces, which was consolidated with the creation of
provincial schools at this level.
Until 1863, there were
only two schools that
depended directly on
the national authorities:
Monserrat in Córdoba
and Entre Ríos.
Both in their plans and
objectives responded to
the dominant criterion:
preparatory for entry to
Rectorate of the National College, in Salta 1899. university careers or
Currently Benjamín Zorrilla school
higher studies and with
boarding school. They were insufficient to meet the needs of secondary
education. The problem of study certificates made it difficult to enter the
University and forced new exams to be taken.
The national educational policy was aimed at disseminating secondary
education with useful and varied applications, in order to provide greater
facilities to the youth of the provinces who are dedicated to scientific and literary
careers.
45
With the National School of Buenos Aires, the process of institutionalization of

secondary education began and a national educational policy began to take
shape that would be consolidated
throughout the period with the
establishment of national schools in the
provinces.
The fact that they were created
simultaneously posed serious problems of
disharmony because some provinces could
not meet the demands of uniformity. This
was the cause of a desynchronization that
prevented students from continuing their
Amadeo Jacques, author of
the 1863 study plan and studies in a national school other than the
personality who served as one they had started.
rector of the National School
The national colleges were intended not
only to train men capable of practicing university professions but also to spread
education to the largest possible number of inhabitants in order to guarantee
the functions of social life and the exercise of the rights and duties of the
Republic.
This thought encouraged the creation of new schools and in 1876 the country
had 14 national schools with 5,159 students.
4.3. Liberalism and enlightenment

Liberal thought gives education an eminently political character. The subject, by
developing his educational experience in an institutionalized framework,
organizes his existence around the acquisition of his status as a citizen, a social
agent assigned to certain rights and obligations. That is one of the main
reasons why education became a reason of state for liberalism: prioritized as
one of the pillars of consolidation of modern nations. But we also cannot fail to
point out that the educational system, like any movement institutionalized,
carries within it contradictions: at the same time that it became one of the main
routes for the social advancement of immigrants. It also legitimized, under the
umbrella of meritocracy , the social inequalities inherent to the prevailing social
model.
46
The spread of normal schools throughout the

country, in order to train the necessary teaching
Amadeo Jacques example resources, clearly shows the need to take the
of educational
civilizing message of the school to the last
enlightenment
corner of the country, as a basic strategy in the
“Jacques unfailingly arrived
at the School at nine in the project of nation building.
morning; He would find out This idea, of bringing the voice of civilization to
if any teacher was missing,
and if so, he would go to the the entire territory, determined the appearance
class, ask where we were in of another imprint in the teaching imagination,
the program, run his hand
reinforcing the idea of the aforementioned
over his vast forehead as if
to refresh his memory, and “sacred evangelizing role”, that of the self-
immediately, without sacrificing, patriotic teacher, dedicated to the
hesitation, with an
admirable method, He gave noble cause. of the construction of the new
us an explanation of nation. The Sarmiento prerogative of
chemistry, physics,
“educating the sovereign” finds its fertile ground
mathematics in all its
divisions, arithmetic, here. The utopia of the educational enterprise
algebra, descriptive or of the normalizing teacher finds its reason for
analytical geometry,
rhetoric, history, literature, being in this great task: to bring progress and
even Latin!” civilization to the last corner of the nation. Thus,
Miguel Cane. Youth. teachers are constituted in a pedagogical
framework, in which the “vocation of service” is
appealed to, the “transcendental mission of
banishing barbarism.”
An important part of teacher training was the
content provided by French culture, historically linked to encyclopedist
enlightenment. Therefore, the student was conceived as an eminent information
processor, which is why the teacher considers that his objective is to provide
him with all the information contained in the curriculum. From the
epistemological perspective, knowledge is provided from the condition of an
expert teacher in a given area or discipline and is reproduced by the student
without changes; so the first one takes charge. The academic tradition is based
on two fundamental premises for teaching: on the one hand, teachers must
have a solid disciplinary training of the subject they teach and on the other
47
hand, the so-called pedagogical training takes a backseat, since it does not is
considered truly necessary, it is enough to know the subject being taught.
4.4. Positivism and its educational translation

