Se não fosse essa escola aqui da Martinésia, eu acho que eu seria um analfabeto até hoje: representações sobre as escolas combinadas de Martinésia, 1962 a 1985 (Distrito de Martinésia, Uberlândia - MG)

Abstract

This research is in the field of History of Education, based on the perspective of Cultural History and has as its theme the history of “Escolas Combinadas de Martinésia” (Combined Schools of Martinésia), in the Martinésia district, Uberlândia - MG, from 1962 to 1985. The objectives of this research were: to investigate the educational practices developed in the educational institution, trying to observe how they were signified by the contemplated individuals, especially the students, but also the employees who worked in that formative space during the studied period; to observe if, to some extent, this school constitutes as an instance of social, political and educational affirmation of the people served by it. In this sense, we seek to answer the following question: what were the representations produced by the subjects about the educational, social and cultural roles played by the institution in the region of Martinésia district during the 1960s, 1970s and mid-1980s? The hypothesis formulated was that both the educational agents who performed their professional craft in the researched institution, as well as the students who attended the space in the temporal course in which this research proposal unfolded, constructed positive representations regarding the educational space in which they lived and, therefore, the school was important to their lives. The methodological procedures used encompass surveying, selection and critical-analytical reading of sources located in the Public Archive of Uberlândia and Antonino Martins da Silva Municipal School (current name of the researched school) and interviews with six former students of the school for the composition of oral sources. Among the sources consulted in the Public Archive of Uberlândia we highlight: newspaper Correio de Uberlândia, folder containing records about the rural municipal schools of Uberlândia, about the districts of Uberlândia and photographs of the school of the Martinésia district. The documentation consulted in the Antonino Martins da Silva Municipal School collection includes: enrollment, attendance, minutes, register, and final result books; school inspection visit terms; general framework of the educational establishment; registration forms and class diaries. The categories defined to structure the analysis were: memories, representations, pedagogical practices and symbols of daily school life. The results we obtained demonstrate that the practices developed in the primary school of the Martinésia district were significant and contributed to the composition of representations that reaffirm the social relevance of the school institution in the socio-historical context in which it existed, allowing the construction and preservation of memories that the importance of the school in the community of its scope, as well as the indispensability of the educative and formative role that it played in its context of action.