Implications of the characterization

of military schools and

administration praxis
Web Carnival 2022
Yuri Wenceslau Fioravante
 Summary
• This talk aims to weave a brief characterization of military schools, based on data collected by
reading journalistic and academic texts and by watching videos, as indicated for assessment for the
subject 'Educational Management and Coordination at School,' a part of the undergraduate course
syllabus in Pedagogy at a state university located in Sao Paulo state, Brazil. It aims to present the
implications of this concept and its administrative practice, in contravention of postulates left by
Paulo Freire, whose contributions go against the format, and which has been gaining notoriety
given the federal government's interest to implement it arbitrarily.
 Bio
• Yuri Wenceslau Fioravante (@yuri.fioravante) graduated in Languages from Unesp, and has two
graduate degrees in ELT from PUC-SP and UFMG. Holds the CELTA, C2 Proficiency, Train the
Trainer and ECPE certificates, among others. English language instructor at a private language
school, and teacher at three public schools, based in Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo. linkedin.com/in/
yuriwf/ 
 First words
• militarization of public schools: current and relevant topic;
• expressive process of expansion of militarized public schools in Brazil;
• academic debate problematizes the meaning of military action in public
school management;
• discourse on school violence (as if not an issue that affects society);
• decontextualized narrative on high performance of students from military
colleges.
 Freire’s reflection
• history is a possibility, not determination;
• invites us to the historic task of taking on the challenges of our time, e.g.,
the
complex situation that encourages militarization of public schools;
• In 1989, when asked how ‘Pedagogy of the Oppressed’ (1968) would still
be possible, Freire replied: understanding education in favor of the
permanent emancipation of human beings as one that makes history.
 Freire’s reflection
• “[…] because it is historical, taking place in history and being lived by
historical beings who, in doing so, in a certain way, remake themselves,
that the ways of putting into practice the pedagogy of the oppressed as
well as that of the oppressor vary in time and in space. […] fundamental
[…] the need for progressive political-pedagogical leaders to detect the
levels at which [social] class fight is taking place in this or that society.
These are the levels that explain the ‘current state’ of education here or
there” (adapted from FREIRE, 2000a, p. 72, free translation).
 First words
• Alves; Reis (2021): analysis of militarization of public schools in Brazil;
• some characteristics, setbacks and threats that such policy represents for Brazilian education;
• relevance of the Freirean complaint/announcement – “changing of the world implies the
dialectization between denouncing a dehumanizing situation and announcing its overcoming,
[…], our dream” (adapted from FREIRE, 2000b, p. 37, free translation)
• pessimistic analysis of the present, fundamental aspects for building a “beautiful school,
focused on critical social awareness and democratic society, [...] main traits are joy,
seriousness in appropriation and recreation of knowledge, class solidarity, love, curiosity and
questioning” (adapted from FREIRE, 2019a, p. 60, free translation).
 Freire's scientific production and combative
militancy
• invaluable contribution to thinking about Brazilian public education;
• life marked by coherence of purposes;
• his work presents important subsidies to guide praxis of those who fight in
defense of public, free and socially referenced quality schools;
• democratic principles of the Federal Constitution (BRASIL, 1988);
• committed to the upbringing of the oppressed.
 Freirean thought
• key to understand social, political, educational issues until nowadays;
• presents contributions to critical interpretation of the process of militarization of public schools
in Brazil;
• conceptions of subject, education, society; social function of school; nature and specifics of
teaching; the relationships between educators, students, families and community; democratic
management of education;
• affection, joy, loveliness and beauty; autonomy; authority and authoritarianism; citizenship and
citizen school; objectification; culture of silence; democracy; dialogue; emancipation;
Democratic management; humanization/dehumanization; insertion/adaptation; world reading;
oppressed/oppressor; strictness; “limit situations”.
