Escolarização na fronteira Brasil-Paraguai: 1901-1927

Abstract

This study has the objective of discussing education in the Brazilian State of Mato Grosso and in Paraguay, on the border between Ponta Porã and Pedro Juan Caballero, at the turn of the 20th century. The time span for this investigation runs from 1901, with the appointment of the first teacher in Ponta Porã, to 1927, when the Mendes Gonçalves School was opened. Sources from both Paraguay and the State of Mato Grosso were used. It should be noted that the Brazilian Republican Constitution of 1891 gave the states responsibility for education. The theoretical reference is based on new cultural history, especially in studies by Chartier (1988), who drew from Certeau (1982) and Burke (1992). The concept of frontier is from Certeau (1998) and Hennessy (1978). Periodicals studies are from Gebara and (1975), Capelato (1988), Hime (2005) and Campos (2012). The question for the text was: -How did the early stages in the process of schooling on the frontier between Brazil and Paraguay take place, especially in Ponta Porã and Pedro Juan Caballero.‖ The main objective of this study is to analyze the original implementing of schools in this area. Secondary objectives include to, 1) take up the historiography of frontier education from the perspective of Paraguayan authors, 2) take up the same historiography from the perspective of Brazilian authors and, 3) compare Paraguayan and Brazilian texts and the local newspaper O Progresso, to describe every-day school life on this frontier, regardless of nationality the facts. To carry out the research, 173 issues of O Progresso were analyzed, with special emphasis on the search categories of -school‖ and -teacher,‖ and their Spanish-language equivalents. A number of categories were established for the analysis, including -mandatory school attendance,‖ -schools and teachers,‖ -school inspectors,‖ -school evaluation,‖ -school discipline,‖ -school buildings,‖ -calendar‖ and -curriculum.‖ The results of the research showed primarily that the situation of education on both sides of the border was precarious, political instability being one of the main obstacles to the evolution of education. A number of sets of regulations were drawn up in order to improve the quality of the education, and similar strategies were used on both sides, such as bringing in personnel, investing in teacher training, conferences for teachers and other educators and the publication of journals on education. Even with governmental investments and similar strategies, education in both Paraguay and Mato Grosso evolved very slowly.