BOURGEOIS SOCIETY AND EDUCATION IN THE XIX CENTURY: THE TRANSNATIONAL AND REFORMIST PERSPECTIVE OF RAMÓN DE LA SAGRA AND THE EDUCATION IN SPAIN

Abstract

INTRODUCTION. Under the pressure of the economic and political transformations that were taking place and with the settlement of the liberal and bourgeois State model, new social problems appeared. The imbalances between the different social classes became more evident, raising questions about its resolution. This being so, the thought that sought to find a new perspective to these developments was renewed; especially a new moral basis more adequate for human actions, and for this reason education had an essential role. The Saint-Simonian and proto-socialist orientation on the one hand, and the Pestalozzianum educational empiricist orientation, although founded on Kantian idealism, on the other, seemed to be for many the right course for social reform. Both orientations had opponents. But they also found some important resonances in Spain, like for example from Ramón de la Sagra, a moderate liberal who believed in the power of popular education, which he was constantly proposing while reporting on and advising about the reforms and school initiatives he observed in the U.S.A. (1835), or on his pedagogical travels in France, Belgium and The Netherlands. METHOD. An examination of his texts and innovative lectures. RESULTS. The analysis reveals that, beyond the well-informed know how that Pablo Montesino incorporated from England, other transnational sources of information about educational politics were accessible to the Spanish reformists. DISCUSSION. If we follow the steps of the curious and expertly observant traveller, we will acquire a much better understanding of some of the more relevant educational problems and developments of the XIXth century.