Por uma formação da juventude campinense: o Colégio Gigantão da Prata (1948-1962)

Abstract

The present thesis, enrolled in the studies about educational institutions, aims to discuss the educational function of Campina Grande State School or Gigantão da Prata, nomenclature adopted in this study for the city of Campina Grande-PB (1948-1962). To justify the time frame, I set the year of 1948 for being the time the construction of this school was officially proposed, during the government of Oswaldo Trigueiro and the year of 1962 by referring to the time when the educational establishment went through its process of expanding to other neighborhoods in the city, as from branches. As a thesis argument, I defend that Gigantão da Prata, although created when already was considered expanding the public secondary education to the people in general, was implanted to provide a distinct training to young people of that locality and surrounding cities, through a public secondary education, being this opening part of a number of necessities of a population group given the social transformations underway in the city at the time, specifically the elite, in order to reinvent and corroborate its power, preparing men who would subsequently assume greater responsibilities within the Paraiba society. The historical sources used were: newspapers, messages from presidents of Brazil and governors of Paraiba, Campina Grande annuals, photos, memoirists publications, school bylaws, records of students school life, crafts, among other documents. Regarding the concepts that underlie the knowledge production, stands out: figuration/configuration Elias (2001, 2006, 2008); symbolic power and representation Bourdieu (2010); cultural elites Sirinelli (1998) and school culture from the perspective of Julia (2001) and Viñao Frago (1995). Concerning the thematic discussion about educational institutions, the approach of Magellan (2004) was relevant. Among the many considerations developed in this study, we concluded that the Gigantão da Prata was constituted, in focusing period, as a knowledge symbol in Serra da Borborema preparing politicians, doctors, university professors, lawyers and other skilled professionals in Paraíba by curriculum and school practices that emphasized training of general culture.