 Relationship between education and
democracy
• one of structuring bases of Paulo Freire's thought;
• permeates his work from his earliest writings, greater emphasis on Education and Brazilian
present;
• term “democratic school management”, is not recurrent in Freire's writings, does not mean that the
theme has not been explored;
• few passages in which the idea of democratic management appears explicitly, punctually and
directly, writings allow us to identify the existence of a Freirean conception of democratic
management;
• no way to understand democratic management in isolation or displaced from the totality of Freire's
thought.
 DEMOCRATIC INEXPERIENCE:
A PAST THAT IS NOT OVER?
• Freire (2019b) demonstrates that the historical development of our country took place within negative
conditions for democratic experiences and proposed an exercise in apprehending the roots of
Brazilian education, discussing “one of its strongest marks, always present and always willing to
flourish, in the comings and goings of the process: our democratic inexperience” (p. 90, free
translation);
• Brazilian colonization: exploratory and predatory, slaveholding basis, relationships based on tutelary
molds, mandonism, power of colonizers, relations of submission of the colonized, forbidden to speak;
• “we import the structure of the democratic national state, without any prior consideration of our
context” (p. 106);
• such inauthenticity justifies the failure of the attempt.
 DEMOCRATIC INEXPERIENCE:
A PAST THAT IS NOT OVER?
• democratic inexperience still a characteristic of Brazil;
• Demonstrations: some groups demanded military intervention and closure
of National Congress and Federal Supreme Court, other threats to
democratic institutions;
• important to reiterate that the historical upbringing of our country was
permeated by complex processes that caused profound consequences in
the formation of our democratic mentality.
 DEMOCRATIC INEXPERIENCE:
A PAST THAT IS NOT OVER?
• every governmental strategy has a context that supports its decisions, choices and paths;
• Public Policies: important to understand relationship with State;
• characterizes set of permanent institutions that make possible the action of a
Government through programs and projects demanded by social groups, presented as
being of interest to society;
• important to reflect on the relationship between State, Government and Public Policies,
“process of defining public policies for a society reflects the conflicts of interests, the
arrangements made in the spheres of power that permeate the institutions of the State
and society as a whole” (HOFLING, 2001, p. 38, free translation).
 DEMOCRATIC INEXPERIENCE:
A PAST THAT IS NOT OVER?
• Freire's propositions always start from a critical reading of reality, based on a
conjunctural and historical approach;
• PECIM (National Program of Civic-Military Schools, free translation);
• governments of Silva (2003-2010) and Rousseff (2003-2016), formulation and
implementation of policies for social inclusion;
• social advances, social movements, educators and other progressive segments gained
courage to defend that citizenship is based on democratization of access to education;
• rupture of democratic institutionality caused by 2016 parliamentary coup reiterated the
impossibility of a class conciliation policy.
 DEMOCRATIC INEXPERIENCE:
A PAST THAT IS NOT OVER?
• Rousseff's impeachment set precedents for threats to social rights guaranteed by the Federal Constitution;
• numerous setbacks were consummated to dismantle public policies;
• Temer: agenda of setbacks in the social field;
• platform called “A bridge to the future”, put into practice an absolutely different program;
• based on the idea of ​minimal, lean and supposedly efficient State;
• two years: damage to social development achieved over more than a decade;
• approval of Constitutional Amendment nº 95/2016: tax regime that limits investments for twenty years;
• Education: ‘death’ of ‘National Education Plan (2014-2024, free translation), impossibility of expanding
investments.
 DEMOCRATIC INEXPERIENCE:
A PAST THAT IS NOT OVER?
• 2018: Bolsonaro, far-right politician, candidate for the influential group
known as the BBB bench (“cattle, bullet and Bible”, free translation),
representatives linked to agribusiness, military and religious;
• gained supporters and dubbed a “myth” for statements laden with prejudice
against women, blacks, indigenous, LGBTQIA+ population;
• anti-corruption speech and defense of conservative agendas such as non-party
school, criminalization of social movements, arming the population;
• elected president for the 2019-2022 term.
 DEMOCRATIC INEXPERIENCE:
A PAST THAT IS NOT OVER?
