O Patronato Agrícola Visconde da Graça em Pelotas/RS (1923-1934): gênese e práticas educativas

Abstract

This research has been developed in the Program of Post-Graduation in Education of the Federal University of Pelotas, in the field of Philosophy and History of Education, and focuses on the education in the city of Pelotas-RS at the beginning of the twentieth century. It analyzes a specific educational institution: the Agricultural Patronate Visconde da Graça. The investigation was developed by means of a socio-historical approach, using documental analysis whose main sources were the institutional annual reports and students‟ registration forms, the local newspaper Diário Popular, the Pelotas Almanac, the Correio do Povo Almanac (of Porto Alegre city, the capital of the state), as well as Brazilian laws and decrees, all referring to the Patronates. This research aims to analyze the genesis, the educational practices and the profile of the Patronate students. The theoretical foundations took into consideration some discourses about agricultural modernization, professional teaching and medicalhygienist policies. The study emphasized the education offered to the poorer population in Brazil. The research findings led us to conclude that the Pelotas Patronate was an institution which gathered students from all the south region of Rio Grande do Sul. It applied severe educational practices which focused on learning for the professional, agricultural and civic work. Thus, many students evaded either in order to make a living for themselves and their families or because they could not adapt to the disciplinary rules. Therefore, it provided precariously the professional education background, although it has been and is still an institution which guarantees boarding school for a wide range of the population in the south region of Rio Grande do Sul