The school curriculum: A cultural history viewpoint and the modernization of the arithmetics teaching in Paraná's state primary schools in the early XXth century

Abstract

From the viewpoint of cultural history, this paper analyzes disputes about purposes and methods for teaching arithmetic's in Paraná's state primary schools, as published in the magazine A Escola (The School) in the early XXth century. It highlights behind-the-scenes speeches by intellectuals who advocated a laic and free primary education, in which the main issue, besides of the pedagogical order, was also social and political, an aspect generally absent in the curriculum guidelines.