Los
manuales escolares para la enseñanza de la geografía en el
Estado
Soberano de Santander: 1868-1879*
Jorge
Alejandro Aguirre Rueda[1]
Pontificia Universidad Javeriana.
Reception: 01/12/2014
Evaluation: 26/01/2015
Approval: 10/05/2015
Research and Innovation
Article.
Resumen
El
artículo presenta por lo menos tres objetivos. El primero de ellos, evidenciar
los aspectos legislativos del Decreto Orgánico de Instrucción Pública Primaria
– en adelante DOIPP- de 1870 en relación con el tema de los manuales escolares,
el saber escolar de la geografía y la forma en que debía ser evaluada. En
segunda instancia, se pretende señalar y describir el contenido y la difusión
de algunos de los manuales escolares de geografía que hicieron presencia en el
Estado Soberano de Santander en las últimas tres décadas del siglo XIX.
Finalmente, se señala las formas en que se resistieron algunos miembros del
magisterio santandereano ante la iniciativa de consolidar el texto impreso como
principal referente de difusión de los saberes escolares. Con base en lo
anterior, el artículo cuenta con cuatro apartados que versan sobre cada uno de
los ítems antes señalados. Así entonces, se pudo constatar que el DOIPP reguló
el tema de los manuales escolares, hasta el punto de identificar responsables
directos para su consecución y procesos de vigilancia. Asimismo, la geografía
en cuanto saber escolar, se vio normatizado en los
planes de estudio. De la misma manera, se evidenció que el manual escolar de
geografía no contó con el mismo número de material impreso con respecto a
asignaturas como las de aritmética o lectura. Igualmente, se encontró que la
geografía fue enseñada tanto en su versión universal, de Colombia y regional.
Finalmente, aunque el Estado inculcó la importancia del impreso, emergieron
voces que se mostraron defendiendo los métodos de enseñanza orales, con lo
cual, fue posible identificar que la consolidación de lo impreso como motor
difusor de la cultura, no fue una tarea sencilla y lineal.
Palabras
clave: Manual Escolar, Enseñanza de la Geografía, Estado Soberano de
Santander, Instrucción pública, Reforma educativa.
School
textbooks for the teaching of geography in the Sovereign State of Santander:
1868-1879
Abstract:
This article presents
at least three objectives. The first of them is to show the legislative aspects
of the Organic Decree of Public Primary Instruction – DOIPP, by its acronym in
Spanish – of 1870, in relation to the topic of school textbooks, the teaching
of geography and the way in which it was evaluated. Secondly, this paper
presents an identification and description of the content and dissemination of
some of the geography school textbooks that existed in the Sovereign State of
Santander during the last three decades of the 19th century. Finally,
we present the ways in which some teachers from Santander resisted the
initiative to consolidate printed texts as the main reference for the
dissemination of school knowledge. Based on the previous information, this
article is comprised of four sections which deal with the aforementioned
topics. Thus, it was confirmed that the DOIPP regulated the subject of school textbooks,
to the point of identifying some of the agents directly responsible for their
achievement and monitoring. Likewise, geography, as a school subject, was
regulated within the curriculum. Besides, evidence shows that school textbooks for
geography did not include as much printed material as subjects like arithmetic
or reading. Equally, geography was found to be taught under the following
categories: Universal, Colombian and Regional. Finally, even though the state
taught the importance of the print text, other voices emerged in defense of
oral teaching methods, which made it possible to identify that the
consolidation of printing as a diffusion system for culture was not an easy and
straightforward task.
Key Words: School textbook, Teaching of geography,
Sovereign State of Santander, Public instruction, Educational reform.
Les manuels scolaires pour l’enseignement de la
géographie dans l’État Souverain de Santander: 1868-1879
Résumé
L’article d’abord expose les aspects légaux du Décret Organique
d’Instruction Publique Primaire de 1870 en ce qui concerne les manuels
scolaires, le savoir scolaire sur la géographie et la manière comment celui-ci
devait être évalué. Il montre, deuxièmement, le contenu et la diffusion de
certains manuels scolaires de géographie qui ont été utilisés dans l’État
Souverain de Santander pendant les trois dernières décennies du XIXe siècle. Le
troisième objet du texte consiste à raconter les formes de résistance de
quelques membres du corps enseignant de Santander face au projet de faire de
l’imprimé le point de repère de la diffusion des savoirs scolaires. L’article
constate comment le Décret Organique d’Instruction Publique Primaire a réglé
l’utilisation des manuels scolaires jusqu’au point de déterminer les
responsables directs de son acquisition et contrôle. Le texte montre,
également, comment la géographie en tant que savoir scolaire a été encadrée
dans les plans d’étude, mais aussi comment le manuel scolaire de géographie n’a
pas disposé d’une quantité similaire de matériel imprimé par rapport à d’autres
domaines comme celles de l’arithmétique ou la lecture. On a trouvé, aussi, que
dans les écoles ont enseignée la géographie universelle, de la Colombie et de
la région. Finalement, bien que l’État ait souligné l’importance de l’imprimé,
ont émergé des voix qui ont défendu les méthodes d’enseignement oral, de sorte
que la consolidation de l’imprimé comme le moteur de la diffusion culturelle,
n’ait pas été une tâche simple et linéaire.
Mots clés: Manuel Scolaire, Enseignement de la Géographie, État Souverain de
Santander, Instruction publique, Réforme éducative
1. Introduction
With the aim of placing the teaching of geography and the issues that it
involves in context, it is necessary to draw a general panorama around the instructionist reform carried out as from 1868 and that resulted
in the Decreto Orgánico de Instrucción Pública Primaria (Organic Decree of Primary Public
Instruction). With regard to this, Fréderic Martínez maintains that due to the “rapid failure of the
immigration policy[2],” the expectation of transformation was focused on
educational reform of which radical governments expected “new knowledge, new
qualifications and a reduction of social tensions, but above all, they see in
it a powerful factor of unification and national construction[3].” Nevertheless, most conservative followers, as well
as the prelates, reacted in a violent way any time that it attacked “one of the
fields privileged by the conservative strategy and the Church: education[4].” All this scenario
was shaken by the recent creation of Catholic Societies, from which insurrection
is contemplated as a recourse in the case that the peaceful action by catholic
education does not prosper[5],” an element of political action that was unleashed
with the war of 1876-1877 which, even though it led to a military defeat for
the conservatives and prelates, “it
gives the conservatives the opportunity to polish their anti-cosmopolitan
discourse, which will turn into the official discourse of the Colombian state
in the last two decades of the 19th century[6].”
In critically evaluating the achievements of the implementation of the
1870 reform, the historian Jane Rausch encountered some obstacles, such as the
fact that the government authorities did not compile statistical information on
teachers, schools and students. However, it is possible to outline the
precarious situation of the educational field towards the 1860s. In addition to the “astonishing degree of the illiteracy of the
population[7],”
the “1870 census showed that only 32 thousand out of the 563 thousand children
in the country attended school[8].”
Rausch is emphatic when reminding us that “the child from the countryside was a servant without wages[9],”
together with the father’s ideas that considered that “the subjects
studied at school would not help the children in countryside-related tasks[10].” With the above, “the promulgation of the Organic
Decree was the start of a five-year period of great progress[11],” in
which the activities that influenced the organization of a general direction
stand out, as well as the arrival of a German mission and “the publication of
teaching materials and the building of thousands of schools[12].” For the case of Santander, the reforms carried out
by the Superintendent Dámaso Zapata reached their
peak in the year 1875, when the state authorities recorded with enthusiasm that
“school attendance was three or four times higher than ten years before[13].” Nevertheless, the earthquake that took place in
Santander in 1875, as well as the War of the Schools in 1876 “stopped the
development in education. The government suspended school activities and the
state never again recovered its prior impetus[14].”
Torrejano Vargas remembered that “the educational policy generated between 1848
and 1870 was inscribed in the historical context of the radical reforms of the middle
of the century[15],” which had the main objective of eradicating any
feature or memory of colonial practices to give way to a “liberal democratic
state and the development of the national economy[16].” This last aspect turned educational public policy
into a bastion for the advancement in the construction of an economic project
that allowed for the consolidation of progress in “agriculture, mining and
hand-crafting, with intentions of conquering the external market and achieving
the permanent supply of the domestic market, through modern teaching, based on
the learning of natural sciences and engineering[17].”
