Introduction

According to the administrative division established in 1950 by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística - IBGE), the states of Mato Grosso and Goiás composed what was called the Central-West Region. Accordingly, this is the area to be highlighted in this article, which will focus on the process of expansion of secondary education in the two states from 1942 to 1961.

The movement of comparative analysis of the similarities and particular features present in the process of expansion of secondary education in this region of Brazil, in the historical period from 1942 to 1961, takes as a starting point the relationship between the universal in that period, that is, the capitalist society, as it developed in a world marked by war. In other words, if on the one hand, the world war conflict meant an obstacle to the various significant flows for capitalist development - capital, labor, and goods (^{CORSI, 2000}) - on the other hand, the unique way this trend of capitalist development assumes its particular features in each nation State and its various regions allows us to perceive the clashes and contradictions, especially when considering the similar but at the same time specific positions that Goiás and Mato Grosso occupy in Brazil with regard to secondary education.

Thus, we propose to compose a comparative educational history attentive to the warning of ^{Groux (1997}) of not focusing on differences and similarities, making concepts universal or removing data selected from research from analysis of the context. To express part of this reality in historiography, historical transformations are articulated from human actions in the singular spectrum to the multiple determinations in historical processes in more amplified extensions (^{SILVA, 2021}).

According to ^{Silva (2021}), comparative analysis is delimited in scales of comparison. To give content to such scales, areas of comparison are formed. In the case of this study, the scale of comparison can be understood by the differences and similarities in the process of expansion of secondary education in the states in which the cities are located. The following areas of comparison were defined: the type of school according to administrative dependence - private, municipal public, state public; reflections on enrollment in secondary education, by state; and finally, which regions were covered by the expansion process in Goiás and Mato Grosso at that moment in history.

The overall aim of this study is to make a comparative analysis of the similarities and the particular aspects present in Mato Grosso and Goiás² in regard to secondary education. The information coming from the bibliography regarding the time in focus will be examined, considering the position occupied by Brazil and by secondary education from 1942 to 1961; and documentary sources belonging to the historiography and history of secondary education in the region will be used. The documentary sources used, in physical or digital format, include various collections in the state of Goiás, and in first place, state legislation on the creation of educational institutions. These data were accessed in physical archives, such as the Public Archives of the State of Goiás, as well as in collections digitized by the Civil House (executive staff offices) of Goiás, the Hemeroteca Digital of the National Library, and the collections of the IBGE.

In relation to the data that allow mapping of the expansion of secondary education in Mato Grosso, we can classify the documentary material in four types of collections: 1) collections and/or files maintained by official entities; 2) documents stored in old secondary schools in Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul; 3) stricto sensu academic studies; and 4) digitized documents present in public archives, such as the collection of the Legislative Assembly of Mato Grosso, the digital library of the IBGE, and others. Therefore, in addition to the types of collections, their location (whether physical or digital), and the initiatives and/or entities that are responsible for their curatorship are observed³.

Finally, this article is composed of three parts. In the first, the collections on secondary education in Goiás and Mato Grosso will be worked with and analyzed. The fundamental question of this part of the article is to show to what extent the nature, volume, availability, and organization of the data, whether statistical or descriptive, such as reports, visits of school inspectors, and others, affects the possibility of reconstitution and, above all, the possibility of comparison - analysis of similarities and specificities - of the two states considered.

The second part of the study discusses the implementation and expansion of secondary education in Mato Grosso and Goiás using a set of descriptors. Determination of the existing information, both in physical documents or those in digital format, was fundamental for the choice of these descriptors.

The following descriptors will be presented: the types of schools in existence, according to administrative dependence (private, municipal public, state public) and enrollment, by state; and the regions served in each state.

Finalizing the article, but certainly not concluding the debate it initiates, the relationships between the social development of each region, both within the states and among them, and the expansion of secondary education will be highlighted, emphasizing the similarities between Goiás and Mato Grosso, through being subject to determinations of a broader character, such as the same educational policies. Emphasis will also be given to differences in that process of expansion due to the distinct historical-social processes to which the states were subjected, whether in regional terms or in local terms.

The collections available on secondary education in the states of Mato Grosso and Goiás

A historiography of secondary education in Goiás and Mato Grosso has been constructed over more than a decade. In the case of Mato Grosso, this historiography considers, among other matters, observations on its northern and southern portions, an identity specificity that culminated in separation of the single Mato Grosso, giving rise to the state of Mato Grosso do Sul in 1977. The following four types of documentary collections were used for this study:

The first of them, the collections and files maintained by official entities, includes the statistical data collected in the Statistical Yearbook of Brazil (Anuário Estatístico do Brasil - AEB), produced by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística - IBGE). Following data from the IBGE (2020), the Yearbooks present an overall view of Brazil regarding territorial, environmental, demographic, and socioeconomic aspects, systematized by tables, graphs, and texts.

