“Little beams of light”: the isolated schools in the period of implementation of graded school pattern in Rio Grande do Sul

Abstract

This paper intends to focus on the representation of isolated schools in the documentation of the state of Rio Grande do Sul during the early twentieth century. Although it is undeniable that the graded school has imposed itself as the representation of an institution of higher quality over that period and progressively has turned to prevail in quantitative terms, this process has not been quick and did not happened without resistance. Thus, it is intended here to show that, at least until the 1940s, enrollment in isolated schools of several kinds and administrated by different instances, was numerically more expressive than that of graded schools, whose implementation occurred in 1909 in the state. Subsequently, arguments are mentioned in advocacy of these small schools, as well as the difficulties they have faced and the evidence of the loss of prestige of the isolated rural schools. For this, the Public Education Board reports and the relevant legislation were examined.