In relation to one of the crucial points of the
Organic Decree of Public Primary Instruction, from now on DOIPP (by its acronym
in Spanish), - compulsory primary
education- Torrejano Vargas has explained, in at
least four aspects, the resistance of the parents to this compulsory
attendance: political, economic, cultural and religious. In the political
aspect, due to the “pressure unleashed on them by regional and local wealthy
landowners, fearful of an order in accordance with a democratic and liberal
state[18]; in the economic plane, “the high opportunity cost present in family
finances[19]”; in the cultural aspect, the strong presence of “the
conservation of paternal authority with the blind obedience of children,
guarded from the core of the family, not from an alien, strange and external
institution[20]”; and in the religious plane, where the idea of
salvation was used and that it was claimed that it would not be achieved by
those families who sent their children to public schools[21].
2. Legislative aspects of the Organic
Decree of Public Primary Instruction
In 1870, in the educational history of
Colombia, the regulation sought, and fostered by, the radicals would find come
to fruition with the promulgation of the DOIPP, where textbooks were clearly
standardized. However, this initiative was short-lived, because of the war of
1876, called the War of the Schools, which would bring it down.
The path towards the
promulgation of the DOIPP dates from 1868 when the president of the Union,
Santos Gutiérrez, enacted a law regarding public instruction where he
manifested that “the interference of the general government in the area of
public instruction has the aim of creating, publishing and disseminating
textbooks[22],” as was stated in
section 5 of article 2. Said interference had to be made effective by the
Director of Public Instruction, one of the functions of whom was “to list the
textbooks that were useful for national institutions and direct the adaptation
or translation, and subsequent publication of said texts when necessary[23],” as was mentioned in
article 6. At the same time, he had the power to “contract out, prior to public
tender, and with the approval of the president, the creation and publication of
textbooks and books, maps, prints and other supplies for the institutions[24].” Given the role of
management and control over the educational aspects mentioned, the government
consolidated its position as the guarantor and fosterer of said actions.
All this regulation on
public instruction was strengthened throughout 1868, as shown by the
promulgation of Law 36. For the case of geography, it appeared in the
curriculum in 1868, the teaching books to be used were assigned, and there were
also instructions on how to test this and other subjects.
In relation to its
appearance in the curriculum, the Legislative Assembly of the Sovereign State
of Santander, promulgated the following in article 14, stating that
[...] secondary school
teaching will include the following areas: calligraphy, mother tongue and
French, mathematics, accountancy adapted to commerce and to public offices,
general geography and especially that of Colombia, cosmography, history of
Colombia, psychology, logic, theology, hygiene, morality, conduct and manners, technical
and industrial drawing, general notions about constitution and administrative
law of the state[25][...]
In addition, it
established that “each subject will be distributed in two courses that will be
studied throughout two years[26].” The process
started, then, with the definition of the curriculum and the positioning of
school geography in it, which evidences that geography was part of a fabric
that seemed to be firm as regards the school knowledge to be imparted.
As the intention was
not to disconnect secondary from primary school teaching, the situation is resolved
by pointing out that
[...] in each one of the primary schools there
will be free classes of: reading, writing, Christian doctrine, elements of
arithmetic and Spanish grammar, morality and conduct and manners. Paragraph:
When the instruction of the children allows for it, there will also be
geography, technical drawing, agriculture and sacred history [...][27].
Geography, then, was
present in secondary and primary instruction, which guaranteed its study during
childhood and youth.
It is observed that,
although geography in secondary instruction was compulsory, and with an
emphasis on Colombia, primary instruction only covered some basic areas, and
that, only when the situation allowed for it. However, article 82 stated: “the
furniture of each primary school will include the following objects: 14º.
Sufficient supplies of reading charts, writing samples, textbooks, geographic
charts[28].” At the same time,
it was expected that all the subjects followed a line of teaching that was
based on the new pedagogic requirements, in that way, it was determined that
“in the institutions of secondary education the method of simultaneous teaching
will be implemented[29].” Said method was
supposed to affect the superior functions of the intellect, for which it was
strongly expressed that “it has to be directed to the understanding not to the
memory of children[30],” where the notion of
understanding was regarded as that “facility and dominion with which students
explain what they have learned[31].” For this reason,
“reciting by heart the paragraphs of the textbooks, without understanding what
they are saying or being able to explain them will prove the lack of the capacity
or good method of the Director[32].”
In relation to the
assignment of textbooks, “the president of the state will determine which
textbooks will be used in the institutions of secondary education[33],” and with regard to
the assessment of the subjects, it was established that it was to be carried
out publicly and individually and “for a time not inferior to 15 minutes per
subject[34].” All the aspects
related to the teaching process were under the power and control of the
government, which revived the interest of the radicals in focusing on the
educational field as a fundamental piece of their political project.
The same month as the
promulgation of Law 36, the executive produced the decree which organized
educational institutions for secondary instruction. Without any significant
modifications to what was mentioned in previous paragraphs, the appearance of
the subject geography in the curriculum –in a more detailed fashion- has to be
noted.
In this way, article
61 mentioned that
[...] the subjects in
educational institutions are distributed in the following courses that can be
covered in 4 years. First year: Course 3º. Descriptive and
universal geography, and general notions of cosmography and physical geography;
Second year. Course 7º. Mathematical, physical and political geography. Special geography of the United
States of Colombia, and general notions of ancient geography.” On the
other hand, articles 109 and 110 established that: “the subjects in Arts and
Trade Schools are divided into two series. 1st. Theoretical. 2nd. Practical. The subjects of the first series are divided into 9
courses, and can be concluded in 3 years. Second year. Course 6. Descriptive, universal, and special
geography of the United States of Colombia [...][35].
There was a growing
insistence on the part of the government to take the reins of the educational
cycle, which was considered to be the most needed and privileged, given that
all the actions taken in that field would be the bases of the following
educational levels. Primary education was conceived in a clearly different way
to secondary and university education, therefore, the law which allowed the
executive to organize primary public instruction under the charge of the Union
–August 1870- took the proposal of including “the foundation of normal schools
in the capitals of the states[36]” in the budget of
expenses for the years 1870-1871. Their main objective was to foster and spread
primary teaching in districts and rural populations[37].”
The Organic Decree of Public
Primary Instruction was enacted on the 1st November, 1870[38]. It was a
conglomerate of perfectly designed articles in order to consolidate the
educational cause as a tool of the radical liberal government. However, it is
clear that issuing a set of regulations is not a requisite for its
determinations to be put into practice[39], given that there are
other factors that make the law appropriate, redefined and even rejected, as was
the case of the Sovereign State of Antioquia, which did not accept the DOIPP.
With a clear unifying
spirit, the DOIPP notes that within the functions of the General Director of
Public Instruction –article 9- there was that of “adopting the texts that are
useful for teaching in the different schools. Acquiring the textbooks that have
been successfully used in countries where instruction is more advanced,
studying them, translating them and adopting the best ones, or having them
translated and adapted for the schools of the Republic[40].” The norm sought a
functioning, perfectly established from a vertical format, it was stipulated
that –article 26- the Directors of Public Instruction of the states “adopted
from the texts assigned by the General Directorate, those that could be useful
for the different schools[41].” Control over what
was printed was framed in a strategy to control and monitor the contents that
would finally reach the classrooms.
The interest in school textbooks would
extend towards mechanisms designed to work daily for their improvement. From
the newspaper called La Escuela Normal
(The Normal School) –article 11- that being designed as the “official organ of
advertising of all the acts of the executive power and of the General
Directorate related to public instruction[42]”, it was expected
that not only would it disseminate what was related to administrative acts but
also it would take into consideration –article 12- the communications and
reports of the Directors of Public Instruction of the different states, as well
as those of school teachers who narrated “useful observations about methods,
texts, and other aspects related to instruction[43].” Some of said
observations were presented as articles on “history, geography, statistics,
legislation, agriculture, commerce, literature and languages[44].” The school
newspaper was thought of as a strategy to spread knowledge that was considered
pertinent, valid and necessary.
