Objectives

For centuries, tradition defined the aims of secondary schools, and curricular changes were relatively slow in developing. The tripling of enrollments, the wider socioeconomic grouping of pupils, the increase in organized agriculture, commerce, industry, and labor, and the evolving concepts of democracy and democratic action are all factors contributing to changes in the role of the secondary school.

Chapter I of the Secondary Education Organic Law outlines basic intent for secondary schools. They are to build upon the foundations taught in primary schools, develop an insight into the principles of patriotism and humanism, and provide a basis upon which additional learning may be acquired. Chapter IV and V of the law deal with physical education and military education and in each instance, the law requires qualified males to receive instruction. Article 21 of chapter VI makes it clear that the study of religion is an integral part of the secondary school curriculum and that the content of the instruction is to be fixed by appropriate ecclesiastical authority.

In the realm of moral and civic responsibilities, each school is obligated to instruct its students concerning the destiny of man, the problems of the Brazilian people, and the mission of the Brazilian people in relation to that of other peoples. Principles for developing moral`ity, discipline, and a personal sense of responsibility are detailed in the law. Stress is given to programming activities to provide an environment for the development of Brazilianism and civic responsibility. Specific courses, such as Brazilian history and geography, with their emphasis on vital national issues, are intended to develop a sense of patriotism.

The basic law provides for a system of counseling. To date, counseling functions have been somewhat limited. As the larger schools employ counselors, vocational and personal counseling-as distinct from academic counseling, since the curriculum is prescribed-is becoming more important. The pupil's school history, maintained in booklet form, may be used for counseling purposes.

Beyond the aims defined in law are those of Brazilian educators as revealed in their educational literature. It is apparent that objectives are being redefined and that educators in general are responding to the challenge presented by the reappraisal. A more critical analysis of pupil needs, aptitudes, and desires is being made. Some thought is being given to permit local adaptations in the curriculum.

Experimentation at research centers, institutes of education, and experimental schools is producing new ways to improve schools. It is expanding school objectives and leading to curricular changes.

Cycles of Instruction

The present organizational pattern of the ginásio and colégio was established by the Secondary Education Organic Law, appearing on April 9, 1942 as Decree-law No. 4,244. This law, which is claimed to be resulting in more uniformity among secondary schools, established the same cycle pattern for all intermediate schools-a basic course of 4 years followed by an advanced cycle of 3 years. In the classical schools, the 4-year course is the ginásio program and the advanced program is the colégio curriculum. The latter has two programs, the scientific and the classical.

The basic and the advanced cycles are akin in objectives, function, curriculum, and type of pupil enrolled. In many instances, the same building contains both cycles and the same faculty teaches both groups of pupils. Some localities have coeducational schools; others have separate schools for girls and boys. Coeducational schools usually offer domestic science for girls in the 3d and 4th grades of the ginásios and give special emphasis to the personality and mission of the woman in the home.

The 4-3 cycle is intended to facilitate articulation by opening the way for lateral transfer from one type of secondary school to another and for more streams of admission to higher levels of schooling. Law No. 1,821 of March 12, 1953 authorizes such transfer and opportunities for promotion. For the first time, the student could exercise increased freedom of choice at advanced levels without serious penalty because of the type of secondary school he had attended. Although the ginásios and colégios provide the main sequence of academic studies for admission to the university, they now are not the only means for advancement to an institution of higher learning.

Admission Requirements

The candidate for entrance to the ginásio or first cycle, must be a graduate of the elementary course. He is required to demonstrate by means of entrance examination that he has the intellectual aptitude for the more advanced schooling. He must be 11 years of age before the 31st day of July following the entrance examination. Vaccination is required and the pupil must be free of contagious disease. The entrance examination is given twice a year-in December and February. Subject-matter areas include Portuguese, mathematies, geography, and history.

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The examination in Portuguese consists of questions in grammar, assorted passages of printed material to be edited, and a 15-line excerpt from the writings of a contemporary Brazilian author which the pupil writes from dictation. Ten questions involving simple problems in arithmetic are asked in the mathematics test. About 40 questions are asked on Brazilian geography and history. The written part of the examination allows 90 minutes each for Portuguese and mathematics and 60 minutes for each of the other subjects. The examiner for each subject is given a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 15 minutes for oral interrogation.

