Z.'s schooling: a crossroads of experiences

Z. F. grew up in the context previously described. She was born in Buenos Aires, Federal Capital of the Argentine Republic, on January 31, 1925, in the Liniers neighborhood, being the penultimate of five siblings. Her parents were Syrian-Lebanese immigrants who arrived in Argentina at the beginning of the 20th century "like so many other immigrants, in search of peace and new horizons that would allow them to live from their jobs, start a family and forge a happy future for their children."¹⁴ Her parents, Antonio and Sraia, were part of that first migratory wave from the Middle East that occurred between 1860 and 1918/20 due to the confluence of three factors:

A tremendous demographic growth in the Middle East, especially in Lebanon, which causes the balance between land and population to break down. A parallel process of incipient industrialization [that] leaves small merchants and artisans in a situation of significant vulnerability, who see emigration as a plausible way out [and] the fierce persecution suffered by Christian minorities within the Turkish Empire (^{De Luca, 2006}, pp.3-4).

Her hometown, Liniers, like many other neighborhoods in Buenos Aires, results from the combination of European immigration at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th and to the development of the railway. It has the name of the railway station inaugurated on November 1, 1887. A large percentage of the population residing there was linked to the train, like Antonio, her father. He worked in the foundry, starting his working day at 7 a.m. until 5 p.m., with a short break between 11:30 and 12, thus organizing the rhythms of the home around salaried work.

The 1930s meant essential changes in the city and in the neighborhood's morphology and dynamics due to the deconcentration of the popular sectors of the traditional areas and the creation of new neighborhoods¹⁵, meaning not only a demographic alteration but also changes in the forms of Buenos Aires's sociability. The double link between immigration and work constituted one of the identifying characteristics of sociability, articulating, on the one hand, the organization of the daily and weekly shift around attendance at work and Sunday rest; and on the other, the overlapping of traditions and stories derived from the presence of immigrants of different origins. Z. says that her neighborhood:

It was populated by people from many parts of Europe, mostly immigrants with numerous families (Italians, Spanish, Armenians, etc.) of humble conditions. They worked from dawn to dusk in any job that allowed them to support their children and family. So on Sunday, as it was a rest day, they would meet at the house of some of them and there between songs, dances, games, they would remind the distant homeland.

In these spaces of sociability, there were different activities for boys and girls. Z. mentions that:

The little ones (who were in large numbers) played in the street and formed groups; the men played football with a ball made of rags, inserted in a sock which lasted very little according to the fierceness of the game, causing fights and screams. The girls played with charming figurines. There were animals, flowers, fruits, costumes, etc. We spent hours playing, trying to win those we liked the most.

Activities that put skill and physical strength into play, "fierceness," as a sign of masculinity, were reserved for the boys. At the same time, there were other activities involving beauty, softness, and calm for the girls. Mentioning football is particularly significant since in these years, sports practice begins to spread as a characteristic element of the porteño popular sectors (^{González Leandri, 2001}). Football acted and will act not only as an element of leisure and popular identification but as a node of solid intensity in the configuration of identities differentiating features between the masculine and feminine.

In 1930, there was a considerable expansion of primary schools due to different policies developed by the national State and the provincial states. There is abundant literature from the history of education that analyses this enlargement, among which we find the sanction of the national law 1420 of common, free and compulsory education in 1884. This one is highlighted (Puiggrós, 1998; ^{Tedesco, 1986}; ^{Filmus, 1996}, among others). This law also stipulated that mandatory education was for boys and girls, although this did not necessarily imply coeducation. This expansion process was not homogeneous in territorial terms, nor was it free from tensions and debates about the system's directions, both politically and pedagogically. The development of these aspects exceeds what is covered on this paper¹⁶.

Z. developed her schooling between 1932 and 1937 at school No. 9 "José María Torres," dependent on School District No. 20 of the Federal Capital. In her stories, she writes: “The happiest years were when I started elementary school […] We had classes every day except Sunday. My school was a three-floor building, with large classrooms, huge yards, where a large number of students played”.

The school is located at 420 Larrazábal street in Capital Federal, Liniers neighborhood, and began operating in 1928 as a school for girls - although it admitted boys up to the third grade. As Z. recalls, the building had three floors and more than 1,200 m2 of patios and green spaces, those huge patios that Z. remembers.¹⁷ According to the reports of the Secretary of Education of the School District No. 20 of the City of Buenos Aires, in "the humble neighborhood, the School was known as" The Faculty "according to the oral testimony of former neighbors"

As we delve into Z.'s class notebook, we can identify some elements of the school culture that bring us closer to her daily life. It operates as an organizer of homework, as analysed by ^{Gvirtz (1997}), a pattern that, around 1930, was not alien to the polemics between Scholanovism, traditional school, bureaucracy and efficiency, thus emerging the class notebook as an eclectic instrument. Among these characteristic elements, we can highlight the chronological organization -the internal order follows the order of the class days and the school day- and the individuality -one notebook per student, one student per notebook.