As a last disposition about texts and school
manuals, the DOIPP formulated that those expenses “originated by public
instruction in all its branches would be paid by the Nation[45]”; more detailed
information can be found in article 250: “the provision of books, charts, maps,
texts, scientific devices and other supplies necessary for teaching in
different schools[46].” There was no room
for doubt about the material intention of the norm, which intended to provide
all the supplies that were indispensable for carrying out educational
activities, at least that is what is noted in article 282: “all schools will be
provided with the furniture necessary for their service, and the books,
textbooks, boards, charts, maps and other objects necessary to facilitate
instruction[47].” The work of the
state, apart from the normative aspect, sought to financially guarantee the
educational project, covering those expenses considered to be fundamental in
the specific areas of didactic material and classroom elements.
From article 46
onwards, there is information about the presence of geography in the
curriculum, which regulated “the teaching of superior primary schools[48]” it established that
the subjects that were to be taught would be: “elements of algebra, geometry
and their usual applications, especially technical drawing; bookkeeping, not
only applied to commerce and public offices, but also to all kinds of accounts;
notions of physics, mechanics, chemistry, natural history, physiology and
hygiene; elements of cosmography and general geography; and history and
geography, especially from Colombia[49].” Said subjects would
be divided into “progressive courses” in order to facilitate and allow that “the
children go through them gradually in the years that their learning takes,[50]” making emphasis in
mentioning that it was not permitted to “favor one subject over the others[51].” Once again, and as
we have seen previously, the norm on the subject of geography intended that its
study was recognized as equally important in comparison to the rest of the
subjects that appeared in the school curriculum.
In addition to
appearing in the study plans of primary schools, geography was also present in
the requisites that those individuals who, in the
future, wanted to become school teachers, had to meet. Article 124 established
the following courses as “prior knowledge” to those who were candidates to
enter the Escuela Central-the objective
of which was to train the teachers who would be located in the normal schools
of each state, and it started functioning in the capital of the Union-:
“grammar, arithmetic, geography and the history of Colombia, formal and
informal writing[52].” These areas would
be studied in depth in the Escuela Central, given that “apart from teaching
methods the following courses would be imparted: astronomy, universal geography
and geography of Colombia[53].” Geography was
acknowledged as fundamental in the training of future teachers, since its
presence in the classrooms beyond those of primary education,
denotes its recognition as a valued piece of knowledge and that it was conceived
as important, useful and necessary.
3. The
geography textbook at school[54]: Proportion of geography textbooks in relation to
those of other subjects
Describing and presenting the production
of school textbooks that took place during the educational reform of 1870 is
necessary, given that “they were a preponderant factor in the ideological struggle
revolving around the instructionist issue, the
pertinence of the content and the written circulation of knowledge[55]”.
With a clear intention
of the DOIPP to standardize all school manuals and textbooks, Superintendent Dámaso Zapata presented at the end of the first semester of
1871[56] a chart that showed the subject,
department and number of books in existence in primary elementary schools as
well as in superior schools (Table 1):
Table 1: Ratio
of textbooks by subject in the departments of the sovereign state of Santander
for the year 1871
|
DEPARTAMENT |
TEXTBOOKS BY SUBJECT
|
||||||
|
Golden Book |
Hygiene |
Conduct and manners |
Arithmetic |
Grammar |
Geography |
Total |
|
|
Cúcuta |
38 |
49 |
97 |
82 |
113 |
1 |
380 |
|
García Rovira |
60 |
81 |
79 |
47 |
76 |
15 |
358 |
|
Ocaña |
25 |
26 |
31 |
|
17 |
|
99 |
|
Pamplona |
57 |
41 |
20 |
12 |
23 |
5 |
158 |
|
Socorro |
86 |
104 |
82 |
86 |
98 |
64 |
520[57] |
|
Soto |
59 |
55 |
34 |
54 |
54 |
9 |
265 |
|
Vélez |
23 |
38 |
27 |
25 |
25 |
|
138 |
|
Totales |
422 |
481 |
414 |
345 |
470 |
119 |
2251 |
Source: “Chart that
shows number of premises, furniture, school supplies and textbooks of the boys
elementary and superior primary schools of the state,” gaceta de Santander, Socorro, 8 May, 1871, 82.
The proportion of the
texts is: Hygiene[58]: 21.36%, that is, 1/5
of the total; Grammar[59]: 20.87%, that is, 1/5
of the total; Golden book: 18.74%; Conduct and manners: 18.39%; Arithmetic[60]: 15.32%, that is, a
little less than 1/6 of the total; Geography: 5.28%. What is the significance,
then, of the very low proportion of textbooks on geography, if it is taken into
account that the subject was considered to be modern knowledge that would help
the exploitation of the wealth of the nation?
Although the total of
texts of all the subjects add up to 2,251, they are not sufficient taking into
consideration that the number of “students of both sexes that attended primary
schools and that attended elementary and superior schools of the state until
the 31st May, 1871[61]” was 10,191, which
means that the proportion between texts and students was 22%, that is, 1
textbook for every 5 students. It is important to note that the increase of the
student population was an irregular phenomenon and, after the war of 1876, its
decrease was pronounced. To illustrate the above, for January
1879 “the number of students in the public primary schools of the state was
10,173[62],”
a number that compared to the one for 1871 which would show an increase of zero
in 8 years.
3.1 The official
adoption of the geography textbook called “Compendio de geografía universal
para uso de las escuelas primarias de niños y niñas, que contiene la geografía particular de los Estados Unidos de Colombia, por el señor Felipe Pérez” (Compendium
of universal geography for the use of primary schools for boys and girls, which
contains the particular geography of the United States of Colombia, by Mr Felipe Pérez)
A few days after the report that showed
that there was a record of only 119 geography textbooks in the six departments
visited, the measure that stipulated the official text for geography became
official. Revisiting the authority in article 17, section 10 of the DOIPP, Dámaso Zapata issued a one article decree that read:
The following textbooks will be adopted in elementary and superior
schools from the state: For the teaching of geography <<Compendio de
geografía universal para uso de las escuelas primarias
de niños y niñas, que contiene la geografía particular de los Estados Unidos de
Colombia>>, by Mr Felipe Pérez, 1871 edition[63].
So then, 300 copies of
Felipe Perez’s text were printed, of which 256 were delivered as follows (Table
2):
Table 2: Delivery
of the textbook by Felipe Perez and consolidation of its existence in the
Sovereign State of Santander, 1871
|
DEPARTAMENTS |
COPIES |
EXISTENCES |
TOTAL |
|
Cúcuta |
36 |
1 |
37 |
|
García Rovira |
38 |
15 |
53 |
|
Guanentá |
45 |
0 |
45 |
|
Ocaña |
25 |
0 |
25 |
|
Pamplona |
33 |
5 |
38 |
|
Socorro |
50 |
64 |
114 |
|
Soto |
35 |
9 |
44 |
|
Vélez |
30 |
0 |
30 |
|
TOTAL |
256 |
94 |
359 |
Source: “Decree by
which two textbooks are adopted for primary schools,” gaceta de Santander, Socorro, 15 June, 1871, 118.
It was estimated that
these textbooks were handed to “those students of both sexes who had no means[64],” but at the same
time, seeking to give them better use, hand them to those “who already know how
to read somewhat properly[65].” However, those
students whose parents had “some means” had to acquire it at “4 cents a copy.”
The use of the school textbook
was presented as an indispensable tool for the teaching of geography,
[…] even more when the General Directorate of instruction promises to
provide all primary school of the Republic with geographic charts and I know
from a good source that the map of Santander, divided into departments, will be
printed throughout this month, for it is already lithographed […][66].
Due to the criticism
towards the Superintendent of Public Instruction related to the delay in
“adopting textbooks that would be useful for teaching in different schools[67],” his actions were
justified as it was not “a trivial and easy function, as it may appear at first
sight, taking a quill and writing a decree determining the texts that should be
used for teaching[68].” The task of
fostering and recommending the school books that had to be read in the
classrooms became a difficult task to be carried out, given its complexity.
Offering a text as reference for the different classrooms was then a job that
was not easy, but rather exhausting and distressing.
Combined with the
“great moral responsibility involved in such a transcendental measure[69],” the assignment of
this or that official text for the teaching of a specific subject was a
decision that, apart from the “special knowledge that the practice in the
teacher training contributes with[70]” required the
capacity to carry out a “comparative study” within “the diversity of texts,
before making the choice.”
