The elementary public schools for girls: from norms to practices

Abstract

This paper discusses the organization of the public instruction in Minas Gerais in the nineteenth century, with special attention to the schools of first letters – escolas de primeiras letras – that are destined to the girls. It tries to analyze the relation between the normative determinations and the appropriations realized by teachers, students, families and the community, what empower to analyze the scholar practices in this process of schools’ establishment in the province. As well as in every moment of change, it is possible to notice tensions; the rigidity of the control and of the inspection that had as opposition point the resistance of students and teachers manifested on school dropout and on the attribution of weak performance related to strange reasons than the own will.