INTRODUCTION

The 1960s and 1970s were important in the expansion process of schooling in Brazil. Two laws that promoted the growth of school education in Brazil were enacted - the New National Education Guidelines and Basics Act (LDB- Lei de Diretrizes e Bases in Portuguese) no. 4.024/61 and, during the military dictatorship period, Law no. 5.692/71. The Education reforms of these decades modified the organization of Brazilian schools, especially the reform of Basic Education in 1971, with the creation of the Elementary and Middle Schools (Ensino Fundamental), which unified the old primary and secondary schools. Within the curriculum, this reform restructured school subjects by establishing subjects that would encompass various contents. Social Studies, one of the subjects created through the reform, integrated the contents of History, Geography, Moral and Civic Education (EMC- Educação Moral e Cívica in Portuguese) and Social Organization and Brazilian Politics (OSPB- Organização Social e Política do Brasil in Portuguese).

In Alfenas, a city in the south of Minas Gerais state, Brazil, the first public gymnasium was founded in the 1960s with City Hall funds. It was first called Inconfidência Gymnasium, and after becoming a state school, it was renamed Dr. Emílio Silveira. Based on the perspective that it is fundamental to know the trajectory of school expansion in other Brazilian regions beyond the large urban centers, considering the different regional characteristics of the country, this article aims to analyze the creation of the Gymnasium, some aspects of school practices, and History teaching through documents found in the institution archives and an interview with a teacher of the school⁵. To this end, the article is supported by studies on school culture and the history of school subjects, especially the propositions of André ^{Chervel (1990}), Dominique ^{Julia (2001}), Antonio Viñao Frago (2001), and Augustín Escolano ^{Benito (2017}).

With the concept of school culture, ^{Julia (2001}) sought to develop studies that addressed not only the norms, intentions and objectives proposed to the school, but to analyze school practices and routine. In this sense, by broadening the analysis - from intentions to practices - the author porposes to shed light on the internal workings of the school, showing the resistances, tensions, and agreements among school actors, understanding it as a conflictive political field (^{JULIA, 2001}, p.12).

School is understood as an institution that produces a specific culture, formed from the relation between the prescribed norms, the daily practices, and the different cultures which circulated in the institution, dialoguing with society. Thus, the need to insert it in its historical-social context to observe, for instance, the extent to which the official regulations of political powers were/are in fact put in to practice at schools. After all, between "intentions" and "results", there is a school routine orchestrated by multiple subjects, full of subjective intentions (^{JULIA, 2001}, p. 11).

However, for Viñao ^{Frago (2007}, p. 85), school culture has two inseparable aspects, "on one hand official, explicit programs, what the school is in charge of teaching; on the other hand, the set of cultural effects, unpredictable ones, engendered by the school system in a largely independent way" (p.85). From this last aspect, the author defends to increasingly focus on the essential characteristic of school culture, that is, all "school life" - from ways of thinking and acting to school time and space. This conception approaches ^{Chervel studies (1990}, p. 184), for whom school system would not only form individuals "but also a culture that penetrates, shapes, changes the culture of global society". School is a space capable of producing a specific school culture only accessible through it (^{CHERVEL 1990}).

The archives of educational institutions are important sources of valuable documents for those aiming to analyze the ordinary school activities (^{Almeida Neto, 2014}; ^{Vidal, 2005}, 2007). However, according to Diana Vidal (2007, p. 64), it is important to observe that the school archives are not a historical archive, but often become "a deposit of documents that have already lost their legal validity and, therefore, have no value". Most documents preserved by educational institutions are administrative documents, student and staff records (^{VIDAL, 2005}). Observing how the files are organized, it is possible to understand it as a fruitful source for the History of Education, as the documents found allow the identification and analysis of the daily practices of institutions, their actors, and inter-relations.

Augustin Escolano ^{Benito (2017}) emphasizes that the archeology of education carried out through research in school archives allows us to find the material remains that were part of these educational institutions and help us "see" the school of the past (2017, p. 74). The author states that

[…] to understand the school, to understand and interpret what took and takes place within schools walls, as well as the culture invented and recreated in them, it is necessary to insert itself in the daily life of institutions, to immerse into the systematic observation of what really takes place within the spaces called classrooms (^{BENITO, 2017}, p. 35).

In addition to school archive sources, the analysis of teachers' memories contributes to the representation of these people based on their experiences, practices, and the constitution of school cultures, as presented by Antônio S. de ^{Almeida Neto (2010}, p. 180).

In their daily activities and in the established relations and conflicts, in and out of school, teachers formulate their notions on their daily activities. It is in the relationship between these subjects and their objects that these formulations of practice are conceived, their conceptions about experience, a level of knowledge established in the form of representations about reality, teaching, their potentialities, projects, possibilities of socioeconomic transformation, the permanence of ideals, conservation, new perspectives, daydreams and disappointments, restoration and skepticism.

Thus, it is necessary to emphasize the relation between memory and experience, by understanding the experience as a source of knowledge of the past, which allows to understand "the construction of knowledge about school and formation in general" (^{BENITO, 2017}, p. 24-25).

The testimonies of various school actors allow us to analyze the construction of knowledge of a given educational institution by deepening the research on "school subjects, school material culture, practices and representations, the history of education" (^{ARAGÃO, TIMM, KREUTZ, 2013}, p. 30). In this sense, although incomplete, the records kept by Inconfidência Gymnasium and the teacher’s interview have constituted testimonies of the past, traces of the practices in this school.

The memories of her teaching days at Alfenas Gymnasium indicated representations of the practice and culture developed in that school. According to Alessandro ^{Portelli (1997}, p. 16), when constructing life narratives, it is necessary to observe that people's experiences deal with individual memories shaped by the social environment they live, "memory is an individual process, occurring in a dynamic social environment, using instruments which are created and shared socially" (1997, p. 16). Thus, the testimonies evidence "the narrators' effort to seek meaning in the past and shape their lives, and to put the interview and narration in their historical context" (^{PORTELLI, 1997}a, p. 33).

