The Pedagogical Thinking of José Pedro Varela and its Influence on the Building of the Uruguayan Educational System

Abstract

The article analyses the pedagogical thought of José Pedro Varela. Born in Montevideo, Uruguay, in 1845, Varela was a journalist and poet. From his youth he showed interest in the socio-political problems of his country. During a trip to Europe and the United States of America he became conversant with the educational reform initiated by H. Mann in the state of Massachusetts. In the same trip, he met D. F. Sarmiento, Argentinean educator, writer, and politician. Both men had a decisive influence on Varela. Varela’s ideas on education were expounded in The Education of the People and School Legislation. The first contains the theoretical basis that guided his educational reform in Uruguay: education for democracy, compulsory, free, and secular schooling. This thought was materialised in the Law on Common Education of 1877 that structured the national educational system. His untimely death in 1879 did not prevent the opportunity for developing and consolidating this reform.