Regarding content, one of the subjects present in it becomes relevant for our study: Home Education¹⁸. Although this subject does not occupy a central space in the notebook such as geography or mathematics, the three entries that can be found in that school year make specific and very explicit references to the training of a young lady or future woman. Throughout its pages, we can find a first entry entitled "Women in the home, in society and in the country", the second one "Women in the home," and the third one "Domestic accounting.”

These kids are not interpellated as "girls and schoolchildren" but as future women. This does not give importance to their present lives but to the future women they will become. The three entries talk about women and refer to their place. Firstly, "the lady of the house" at home is closely related to raising children.¹⁹ Regarding the characteristics that these 'ladies of the house' should have, the texts stand out: "reserved, demure, modest, dignified, chaste and sober, educated without pedantry." What is more, it is specified that in order to become those women, they should learn "to sew, to mend, to take care of children, to dress decently, to cook, to be kind, to respect old-aged people, to be cheerful at heart, to be active," as well as to have an accounting book "in which the daily entries and exits are recorded."These ideal prescriptions combine a domestic asceticism with the requirements of modern and capitalist life within the framework of the full expansion of wage-earning society.

"El Forjador", the book in a girl's schooling experience.

The book that Z. used in her last school year is "El Forjador." Reading text for higher grades”, which began to be published in the early 1930s by the Ángel Estrada and company, and it was written by Luis Arenas, an elementary and secondary school teacher who participated in another great educational publication of innovative material: La Obra Magazine. Thus the book presents characteristics of new school and images and representations of the time that are particularly visible when recovering the genre as a key to reading.

It has already been explained that State regulation allowed the generation of a national publishing industry dedicated explicitly to reading books. It also led to its delimitation and renewal, defining it as a support material, a transmisor of teaching content, and an effective mediator of the different state policies that permeated the educational system and pedagogical movements. Some innovations came from the pedagogical renewal movements that emerged at the beginning of the 20th century and expanded in the first postwar period. According to Escolano (2006), in the Spanish case, the irruption of "Escolanovism," new school, influenced - during the 1920s and 1930s - the renewal of the school manual concerning the selection of contents, the interpellation of the subject, retracing the static and stereotyped roles and their passivity in front of the text of the traditional format and new textual plots that influenced the layout, the forms of verbal and iconic expression, among others.

This influence was not total, nor did it lead to a complete renovation of the pedagogical materials, but it did generate transformations in two senses, according to Escolano (2006). On the one hand, partial changes to the interior of classic manuals and books, making the rigid current canons more flexible, but without transforming their fundamental structure. On the other hand, the appearance of new textual genres that adopted the principles of the new school to the printed book, which, however, found its limitations. The new school movement being fundamentally anti-bookish, the proposed adaptations generated “a bastard and artificial metamorphosis of the New Education” (p.339), surviving those innovations that best adapted to the codes of the “empirical culture of the school” (p.340), that is, to the profession of teachers and the written and unwritten rules that circulate there.

In the case of El Forjador, it is possible to identify Escolano's argument. As previously stated, its author was a contributor to La Obra Magazine, an expression of the New School movement in Argentina, founded in 1921. It was constituted as a space for debate for the transformation of the traditional school, providing teachers with didactic elements to renew their pedagogical practice. Luis Arenas was the administrator of the magazine in its early years. Some of his articles were primarily dedicated to pointing out requirements to improve school books and contributed to his task of teaching reading and promoting reading. Far from dismissing the literary culture, from "La Obra," it is highlighted as an object, "which favors the approach of children to the book and collaborates in the formation of readers" (^{Sardi, 2008}, p. 133). Arenas refers there to criteria such as the gradation of the contents, pleasant readings with clear language and according to age, typography and type of paper that favor reading, as well as an attractive presentation that stimulates appropriation by the child with attractive illustrations that give rise to emotion and feeling (Sardi, op. cit.).

