The neglected contradiction: depolitizing educationl or educating the politiciens?

Abstract

T his article deals with the political significance of an important brazilian
educational movement (Movimento da Escola Nova) in the first decades of this century. It states that the two antagonistic historiographic interpretations about this movement - the one produced by Fernando de Azevedo, from the generation of those educators, and the more recent Dermeval Saviani's interpretation, that enphasized the conservative accent of that movement - both derived from a conception of historiography that was unable to deal with the contradictions that are always present in historical events. In my opinion, the educators from the movement above mentionated, had a much more complex relation with the political field: even being very scheptical about the ethic dimension of politicians in general, they tried to teach them why technical apports, and not political interests, were the only guidelines for social policies.