Thus, school memories are fundamental sources for the investigation of ordinary practices, teachers' knowledge and practices, teacher-student relations, resistance, accommodation, and adherence to governmental impositions. The practices and experiences of History teaching in the old Inconfidência Gymnasium were therefore analyzed as belonging to a specific school culture, formed in the relation between the prescribed norms and the practices constituted in the school routine. Interpreting this routine from the contribution of the school culture is as an important exercise for a historical understanding of the internal relations of this institution.

To analyze the expansion of school education in the city of Alfenas, the memoir published in 1991 by a local teacher, Aspásia Vianna Manso Vieira Ayer, was used as a source⁶. In search of vestiges of the gymnasium routine, few copies of each type of document were found in the school archive, without a specific ordering. When analyzing these documents, we tried to relate them to understand possible ruptures and continuities in the school practices over the years. The interview with a teacher who taught History, Geography, EMC, and OSPB classes at the school allowed us to know the narratives and representations of her experiences.

The article sought to situate Alfenas local history within national history by analyzing its peculiar aspects as well as those shared by it with others. As Cynthia Greive ^{Veiga (2012}) discusses, the perspective of a local, regional history is based on an approach that establishes the cut of a given locality, shifiting the analysis to the specificities of social relations established in a given spatial configuration. Understanding the history of education in the countryside of Minas Gerais is a way of giving another look at the field, which expands research to non-addressed aspects in national histories (^{VEIGA, 2012}). Thus, this study aimed to question the history of Brazilian education in a regional and local perspective, through the recovery of educational experiences and documental sources of the city.

THE SCHOOL EXPANSION PROCESS AND THE INCONFIDÊNCIA GYMNASIUM

The process of school expansion intensified in Brazil in the 1950s due to several factors, among them the struggle of social movements that demanded the expansion of Middle School and the defense of intellectuals and politicians who advocated the role of education for Brazilian "modernization"⁷. Until then, school, which assumed a prominent place in society as a legitimate space of education and socialization of the new generations, was denied to a large part of the population (^{FREITAS; BICCAS, 2009}, p. 185). The LDB no. 4.024/61 answered part of societal claims by establishing that all High School courses would allow the access to Higher Education⁸. Actions resulting from the LDB/61 intensified school expansion but maintained the distinction between primary and secondary education separated by an admission examination⁹.

After the establishment of the military dictatorship in 1964, two laws profoundly changed the organization of school education, curriculum, and school subjects. In 1969, Moral and Civic Education (EMC) became a compulsory discipline through law no. 869. Two years later, in 1971, law no. 5.692 created the mandatory 8-year-long Elementary and Middle school (Ensino Fundamental) - which restructured the school system by extinguishing the admittance exam and unifying the primary and secondary school - and the technical high schools. The implementation of Elementary and Middle school required the creation of new facilities to serve the growing student population. It also imposed significant changes to existing schools in a short period of time, trying to integrate school groups and gymnasiums, creating new shifts in the same school, establishing turns to the use of spaces and enrollments, increasing faculty and staff, besides expanding the physical space of some schools (^{FILGUEIRAS, TOLEDO, 2014}; ^{PEREZ, 2006}).

According to Maria do Carmo ^{Martins (2003}), by redefining the objectives of schooling and curricula, the reform implemented by law no. 5.692/71 marked a new organization of power on school contents. The creation of Social Studies as a content and its unfoldingas a subject, an area of study and activity, changed the field of subjects connected to Humanities. Moreover, in the process of curriculum implementation by Brazilian states - responsible to apply the law - the interpretations happened differently. In Minas Gerais, the Education Department created the subject Social Integration for the 1^st to 4^th grades, and, within the area of Social Studies, they maintained History and Geography as specific subjects for the 5^th to 8^th grades.

The first public gymnasium in the city of Alfenas was created as a result of these educational reforms. Driven by the demand of Alfenas population, the Inconfidência Gymnasium was founded in 1962 as a private initiative, under the responsibility of the Educational Association of Alfenas, supported by local traders, farmers, and professionals, as well as representatives of the City Hall, which was responsible for providing the building to the new school. In the previous year, in a meeting in the municipal chamber, the Mayor reported that the Gymnasium building was initially intended for a school group¹⁰. The furniture, bought with money raised by the town Council, was donated by private individuals, local traders, and other institutions (^{AYER, 1991}, p. 20-21). In the following year, 1963, absorbed by the State government, the school became Alfenas State School (AYER, 1991, p. 21-24). This story is told in the memoirs A educação em Alfenas nas décadas de 60/70 (Education in Alfenas in the 60s and 70s), published in 1991 by Aspásia Vianna Manso Vieira Ayer, who, according to herself, played an important role in the construction and maintenance of many schools in the city.

In 1965, the school reached its full capacity. By that time, the expansion process started with funds raised by Adolpho Engel, coordinator of Regional Administration of the south of Minas Gerais, and by the National Plan of Education (PNE) (^{Ayer, 1991}, pp. 29-39). The PNE aimed to transfer funds from the Federal Government for the construction of schools in the states (^{AZANHA, 1993}, p. 75).¹¹

In 1974, with Law no. 5.692/71, the school became Dr. Emilio Silveira State School - Elementary and High School (Archive, School History, n.d.). According to ^{Souza (2008}), the creation of Inconfidência Gymnasium can be considered part of a school expansion movement that deepened throughout the 1960s in many cities far from the great urban centers. These cities will then get their first gymnasiums, institutions of great prestige and recognition. This happened with Dr. Emilio Silveira School, known as the "Estadual" (“State”), which soon became the regional model school.

