A centralidade da educação na obra do intelectual Florestan Fernandes

Abstract

This thesis has the objective of analyzing the militancy of Florestan Fernandes (1920-1995) in the educational field, from 1954 to 1964. The goal was to research the educational writings of Florestan Fernandes having, as the basis of analysis, his militancy in defense of public education in the context of elaborating the National Education Law (in Portuguese LDB) n. 4.024 of 1961. In the context of rising industrialization and consolidation of Brazilian capitalism it was urgent to adjust the education to the competitive free social order. In response to that demand there was the start of the elaboration of the law project of the LDB, whose original proposal saw democratization of education and teaching through public school. While the bill followed its legal courses in the National Congress there was a heated educational debate among the private school defenders; who felt they were being aggrieved by the initial proposal of the project of LDB, and the public school defenders; who showed the public school was a compatible institution with the new competitive free social order that was on its way to sediment despite the attacks of the conservative elite. The attacks to public school gained political forces and were materialized in what was known as Substitutivo Lacerda, a substitute bill to the initial proposal that was written by the congressman who belonged to UDN (National Democratic Union) Carlos Lacerda; and it had religious principles and marketable interests. As the substitute bill was approved there was a movement of intellectuals and educators known in history as Campaign to Defend Public School (or simply Campaign). They fought in the national congress, in the intellectual circles and in press to defend public school, Florestan Fernandes took part in that movement. He participated in the Campaign in an active way, he published texts, gave lectures and conferences to denounce the private character of the substitute bill (Substitutivo Lacerda). His participation in Campaign granted him the merit badge of the principal defender of the cause. There are several educational texts written by Florestan Fernandes in the heat of militancy and they are a huge part of his analysis of Brazilian education. This research showed that the fight for the radical transformation of the Brazilian society and for the overcoming of the educational dilemmas gave consistency to the acting of Florestan Fernandes in and out of the academic space and coherence between his world view and his intellectual action. That was the moment the sociologist united his intellectual formation and his theoretical knowledge to his capacity of persuading others to make other citizens conscious and to call them to transform reality. That took us to defend that the educational writings are essential to understand Florestan Fernandes as intellectual because the same texts manifest his militancy, his actions inside the fight among classes. His texts about education written during the elaboration and the legal course of the bill of LDB in the National Congress expressed the engaged action of an intellectual militant in the fight for democratization of culture and education.