On the other hand, the
financial aspects were also put forward, since “if possible, this expense
should only be made once; that is, that which was adopted today is not
discarded tomorrow[71].” Then, before the petition elevated by Mr Manuel María Mallarino, who gave information concerning “which texts he
had considered assigning for the teaching in the different schools[72],” there was no other
option than to reply by reminding the petitioners that “the notable scarcity in
which the national Treasury was, had not allowed the General Directorate to
start with the publication of textbooks,” and there was no other choice than to
wait for “a set of books that had been asked for abroad, in order to adapt and
publish the necessary texts[73].”
By way of
illustration, the report of the reception of 36 copies of the geography
textbook stipulated for the Department of Cúcuta is
presented. This record allows us to identify that, at
least in this case, the school textbooks for geography reached their
destination and were afterwards delivered as follows[74]:
Table 3. Delivery of the school textbook by Mr Felipe
Pérez in Cúcuta, 1871.
|
PLACE |
SCHOOLS AND NUMBER
OF COPIES |
|||
|
|
SCHOOLS |
BOYS |
GIRLS |
Total |
|
San José, |
4 |
6 |
6 |
12 |
|
Rosario, |
2 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
|
Salazar, |
2 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
|
Chinácota, |
2 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
|
Bochalema, |
2 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
|
Cúcuta, |
1 |
2 |
|
2 |
|
San Faustino, |
1 |
1 |
|
1 |
|
San Cayetano, |
1 |
2 |
|
2 |
|
Santiago, |
1 |
1 |
|
1 |
|
Arboledas, |
1 |
1 |
|
1 |
|
Galindo, |
1 |
1 |
|
1 |
|
TOTAL COPIES |
|
22 |
13 |
35 |
Source: “Council of Public Instruction of
the Department of Cúcuta. Report. (Conclusion)”,
gaceta de Santander, Socorro, 10 July,
1871, 142.
However, it has to be remembered, as put
by Sánchez Cabra, with regard to the geographic
production of Mr Pérez, that having taken part in the
Chorographic Commission, one of the
objectives of said scientific task was that of simplifying the knowledge
collected in it through a Catechism of General Geography which would contain
“the school version of the works of the Chorographic Commission.” In 1865, the
document was released to meet the requirement and was called “Compendium of
universal geography for the use of primary schools of boys and girls[75].” This was one of the
activities fostered by the Chorographic Commission, making the results of said
work more accessible to all audiences. The simplification of said scientific
work was one of the objectives that was fulfilled with
the elaboration of this school textbook.
3.2 “First
geography book by Smith, or elementary geography for children adorned with 100 prints
and fourteen maps”
It could be determined that this book was
used in the Public School of Bucaramanga[76], Escuela del Este de
San José de Cúcuta[77], Escuelas del Rosario[78] and Escuelas de Girón[79]. Although the edition
taken into consideration was the 1867 one, there are records of the use of this
geography manual as from the 50s of the 19th century, in Santander.
The school textbook had,
as a presentation letter in its first pages, a reported written in 1847 where
the Inspection Board of Public Schools from New York reported it as “the best.”
At the same time, it palliated a need –expressed by a group of people
interested in the education of New Granada,- referring to the scarce
publications that were in existence in the second half of the 19th
century with regard to geography. The
translator of the work gave an account of said need: Mr
Temístocles Paredes who, as Secretary of the Legation
of New Granada in the United States, had a starring role in the publication of
the work as he was in charge of “the description and historical part related to
the Spanish countries[80].” Although the
interest in the contents of this school textbook are an important tool of
analysis for the elaboration of historiographical representations, only two
main topics would be covered: a) representations about the Confederation of New
Granada, and b)
representations about races.
With reference to the
first item, the document starts by mentioning the story of the conquest of the
territory, where the narrative hygiene with respect to this episode is made
present; a prophylactic narration that in three lines hurriedly explains such a
crucial event. After that, emphasis has to be made on the exalting format in
which the city of Bogotá was presented, of which the reader of this school textbook
could have an exuberant image:
[…] residence of the high powers,
city with 50,000 inhabitants, a university, a vast library, good public and
private schools, schools for primary education, several charitable
institutions, a museum, an astronomic observatory, rich Catholic churches, good
sights and beautiful buildings […][81].
It is impossible to
omit the great transformations that had started in the mid-19th century, and
which had been fostered by the liberal radicals, such as the abolition of
monopolies, the existence of a press that was “freer than in any country in the
world,” and even the idea that in New Granada “the institution of slavery had
been completely abolished[82].” Apart the great
qualities of this land already spoken of, it mentioned the varied vegetable
production of the soil marked by its “fertility,” as well as one of the greater
initiatives of a public nature, the progress as regards communication roads
“which will make of that hospitable country, one of the main sites where soon a
strong wave of immigration will go, in favor of which wise laws have been
enacted[83].”
With regard to the
second item, the representations about “race” show a perfect elaboration that
enhances the binomial white/European and has no reservation in disqualifying
what is denominated black/African. Five races were recognized: “European,
Asian, Malaysian, American and African,” where in an order of presentation from
the most to the least important/intelligent, the main award went to the “white
or European” race, given that its nature represented them as subjects full of
qualities, within which it was important to highlight “their civility and Christianity,
that they have more energy, ambition and knowledge than other races[84].”
From that point on,
the descriptions of the four remaining races would not mention their
intelligence and knowledge, and would focus on their physical aspects: “they
have almost square-shaped heads,” talking about the Asians; “their eyes are
black and almond-shaped,” talking about the native Americans; “they have slim
bodies,” talking about the Malaysians; and finally, “they have thick lips and
big feet,” talking about the Africans[85]. The representation
elaborated by this North American author had two aims: the exaltation of the
political reality of New Granada and an explicit approval of the white race and
its achievements.
3.3 The
“Special geography of the Sovereign State of Santander”
Authors like Silvina
Quintero, from Argentina, recognize the importance of analyzing in depth those
didactic works for the area of geography that had a clear regional vocation. As
she has expressed it, the notion of regional geography would include “a
modality of geographic writing that appeals to the distinction, nomination and
order of the subnational entities, in order to offer interpretations about the
territory and the society of a country[86].”
Following the previous
affirmations, here is an example of regional geography for the case of the
Sovereign State of Santander. Mr. Antonio María Moreno was granted a “privilege
permit” to “publish and sell the work of his property[87].” This work was
hastily advertised by the Moreno Brothers, who maintained that the work “was
done by the government for the schools” and that its sale would start as from
the 30th March, 1873 “at 40 cents per copy[88].” It was then
stipulated an official work for the teaching of geography, specifically for the
Sovereign State of Santander. This situation would be reinforced with Law 63,
special of public instruction, of 26 October, 1874, which in a section
regarding the teaching in public schools, stated that “apart from the subjects
established by article 27 of the Code of public instruction, the following
subjects will be imparted: geography of the state, geography of Colombia and
notions of hygiene[89].”
The Superintendent of
Public Instruction, Nepomuceno J. Navarro, was the one who started praising this
work, who had no reservations in saying that it was “the most complete work
written up to this point with respect to our state[90].” In the first five,
out of sixteen lessons that compose the work, Mr. Antonio María Moreno covered
topics such as: geographic situation, limits, extension, population, mountains,
rivers, lagoons and marshes, climate and minerals[91]. From lessons six to
eleven[92], there are topics
related to the history of Santander, government, instruction, political
representation, religion, taxes, public buildings, and finally, roads, ports,
agriculture and manufacturing. From this number of topics, we would like to
point out some aspects that stand out from the representation about Santander.
Firstly, when
referring to the history of Santander, the author highlights a set of events: a) the love for
Independence already shown “since the noisy rebellion of the month of April,
1781”; b) the fact that it was in the territory of Santander that “the first
Congress and the first Convention in which laws for Colombia were enacted[93]” took place. Also,
the author had no reservations in remarking on “the love of Socorro for freedom
and public institutions[94].”
Secondly, another
element that deserved to be analyzed was the issue of Instruction. Students
were taught that “Santander is one of the top states in public instruction[95],” and it was because
of the promulgation of the Organic Decree on Public Primary Instruction –with
Santander as its pioneer- the nation had determined to promulgate another one,
using this as its basis[96].
Thirdly, we want to
mention the topic of race. Santander could be sure of its progress, given that
“the predominant race is white or European, same as the mestizo, that is the
one that follows it in quality. The African and pure indigenous types are rare
in the state[97].” Up to here, there
are several elements to be proud of: the progress in instruction and the
preponderance of the white race who, in the words of
Smith, were the most “civilized, Christian, ambitious, and intelligent[98].”
