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Title: Universidad Central discurso de apertura de estudios leído el día 4 de octubre de 1840 por el Teniente Coronel de Artillería Joaquín Acosta, catedrático de química de la universidad
Creator: Acosta, Joaquin.
Publication Info: Bogotá : Imprenta de J. A. Cualla, 1841.
Physical Details: 8 p. ; 21 9/10 x 12 6/10 cms.
Physical Condition: Wrappers worn and slightly torn at edges, foxed. Inside, pages fair to good.

Summary: In this discourse Joaquín Acosta examines the importance of education, especially elementary school education, for nation building. He reinforces the value of a “classical” education, but sees the necessity for a form of education that fosters debate but not radical social divisions.
Historical Notes: In 1870 the central government initiated reforms to create a public education system throughout Colombia. The three central features of this reform were: to establish free and obligatory elementary, middle, and high schools; to institute secular education; and to create an education system which would promote the liberal ideas of the government. After Independence, Liberal and Conservative governments followed the principle of “patronato,” which argued that the church should be subordinate to the laws of the nation state. However, depending on the degree of radicalism of the party leader, conservative governments generally tended to favor a privileged role for the Catholic Church. Under the leadership of Mariano Ospina Rodríguez (president from 1857-61) the government supported the return of the Jesuits to Colombia, helping to place them in charge of public education institutions and allowing them to found new schools (264, 268-9). Jaramillo Uribe, Jaime 1982 El Proceso de la Educación. In Manual de Historia de Colombia. J.G. Cobo Borda and S. Mutis Durán, eds. Pp. 249-336. Bogotá: Procultura.
Donor Notes: Colonel Acosta appealed to his listeners on behalf of a less traditional curriculum, one which would include pragmatic subjects so as to insure the future of its alumni. - J.L.H.

Subject(s): Education -- Colombia -- 19th century

Type: Pamphlet
Language: Spanish
Format: JPG
PDF - Color
Donor: Helguera, J. León
Collection: Helguera, J. León Collection
Institution: Vanderbilt University
Accession Number: P01644
Record Number: 127
Islandora ID: islandora:1009