Ideology of Brazilian National War College in the output of moral and civic education textbooks and anti-communism (1961-1980)

Abstract

The article shows how anti-communist ideology, forged by the Brazilian National War College, is plainly evident in textbooks. Based on an idea of a «defensivepreventive » offensive, the population was psychologically prepared to object to antagonistic social movements, believed to be dangerous, unpatriotic, and corrupting for the youth. The following paper analyzes some social, political, and economic overlaps which took place between the civilian and the military worlds during the period of re-establishing morality and civility into school syllabus. The study presents the history of Editora do Brasil, a major book publisher in the subject Moral and Civic Education, in which we can perceive the principles of the National Security Doctrine, during the 1960s and 1970s. We understand that, according to Goodson (1997), the curriculum can be seen as a socio-historical construction of school subjects, in which a human, ideological and, of course, material component is involved.

Keywords: History of school subjects, Moral and Civic Education, Brazilian National War College, Brazil.