This study is the result of analyzes and investigations carried out within the scope of the Study and Research Group on Culture and Educational Institutions – GEPCIE – dealing with the political history of secondary education in Brazil (DINIZ, 2020; SANTOS, 2021). The purpose of the study is to discuss the characteristics of the expansion of secondary education that occurred in the country, from 1942 to 1971, with an emphasis on regional inequalities. The period contemplated in the study covers the organization of secondary education, in 1942 (Organic Law on Secondary Education), when two cycles were established: the 4-year middle school and the 3-year high school that lasted until the 1st and 2nd grade Education Reform, established during the military dictatorship, in 1971 (Law 5,692/71), which eliminated the term secondary education from the Brazilian education system, converting the middle school into the final grades of the primary education level (compulsory education level lasting 8 years after elementary school) and the high school into second level education, of a mandatory vocational training nature. It also represents a period of growing intensification of the public secondary schools’ network expansion, with the creation and expansion of middle schools and high schools and an increased number of enrollments, and the opening of nighttime courses. This expansion enabled the gradual transformation of the prevailing nature of secondary education, going from training courses for the elites to training that could be accessed by the lower classes. However, this process occurred at a different pace in the various regions of the country, and was characterized by inequalities in its territorial, gender, and racial implementation. In 1939, there were 629 secondary education schools in Brazil, 530 private and 99 public. Almost a third of the schools were in the state of São Paulo (196), which also housed almost half of the country's public schools (43) (SCHWARTZMAN et al, 2000, p. 206). In 1938, there were only 143,289 students enrolled in secondary education, most of them in private institutions (29.28% in public schools and 70.02% in private schools). This situation began to change dramatically in the 1940s and 1950s. In 1945, there were 256,467 students enrolled in secondary education in Brazil (BRASIL, 1962). In 1964, 19 years later, enrollment had quadrupled, increasing to 1,368,177 students. (BRAZIL, 1964). This study is based on political history, and it aims at understanding the relationship between education and the State, seeing power and its manifestations not only as State sovereignty, but also as a social matter that affects private and collective subjects (REMOND, 2003; BARROS, 2005). The documentary sources used in this analysis were Yearbooks and Statistical Synopses, legislation, and dissertations and theses produced on the topic. The study points out the differentiation in the growth of the two secondary cycles and the regional inequalities between Brazilian states and within the states themselves, the divide between capital cities and the countryside, areas of greater and lesser economic and social development, and differences in the performance of political actors.

O presente trabalho é fruto das análises e investigações realizadas no âmbito do Grupo de Estudos e Pesquisas sobre Cultura e Instituições Educacionais – GEPCIE – tratando da história política do ensino secundário no Brasil (DINIZ, 2020; SANTOS, 2021). O objetivo desta comunicação é discutir as características da expansão do secundário ocorrida no país, no período de 1942 a 1971, com destaque para as desigualdades regionais. O período delimitado para o estudo recobre a ordenação do secundário, em 1942 (Lei Orgânica do Ensino Secundário), com o estabelecimento de dois ciclos: o curso ginasial de 4 anos de duração e o curso ginasial de 3 anos de duração até a Reforma do Ensino de 1° e 2° Graus, instituída durante a ditadura militar em 1971 (Lei 5.692/71), que eliminou o termo ensino secundário do ordenamento da educação brasileira, convertendo o curso ginasial em séries finais do ensino de 1° grau (nível de ensino obrigatório de 8 anos de duração a partir do primário) e o curso colegial em ensino de 2° grau obrigatoriamente profissionalizante. Refere-se, também, ao período de crescente intensificação da expansão da rede de escolas secundárias públicas com a criação e ampliação de ginásios e colégios e aumento das matrículas incluindo a abertura de cursos noturnos. Essa expansão possibilitou a transformação paulatina do cariz predominante no secundário de uma escola de formação de elites para uma escola de acesso maior às camadas populares. Contudo, esse processo ocorreu em ritmos diferentes nas diversas regiões do país caracterizando-se por desigualdades de oferta territorial, de gênero e de raça. Em 1939 havia 629 estabelecimentos de ensino secundário no Brasil, sendo 530 particulares e 99 públicos. Quase um terço das escolas estava no estado de São Paulo (196) que detinha quase a metade das escolas públicas do país (43) (SCHWARTZMAN et al, 2000, p. 206). Em 1938, enquanto havia 2.552.395 alunos matriculados no ensino primário no Brasil (81,86% em escolas públicas e 18,14% em escolas particulares), no ensino secundário havia somente 143.289 alunos matriculados sendo a maioria em instituições privadas (29,28% em escolas públicas e 70,02% em escolas particulares). Essa situação começou a se alterar profundamente nas décadas de 1940 e 1950. Em 1945 havia 256.467 alunos matriculados no ensino secundário no Brasil (BRASIL, 1962). Em 1964, 19 anos depois, o número de matriculados havia quadruplicado aumentando para 1.368.177 alunos. (BRASIL, 1964). O estudo fundamenta-se na história política que se volta para a compreensão das relações entre educação e Estado entendendo o poder e suas manifestações não só como soberania do Estado, mas como assunto social que afeta os sujeitos particulares e coletivos (REMOND, 2003; BARROS, 2005). As fontes documentais mobilizadas para a análise consistem em Anuários e Sinopses Estatísticas, legislação e dissertações e teses produzidas sobre o tema. O estudo aponta a diferenciação do crescimento dos dois ciclos do secundário e desigualdades regionais entre os estados brasileiros e internamente aos estados, o esquadrinhamento entre capital e interior, zonas de maior e menor desenvolvimento econômico social e diferenças no desempenho dos atores políticos.

The 1950s are a kind of "middle ages" in the contemporary history of Chile as a whole, overshadowed by the spectacular nature of the radical long '60s, a period marked by the acceleration of historical change, political and social conflict and the traditionally called "global planifications" (the Revolution in Freedom of the Christian Democratic governments led by Eduardo Frei Montalva, between 1964 and 1970, predecessor of the Chilean path to socialism, 1970-73, headed by Salvador Allende). In the field of the history of education, this perception also seems to be obvious: the Educational Planning of 1962, the Educational Reform of 1965, and the unfinished plans of the Unified National School in 1973 are initiatives of massive diagnosis and comprehensive change of the educational system which included proposals to transform secondary education into a democratizing and modernizing, moving it away from its criticized elitist tone inherited from the 19th century.
Against this backdrop, the purpose of this paper is to provide a perspective on the changes in Chilean secondary education during the 1950s, having three issues as analytical axes. Firstly, the reform called Liceo Único carried out in 1953 and its links, synchronization and divergences concerning the transformations that secondary education systems were experiencing in other parts of the world and Latin America. A second issue is the state promotion of student forms of organization through the installation and recognition of Student Centers and the encouragement of associative forms, a process that was not free of tensions regarding the risk of adult tutoring over young secondary students. In close connection with this issue, the third problem analyzed in this paper is the change of the student subject, based on transformations of both a quantitative order (among them, the significant increase in the participation of women in enrollment) and also regarding the new conception of adolescence and youth expanded in the post-war scenario.