In the case of Argentina, Positivism is related to the formation of the Modern
State, giving new meanings to educational, health, legal, military institutions,
etc. But essentially from Positivism the conceptual frameworks will be built for
the practices that will intervene in the social sphere. Ultimately it will be a
political instrument of the dominant classes, its application will focus on the
interpretation of the past, the reading of the present and a projection of
Argentina towards the future.
Spencer's biological sociologism will serve to interpret within the perspective of
the “fight for life” and the “survival of the fittest”, especially the “burden” marked
by the idea of backwardness, of the Spanish heritage.
The question of “race” is related to migrations and concern for what in those
years was called the alluvial population, given the significant number of
immigrants who had arrived in a few years. Educational, Health, Legal and
Military institutions began to be consistent in
the articulation of these ideas in the field
of practice.
Non-mandatory forum
Think about the aspects of the The intellectuals of the “Generation of
education system that were 80” closely followed the psychology of
most radically transformed in
the late 19th century. Will any positivism, always more interested in
of them be valid today? political, legal, social or pedagogical
applications. They accepted the
subordination of the psychic sciences to
the natural ones, they professed the
individualistic tendencies of English
liberalism, they proclaimed the excellence of the experimental method, they
were distinguished by a straight and honest criterion.
48
Argentine pedagogical positivism was

presented under two different facets:
The conviction of positivism
normalist positivism and university
“Pedagogical positivism (…)
positivism.
guided the formation of the
Argentine teaching - The university positivism that belongs to
profession, giving it, with its the so-called “intellectual generation of the
doctrinal principles, faith in
its mission and inspiring eighties” had a transcendent performance
strength to face it. through the professorship, journalism and
"The normalistas," Alejandro cultural circles. What was notable about this
Korn maintains, "when they
generation was its Europeanizing tendency.
spread their teaching
throughout the Republic, This intellectual generation of the eighties
carried with exemplary was the one that promulgated the common
dedication, sometimes
bordering on sacrifice, education law No. 1420 of the year 1884,
concepts of order, discipline structured national primary education on
and method, without
legal bases, based on Pestalozzian
suspecting how scarce it
was. the wealth of his principles regarding its purpose of
apparent encyclopedic comprehensive and harmonious education,
knowledge. They were
unaware of the doubt. In and declared free and obligatory. .
them, the feeling of their - The normalist positivism group acquired
own sufficiency reached the
defined characteristics with the next
conviction of possessing the
definitive truth and of being generation of 1896. This group exerted a
enabled to teach it with
decisive influence on the country's
dogmatic authority. "They
were in the third Comtian pedagogy with the positivism introduced by
state, a state of perfect the Italian professor Scalarini, who spread
beatitude, which does not
admit an afterlife nor does it here the positivist doctrine of Augusto
allow the existence of Comte together with the evolutionary
doubt."
theories of Spencer and the principles of
Solari, Manuel H.: History of Darwin.
Argentine education. Buenos
Aires, Paidós, 1999 In general terms, positivism provided a
scientifically based cultural identity. It
represented the most complete paradigm
from which a way of knowing, organizing
and disseminating the knowledge that made
up socially relevant culture was systematized. On the one hand, the school
49
acquired the status of a privileged, “natural” institutional space, where the

indomitable infant would spend a good part of his existence submitting to the
noble and great task of his social discipline, through which he would be returned
to society, converted. in citizen.
On the other hand, to achieve the objectives proposed through educational
action, it was necessary to provide it with a method based on the premises that
science, as a privileged mode of cultural and social development of man, had
already established. Science, in the positivist view, was the only guarantee of
progress for humanity. It is no coincidence that at that time it was strongly tied
to the pedagogical field with the determining contributions of sciences such as
biology, medicine and later psychology. The predominant ideas of the time in
these disciplines provide the decisive elements to give founding pedagogy its
mission as a social disciplinarian.
Teachers of the first normal school in Rosario de Santa

Fé (1896).
It was no
coincidence that in addition to the teaching functions defined in the school
classroom, as a literacy and disciplinarian of future citizens, the teacher was
entrusted with carrying out, within the framework of the institution's insertion
community, health campaigns and actions. of social assistance. The latter are
closely linked to the problems of social control.
The sociopolitical project of the time outlined the teacher as a socializing agent
of utmost importance for the dissemination of essential elements, as a symbolic
universe to be assimilated by a highly heterogeneous group, which would
50
guarantee their effective incorporation as citizens. The teacher, in this scenario,

was assimilated into a “civilizing” role, a kind of guarantor of the project of social
modernization but fundamentally, without knowing it, facilitating the reproduction
and perpetuation of the project promoted by the oligarchy as the dominant
social class. The sacred teaching vocation, the assimilation of this to the role of
the ancient missionaries who came from distant lands to evangelize the
untamed savages, in short, the redemptive action carried out day after day in
the classrooms, are assumed as one of the central elements in the
configuration of the normalista tradition.
SELF APPRAISAL
Time to show what you've learned! I'll wait for you on the platform to carry out a self-
assessment on the concepts developed here. Luck!
51
4.5. The “Traditional School”

