História e memória do Liceu de Uberlândia 1928 a 1942

Abstract

This work aims to reconstruct through history and memory the origin and consolidation of Liceu de Uberlândia school between 1928 and 1942. It puts into evidence some analytical perspectives related to schools in the light of the current historical analysis which focuses more on particular (local) facts rather than general ones. Presented by the Annales review, published in 1929, this historical approach became prominent through the socalled French revolution of historiography and deals not only with great events, but also with the micro-history. In this regard, this research s subject-matter contributes very much to the knowledge on the local education and culture. Besides contextualizing national, regional and local political facts, this research treats of the João Pinheiro, Francisco Campos e Capanema educational reforms and their influences on Liceu. Methodological procedures included analysis of primary sources such as a report, documents, newspaper articles and images, as well as applying of oral history techniques to the accounts of Liceu s former students who later taught there and their family members. Data revealed that Liceu de Uberlândia was given this name lycée just for it to obtain more credibility in the local society. Seen according to the French conception of lycée, Liceu is little similar to other lycées opened in Brazil; among others, differences included both the extinction of the secondary level and the maintenance of teaching levels that did not comply with the elite. Unlike, a lycée was supposed to offer propaedeutic secondary teaching aimed to educate the ruling classes of a country. Although Liceu was consolidated in 1937 (report of 1942), when it was already operating in its own building and had already educated the first group of students, it went through some financial crisis. And yet, according to our sources, it managed to keep its prestige and credibility in the local society.