The excerpt bellow was written by the school itself and sent to the station Radio Cultura of Alfenas to be read during the 1963 Independence Day Parade, on September 7^th, a year after its foundation:

In 1961 a group of public men from this city, inspired by highest purposes of providing their hometown with a service of great social benefit, founded the Alfenas Educational Association. An entity designed to create and maintain educational establishments in which the poor young man and the humble child could receive instruction and moral and civic training. Guided by this postulate, these enthusiasts of the education cause, after a lot of hard work, supported and incentivized by the fair and generous people of Alfenas, installed in this city a new education establishment: the INCONFIDÊNCIA GYMNASIUM, which gave a new rhythm and a different aspect to education. They began to provide classes, seeking to fit the molds of the New School, aiming to integrate its pupils in social life, in order to eliminate from learning the phenomenon of immediatism spirit and substitute it by a eminently SOCIAL, COMMUNITY character, in order to make the student useful to his FAMILY, SOCIETY, HOMELAND, and HUMANITY. [...] Recruiting new and well-qualified teachers, the INCONFIDÊNCIA GYMNASIUM managed, for a year, to fulfil its intents, notably as to the accessible education to young people and children of all social classes, including the privileged masses, and among these, the laborious, sacrificed and heroic working class (Archive, Single page).

Since its earliest years, the school has disseminated an image of a model to be followed by other schools in the city. Until today, it still preserves a past to which many Alfenas citizens of are proud. It is noteworthy that in the 1960s the school discourse was of an institution that educated all young people and children, including working-class ones. However, the school Dr. Emílio Silveira is remembered by the people of Alfenas as the institution where, for decades, the children of rich families in the city were educated. In this sense, a notebook with notes referring to the school cash flow of the 1960s, located in the archive, reported the names of those enrolled in the school and the professions of their parents, which included traders, pharmacists, shoemakers, drivers, farmers, factory workers, etc. This document challenges the built-up memory of an elitist school, as we can see that the first students were from multiple and distinct socioeconomic backgrounds.

The discourse of 1963 also indicates some points that could suggest aspects of school practice, such as the reference to New School - a movement begun in the 1950s and 1960s by Anísio Teixeira and other educators - with the objective of integrating students into social life, and the recruiting "new and well-qualified teachers", which could be indicate that teachers were not hired in that school without a University Teaching Degree, a characteristic of the time, as ^{Souza (2008}) emphasizes.

MEMORIES AND SCHOOL CULTURE

To evidence the daily aspects and practices at the Dr. Emílio Silveira State school, an interview with a schoolteacher who taught History and other subjects between the early 1970s and the 1990s at the institution was conducted. Mara¹² studied History at the School of Philosophy and Languages (FFL- Faculdade de Filosofia e Letras) in the city of Varginha, a private institution created in the 1960s in the region. In 1972, she took the examination and assumed the chair of History in the former "Scientific"¹³ high school at the Dr. Emílio Silveira State. Although she graduated in History, she also took the subjects of EMC and OSPB, as, according to her, these subjects were assigned to new teachers. But to teach them, she had to take a complementary course at the School of Philosophy Sciences and Languages of Machado, another private institution created at the time.

The work records of other faculty members who taught History in the school showed that many teachers studied in the History course of FFL in Varginha, but also in Social Studies and Pedagogy short courses. Some teachers had complementary training in Social Studies and Brazilian Social and Political Organization (OSPB) and presented the complementary exam in Moral and Civic Education (EMC)¹⁴.

Initially, Mara taught Geography classes as a substitute teacher, a fact that, according to her, was important for her later practice in History classes:

“I studied to death. But she [the teacher Mara substituted] was highly organized with localization and everything, so that helped me a lot. I mean Geography, because it is difficult to teach History and not to know Geography, because it is important to give at least the location and characteristics of that time when you teach History to the children. I had an excellent teacher in Varginha. I mean, in my History course we did not study Geography, but I had a teacher, an elderly lady, we had four classes a week with her, and two of them were Geography classes. Especially physical geography. Not mountain-chain geography, but political and physical characteristics. For instance, I am going to study Egypt. It is important to know a little about the Nile River and all that stuff, you know? So, to this extent, teaching Geography helped me a lot. I don’t forget that, because it is when we start teaching. [...] Teaching History, making people like History is heavily based on Geography.”

As stated previously, History and Geography were included to the area of Social Studies as separate subjects from the 5^th to the 8^th grades in Minas Gerais. By retaking the 1973 guidelines of Law no. 5.692/71, the Social Studies Teaching Programs of Elementary schools in Minas Gerais reported that the purpose of Social Studies would be the "formation of man and his integration into the national and global community, as a useful element to himself and to society" (^{MINAS GERAIS, 1973}, p. 25). However, although the State Council of Education of Minas Gerais claimed to follow the regulation of the Federal Council of Education n^o. 853/72 that established the common core for the curricula of the elementary school and indicated Social Studies as a field of study, in fact it prioritized to maintain the separation of the subjects, within the prescribed curriculum. The curriculum documents also established that the contents of OSPB and EMC would be treated in an unsystematic way, without being restricted into specific subjects, but integrated in History and Geography. Their contents would be systematized only in the 8^th grade. These data are important because they allow us to identify two procedures performed at the Dr. Emílio Silveira State school: the hiring of different teachers for History and Geography; and the purchase of textbooks for the two disciplines.

Mara recalls that the textbook adopted for Geography was written by David Márcio Santos Rodrigues, professor of Geography at UFMG (Federal University of Minas Gerais) and one of the authors of the Curricular Programs of Social Studies of Minas Gerais. He went to Alfenas twice, according to Mara. According to Selva Guimarães ^{Fonseca (1993}, p. 120), David Márcio Santos Rodrigues’s textbooks were widely used in the state of Minas Gerais. This is significant because, in May 1972, the same author/professor was one of the signatories of a document entitled "Contribution to the Teaching Reform", released by the Brazilian Association of Teachers of Geography, which defended the maintenance of History and Geography as "specific subjects"¹⁵. It is worth observing a possible intention of the curriculum authors to keep the subjects of Geography and History. But at the same time, it is necessary to question the fact that the same teachers often taught the subjects of Social Studies - History, Geography, EMC and OSPB - in the schools. In this sense, how would these contents be approached?