Finally, lessons
twelve to sixteen[99] are clear evidence of
the detailed description of all the sites of Santander. There is a vague
presentation of the departments of Cúcuta, García Rovira, Guanentá, Ocaña and Pamplona, the
expositive structure of which are identical to one another: number of
inhabitants, foundation and origin, road situation, schools and public
institutions, production and industry. This type of structure, as shown by
Duque Muñoz, could have been originated in the Colombian geographic production
1840-1850, where “the predominant issue of the regional geographies and
cartographies was the delimitation of the provinces, their main cities and
populations, their natural resources and production, their means of
communication, sailable rivers and roads[100].”
Nevertheless, the
presence of other texts used for the area of geography is a fact that has to be
recorded[101]. Although it is not
of our specific interest to show if apart from being in shelves, the books were
read and appropriate in multiple ways, it is important to register their
presence, given that this would offer clues about authors and possible
connections with Spanish and non-Spanish speaking countries. For the case of
Santander, the presence of geography textbooks written by authors of countries,
such as the United States or France has been explained by Martínez
and Báez Osorio as the urge to build a “cosmopolitan
nationalism” or as the proof of the advanced pedagogical exchange since the
promulgation of the DOIPP[102].
4. Resistance
to the use of the school textbook as a privileged source of knowledge
Historical research works that have had
the geography textbook as a reference have mainly focused on its contents and
its function as a political and cultural socializer. Although this type of
research is absolutely pertinent, the contributions of Melcón
Beltrán[103], Gómez García[104], Benedito
Sifre, Cervellera Martínez and Souto González[105], Teobaldo
and Nicoletti[106], among others, have
not been thorough when going in depth into one of the fundamental elements
already presented in the cultural history and retaken by Munakata:
the notion of materiality, understood as “to know the process of production,
circulation and consumption of books. A notion of materiality entails the
materiality of the social relations in which the books are implied[107].” Then, the intention
of this paragraph is to include the geography school textbook in that dimension
of use, which brings us closer to a greater and more certain understanding
about their reach, as well as the diverse representations that were elaborated
on the topic.
Therefore, it is
pertinent to observe those statements that emerged to raise a voice of protest
and discontent as soon as the school textbook was placed as the center of the
teaching-learning process.
With the intention of
giving daily use to the texts by Pérez, Moreno and Smith in the schools –and
incorporating the texts as a privileged means of transmitting knowledge- an
idea was spread, in parallel, that fixed once and for all “oral and objective
teaching in the schools of the state[108].” If the role of the
teacher was that of “educating the attention of the child, and awakening in the
students a spirit of analysis and observation[109],” it was clear that
said objective was not close to being achieved “with the system adopted in all
our schools, in which a child who cannot discern is given a book to learn by
heart, without any more help than that of their retentiveness of what he sees
written in said book[110].”
The basis of this
argument used the Pestalozzian method or objective
for which “the memory is frail, and nothing that does not carry the stamp of
persuasion can be recorded in it enduringly. The senses take precedence before
retentiveness[111].” This authoritative
argument was reinforced by looking to the other side of the Atlantic, where
teachers and the citizenry interested in education were reminded that “in most
schools in Germany, Belgium, England and France textbooks are unknown to the
children and they are only given to the teachers for their study and
consultation[112].” For that reason, it
was the oral teaching method that was privileged to induce a thorough learning
process, since “the students educated in this fashion meditate, reflect
thoroughly and analyze what they hear from their teachers[113].”
The affirmations of Mr.
Navarro were not the only ones, and in the official organ of dissemination of
pedagogical ideas in the State of Santander –La Escuela Primaria- there were
also cases of schools which shared the same thoughts.
The first case is the
one of the director of the Escuela-Modelo de
Pamplona who, in a letter to the Superintendent of Public Instruction, cheerfully
and happily manifested that those students who were being trained to be
teachers had embraced the oral explanations in classes such as physics,
mathematics and astronomic, physical and descriptive geography. There were no
praises of the textbook, given that the advantages of the oral method were
plenty: “it has the double advantage of cultivating the attention to a great
degree and developing the intelligence much more, due to the efforts made to
convert into one’s own science the subject that is being explained”; for this
reason, “textbooks have been eliminated[114].”
The second case is
that of the Escuela de San Gil, where
its director, Juan Francisco Gómez, explained that even at an early stage the
teaching of children had seen obstacles in the lack of geography textbooks,
some inspectors of the same Superintendency of Public
Instruction had pointed out that they saw benefits if an element as simple as
the chorographic chart was used. This instrument, the inspectors explained,
allowed to show the cardinal points, and political divisions, which “will give
simple and useful teachings regarding geography[115],” with this “the
students would have some knowledge at the end of the school year, things that
they would ignore if they were only asked to learn by heart, from beginning to
end, the book called the Geography textbook[116].”
Evidence of the last
example in the State of Santander, which put the oral method and the textbook
under the spotlight, was presented in 1872 when a “friend of the instruction” interested in “dissipating the doubts
of some teachers[117],” and equally easing
the concern of some subjects who, “characterized by their enlightenment, do not
see in the oral system more than a mere storytelling[118],” he took the
decision of elaborating a set of criteria that, with grounds in the antiquity
of the oral system, served as an example for their better understanding. He
started by mentioning Jesus Christ who “explained his doctrine in a parabolic
style, and never made use of long dissertations[119].” Then, he resorted
to philosophers like Zeno, Epictetus and Plato who “taught their disciples in
the atriums, in the parks in the gardens[120].”
For this friend of the instruction –a pseudonym
with which he signed the article- the greatness of that type of oral
presentation was proved in its methodology as well as in its results; the
former took precedence over a system where
[…] the constant repetition of the same axiom or principle drove the
imagination of the listener to an idea, which was recorded as a brick without
being erased from the brain by time before going to another idea or ideas […].
The second was even
clearer: “many wise men were trained that way[121].” The author ended up
by recognizing the imminent appearance of the printing press and the
transformations that it brought about in the teaching system, however, and in
view of the “multiplicity of texts” there was an urgent need to “study the
methods that substituted the oral method, and see if there is a point in
abandoning the method altogether, as has been done in almost all the countries
of Spanish origin[122].”
It is important to
highlight that this behavior has been registered in another sovereign state. Luis
Alarcón Meneses has found
in the Gaceta de Cartagena, towards the year 1874,
clues about the discussion that took place regarding the use of the school textbook
and the insistence on going back to the oral method. It is pointed out that:
However, in the country, as in the occidental world of the 19th century,
being literate was not the only way to communicate or reach certain knowledge,
since together with the processes of literacy there were other ways of
communication, such as the word and images. Actually, as has been analyzed by Chartier, these were considered as equally valid forms in
the construction of knowledge. An example of this was the persistence of oral
teaching by teachers in many schools of the region, which was considered by
many people of the time as an ideal practice, even above the use of textbooks[123].”
In the midst of the
governmental initiative to elevate the printed text as a mechanism to spread
school knowledge, oral knowledge also presented itself with strong arguments
that contradicted said initiative. From this situation, it is not possible to
conclude that the printed format had failed, given the efforts made by human
groups that resisted the change and the civilizing dynamic,
it is more accurate to understand the situation based on the ideas of McKenzie
(2005), who remembers that:
[…] today we have to learn again that the
printing press was only a phase in the history of the dissemination of texts
and that we run the risk of overestimating its importance. The relatively
recent introduction of the printing press in illiterate societies rarely
corroborates our traditional perspective of its efficacy as an agent of change.
Even in our own society, the oral text and the visual image, not only have
survived (although benefiting from the printing press), but also, they have
recovered their status among the main means of discourse with even greater
possibilities of projection […][124].
5. Conclusions
The intention of the government of the
Union was evident: to regulate the educational issue from the promulgation of a
specific set of norms as was the Organic Decree on Public Primary Instruction.
In it, it was possible to confirm that the subject of geography received
special attention: it appeared in the curriculum as well as in textbooks, and
there were clear rules about the way in which this knowledge had to be
assessed.
At the same time, it
was possible to record that the geography textbook was present in the
classrooms, although not as much as those textbooks of subjects, such as
hygiene, arithmetic and grammar. It was important to observe that the teaching
of geography was carried out from three types of school textbooks that privileged
a universal, national and regional viewpoint. Also, it was possible to identify
the existence of school libraries which had specialized material for the
teaching and consultation of geography.