• Frigotto (2017, p. 29): “an organic and profound relationship between the reasons that led to the
2016 coup, and the affirmation of ultra-conservative theses on the social and political level and in
the junction of politics with religious fundamentalist moralism” (free translation);
• neoconservative movements inscribed in neoliberal context, capital restructuring;
• Freitas (2018a, p. 909): Brazilian “new right”, Bolsonaro’s government constituted by combining
conservative, liberal and authoritarian nuclei;
• “the public policies of the current phase will be marked, therefore, by these centers of power and
their multiple relationships” (free translation);
• these forces made possible rise of Bolsonaro, composed government with representatives of these
segments, strengthening the discourse against minority groups.
 DEMOCRATIC INEXPERIENCE:
A PAST THAT IS NOT OVER?
• Bolsonaro elected with slogan “Brazil above all, God above everyone”
(free translation);
• motto proves country elected political project that violates principle of
secularism of State (article 19 of Federal Constitution);
• Almeida (2019): Bolsonaro's victory interpreted in context of national and
international resurgence of the “conservative wave” (free translation):
liberal, regulatory, punitive and intolerant.
 DEMOCRATIC INEXPERIENCE:
A PAST THAT IS NOT OVER?
• current president won elections with considerable support from poorest population, ended up joining
the winning speech, focusing on fight against corruption, welcoming moralistic and messianic
speech;
• oppressed have chosen a project, their interests are not included;
• immersed in intransitive, naive consciousness, point of reaching an ontological-ideological
contradiction, manifested by the vote;
• denied their condition of oppressed, inauthenticity;
• adhered to the ideology of the oppressor, does not represent spaces of possibilities to reach the
condition of being more;
• fear of freedom (adapted from Paludo, Santos and Taddei, 2019, p. 402).
 DEMOCRATIC INEXPERIENCE:
A PAST THAT IS NOT OVER?
• first year of Bolsonaro’s government: dismantling, extinction of ministries and secretariats since Temer’s
administration;
• justified by cost reduction;
• Ministries of Culture, Social Development, Labor, among others;
• reorganization of Ministry of Education (MEC): extinction of Secretariat for Continuing Education, Literacy,
Diversity and Inclusion (SECADI), suppress fundamental debates for educational, president shows little (or no)
affection (human rights, ethnic-racial relations, gender issues);
• Twitter post: “Minister of Education dismantles diversity secretariat and creates literacy folder. To train citizens
prepared for the job market. The opposite focus of previous governments, which purposefully invested in the
formation of minds enslaved to the ideas of socialist domination” (free translation);
• preparation of a docile, low-cost workforce, detriment of critical, liberating and emancipatory education (Freire).
 DEMOCRATIC INEXPERIENCE:
A PAST THAT IS NOT OVER?
• regard to education: “the content and teaching method need to be changed.
More math, science and Portuguese, without indoctrination and early
sexualization” (free translation);
• “one of the greatest evils today is the strong indoctrination” (free
translation);
• mockery, disqualification of teachers explicit in government plan, evident
in its management.
 DEMOCRATIC INEXPERIENCE:
A PAST THAT IS NOT OVER?
• Freire (1997): “one of the tricks of certain authoritarians whose speech
could well defend that a teacher is an aunt and, the better behaved, the
better for the upbringing of their nephews, is the one that speaks clearly
that the school is an exclusive space for pure teaching and pure learn. Of
teaching and learning so technically treated, so well cared for and
seriously defended from the political nature of teaching and learning that
makes the school the dreams of those who want to preserve the status quo
(FREIRE, 1997, p. 13, free translation)”.
 DEMOCRATIC INEXPERIENCE:
A PAST THAT IS NOT OVER?
• covid-19 pandemic: contempt for science;
• Bolsonaro known worldwide for anti-intellectualism and science denialism speeches and
practices;
• dissemination of distorted or false statements;
• health professionals, scientists and part of population received news related to negligence of
federal government in fight against covid-19;
• neglect with number of deaths; the numerous statements attacking or discrediting health
professionals, the Unified Health System (SUS) and science; frequent dissemination of false
information related to the pandemic; not implementing a national policy to fight the virus.