Mara's practice can help understand this question, as she has already emphasized the need of Geography in History teaching. Regarding the content organization, she states that she followed a course plan "according to someone who came from Belo Horizonte [capital of Minas Gerais state] representing the State Secretary of Education. So, she brought the state of Minas Gerais plans and we followed it". Mara remembers using the textbook, but she also studied extensively to supplement the information in the book:

“[…] because I used to read a lot, I looked for more information than I had in the book, because kids like to test us, especially new teachers. [...] So, I followed the classroom textbook, but I started buying books. I had many books, many collections so I could study. In those days, to know more, you resorted to Barsa or Delta encyclopedias. You had to. Today, we go to the Internet, right? (laughter) So, I always used textbooks.”

In her History classes, she emphasized World History.

“Well, to be honest, it was easier for me, I liked World History better. Brazilian History was difficult. Brazilian History was difficult for me because nobody had convinced me that that knowledge was real. To be honest, this Brazilian History teacher I had in Varginha did not really value it, from the arrival of the Portuguese, our lack of patriotism... Life, as we live it today. So, I was not a big enthusiast.”

The teacher's memories indicated a need for truth about Brazilian History, which was why she did not prioritize this content. Although she did not tell what she taught to each grade, it is interesting to note that in her narrative she departed from the official programs of MG, which guided Brazilian History contents in the 5^th and 6^th grades¹⁶.

Contents related to government achievements at the time were also reminded by the teacher:

“[…] [President] Médici started talking about the great homeland, in the homeland of the TransAmazon road, that thing ... My ex-students remember it [...] I brought a map of Brazil, (I did not have one that time, I went to the store to pick one up) a narrow tape like that, red, and I made the trajectory of the TransAmazon in the map. There was no way Brazil would not get big! And it would! Leaving the Atlantic and cross all the way to the other side (laughter). They would never forget it. Anyway, that is how they sold it to us. I could not be... facing the student, how could we be sure of what was to come? So, you must be very responsible with your student because their minds are free to accept anything. So, you must give them what is good, supposedly good. I remember.”

Addressing the actions of the military governments was part of the contents of EMC and OSPB subjects (^{FILGUEIRAS, 2006}). As she was guided by Minas Gerais programs, and because she taught both subjects plus History, it is possible to consider that these contents intersected her daily practice or in the process of remembering her practices.

The school had a Department of Social Studies that was supposed to coordinate the subjects of History, Geography, EMC, and OSPB. Mara was the head of this department in the 1980s, when she performed various activities, as she recalls: "Political campaigns, for example, when it was time for municipal elections. All the school had contact with the candidates through the Department of Social Studies."

The Civic Center and the marching band were remembered as important extra class activities held by the School. About them, she recalls:

“The coordination and Board were usually formed by high school students. They organized June Festivals, games, and sports events. Eventually, while I was still there, we ended it, because the students were giving too much attention to that and little attention to their obligations as students.

[...]

“When I arrived, in 1972, the best thing the State School had was the marching band. It was a very famous marching band. Wow, when the kids were in the 5th grade it was hard to join it. They preformed abroad; we brought many marching bands here. The parades were very beautiful.

[...]

So, we had these Independence Day Parades that "called out" the student ... the State School always liked it, but the marching band decayed. All the parades waited for our school band, but it disappeared.”

Teachers also organized theater plays and newspapers:

“The Literature teacher (and we had two of them), one of which I substituted, the History teacher, they were members of the Alfenas Theater. The Chemistry teacher was awesome! Occasionally, they fired up the kids to make a theater play. On Teachers’ Day, they roleplayed us. Once the girls roleplayed me teaching with my normal clothes, my manners, the way I walked into the school, you know. On Teacher's Day. But always pleasantly. [...] The literature teacher sometimes did it, for instance, among all 7^th graders, in the school patio...”

The activities described by the teacher were in accordance with the 1973 Programs of Minas Gerais, especially in relation to EMC, which should be approached as an activity in all grades of elementary school, especially in extracurricular activities (^{MINAS GERAIS, 1973}). It is noteworthy, however, that both the Civic Center and the marching band were already closed in the 1990s.

The teacher also remembers having concerns about issues considered ideological and possible persecutions:

“We separated things; we were also careful not to get into ideology... it was very hard. I had serious problems. Not actual problems! I knew it would be a problem, but I did not get into it. I had someone from the army, from the dictatorship, to be clear, attending my OSPB classes in high school. Here in the State School.

[...]

He would never finish school. He was in the 10^th grade, and about October and November he would disappear. Not next year, "I went to Machado to finish high school, I went somewhere else to finish it.". It was that thing. He was undercover, nobody knew it. Well, in the following year, he went to the 11^th grade, he looked really happy, but did not take the finals. Then, we put two plus two. Then, he told me himself. He said, "but you did not step out of the line, ma'am [...]." But I was highly recommended. I used to joke. This thing of students who do not finish the school year and come back in the following one... He participated in the classes, you know! But very discretely. Very discretely. I mean, he really wanted to... We were watched. But, thank God, I did not have any problems. Having to teach Moral and Civic Education until high school was not easy. So, we sometimes focused on the moral, a lot on patriotism, raising the flag. Many people criticized that, but no, it is good. It is a homeland. The homeland has moments, moments, and moments. So, we got by. But afterwards, thank God, I could quit the EMC and OSPB classes.

[...]

Here is the deal. It defended a lot the order, that the military could impose the order. I had three coworkers who came from Três Corações... they used to say: "hey, be careful with your questions." I did not know he was something. "But do not lead the student to questions." Specially because we are women, we should not make a fuss, we were mothers... there were times we even say we were cowards. But I could not... And I had colleagues, I had an English teacher colleague who lost a cousin studying at UFMG in Belo Horizonte, she was never found, she was never heard of again.... So, it happened, we used to hear it. But I never spoke. I heard he was an undercover agent afterwards, when we had freedom, shortly before the movement of Tancredo Neves, he told me so.

But after I heard it, as I told you, there were days when he moved forward a little bit. We had a conversation, there were other students who gave their opinions, but I always remembered that I had to measure my words, because we never know.”

