Modernidade e educação: (des)caminhos históricos e críticas a educação no governo Nogueira Accioly (1896-1912)

Abstract

Modernity is commonly identified as a period of deep changes which excessively focused in the logic of the western world, especially between the 19th and 20th centuries. Urban area transformations in big capital cities, emerging concepts under new logic of scientific disciplines, undergoing governments regimes, changing in the behavioral and subjective patterns all announced new times and great challenges for those who were ahead of public politics in the most varied society sectors in that particular time. Breathing the airs of that new context, we meet Nogueira Accioly’s government, identified in our state by historiography as a period of oligarchic, patrimonial, despotic and nepotistic practices reinforced by the changes caused by the transition from the monarchic to the republican regime in our country. Such identifications were not enough to inquire about what the aforementioned government had done for the Education field in our state. Therefore, this paper aims to analyze the Education accomplishments under Antônio Pinto Nogueira Accioly’s government, between 1896 and 1912, period which he was president of Ceará State. Thus, the analysis was focused on his administration at Liceu do Ceará Secondary Teaching Institution, which already existed by the time of his ascension to the state’s presidency, the foundation of the first superior education institution in our land, Livre de Direito University, and on José de Alencar’s Theater construction. A bibliographic and documental research was done in which the research sources were: books, messages and official reports from State’s president, periodicals, literature pieces, and historical characters and Fortaleza images in the late 19th and early 20th century. We conclude that to talk and to do had become more complicated challenges in the midst of Western challenging period of transformaion. Institutions such as Liceu do Ceará, Livre de Direito University and José de Alencar Theater have demonstrated in this sector a lack of significant modifications within the accomplishments scope under ‘acciolino’ government. The heat of the events, diverging opinions, accusations and retaliation testify that, while Modernity pushes mankind to reevaluate him in the context of its innovations and eclecticism, deeper transformations that could confirm the reality of well adjusted terms in the news or messages sent to the population were scarce or inexistent. However, it is important to emphasize the people’s presence under that context who many times acclaimed such discursive practices, empty of significant accomplishments testifying that, in fact, not always “The voice of the people is the voice of God”.