Educao para as elites, financiamento e ensino primrio no Brasil, 19301964

摘要

For decades Brazil has consistently presented poor educational outcomes compared to its Latin American neighbors. The literature suggests that elite-biased policies might be a cause of this lag. This article presents further evidence that educational policies pursued by Brazilian federal governments were elite biased in the period 19301964. Although primary schooling was the responsibility of state governments, a significant amount of tax revenues were in the hands of the federal government. Therefore, federal policies were important determinants of educational outcomes at all school levels. Evidence collected in speeches and in educational finance data show that Brazilian education policies tended to give little importance to primary education. In particular, the article shows that under the governments of Getlio Vargas and Juscelino Kubitschek, those most committed to the strategy of import substitution industrialization, education policies favored tertiary education for the elites at the expense of primary education for the masses.ResumoO Brasil tem apresentado, ao longo da histria, resultados educacionais pfios em relao a seus vizinhos latino-americanos. A literatura sugere que uma possvel causa do atraso educacional tenha sido o vis elitista das polticas educacionais. Este trabalho traz novas evidncias de que as polticas educacionais conduzidas pelo governo federal foram elitistas no perodo 19301964. Embora o ensino primrio fosse responsabilidade dos estados, grande parte das receitas tributrias estava sob o poder da Unio. Assim, as polticas educacionais federais eram importantes para determinar os resultados em todos os nveis de ensino. As evidncias coletadas em discursos e em dados de financiamento educacional mostram que as polticas do perodo tenderam a dar pouca importncia ao ensino primrio. Em particular, h evidncias de que os governos de Getlio Vargas e Juscelino Kubitschek, os mais compromissados com a estratgia de industrializao por substituio de importaes, privilegiaram o ensino superior, em detrimento do ensino primrio para as massas.