The presence of a possible undercover agent in the classroom was a significant factor for the teacher, including the need to stay "in line" and follow the contents as indicated by the curriculum. At this point, the teacher indicates an approximation with the EMC that, according to her, would instigate "the love for the homeland", the moments of the homeland. Although nothing happened directly to her in the school, Mara knew about political prisoners, such as the UFMG student.

Mara’s memories allow us to analyze the representations of her practice as part of the school culture, as discussed by ^{Almeida Neto (2010}). The retired teacher emerged memories of the school and resignified her everyday experiences. According to Anne Marie ^{Chartier (2000}), Mara’s account takes us to her "ordinary deeds", to the knowledge of teaching. Her narrative allowed us to know the traces of school life in Emilio Silveira - such as the marching band, the Civic Center, theaters, and newspapers - as well as the marks of the teacher deeds and the knowledge acquired from her teaching experience, the adaptations and accommodations that showed distance and approximation with the political and academic spheres, as ^{Benito questions (2017}, p. 116).

ARCHIVES AND TRACES OF THE SCHOOL ROUTINE

The documents found at the Dr. Emílio Silveira State school were stored in the Principal's office and in the archive of the school, and showed different degrees of conservation, which is, irredeemably, a characteristic of school culture. In addition to the school cash flow already mentioned (referring to the socioeconomic conditions of the students), school minute books, a book of occurrences, and student newspapers were selected. These documents constituted an arsenal of sources and important information for the formulation of interpretation of the school, their routine (^{GATTI JÚNIOR, 2002}, p. 4) and the History teaching.

The 1973 Social Studies Elementary School Teaching Programs indicated that the contents of Social Studies - History, Geography, EMC, and OSPB - would support the "adequacy of young people's behavior to an era of rapid change"( ^{MINAS GERAIS, 1973a}, p. 4) . The purpose of Social Studies, as already indicated, would be "the formation of the citizen and their integration into the national and world community as a useful element to themselves and to the society in which they live" (^{MINAS GERAIS, 1973a}, p. 5). To do so, school education and, specifically, Social Studies, would lead students to acquire "values for the formation of the Brazilian man and citizen", through real behavior changes, through the "formation and development of desirable attitudes and basic abilities [...]" (^{MINAS GERAIS, 1973}, p. 25), and the "development of a national consciousness, structured by the knowledge of Brazil's origins, values, and cultural reality" (^{MINAS GERAIS, 1973a}, p. 6). Divided into three objectives - cognitive, intellectual, and affective - the Programs emphasized the development of interests, abilities, and feelings that fostered humanistic and civic formation among students, including the "appreciation of the role of each one in the integrated development of the country", "respect for local, state and national traditions and heritage", "personal attitudes and behavior inspired by the principles, moral, and spiritual values of Brazilian culture and society" (^{MINAS GERAIS, 1973a}, p. 7-8). Although the official programs of Minas Gerais indicated such prescriptive aspects for the training of students, school sources showed moments of acceptance and others of conflicts between school administrators, teachers, and students.

The occurrence book, from 1979 to 1986, allowed us to recognize some traces of the school routine and History, EMC and OSPB¹⁷ teaching, by highlighting possible internal dynamics in the classroom. The disciplinary warnings were mostly due to "indiscipline," "contempt," "attitudes that disturbed the normal course of the lesson," etc., as described on April 15^th, 1980, when two students of the 12^th grade, were warned for disturbing the "good course of the proposed content" during a Moral and Civic Education class. On September 30^th of the same year, there was another record, this time in History class, reporting that some students were considered undisciplined for talking during class. The teacher based her reprimand on school regulation, which did not allow indiscipline in the establishment. In another occurrence of that year, on October 1^st, the teacher reported two students for arguing and offending each other during History class. Some weeks later, on October 24^th, there was a new occurrence of indiscipline in OSPB and History classes. Two students fought during class and beat each other.

At the beginning of 1981, between February and May, two situations were reported during History classes: in the first, a student would have behaved badly in the development of the tasks and assaulted the teacher; in the second, some students were reported for indiscipline in class. The reports of the occurrences indicated a certain regularity of conflicts in the History, EMC, and OSPB classes, which lead us to perceive an unfriendly relationship with the teachers of these subjects.

It should be noted, however, that the occurrences also reported student transgressions in other subjects and even outside the classroom, such as blowing up a bomb at school, play truant, eating in class, not bringing school material, swearing, refusing to do the exercises, sleeping in the classroom, etc., which indicated traces of a conflicted daily life. Still in the occurrence book, on June 3^rd, 1980, the following report was found: "In the 10^th D classroom, the students gave a great collective boo to the Religious Studies teacher... after being called 'misfits'" (Archive, Book of Occurrences, page 7). In the same entry, the teacher gives her version of what happened: "It is not true that I called the 10^th D misfits or anything like that. I have been doing my best to captivate and motivate the students during my lessons" (Archive, Book of Occurrences, p. 7). What do these episodes tell us about school culture? The students were not just passive agents in that occasion once they presented their own version and confronting it with the teacher's. Such occurrences help to break the discourses that situate students as a captive audience to the teacher's incontestability. Relying on the notion that students were merely receivers of norms and prescriptions means denying, once again, that there is a big difference between "intentions" and "results."

A last occurrence reported, described on April 17^th, 1984, offers some important data to discuss the teaching of History in the institution:

The student [...], in the Brazilian History test, showed total lack of respect to the teacher and History of the country by playing and making (misplaced) humor for each question of the test, reason why I register this occurrence, with intention to awaken in him the seriousness of studying facts and figures of those who made and make our history (Archive, Book of Occurrences, page 55).