The paradigm of the traditional school was formed, based on the influence of
the currents described above, in the following way:
Conceptual core “It aims at the social formation of all individuals, through the educational
action of the National State.”
Philosophical basis Positivism : application of scientific bases to the configuration of
teaching methods.
Enlightenment : knowledge rigorously classified into disciplines.
Historical-social Liberalism: assignment to the school as a privileged agent of
basis socialization. Education as a state policy for the social discipline
required by the new economic paradigm.
Teaching model Why teach : Provide fundamental information about current culture.
Obsession with content
What to teach : Synthesis of disciplinary knowledge. Prevalence of
"information" of a conceptual nature.
How to teach : Methodology based on the teacher's transmission.
Activities focused on the teacher's presentation, with support from the
textbook and review exercises. The student's role is to listen carefully,
"study" and reproduce the content transmitted in the exams. The
teacher's role is to explain the topics and maintain order in the class.
Student-teacher relationship : the absolute authority of the teacher in
relation to the student. Neither the interests nor the ideas of the
students are taken into account: “the blank slate”
Evaluation : Focused on "remembering" the transmitted content. Pay
attention, above all, to the product. Conducted through exams.
School It is the only place where you can learn.
Teacher He is considered the center of teaching, he develops his class orally
and uses the expository method, he is inflexible, imposing,
authoritarian, paternalistic, coercive.
R
The National State that was finishing being built used the scope of the
Common, Secular, Free and Compulsory Education Law of 1884 to project its
induced citizenship. That ambition for rational and equitable universalization of
public rights inspired the educational policy of modernizing thinkers. For this,
52
positivist and liberal thought was taken as a basis, aimed at all the children of
the nation.
The generation of the '80s assumed the commitment to establish, based on
mass schooling, a model of citizenship based on a range of behaviors that a
good citizen had to demonstrate both in his private and public life, for which he
had to implement an integrative training that contemplates intellectual, physical
and moral development.
The public school tended towards homogenization, since a common purpose
was shared by all those who placed in official education the hope of making
possible a society of individuals who expressed the highest values and good
customs. It also made it possible for children to achieve a feeling of
Argentineness, spiritual strength and physical robustness. A shared expectation
that led to the “traditional school” model.
INTEGRATIVE FINAL WORK
You have finished studying the module. You are in a position to

carry out the Final Integrative Work . It addresses the key
ideas studied during the module and proposes activities. Once
you have completed it, you must give it to the tutor to be
evaluated.
Remember that this work is mandatory.
SELF APPRAISAL
Time to show what you've learned! I'll wait for you on the platform to carry out a self-
assessment on the concepts developed here. Luck!
53

History and Policy of Argentine Education

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

You might also like

History and Policy of Argentine Education

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

History and Policy of Argentine Education

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Salta Distance Study Center – CEDSa.

Approximately one month

Reading the first part up to page 22. Carry

HISTORY AND POLICY OF ARGENTINE EDUCATION

 Argentine History 1838-1880. Carlos Pellegrini School.

 History of a country: Argentina. The politics of democracy.

Module content outline

1. The category “pedagogical imaginary”

2. The national educational system in the context of the consolidation of

2.1. Period 1810-1850

Education focused on utilitarian learning and knowledge of the basic notions of

c. The pedagogical ideas

Student Monitor or instructor

I invite you to watch the institutional video “Sarmiento's schooling”

2.2. Period 1850-1880

Source: author's elaboration

To expand on the characteristics of Argentina during this period you can

To enter this site you must be connected to the internet.

Pampas production and sectors linked to trade expanded the circulation of

Extension of the railway lines around 1880

c. The pedagogical ideas

"The President Sarmientson

The central idea of developing a “common

”Who is the donkey?” at the entire child population, led to analyzing

3. The proposals of Domingo F. Sarmiento: civilization and barbarism,

resolved with the triumph of "civilization" over

In 1875, Sarmiento took over as General

his perspective, the public school would systematize the destruction of

3.2. The identity construction strategy

Latin American liberals

requires citizens, that is, subjects aware of

Sarmiento: Facundo State will be built, because: "What is the

3.3. The “Common Education”

Normal school in Salta, year 1909

Watch the following video then answer

SYNOPSIS In 1849, Sarmiento wrote

Alberdi and Sarmiento had a

Confederation in its fight against

Its mission should be more educational than

spirits, subsequent to the spread of error, which dislocates civil harmony,

Make a conceptual scheme that explains the main difficulties that, in

4. The normalista imaginary and the formation of the dominant elite

to. The national school system

Source: Author's preparation

Roquismo, which emerged from a political scenario crossed by struggles

Education played a central role in the

The students of the Normal Schools

The main points that were agreed

Mandatory Forum Activity

1- Read the fragment related to Law 1420

a- What is currently happening with the secular nature of Education?

c. The pedagogical ideas

The regulation and normalization of the activity of teachers, educational content

4.1. The State Centralized Public Instruction System.

Source: author's elaboration

economic order. This normalizing “outward” required the constitution of the

4.2. The training of teachers and the National College.

those from the Paraná normal school. However, to establish a homogeneous