<b>Science by force? Dr. Abílio Cesar Borges and the propaganda against the use of paddling and other demeaning practices in youth instruction (1856-1876)</b> - doi: 10.4025/actascieduc.v32i1.9482

Abstract

As a doctor, manager of public instruction, school owner, man of the press, schoolbook author, traveler, guidance counselor, Dr. Abilio César Borges undertook a few initiatives in the public and private sphere, as a means to demonstrate educational principles he supported with regard to methods of teaching, learning of reading, writing, arithmetic and geometry, childhood education and corporal punishments, for example. By occupying separate knowledge and power positions, the Bahia doctor sought to manage his initiatives, which can be endorsed in the expressive documentation produced in life. In this work, we examine the propaganda he developed against the use of paddling and other demeaning practices in youth instruction. This campaign was made public through manifestations between 1856 and 1875, which were grouped in a pamphlet published in 1876. In this collection of 9 fragments from the author about the scourge of childhood, the doctor shaped human representation of schools, whose good example could be found in the schools of his property. In 1876, in order to heighten his positions, approaching the newspaper "O Globo", recognizing it as an ally and an appropriate vehicle to give more visibility to his moral education project against physical violence in schools.