In addition to reporting another situation of indiscipline, this occurrence allows us to analyze a practice that integrates a tradition of History teaching, associating discipline (in the sense of good behavior) with the study of the great achievements and "heroes" of the nation. For the History teacher, who wrote the warning, the bad behavior in the classroom would be incompatible with the study of the History of the national martyrs. The very name of the foundation of the school, Inconfidência, refers to the process of the Conjuração Mineira (Minas Conspiracy) of 1789. Aspásia Ayer, in her already mentioned memoirs on the history of education in Alfenas, praises the name of the school, "because it would always remind us of our heroes, the first ones who fought so hard and suffered for our independence" (^{AYER, 1991}, p. 25). In this perspective, the role of History is to be an example, transmitting the legacy of our ancestors to the new generations, establishing civic and moral standards of behavior. The ideal citizens would be those who, knowing the history of their country, could solve the current problems, as suggested in the 1973 Programs.

In the following year, in a meeting minute of May 3^rd, 1985, teachers, parents, students, and members of the school management discussed the replacement of a canceled school day due to the death of President Tancredo Neves. In this discussion, debating whether it would be necessary to replace the classes, a History teacher stated that a replacement would not be necessary, as that event could be considered, in terms of "historical value", "a practical lesson and an escape from historical abstraction." Others addressed the civic aspect of the event:

The assembly, after hearing all the explanations, was unanimous in saying that it would be very fair, in spite of a national holiday, to consider it as a school day, since it was a great demonstration of civism and tribute to the great Brazilian citizen Dr. Tancredo de Almeida Neves. The following questions were also posed: will the banks, public offices, Secretary of Education, Regional Education Police Department, Federal and private schools do this replacement?

Two mothers spoke out; the first saying that the replacement should not be done because most students would not attend it. The second one said that the replacement should be done because the classes were prepared by the teachers and should therefore be given. Soon after, Mr.[...] asked if the objective of the student inside the school was only to learn Mathematics, Portuguese, etc. ... He added: first and foremost: it is civility. What use is there to know everything and not to have a civic spirit? We all missed a workday, but with much sadness, we stood firmly in front of the television watching the funerals of our President. It is marked in the memory of each of us, with much affection, the value of this creature and the value of these holidays. If it is necessary to do this replacement, do it by increasing 15 minutes of each class per day. Mr. […] was greatly applauded by the assembly. One of the students' representatives […], wanted to know about the validity of the law, and the Principal explained: "The collegiate is sovereign within the legislation." (Archive, collegiate Minute Book, p. 4)

Following this, a student asked for the floor to defend the non-replacement of the school day by saying:

that an appeal should be made to the competent authority that in 1985 only 179 school days were considered. Since we are children, we learned that we should love the country, always seeking to cultivate this love and in this national holiday we were able to sing the national anthem as we have never done, letting our deepest feelings out. Let's make our claim, because we proudly lost a day to pay tribute to a great Brazilian citizen. (Archive, Collegiate Minute Book, p. 4)

After some other opinions, the collegiate decided not to replace the classes. The discussions about the replacement of classes in 1985, especially the talk of the History teacher and the student, reinforce the permanence of an appreciation of the moral and civic aspects of history and of the school itself as an institution of civic formation. As Opinion no. 853/71 of the Federal Council of Education, which presented the common core for the curricula of Elementary and High School (^{BRASIL, 1971}), according to Law no. 5,692 / 71, the contents of Social Studies would reinforce the "preparation for the conscious exercise of citizenship" (^{BRASIL, 1971a}, p. 179), the civic formation of students and the development of a national awareness.

The photographs found showed that students participated in all official commemorative activities, Independence Day (September 7^th), Republic Day (November 15^th) and the anniversary of the city, thus reinforcing for students the civic role of the institution. In this sense, it is possible to observe, as Helenice ^{Ciampi and Alexandre P. Godoy (2013}, p. 9) claim, that civic celebrations became privileged socialization spaces of the schools and the community during the military dictatorship in Brazil, and the construction of a sense of belonging.

On the other hand, these examples allow us to note that characteristics linked to civic practices and the appeal to national symbols were not restricted to teachers. In this school environment, students also expressed their positions and participated on discussions on the subject, in which many consensuses and contraventions were noticeable in the speeches and even in the actions of these individuals (such as the student who "jokes" about the test). Such relationship complexifies the school culture of this school by placing students and teachers as active agents in the learning processes and apprehension of specific practices.

Another example is a poem written in 1981 by a 12^th grader entitled Flag. It was published in an (unidentified) newspaper of the city. It elevates the meaning and symbol of the Brazilian flag:

Flag

“Margareth - 12^th A - High School

It trembled in the wind, to the sound of rhythmic and firm music. It seemed to want to untie its knots and dance across the clear blue sky. It seemed to want to fuse the colors of the shrubs, incorporating itself to nature.

The seriousness and respect of what they were singing clearly contrasted with the joy, the fleeting spirit, and the sense of freedom that the wind gave it. It slowly climbed its pole, towards infinity. Slowly and rhythmically. That climb did not promise falls.

The music ended, the expressions relaxed, and it remained trembling and anxious. It was then the symbol of the fusion of all spirits.

It pulsed with life, trembling in the wind as if it caused shivers or mysterious longings.

The wind was strong, as its longings seemed strong to me. And it let go. It danced through the huge sky, its colors divided, merging with the blue sky, with the green of the landscape and the white of each heart.

This was really the sign of those who stood there and gazed upon it with bright eyes. This was my Brazil going towards total freedom.

September 1981.

12^th A - High School.

E.E. Emílio Silveira” (Archive, Single page).

The sources reveal a History teaching practice that understood it as "master of life," capable of grasping teachings from the past, to understand the present, and project the future. At the end of the 19^th century, inspired by Western European molds, one of the teaching branches adopted by the discipline of History in Brazil consisted in lining a civilizational sense, planning classes in which biographies of great historical figures would be presented, situating them on important events and dates. At that moment, a republic was beginning to be built and the concern with the constitution of nationality came with it. The selection of what went in and out of the Programs passed through an "idea of nation", of citizenship, and country which the school intended to legitimize (^{NADAI, 1993}, p. 144-149). According to ^{Bittencourt (2005}, p. 84), the valorization of a dogmatic history and civic dates, as well as the uplifting of national heroes was reaffirmed by military governments.