In "El Forjador," it is possible to identify these criteria with its most unique characteristic: having differentiated editions for boys and girls. Although the latter will occupy a specific section, it is necessary to introduce it to point out some issues in the book that its own author points out as "new" in this publication. From the beginning, it is presented in a renewed way compared to other contemporary texts with two letters addressed to the teachers and the students who are designated as "Colleague" and "Friend Reader" placing the subjects in a direct interaction that dismantles the stereotypes of other publications.

The author first addresses the teacher to highlight aspects of their work, which he defines as a "new book" with readings primarily written for children. There, he alludes to the aesthetic renovation that he proposes by interrogating them with the question: "Don't you think, like me, colleague, that the moment has come for the divorce between didactics and aesthetics to end?" (p.11). Concerning this, the most significant innovation of the book when compared to others of the time is the incorporation of illustrations that accompany the readings. Some already had plates and colors; however, "El Forjador" incorporates the figure of the illustrator who composes their work, especially for the books. Their illustrations were in charge of Juan Hohmann, a Uruguayan painter, draftsman and lithographer, living in Argentina since 1883, who participated in the Argentine press.

Coming back to the differentiated editions for "boys" and "girls," Arenas refers to this as "an old desire" of teachers for which he incorporates different content based on gender in the section devoted to the "formation of the moral world of the child" (Arena, 1934, p. 11). As ^{Linares (2002}) warns, reading books at the beginning of the century used to have gender discrimination based basically on the biological laws of the time; in this particular case, the differentiation contributes to a differentiated "moral" formation. In this way, the book maintains a similar format, aesthetics and organization in both editions, but with different titles in one of its parts, "Senda Fragosa” in the edition for men and “Gracia Plena” in the edition for women.

Regarding the "artisan culture" of teachers, enables its mediation in the circulation and appropriation of the book's proposal:

I have composed a reference book, to the extent of current possibilities, the demands of the new school in its efforts to unify educational work, but I have also taken into account, and very especially, our present school reality (^{Arena, 1939}, p. 12).

The author proposes teachers to use it as a means for their task, giving them a central role as interlocutors of the work through interpellations such as "judge you, Colleague." (…) "Each teacher will act as they believe it is more convenient" (…) "The quality of a work instrument depends a lot on who handles it; and I trust your didactic expertise "(pp.11-12). The author addresses the teachers directly as peers; he does not position himself from the role of expert but rather tries to place them at the center of the work of the book. The same happens with the male and female students he tries to reach with a letter addressed to them. This strategy brings back the proposals of the New School regarding positioning boys and girls as subjects of learning at the center of the educational process and the need to articulate the pedagogical proposition to their interests and needs.

Beyond these innovations, the analysis of the general contents of the work is not included in this paper. However, we can identify that, although there is an inclination to the pedagogical renewal movement, this influence, in terms of Escolano (2006), is more linked to methodology than doctrine. El Forjador presents some variations to the traditional text model. However, these are equally consistent with the gender stereotypes already present in the schooling experiences of infants, particularly girls. In the next section, we shall return to the ways in which these stereotypes are expressed in both versions.

Friend reader: comparison and analysis of reading books from a gender perspective.

El Forjador classifies the books for both boys and girls into three sections that have the main part of the stories. Firstly, those that have to do with the construction of the homeland, its past, its "men" (not its women); secondly, there is a space for nature, and finally, it emphasizes the creation of the moral world of the learners.

As we have previously mentioned, one of the central points of the difference between the versions for boys and girls is the importance that "moral training" has in the schooling of one and the other.

The aspects linked to morality in the male version revolve around a quality that becomes the axis of all the stories: heroism, which is condensed into expressions such as "being a hero," "heroic acts," "learning by the strokes”, "heroes as archetypes” (referring to the heroes as the archetype of man). However, this condition of the male hero is not only linked to force, the military and the use of arms, but fundamentally to male morality: “heroes are not only those who show more vigor and more ability. To these qualities, we must add the moral conditions: chivalry, fortitude, self-control, modesty, tolerance, generosity” (^{Arena, 1934}, p. 318). Good treatment and kindness were feminine characteristics that drew attention to the hardness and coldness of the masculine: "what is strange is that being a military man trained in the austerity of the life of the barracks, heis so kind "(op. cit, p. 133).

On the other hand, in the female version of the book, moral gifts are linked to the construction of femininity, associated with the duties as "daughters and disciples" and the activity of caring for others:

Friend reader: in El Forjador's readings you will not find impeccable heroines, judicious, obedient girls, who go out of their way to please their parents, their teachers, who never stop fulfilling their duties as daughters and disciples, who always help the weak, they lavish good words, they practice charity (...) you know that these gifts are the golden key that opens the hearts of our fellow men (^{Arena, 1939}, p.5).