Matriculation in the colégio, or second cycle, is dependent upon completion of the ginásio or of some other type of intermediate program. If the candidate has a deficiency in a subject-matter area, he is required to take the course or courses not completed.

Pupils in secondary schools are classified as regular pupils (alunos regulares) or auditors (alunos ouvintes). The latter are enrolled for the purpose of erasing deficiencies in their records.

Enrollment Trends

The upward trend in number of ginásios and in their teachers and pupils from 1943-54 is reflected in Table 10. There were almost two-and-a-half times as many ginásios in 1954 as in 1943, with slightly more than two-and-a-half times as many pupils enrolled. The most impressive increase in numbers of pupils occurred from 1954 to 1956 when initial enrollments climbed from 463,687 to 537,096. As shown in Table 11, presenting 1956 comparative figures for the various types of Brazilian secondary schoools, this latter number represents approximately 65 percent of the pupils initially enrolled in all the country's secondary schools that year. Thus, in terms of enrollment, the ginásio is the most popular type.

Figures pertaining to the colégio also show increases since 1943. After passage of the Secondary Education Organic Law in 1942, the number of pupils enrolled in the scientific course increased from 18,495 in 1943 to 58,588 in 1954 and in the classical course from 3,417 to 9,801 during the same period (table 12). About 10 percent of the total number of secondary school students enter the colégios. About one-fourth of those entering the colégios graduate.

Main reasons for dropouts appear to be financial (inability to pay fees and need for gainful employment), lack of interest, and academic failure. Although tuition scholarships are available to stu

Table 9.-Number of ginásios and teachers, and number of students registered, enrolled, attending, promoted, and graduated: 1943, 1948, 1953, and 19541

1 Figures drawn from: Ministério da Educação e Cultura. Sinopse Retrospectiva do Ensino no Brasil1871-1954. Rio de Janeiro: Serviço de Estatística da Educação e Cultura, Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística, 1956. p. 17.

Table 10.-Number of secondary schools, teachers, and students, by type of school: 1956 1

1 Figures drawn from: Ministério da Educação e Cultura. Sinopse Estatística do Ensino Médio-1956. Rio de Janeiro [no date]. p. 7.

2 Figure rounded off.

dents proving need, youth in lower income groups find it difficult to obtain necessary additional support to sustain themselves while in a pupil status.

Curriculum

The program of studies for secondary schools, as outlined in the basic law, tends to concentrate in languages, sciences, and philosophy. It requires 23 to 28 hours of class work per week.1 The list of courses

1 Ministério da Educação e Cultura. Lei Orgânica do Ensino Secundário e Legislação Complementar. Rio de Janeiro: Departmento de Imprensa Nacional, 1955. p. 328-329.

and the hours per week are shown in tables 12 and 13 for the colégio and ginásio respectively. Mathematics and Portuguese receive the greatest time allotment with an average of 3 hours per week for the entire 7 years.

An outline is available for each subject in the curriculum. For example, the outline for the Brazilian history taught in the first year of the ginásio is as follows: (1) Discovery; (2) the indigenous Brazilian, his customs and his first contacts with Europeans; (3) colonization, the captaincies, and the governor general; (4) geographical expansion, including exploration parties; (5) defense of the country, including the fight against the French and the Dutch; (6) manifestations of National sentiment; (7) the Brazilian Kingdom; (8) Independence; (9) Imperial Brazil; and (10) Republic of Brazil, including the contemporary phase.

In the second year, American history is taught in the following sequence: (1) America before Columbus; (2) discovery, exploration, and conquest of America; (3) Spanish colonial America; (4) English colonial America; (5) Portuguese colonial America; (6) the USA, its development; (7) Hispanic-American Nations—their emancipation; (8) independent Brazil; (9) Nations of the New World—their development in the 19th Century; and (10) contemporary America.

Table 11.-Number of colégios and teachers, and number of students registered, enrolled, attending, promoted, and graduated. 1943, 1948, 1953, and 19541

1 Figures drawn from: Ministério da Educação e Cultura. Sinopse Retrospectiva do Ensino no Brasil1871-1954. Rio de Janeiro: Serviço de Estatística da Educação e Cultura, Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística, 1956. p. 18.