Regarding school practices, the collegiate meetings minutes had specific elements of a school culture; in these meetings there was a frequent and active participation of multiple actors in the decision-making of school life. The collegiate was composed by teachers and other members of the staff, ten seats were reserved to students, parents, representatives of the City Council, and, on a single occasion registered, a representative of Freemasonry. They discussed issues that dealt from remedial classes dates to a debate on the democratization of the School Collegiate.

On this last point, at the June 11^th, 1992 meeting, "suggestions for the democratization of the school and the functions of the collegiate" were discussed, when the present individuals were dissatisfied with what they considered a lack of autonomy of the School Collegiate regarding the decisions taken by the DRE (Regional Board of Education- Diretoria Regional de Ensino in Portuguese). At the meeting, tasks were assigned by the collegiate which should become imperative for the intensification of the democratization of the school, namely:

A - Autonomy in the application of the QESE budget, considering the establishment financial need (with the approval of the collegiate and inspector, without the bureaucratic necessity of DRE approval).

B - Make democratic practice real, by reducing its theory. One thing is preached, but laws, decrees and guidelines say something else.

C - Make immediate office changes, aiming the good functioning of school life, the teachers, and staff, avoiding complacency, which harms the school unit (giving the collegiate the right to moralize their school).

D - The collegiate must be responsible and autonomous to decide on enrollments. Each school has their particularities, problems, and their own philosophy.

E - Clearly define, with the strengthening of the collegiate, the role of the fiscal council. Reason: the school is an entity; the school cash flow is another.

F - The collegiate needs to be a facilitator and decision-making body and not a mere group of people who waste time with meetings where everything or almost everything will be decided by the DRE.

G - If there is democracy, why should the Principal be the head of the collegiate?

H - As soon the laws imposed are considered and respected, it is up to the collegiate and school inspector to study, elaborate and approve curricula and calendar. DRE would only have the role of clarifying inspectors’ doubts. (Archive, collegiate Minute Book, p. 55)

It is worth emphasizing the way in which the collegiate members themselves pointed to the existence of a particular school culture. From this perspective, each school's "own philosophy" did not appear as a problem itself, but the way decrees and laws neglected the existence of different school cultures was the reason why it was difficult for the institutions to have autonomy. The obstacle would not be in the plurality of school realities, but in the inability to recognize this heterogeneous format.

In a moment of redemocratization of the country, the concern about perfecting the functionality and autonomy of the collegiate was not restricted to its relationship with the Regional Board of Education (DRE), the collegiate also discussed its internal organization. In the previous excerpt, the lack of elections for the collegiate president was questioned, furthermore we can perceive that the members claimed for "the right to moralize their school", that is, those individuals tried to produce the norms and moral values that they considered appropriate at that moment, in addition to the sanctions of higher legislative bodies.

The need to moralize the school from the deliberations of school administration was a practice that can be perceived in other minutes meetings. According to the February 13^th, 1986 minute, a meeting for choosing the Religious Studies teacher was convened. The meeting was opened with the speech of a teacher who stated the importance of Religious Studies classes, considered "above all a priesthood." One of the candidates for the position also defended the need for the classes assuming the character of a doctrine:

[...] with an honest dialogue, meetings, and special work with families, which was endorsed by teachers Denise [...] and Miriam [...] for the need to take the religious aspect to the family and sexual life. It is clear that school must work more closely with the parents, also keeping a relationship in prayer with each other. (Archive, collegiate Minute Book)

Religious Studies constitutionally entered the curriculum, facultatively, in 1934. Christianity and civility were often associated as defining elements for the education of young people. From 1991 on, however, according to the September 17^th collegiate minute of that same year, Religious Studies, along with OSPB, EMC and Art, began to have their activities developed jointly, on weekends and at extracurricular schedules, allowing more hours for History, Biology and Physics classes, and, in 1994, for Journalism, which would keep "students informed". The distribution of these content hours was then defined by the number of hours per year, and not by the number of hours per class anymore. The decrease in these hours may have occurred due to the perception by the collegiate and school administration members that such disciplines did not meet the needs defined by them and by the State itself in that new context, and eventually some of them (EMC and OSPB) were extinct two years later, in 1993. At another occasion, on April 13^th, 1992, when judging the tie-breaking criterion for the hiring of Physical Education teachers, it was decided that the teacher should be of the same sex as the students, even if this was not determined by any official norm.

These elements, extracted from the school archive, show the importance of the validity and pertinence of analyzing school documents for understanding a school routine. As evidenced by the minutes, parents claimed for improvements in certain subjects, complained about the excess of maps in the Geography classes, and the difficulties children had with Portuguese. They also debated ande decided upon the permanence of "problem" students in the school.

In 1989, students complained and related their dissatisfaction with the excessive number of students per class to the collegiate meeting. Although the minutes do not record the progress of this specific discussion, the problem of classroom overcrowding may be the result of the massive education expansion that created more demands since the late 1960s. Demands which apparently were not fully met, though more schools were created in Alfenas in the 1970s and 1980s. Dr. Emílio Silveira School collegiate was not, as the members themselves feared in one of the minutes, "a mere group of people who waste time in meetings where everything, or almost everything, will be decided by the DRE." At least during the period comprising the minute book analyzed here, from 1985 to 1998, there was a plural participation within the collegiate, in which decisions were made with relative autonomy.

In addition to the decisions made by the school administration, it is also necessary to analyze the performance of students in the school from perspective of the production and circulation of student newspapers. The newspaper Levante a Cabeça (Raise your Head), published by the 11^th graders, class C, night school, in 1981, brought subjects that addressed school parties and events, student complaints, as school fees, lack of hygiene in bathrooms, etc., stories and anecdotes about classmates and teachers, jokes, gossip, and the students’ best essays.