In the reading for girls, heroism is also referred to, but from the point of view of the valuation of men, the heroines for girls are those of the classic and traditional tales: "Cinderella, Snow White, Little Red Riding Hood, heroines of our childhood" (op. cit, p. 317). The heroic quality in the female version is associated in all cases with the masculinity and ability of the man, which are manifested in expressions such as:

Look reader how our hero treats his mount" (...) "how much virility (...) he faces death without hesitating to save the life of a fellow man" (p. 311), "as you see reader, heroism does not reside only in the handling of weapons (op. cit, p.312).

The words that appear remarkably in the children's version and that are repeated in the stories and images have to do with courage, bravery, skill, robustness, value, heroism, feat, rusticity, muscles, adventure, danger, strength, military, "men and brutes," greatness, wild impulse, but above all they have to do with high moral qualities: firmness, security, not cowardice, character, dignity, agility. The metaphors in this version circulate between the figures of the "condor wings" and the "strong and long-suffering carob tree," and the images that are presented are associated with strength and work. Therefore in the male version, unlike the feminine one, the edition is for men and not for children.

On the other hand, in the version for girls, the words associated with the feminine relate to tenderness, anguish, domesticity, care, salvation, sadness, pain, death, punishment or reward. The metaphors that are built there are associated with the arrival of spring, with the connection of the rose with the feminine, and with its origin with the earth. The rose as a figure in the stories is always linked to "forgiveness, affection, tenderness, self-denial" (^{Arena, 1934}, p. 215).

Domesticity as the place of women in the social imaginary is reflected in expressions such as "the girls looked like pygmy chickens with a pompadour" (op. Cit, p. 72), "their wives and daughters stayed at home" (op. cit, p. 146), “the perfect married one" (^{Arena, 1939}, p. 317). Moreover, it is associated with feelings such as tenderness and sadness: "the women looked anguished," "tender and cuddly like a girl" (Arena, 1934, p. 191), "the water sings, as it runs, next to the sleeping willows, its tender verses, with a woman's accent" (op. Cit, p. 216), “sadder than a woman” ( op. cit, p. 239). In the case of children, feelings do not have a place, and virtue is associated with coldness:

I want to propose the exercise of an excellent virtue: never cry, dry the source of your crying forever. On this path, you will go very far, so far that you will be amazed at having walked so much one day. Do not think that by this, you have hardened with wickedness. On the contrary, you will never have a more just and fair love for men. Never cry, even if your flesh opens; never cry even if your bones break. Never cry like even if the heaven falls on you (op. cit., p.255).

For this reason, in the male version, there are pages about the vices that endanger the morality of man, for example, alcohol as one of his great enemies, associated with masculinity, being a man, and immorality.

In both versions, there is a very marked use of metaphors to emphasize masculine or feminine qualities, and they are used in the stories. In the case of reading for children, there is a story about a condor and a calandra lark in which the condor is associated with flight and performance, and the calandra lark is "worried about the chicks in the nest" (op. cit., p.100).

The feminine qualities are located in a place of ambiguity since they are not only associated with the cute, the beautiful, the tender, the sad, but also with death or punishment/reward. One of the stories in the male version is called "The Three Grim Reapers," in which the female image of the Parcae is described. The three grim reapers are "three decrepit, ugly and unsympathetic women," however "others associate death (and therefore to women) to youth and beauty "(op. cit., p. 283).

In the version for children, the woman is a reward: "a maiden as a reward" (op. Cit., P. 295), whereas in the version for girls, the threat of punishment is introduced, associated with the fulfillment of the "should be" of the woman:

Greed, feminine curiosity, punishment for wanting to evade the designs of the Gods?" (^{Arena, 1939}, p. 319), "reader friend, beware of the minor fan of offense (...) do not break the vase in which the delicate flower of some sincere friendship is kept fresh (op. cit., p.318).

Another element linked to the feminine is motherhood and the inevitable suffering related to it and the male's salvation. One of the stories that is common in both versions is called "The mother of the hero," where the woman appears in her place as "the mother of," caring for the hero, saving him from death. Love there is linked to grief and to harm: "reflect upon the torture of that poor mother, who must deny her son to save him from death" (op. cit., p. 313).

Finally, in the "Farewell" segment of the children's book, there is a poem called "Adiós Campanita," referring to the school bell and the school's daily life. There, in the last pages, what is masculine or feminine is reinforced: robustness in boys and softness and joy in girls: "of robust boys and pink girls, who come joyfully to the chimes" (^{Arena, 1934}, p.307).