Finally, it was
possible account for the processes of resistance that the instauration of
printed material suffered as a format to spread school knowledge. The
importance of orality was a big obstacle, which was not taken into
consideration during the process of implementing the textbook as a tool and
artifact of the school culture.
Thus, new paths await
the research on textbooks and, specifically, those concerning geography. It is
necessary to follow the steps of authors like Horacio Capel, who have proven
that pedagogical renovation in the teaching of geography was highly influenced
by the ascending bourgeoisie. For this reason, geography for Spain between 1814
and 1857 was called “the science for the bourgeoisie[125].” Notwithstanding, it
can be pointed out that the discussions on the textbook have been fostered as from
its political function, considering it as an ideological vector of the ruling
classes.
There is evidence of
the interest that the executive had in regulating said cultural object and
pedagogic tool, in the knowledge that the massification
and control, of its themes and uses, would depend on it. The resistance to the
intended realm of the textbook was equally important, but it is necessary to do
research on the patterns and representations of texts and textbooks as well as
comparisons with regard to themes, legislation and pedagogy in each of the
Sovereign States, with the aim of putting to the test the theoretical
considerations about this cultural object and pedagogic tool.
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Nueva York: Appleton y Cía., 1867.
Teobaldo,
Mirta y Nicoletti, María Andrea. “Representaciones
sobre la Patagonia y sus habitantes originarios en los textos escolares”.Quinto Sol N°11 (2007): 169-194.
Torrejano Vargas,
Rodrigo Hernán, “La política pública educativa en Colombia en el marco del
periodo radical, 1848-1870”.Revista
Historia de la Educación Colombianavol: 15, N° 15 (2012): 63-88.
“Visitas
en las escuelas”, Gaceta de Santander,
Socorro, 9 de febrero, 1871.
“Visitas
en las escuelas”, gaceta de Santander,
Socorro, 23 de febrero, 1871.
“Visitas
en las escuelas de Suratá, Matanza, Bucaramanga, Jiron, Florida, Piedecuesta i los Sántos”,
Gaceta de Santander, Socorro, 24 de
abril, 1871.
To cite this article:
Jorge Alejandro Aguirre Rueda, “School
textbooks for the teaching of geography in the Sovereign State of Santander:
1868-1879”, Historia y Memoria, No.
11 (July-December, 2015): 83-122.
*This article is the product of the
research project in Spanish titled: La enseñanza de la geografía en el Estado Soberano de
Santander durante la segunda mitad del siglo XIX (The teaching of geography in the Sovereign
State of Santander during the second half of the 19th century). Thesis for a Master’s degree in History, Universidad Nacional.
[1] Historian from the
Universidad Industrial de Santander and candidate for a Master’s degree in
History from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá branch. At
present, he is a full-time professor in the Faculty of Communication and
Language at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana.
[2]Frederic
Martínez, El nacionalismo cosmopolita. La
referencia europea en la construcción nacional en Colombia, 1845-1900
(Bogotá: Banco de la República/Instituto Francés de Estudios Andinos, 2001),
404.
[3]Frederic
Martínez. El nacionalismo cosmopolita…,
414.
[4]Frederic
Martínez. El nacionalismo cosmopolita…,
415.
[5]Frederic
Martínez. El nacionalismo cosmopolita…,
424.
[6]Frederic
Martínez, El nacionalismo cosmopolita…,
426.
[7]Jane
M. Rausch, La
educación durante el Federalismo. La reforma escolar de 1870 (Bogotá:
Universidad Pedagógica Nacional, Instituto Caro y Cuervo, 1993), 139.
[8]Jane
M. Rausch. La
educación durante el Federalismo…, 139.
[9]Jane
M. Rausch. La
educación durante el Federalismo…, 139.
[10]Jane
M. Rausch, La
educación durante el Federalismo…, 139.
[11]Jane
M. Rausch. La
educación durante el Federalismo…, 139.
[12]Jane
M. Rausch. La
educación durante el Federalismo…, 139.
[13]Jane
M. Rausch. La
educación durante el Federalismo…, 139.
[14]Jane
M. Rausch. La
educación durante el Federalismo…, 139.
[15]Rodrigo
Hernán Torrejano Vargas, “La política pública
educativa en Colombia en el marco del periodo radical, 1848-1870”, Revista Historia de la Educación Colombiana vol: 15, N° 15 (2012): 65.
[16]Rodrigo
Hernán Torrejano Vargas, “La política educativa en Colombia…”, 81.
[17]Rodrigo
Hernán Torrejano Vargas, “La política pública educativa en Colombia…”, 82.
[18]Rodrigo
Hernán Torrejano Vargas, “La política pública educativa en Colombia…”, 83.
[19]Rodrigo
Hernán Torrejano Vargas, “La política pública educativa en Colombia…”, 83.
[20]Rodrigo
Hernán Torrejano Vargas, “La política pública educativa en Colombia…”, 84.
[21]
Rodrigo Hernán Torrejano Vargas, “La política pública educativa en Colombia…”,
85.
[22]“Law on public instruction,” gaceta de Santander (from now on GS), Socorro, 16 July, 1868, 697.
[24]“Law on public
instruction,” gaceta de Santander, Socorro, 16 July, 1868,
697.
[25]“Law 36 on public
instruction,” gaceta
de Santander, Socorro, 29 November, 1868, 869.
[26]“Law on public
instruction,” 869.
[27]“Law 36 on public
instruction,” 869.
[28]“Law 36 on public
instruction,” 870.
[29]“Law 36 on public
instruction,” 870.
[30]“Law 36 on public
instruction,” 870.
[31]“Law 36 on public
instruction,” 870.
[32]“Law 36 on public
instruction,”870.
[33]“Law 36 on public
instruction,” 871.
[34]“Law 36 on public
instruction,” 871.
[35] “Law 36 on public
instruction,” 872.
[36]“Law that authorizes the Executive Power to organize
public primary instruction under the charge of the Union,” gaceta de Santander, Socorro, 11 August, 1870, 409.
[37] “Law that
authorizes the Executive Power to …,” 409.
[38] The Decree can be found in: www.pedagogica.edu.co/storage/rce/articulos/5_8docu.pdf. Consulted on 12
September, 2013.
[39] As Santiago Castro
Gómez has pointed out in his work Tejidos oníricos. Movilidad, capitalismo y biopolítica en Bogotá (1910-1930)
(Bogotá: Pontificia Universidad Javeriana,
2009): “The bitter experience of the 19th century has shown us that the modern
state does not emerge solely as the result of the proclamation of formal laws,”
152.
[40]Organic Decree of Public Primary Instruction, article 9, 4-5 [on line]. Available on: www.pedagogica.edu.co/storage/rce/articulos/5_8docu.pdf.
[41]Organic Decree of Public Primary Instruction, article 26, 7 [on line]. Available on: www.pedagogica.edu.co/storage/rce/articulos/5_8docu.pdf
[42]Organic Decree of Public Primary Instruction, article 11, 6 [on line]. Available on: www.pedagogica.edu.co/storage/rce/articulos/5_8docu.pdf
[43]Organic Decree of Public Primary Instruction, article 12, 6 [on line]. Available on: www.pedagogica.edu.co/storage/rce/articulos/5_8docu.pdf
[44]Organic Decree of Public Primary Instruction, article 12, 6 [on line]. Available on: www.pedagogica.edu.co/storage/rce/articulos/5_8docu.pdf
[45]Organic Decree of Public Primary Instruction, article 249, 39 [on line]. Available on: www.pedagogica.edu.co/storage/rce/articulos/5_8docu.pdf
[46]Organic Decree of Public Primary Instruction, article 250, 40 [on line]. Available on: www.pedagogica.edu.co/storage/rce/articulos/5_8docu.pdf
[47]Organic Decree of Public Primary Instruction, article 282, 44 [on line]. Available on: www.pedagogica.edu.co/storage/rce/articulos/5_8docu.pdf
[48]Organic Decree of Public Primary Instruction, article 46, 11 [on line]. Available on: www.pedagogica.edu.co/storage/rce/articulos/5_8docu.pdf
[49]Organic Decree of Public Primary Instruction, article 46, 11 [on line]. Available on: www.pedagogica.edu.co/storage/rce/articulos/5_8docu.pdf
[50]Organic Decree of Public Primary Instruction, article 63, 13 [on line]. Available on: www.pedagogica.edu.co/storage/rce/articulos/5_8docu.pdf.