The newspaper had an "Opinions" session with students’ requests. Two of which are worth mentioning. The first demand was a classroom change because theirs was too small for the number of students. Here again the problem of the increased number of students in the school becomes evident, especially in the night classes. The second one asked teachers to better explain the contents because of the difficulty some night school students had to learn. Work was the main cause:

The 10^th C is making an appeal for teachers to contribute to teaching, better explaining contents to some students, as they have difficulty in learning: they work and do not have time to study at home, so they want to use class time to learn more efficiently. Teachers, in general, get along very well with the students. There is only a disagreement between the students and one teacher; maybe everybody needs to improve their communication skills. [...] (Archive, Newspaper Levanta a Cabeça, 1981).

Another newspaper, entitled É Proibido Proibir (It is Forbidden to Forbid), created by 11^th graders in 1991, included satire and political criticism, cartoons, messages about school activities, interviews, religious texts, and a space for gossip. The content of the newspaper allows us to perceive how the religious discourse was not defended and propagated only by teachers. As they announced Easter was coming, the newspaper devoted a few paragraphs to emphasize that "Lent is a time of prayer and reflection", calling on their fellow students for "ecumenical work" to reflect on the subject, they also presented the dates of city religious activities.At another point in the same newspaper, students called for the political participation of their peers with a poem by Bertolt Brecht on political illiteracy and constant cartoons and satire on national and international politics.

The cover page of a third newspaper, J. PIC - Jornal - Pesquisa, Informação e Cultura (J. PIC - Newspaper - Research, Information and Culture), also in 1991, wrote:

Mama’s boy

Fernando Collor's [Brazilian president at the time] mother, Leda Collor, was scared when she saw her son on TV. She says he looked aged and even had white hair. She felt like taking him on her arms and rocking him till he slept, said Leda Collor (Archive, newspaper J. PIC - Jornal - Pesquisa Informação e Cultura).

Thus, the construction of these political criticisms in the early 1990s shows that the debate over the impeachment process of then-President Fernando Collor de Mello not only arrived in Alfenas but had space in the student-specific media. At the end of the newspaper É Proibido Proibir (It is forbidden to forbid) they published a research indicating that 98% of the 11^th graders considered positive the inclusion of Sociology classes in the school curriculum.

Concerning the return of Sociology to the school curriculum, until then extinguished by Law No. 5.692/71, Oliveira and Jardim (²⁰⁰⁹, p. 5) affirm:

The 1980s represented a singular moment of great importance in the resumption of the struggle for the return of Sociology to Brazilian high school due to the mobilization and organization of social scientists (sociologists, geographers, historians and philosophers) in several Brazilian states - especially those who had a more critical standpoint and political engagement and whose commitment was related to the struggle against authoritarianism and the establishment of the democratic regime in the country. We had a favorable political conjuncture marked by the gradual electoral advance of the opposition to the military regime, which provided intense debates about the democratization process.

If students did not meaningfully participate in the debates surrounding the implementation of the discipline of Sociology, concentrated in the specialized groups, at least some of them decided to express their opinions regarding the introduction of the subject in the school curriculum. At the end of this newspaper issue, the new Sociology teacher was welcomed in Dr. Emílio Silveira school.

CONCLUSION

Although past human actions do not leave records that constitute their totality, it is possible to examine the vestiges of these actions, as sparse "talks", that when analyzed begin to create sense and to compose a picture that allows us to understand characteristics of the school culture and the History teaching at the Dr. Emilio Silveira State School, the former Inconfidência Gymnasium, highlighting the specificities of ordinary practices within this institution.

The traces of teaching practices help us understand the configuration of knowledge and lasting curricular tendencies. Although the curricular prescriptions of the Minas Gerais state kept History and Geography as separate subjects in Middle School, in the school routine, it was common for a same teacher to teach both subjects, besides EMC and OSPB, crossing its contents. This fact is evident in the experiences of the interviewed teacher, Mara, who established a movement of accommodation and appropriation of curriculum prescriptions in her practices. She expressed a relative autonomy in the organization of her classes, with the combination of History, Geography, OSPB and EMC contents, which was a mark of her professional work.

School sources revealed that in the 1960s some individuals claimed the tendencies proposed by the New School, while from the 1970s to 1990s the traces of the school history showed the permanence of an education focused on a political history which valued national facts and figures, a history to be taken as an example with moral connotations, in which the "national heroes" should be exalted by the new generations. The strand of History as an example appeared with certain frequency not only in the classes, but also in the discussions of collegiate members.

School rituals, especially in civic events, marching band, Civic Center, but also in the reports of collegiate meetings, have collaborated to solidify modes of acting and thinking, introjected behaviors, and habits. However, students' resistance and confrontation indicated attempts to change school rites, confront established rules and at the same time evidence some of these youth practices.

It can be seen in these sources, for example, that during the analyzed period that students’ participation in Dr. Emílio Silveira State school routine was not passive, much less contained by deliberations of the direction and the teachers. On the contrary, they frequently gave opinions about the school dynamics, reflected about national and international conjunction, and invited other peers to engage politically. The records of the occurrence book showed significant student resistance in class in the 1980s. These reports allow us to raise the hypothesis that the lack of interest in classes was due to the methods used or contents taught, in a context that no longer allowed an education that was totally focused on memorization without reflection and criticism.

In this sense, school practices cannot be understood only in light of the impositions of external legislative sanctions, but also as a result of the particular school organization, the choices that define the hiring of teachers, the composition of the collegiate and the approached subjects, the definition of concepts as "indiscipline", permissive levels of student performance, division of spaces and course load. If it is true that higher educational institutions act on school, it is also true that by incorporating (or not) such impositions, each school will do it in their own way, according to their specific reality. It is necessary to emphasize the idea that the school is a conflictive field, full of individuals and groups that interact daily.

Thus, the analyzes carried out in this article allow us to locate the schools of Minas Gerais countryside in a context of national transformations, between the 1960s and 1990s, reconstructing practices that revealed a space in constant movement. Knowing the school practices in the former Inconfidência Gymnasium reinforces the importance of studies on local history, by unveiling aspects of education that can only be understood through a movement that pays attention to ordinary practices and reminiscences of educational institutions routine.