Brazilian Export Commodities: A Breakdown for American Markets

 

Overall, the system of colleges established since the turn of the century offered courses in economics, agriculture, chemistry, and technical design.

Nonetheless, in a slavocratic society like Brazil, where rural activities were left to the lowest layers of the population, the establishment of professional colleges with their technical approach to knowledge was not only viewed as an unnecessary measure, but also as contradicting the tenets of Scholasticism, Brazil's dominant intellectual tradition. These early initiatives to establish professional studies of agricultural labour quickly failed; not unexpectedly, the failure was mostly owing to a shortage of students. Throughout the century, the economy's largely agrarian focus, founded on slavery, hampered technical education. Even if these professional colleges had thrived, they would have remained isolated from the other levels of education provided by provincial governments. In short, the first attempt to implement professional teaching of agricultural labour in the early nineteenth century resulted in a network of educational institutions that was fractured both vertically and horizontally, as several regionally-based education systems emerged, albeit briefly, in place of a single national system.

To address Brazil's educational deficit, Menezes e Souza recommended a reform of the school system, the primary goal of which was to awaken people's interest in mechanical and industrial arts in all of its forms.440 The author contended that while the United States aimed to maximize natural resources through social education, the Portuguese in Brazil instilled a mentality of complacency, rendering natural forces dormant.441 A first step toward such a social reform was the establishment of new syllabi aimed at developing the study of practical, empirical, and applied knowledge from an early age; in short, to develop 'knowledge which had an application to commerce, agriculture, and all the professions upon which the life and progress of society depends'. Menezes e Souza saw the agricultural sector's importance in the political economy of the United States as a first-order example; it was an empirical case that demonstrated how critical the establishment of agricultural institutions was for the development of a country whose economy was based on agricultural production. To illustrate his point, the author highlighted two of about thirty cases: the agricultural school in Lansing, Michigan, and the'modernissima' agricultural school in 'Darmouth' [sic].450 According to Menezes e Souza's assessment, agricultural schools in the United States started in the mid-1860s. Their rise was significantly aided by a federal government decree dated 1862 that mandated the endowment of lands on which they would construct their structures and fields.451 These schools were relevant because they provided theoretical knowledge and practical training in agriculture on an equal footing; they hosted agricultural conferences on a regular basis; and they were well-equipped with laboratories, equipment, and the necessary open space to introduce students to the practical application of this science.452

Menezes e Souza, like many other liberal thinkers at the time, expressed concern about Brazil's educated population's reliance on state bureaucracy and public administration for job possibilities. 

He pointed out, for example, that fazendeiros and other less well-off rural sectors preferred to see their sons attend high schools and colleges in cities, where they mostly devoted their time to an unproductive education that 'nourish[ed] the exclusive taste for theories and the deplorable habit of phrase-making'.443 More crucially, liberal philosophers such as Menezes e Souza believed that being skilled in 'oratory and philosophical disputes' was all that was required to advance in the state and its bureaucracy. Accordingly, one of the first points Menezes e Souza made in his study was to propose that the imperial state take on the role of guiding public education in a way that would 'kill the bureaucratic inclination'.444 Furthermore, the provinces would welcome this reform because they did not have the necessary budget to consider it.445 The state's engagement in education was also regarded as a critical component of reform in one of the most important, if not the most important, education programs of the second half of the century, created by Rui Barbosa and discussed below. However, Menezes e Souza's vision for social and educational reform stands out since it was one of the first attempts to advocate for Brazil's urgent need to reform the neglected agricultural sector, drawing on the United States' earlier experience.

The primary purpose of the lawmaker and the public administration in Menezes e Souza's scheme was to lure young Brazilians to the agriculture industry. 

However, this endeavor posed a threat to many of Brazilian society's institutional pillars, such as the whole educational system and its logic, which had to be reformed. The reconstruction of the educational superstructure had to begin with the teaching of theoretical and practical agricultural knowledge in primary school.447 Agricultural schools, similar to those founded in the United States, had to be developed in Brazil in order to foster an interest in agricultural studies while also creating technically trained people for the agricultural sector.448 The instruction of industrial arts and techniques was also necessary to promote the virtuous circle of developing the agricultural sector, the industrial activity that resulted from it, the development of productive forces, and the attraction of foreigners to Brazil. Menezes e Souza's program aimed to provide the agricultural industry with cutting-edge machinery, technological knowledge, and know-how brought from overseas.