[51]Organic Decree of Public Primary Instruction, article 63, 13 [on line]. Available on: www.pedagogica.edu.co/storage/rce/articulos/5_8docu.pdf.
[52]Organic Decree of Public Primary Instruction, article 124, 22 [on line]. Available on: www.pedagogica.edu.co/storage/rce/articulos/5_8docu.pdf.
[53]Organic Decree of Public Primary Instruction, article 116, 21 [on line]. Available on: www.pedagogica.edu.co/storage/rce/articulos/5_8docu.pdf.
[54] For a more detailed reading that
considers the school textbook as its research topic. See:
Gabriel David Samacá Alonso, “Los manuales escolares
como posibilidad investigativa para la historia de la educación”, revista Historia de la Educación
Latinoamericana N° 16 (January-June 2011): 19-24.
[55]
Alba Patricia Cardonza Zuluaga, La nación de papel: textos escolares, lectura y política. Estados Unidos
de Colombia: 1870-1876 (Medellín: Fondo
Editorial Universidad Eafit, 2007), 12-13, 97. In
order to understand the importance of the written circulation of knowledge it
is fundamental to relate it to the historical construction of school
disciplines. See:
André Chervel, “Historia de las disciplinas
escolares. Reflexiones sobre un campo disciplinar”, revista de Educación N° 295 (1991): 59-111.
[56] “Chart that shows number of premises,
furniture, school supplies and textbooks of the boys elementary and superior
primary schools of the state,”, gaceta de Santander, Socorro, 8 May, 1871, 82.
[57]To understand the educational boom in
Socorro from the 18th century, Renán Silva (2009)
comments that: “For the first half of the 18th century […] despite
the presence of new populations, such as those of Cali and Neiva, the dominant
nucleus of schools in Santafé and Cartagena is
maintained in previous years. But in this new period, and in the following too,
the importance gained by the eastern region of the viceroyalty stood out,
presented in the chart indistinctively as Vélez, but
in fact it comprises the school areas of Socorro, San Gil and San Juan de Girón. This could have been determined by the type of
economic activity of the region, not in the sense that educational formation
was directly conditioned to a <<work demand>>, but as the region
had a certain agricultural and artisanal development, and some commercial
exchange by the second half of the 18th century, it is possible that
the young people could have had more chances to travel to Santafé
and pay for their studies (…). In addition to this, and this must have been the
main element to explain the situation, a more open mentality to recognize the
social importance of education…” (pages 122-123). In a
chart from 1871 on the origin of the students of the region of Santander
enrolled in the Colegio Mayor de San Bartolomé and Colegio del Rosario, Silva states “(…) the information allows us to
reaffirm the modern and enlightened educational tendency of the <<region
of Santander>> that we had already mentioned.” (p. 129).
[58]Although our focus is not on the manuals
and textbooks on hygiene, it is relevant that they are the ones which have a
greater proportion. For this reason, some observations will be made. Pedraza
Gómez (2001) has commented that “particularly in Hispanic America, the
amplitude and richness of the moral discourses, still in the 18th
century and a good part of the 19th century, is such that it includes hygienic
and pedagogical principles, the norms that ought to guide family life and
personal conduct,” (97-98). See: Zandra Pedraza Gómez,
“Sentidos, movimiento y cultivo del cuerpo: política higiénica para la nación”,
in Educación y cultura política: una
mirada multidisciplinaria (Bogotá: Universidad Pedagógica Nacional), 2001.
[59]Being the second in importance, grammar
will stand out as outlined by Niebles Reales (2002): “even when Castillian
Grammar had started to be taught in 1828, this discipline would only gain
importance in the year 1847 when Gramática de la Lengua Castellana destinada al uso de los americanos appeared, a
book that was best known as Gramática de la Lengua Castellana, published
by Andrés Bello. It would have great influence on the constitution of the
knowledge of the mother tongue and its consequent practices in Spanish America
and, in particular, in our area,” (p. 437). The political vein of this type of
manual on grammar is shown by the following: “starting from the consideration
that the emancipation had to be material, but also spiritual and cultural, the
proposal of Bello arises to teach the mother tongue through a grammar that was
consistent with the need for progress to be achieved and that the nationality
in each one of the Hispanic American countries was configurated,” (p. 438). With the boom of school publications,
especially the publications on grammar in the period 1847-1910, “they were characterized by following
Bello, almost verbatim.” Thus, the importance given to the school manuals of
grammar can be understood if the following is comprehended: “how it is repeated
in their presentation, a civilizing character, that is presented with an
underlying interest of the author to reach progress, enlightenment,
modernization, development and civilization,” (p. 439). Finally, “the
importance of grammar as a school manual resides in the fact that it tries to
concentrate the most substantial of a subject -the language is an excuse-
resorting to different types of knowledge with a persuasive and pedagogical
end, as part of an emancipating cultural project and based on the language of
use. For Bello, it is obvious that freedom is obtained through education and
that it is tightly linked with knowledge (in general) and the accurate use of
the mother tongue,” (p. 440). “The grammars appear as the school manual par excellence to impose civil order.
That is the reason why the grammars of the Castilian language are, in fact, a
sort of trans-manual which includes different issues with the excuse of
“teaching the “language.” In fact, what is expected of its readers is not
exclusively that they read it or speak it correctly, but that they behave, act
and think correctly,” (p. 445). See:
Eleucilio Niebles Reales,
“Las gramáticas de la lengua castellana como manuales escolares en Colombia,
1847-1910”, in Nación, educación,
universidad y manuales escolares en Colombia: tendencias historiográficas
contemporáneas (Barranquilla: Universidad del Atlántico, 2002).
[60] Only three months after this report had
been elaborated, the Superintendent of Public Primary Instruction presented the
following information: “Sole article: The text book <<Principios elementales
de aritmética, obra destinada para las escuelas primarias>> (Elementary principles of arithmetic,
work destined for primary schools) by Mr Primitivo
Nieto, edited in 1871, should be adopted for the elemental teaching of
arithmetic in primary schools. The textbook was distributed as follows:
Departatment of Cúcuta 120 copies
Departatment of García Rovira 140 copies
Departatment of Guanentá 140 copies
Departatment of Ocaña 80 copies
Departatment of Pamplona 110 copies
Departatment of Socorro 170 copies
Departatment of Soto 100
copies
Departatment of Vélez 90 copies
Total copies distributed 950 copies”
See: “Communication by which a textbook on
principles of arithmetic is distributed, a work for primary schools,” gaceta de
Santander, Socorro, 7 August, 1871, 175.
Two
and a half years later, Alberto Blume and Roque J. Carreño presented their
work, destined for the same public called “Guía
para la enseñanza de la aritmética en las escuelas primarias según el método
pestalozziano.” See: “Avisos”, gaceta de Santander, Socorro, 9 April, 1874, 44.
[61]“Comparative chart of the students of both
sexes that had attended primary schools in the years 1868, 1869 and 1870, and
the number of boys and girls who attended elementary and superior schools of
the state until 31 May, 1871,” gaceta de Santander, Socorro, 22 June, 1871, 123.
[62]“Summary by department
of the movement chart of the public primary schools of the state, in November
1878,” gaceta de Santander, Socorro, 14 January,
1879, 496.
[63] “Decree by
which two textbooks are adopted for primary schools,” gaceta de Santander, Socorro, 15 June, 1871, 118.
[64]“Communication by which two textbooks are assigned to
primary schools and some observations with regard to the adoption of other
textbooks are made,” gaceta de Santander, Socorro, 15 June, 1871,
118-119.
[65]“Communication by which two textbooks are assigned…,” 118-119.
[66]“Communication by which two textbooks are assigned…,” 118-119.
[67]“Communication by which two textbooks are assigned…,” 118-119.
[68]“Communication by which two textbooks are assigned…,” 118-119.
[69]“Communication by which two textbooks are assigned…,” 118-119.
[70]“Communication by which two textbooks are assigned…,” 118-119.
[71]“Communication by which two textbooks are assigned…,” 118-119.
[72]“Communication by which two textbooks are assigned…,” 118-119.
[73] “Communication by which two textbooks are assigned…,” 118-119.
[74] “Council of Public Instruction of the
Department of Cúcuta. Report. (Conclusion),” gaceta
de Santander, Socorro, 10 July, 1871, 142.