For this study, the Yearbooks published from 1939 to 1961 were selected for Goiás⁴, and from 1946 to 1961⁵ for Mato Grosso. Regarding the specific nature of the data available, some examples are given below, which affected the data available for the study:

a) In the period from 1946 to 1952, the data on secondary education are not arranged based on the division in two cycles, as instituted by article 2 of Decree-Law no. 4.244/1942, the Organic Law of Secondary Education (BRASIL, 2022), which organized secondary education in two cycles - the first being a middle school (junior high school) course of 4 years, and the second with two parallel courses, both of 3 years duration, the scientific course and the classical course.

b) As of 1954, the Yearbooks bear data on secondary education divided into two cycles, called middle school (ginásio) and high school (colegial), with the latter being divided into two courses, scientific and classical. Therefore, for six years, from 1946 to 1952, the term secondary education designates single information regarding post-primary education.

c) The Yearbook of 1953 (IBGE, 1953), however, discontinues the way the data had been presented in the previous years. The Yearbook carries only two years - 1949 and 1952 - with data regarding the number of school units. The same occurs in the Yearbook of 1954 (IBGE, 1954), which presents a retrospective synopsis on school units, teaching staff, enrollments, and conclusions, which includes the years 1950 and 1951, yet it covers only Brazil as a whole; the data separated into states and capitals do not appear. In addition, in 1954 and 1956 (IBGE, 1954; 1955; 1956), the publications report data distributed in a pulverized manner over the three years, which, however, allowed one to assess the number of school units and enrollments for the state of Mato Grosso and for the state of Goiás.

d) Finally, the Statistical Yearbook of 1954 presents the numbers of the two cycles in a separate manner for the middle school and high school (scientific and/or classical) course. It is also from this year on that the administrative dependence - municipal, state, federal, for public education; and private education - comes to appear in the Yearbooks, classifying the school units and enrollments, except for the publications of 1956 and 1957 (IBGE, 1956; 1957).

Another feature is that for the first time, in 1954, the Yearbook has data on the year in progress itself for school units and enrollments. From that year up to 1961, except for 1956, the data made available came to coincide with the year of publication. In the same way, as of the end of the 1950s, 1957 and 1958 (IBGE, 1957; 1958), the information became more specific and data were presented for each one of the four grades of the middle school course and three grades of the scientific and/or classical course.

Other material produced by the IBGE from which data could be collected was the Encyclopedia of the Brazilian Municipalities (IBGE, 1958), from which information was taken regarding secondary education in Mato Grosso. In the case of Goiás, information from the periodical Statistical Synopsis of Secondary Education (BRASIL, 1951) was also used, published by the Statistical Service of Education and Culture of the Ministry of Education and Culture⁶. It should be noted that there is disparity between the information present in the statistical synopses and in the yearbooks in regard to the number of educational establishments in the state of Goiás (^{GIL, 2007})⁷. These divergences led to crossing information from other sources, such as the collection of the Casa Civil (type of government executive cabinet) of Goiás, so as to maintain the greatest fidelity to the documentation, and this analysis does not contain the data that might not have confirmation in the documentation.

In addition to the statistical data, documentary collections were consulted regarding legislation, periodicals, and reports from the Public Archives of Mato Grosso and from the Instituto Memória do Poder Legislativo (IMPL), both located in Cuiabá, MT⁸. In the case of the digital collection of the IMPL, there is no information on laws prior to the year 1947. On the same site, the municipalities of the state were mapped⁹.

Another modality of documents used were those stored in old secondary schools in Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul. In regard to this second type of collection, the secondary school institutions were responsible for producing a considerable set of documents as a result of federal legislation that required the schools to fulfill determinations for their operation, involving a whole set of regulatory written records, as well as documents that were used in their main purpose activity and activities used as means¹⁰.

These materials have been more intensively used since the 1990s, when secondary schools in Mato Grosso were the topic of studies by different research groups in graduate study programs in the states of Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, and São Paulo, among others. In that sense, the vast majority of school units identified in this study have already been the subject of theses, dissertations, and publications in periodicals.

The expressive number of master's and doctoral studies carried out on secondary schools in Mato Grosso do Sul highlights the importance of their collections. The school institutions were both the object of investigation and the source of the documentary collection, a fact that requires a specific reality for the historian: the maintenance of the physical collection. According to ^{Silva (2018}, p. 834), however, “the real situations of the collections and archives that kept the school written records over the time of their existence” were different. There are institutions that treat this documentation as a fundamental element for the memory and history of the school¹¹, storing it with care and, consequently, prolonging the quality of the state of the collection. Yet, there are others who get rid of those papers, trophies, and photographs, because they only represent objects that take up space¹².