 DEMOCRATIC INEXPERIENCE:
A PAST THAT IS NOT OVER?
• education affected by federal government's failure to comply with the
principle of cooperation and assume, as defined by the Law of Directives
and Bases for National Education (9,394/1996), the planning of
educational policies in articulation with states and municipalities;
• absence of effective proposals by MEC resulted in a complex scenario, in
which federative entities had to develop and manage their educational
policies without effective support from the federal government.
 DEMOCRATIC INEXPERIENCE:
A PAST THAT IS NOT OVER?
• omission contributes to regional disparities, worsens inequalities;
• selective omission: neoliberal, hegemonic, conservative and authoritarian
projects are following course at accelerated pace during a pandemic;
• militarization of public schools, the reform of Secondary Education, the
implementation of the National Common Curricular Base (BNCC) and
home education(ALVES, REIS, SILVA; 2020 ).
 THE NATIONAL PROGRAM OF CIVIC-
MILITARY SCHOOLS
• neoliberal, neoconservative and authoritarian ideas in last decade threatens achievement of
democratic and humanizing education project;
• Freire's consideration of a critical reading of the mid-1967 scenario presents analytical key
to situate such contemporary educational projects;
• feature of our education: emphasizing in naive positions, leave us on the periphery of
everything we deal with. Little, or almost nothing, that leads us to more inquisitive, more
restless, more creative positions. Everything, or almost everything, leading us,
unfortunately, on the contrary, to passivity, to merely memorized “knowledge”, which,
without requiring us to elaborate or re-elaborate, leaves us in a position of inauthentic
wisdom (adapted from FREIRE, 2019b, p. 126, free translation).
 THE NATIONAL PROGRAM OF CIVIC-
MILITARY SCHOOLS
• does not foresee creation of new military schools, process of militarization of state
and municipal schools;
• militarized school: pre-existing public school, radically modified as result of
agreements with military institutions;
• Federal Decree mentions “adoption of a model of school management based on
military schools” (BRASIL, 2019), rupture with principle of democratic
management of public education, regulated by article 206 of the Federal
Constitution of 1988, reaffirmed in article 3 of the LDB/1996 and recommended in
article 2 of the National Education Plan 2014-2024 (Law 13.005/2014).
 THE NATIONAL PROGRAM OF CIVIC-
MILITARY SCHOOLS
• MEC published a document that detailed rules to be met by students,
teachers and other education professionals;
• disregards the territorial extension of Brazil, cultural diversities and
regional inequalities, specificities, challenges and needs of each school;
• language used compares school context to that of barracks, appreciation of
obedience to the detriment of the autonomy of subjects, leads to inquire
about the role of the school in the sense of exercising domestication.
 Freirean perspective
• “Domestication can be defined as a process through which a passive
consciousness of submission is created both to people and to a system,
whether social, economic or educational. Although it constitutes a
personal attitude of acceptance without questioning one's own life and
reality, it implies a subjection to a certain established social order, taking
it as definitive and permanent and, therefore, immutable (ROSSATO,
2019, p. 154).
 Freirean perspective
• For Freire (2019a, p. 63), “the school needs to be a living space democratic, where
all questions are taken seriously, a privileged space for educational action and a
healthy pluralism of ideas”. Freirean education is conceived as an act of love and
courage, which must be fostered by debate and analysis of reality and be at the
service of the humanization of subjects. Freire (2019b, p. 127) teaches us that
“democracy and education democracy are both founded, precisely, on the belief in
man. From this perspective, the author criticizes the proposition of “packages”,
manuals or guides addressed to teachers and points out that one of the connotations
of authoritarianism is the total disbelief in the possibilities of others” (free
translation).
 Main reference
• ALVES, M .F , REIS, L. Militarização de Escolas Públicas: Reflexões á
Luz da Concepção Freireana de Gestão Democrática da Educação Rev.
Bras. Polít. Adm. Educ. - v. 37, n. 2, p. 810 - 831, mai./ago. 2021.
Available: https://seer.ufrgs.br/rbpae/article/view/113221/64404