[75]
Efraín Sánchez Cabra, Gobierno y
geografía. Agustín Codazzi y la Comisión Corográfica de la Nueva Granada
(Bogotá: Banco de la República/El Áncora Editores, 1998), 450-451.
[76] “Public instruction. Escuela de Bucaramanga.
“Comments
on the visit,”
gaceta de Santander, Socorro, 20 August, 1868,
747.
[77] “School visits,” gaceta de Santander,
Socorro, 9 February, 1871,
24.
[78] “School visits,”, gaceta de Santander,
Socorro, 23 February, 1871, 30.
[79] “Visit to the schools
of Suratá, Matanza, Bucaramanga, Jiron,
Florida, Piedecuesta and los Sántos,” gaceta de Santander, Socorro, 24 April, 1871,
71.
[80]
Asa Smith, Primer libro de geografía de
Smith, o geografía elemental dispuesta para los niños. Adornada con cien
grabados y catorce mapas. Traducida del inglés y adaptada al uso de las
escuelas de Sur América, las Indias Occidentales y México, con adiciones, por
Temístocles Paredes, secretario de la Legación de la Nueva Granada en los
Estados Unidos (New York: Appleton and co.,
1867), 5-8.
[81]Asa
Smith, Primer libro de geografía de Smith…,
39.
[82]Asa
Smith, Primer libro de geografía de Smith…,
40.
[83]Asa
Smith, Primer libro de geografía de Smith…,
41.
[84]Asa
Smith, Primer libro de geografía de Smith…,
141.
[85]Asa
Smith, Primer libro de geografía de Smith…,
141.
[86]
Silvina Quintero, “Geografías regionales en la Argentina. Imagen y valorización
del territorio durante la primera mitad del siglo XX”, Scripta Nova vol: VI, N° 127 (2002): 2.
[87] “Official news. Privilege patent,” gaceta de Santander, Socorro, 9 January, 1873, 5.
[88]
“Unofficial notices”, gaceta de Santander, Socorro, 20 March,
1873, 40.
[89] “Law 63, special of public instruction,” gaceta de Santander, Socorro, 5 November 1874,
193.
[90]
Antonio María Moreno, Geografía especial
del Estado de Santander. Obra destinada a las escuelas primarias del Estado
(Socorro: Imprenta Del Estado, 1873), 3.
[91]Antonio
María Moreno, Geografía especial del
Estado de Santander…, pages 6-13.
[92]Antonio
María Moreno, Geografía especial del
Estado de Santander…, pages 14-25.
[93]Antonio
María Moreno, Geografía especial del
Estado de Santander…, pages 15-16.
[94]Antonio
María Moreno, Geografía especial del
Estado de Santander…, p. 16.
[95]Antonio
María Moreno, Geografía especial del
Estado de Santander…, p. 20.
[96]Antonio
María Moreno, Geografía especial del
Estado de Santander…, p. 20.
[97]Antonio
María Moreno, Geografía especial del
Estado de Santander…, p. 21.
[98]Antonio
María Moreno, Geografía especial del
Estado de Santander…, p. 21.
[99]Antonio
María Moreno, Geografía especial del
Estado de Santander…, pages 25-33.
[100]
Lucía Duque Muñoz, “Geografía y cartografía en la Nueva Granada (1840-1865):
producción, clasificación, temática e intereses”, Anuario Colombiano de Historia Social y de la Cultura N°33 (2006):
21.
[101]Example of the Casa de Educación del
Socorro (educational
institution) and how varied its library was in topics related to geography. For
the year 1869, this library was benefitted with the following donations:
Elementary cosmography, in French, written by Montenelle;
Geographic atlas with 48 charts, donated by Eustorgio
Salgar; Geografía física y política de las Provincias de la Nueva Granada; Geografía universal by Vallejo; Diccionario geográfico, by Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera; Geografía elemental, by Lavalle;
Geografía,
by A. Sánchez Bustamante. 1870: Memorias
sobre geografía física y política de la Nueva Granada, by
General Mosquera; Geografía física y
política del distrito federal, by Felipe Pérez; Geografía, by Guthrie; Geografía
física y política de las Provincias de la Nueva Granada por la Comisión Corográfica, provincias del
Socorro, Vélez, Tunja y Tundama. See: “Library of the Casa de
educación secundaria in Socorro,” gaceta
de Santander, 8 July, 1869, 109; “Casa de
educación of the department
of Socorro. Note. Library,” gaceta de Santander, Socorro, 30 December,
1869, 280; “Index of the works donated to the library of the Casa de educación secundaria of the department of Socorro, in the year
1870,” gaceta de Santander, Socorro, 7 July, 1870,
391” and “Index of the works donated to the library of the Casa de educación secundaria
of the department of Socorro from July to November,” gaceta de Santander, Socorro, 9
December, 1870, 534.
[102]Frederic
Martínez. El nacionalismo…, 110; Miryam Báez Osorio, Las
escuelas normales y el cambio educativo en los Estados Unidos de Colombia en el
periodo radical, 1870-1886 (Tunja: Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de
Colombia, 2004), 30.
[103]
Julia Melcón Beltrán, “Geopolítica y Enseñanza en
España”, in Manuales escolares en España,
Portugal y América Latina (siglos XIX y XX) (Madrid: Universidad Nacional
de Educación a Distancia, 2005), 377-388.
[104]
María Nieves Gómez García, “Nacionalismo y europeísmo en textos españoles de
Bachillerato: Historia, Geografía, Lengua y Literatura (1938-1990)”, in Manuales escolares en España, Portugal y
América Latina (siglos XIX y XX) (Madrid, Universidad Nacional de Educación
a Distancia, 2005), 425-444.
[105]
María Teresa Benedito Sifre, Armando Cervellera Martínez and XoséSouto
González, “Los manuales escolares y la didáctica de la geografía entre 1950 y
1990”, in El libro escolar, reflejo de
intenciones políticas e influencias pedagógicas (Madrid: Universidad
Nacional de Educación a Distancia, 2000), 63-86.
[106]
Mirta Teobaldo and María Andrea Nicoletti,
“Representaciones sobre la Patagonia y sus habitantes originarios en los textos
escolares”, Quinto Sol N°11 (2007):
169-194.
[107]Kazumi Munakata, “O
livro didático: alguns temas de pesquisa”, Revista
Brasileira de História de Educação vol: 12, N°30 (September-December
2012): 184.
[108]“Communication by
which some recommendations
are given to Directors and Sub-directors
of public schools with respect
to the oral teaching to be
given to the students,” La Escuela
Primaria. Periódico
oficial de Instrucción Pública del Estado de Santander,
Socorro, 10 September, 1872, 169.
[109]“Communication by
which some recommendations
are given to..., ” 169.
[110]“Communication by
which some recommendations
are given to..., ” 169.
[111]“Communication by
which some recommendations
are given to..., ” 169.
[112]“Communication by
which some recommendations
are given to..., ” 169.
[113] “Communication by which
some recommendations are given
to..., ” 169.
[114]
“Special report from the director of the Escuela modelo de Pamplona,” La Escuela Primaria, Socorro, 30 September,
1872, 177.
[115]“Oral and objective
teaching. Note from the
Council of Guanentá in response to communication
number 43 on the topic,” La Escuela
Primaria, Socorro, 15 October, 1872, 187.
[116] “Oral and objective
teaching …,” 187.
[117]“Unofficial. Oral
lessons. I. Antiquity of the oral tradition,” La Escuela Primaria, Socorro, 29
October, 1872, 195.
[118]“Unofficial. Oral
lessons…,”195.
[119]“ Unofficial. Oral lessons…,”195.
[120]“ Unofficial. Oral lessons…,”195.
[121]“ Unofficial. Oral lessons…,”195.
[122] “Unofficial. Oral lessons…,”195.
[123]
Luis Alarcón Meneses, “Libros peligrosos, lecturas impías. Prácticas y
representaciones sociales sobre la lectura en el Caribe colombiano, 1870-1886”,
Historia y Espacio N°38 (2012): 4.
[124]Donald
Francis McKenzie, Bibliografía
y sociología de los textos (Madrid: Akal, 2005), 76.
[125]
Horacio Capel et al, Ciencia para la
burguesía. Renovación pedagógica y enseñanza de la geografía en la revolución
liberal española. 1814-1857 (Barcelona: Universidad de Barcelona, 1983).