Other documents were collected from curatorships who made documents available on secondary education in the undivided Mato Grosso. The Center Research Libraries (CRL) is a library research center at the University of Chicago, and it holds Brazilian documentary sources from 1889 to 1993, such as government ministerial reports and messages from presidents of provinces and governors¹³.

In the case of Goiás, the executive and legislative legislation is available in the historical collection of the Casa Civil of Goiás, called Historical Legislation, where more than 60,000 documents from 1835 to 2022 are held.

The documentary collection of the Casa Civil of the state of Goiás made it possible to locate the legislation creating the institutions maintained or authorized for creation by the state authority. The laws creating many of these institutions were published and were implemented immediately or years later, though some became a dead letter and were never implemented.

When it comes to the historiography of secondary education in Goiás, there is still much to be researched and written. The best-known works on education in Goiás do not include data or analyses on secondary education, despite its relevance in relation to the general panorama of education in the state. Regarding secondary education, thesis and dissertation studies are the most comprehensive and relevant. Twelve texts were found on this educational level in Goiás, produced in programs in Goiás and also in other regions. In addition, there is a range of works published in events on Education and History of Education, as well as book chapters¹⁴, not listed in this text.

How Secondary Education in Goiás and Mato Grosso is presented

As explained in the previous item, based on the particular features of the collections available in Goiás and Mato Grosso, and the singularities of each state, this third item will present the data available on secondary schools in the two states based on three elements: 1. the type of schools there are, according to administrative dependence (private, municipal public, and state public); 2. enrollments, by state; and 3. the regions served in each state. To begin, Table 1 for the state of Goiás is presented.

The data present an overview of the expansion of secondary education in Goiás: broadening of the offer basically took place at three points in time - in the post-war period, with growth of 61.1% in school units from 1941 to 1945; from 1949 to 1952, with an increase of 56.7% in the number of establishments; and from 1960 to 1961, when the number of school units grew by 41.1% in the state. With regard to denominational schools, the data do not allow determination of the year of their creation; however, it can be stated that in 1961, there were already 46 secondary schools of a denominational nature, in relation to the 61 private educational institutions in existence (IBGE, 1961). In other words, 76.7% of private schools were denominational, that is, denominational institutions represented 58.2% of the total of 79 secondary schools in that year. Furthermore, ^{Canezin and Loureiro (1994}) point out that the expansion occurred not only due to the creation of new schools, but also due to greater use of existing ones.

The administrative dependence of the other school units in Goiás mentioned above showed the following configuration in 1961: 16 state school institutions; two municipal institutions, and 16 private institutions, all offering the first cycle of secondary education, the junior high school. Regarding the second cycle, that is, the high school course, the situation was 8 state schools and 4 private schools, all offering junior high and the scientific high school course, for a total of 12 school units. It is noteworthy that only one school unit, at the state level, offered the classical high school course (IBGE, 1961).

With regard to enrollments, it should be noted that the synopses record enrollments in all types of post-primary schools from 1952 to 1961, which allows us to make a comparison between the growth of enrollments in secondary education institutions and in the industrial, commercial, agricultural, and normal education institutions.

Here, according to the data in Table 2, the considerable growth in enrollments in secondary education in Goiás in comparison with the other modalities of post-primary education is clear: of a total of 129,349 cumulative enrollments from 1952 to 1961 in all post-primary courses, 95,335 (73.7%) were secondary school enrollments. This was precisely in a period of growth in the number of schools, which went from 47 schools in 1952 to 79 schools in 1961. Furthermore, in the same period, this educational stage grew from 5,323 students in 1952 to 15,710 students in 1961. In other words, the number of students enrolled in secondary education tripled.

Municipalities in Goiás that Have Secondary Education Establishments; Source: UFV Group, 2020; Municipalities outside the capital city with a school unit.

Source: BRASIL (1958; 1959; 1961); ^{GONÇALVES (2015}; 2019). Organization: Ana Maria Gonçalves.

Figure 1 Municipalities in Goiás that had secondary education establishments. 

Finally, another element to be considered is the location of the municipalities that were affected by the expansion of secondary education in this final phase of the period considered here, 1961. Except for Tocantinópolis (the only city located in the extreme north of Goiás) and Pedro Afonso, Porto Nacional, Tocantínea, and Dianópolis (municipalities in the central region of Goiás), all the cities that have secondary education establishments - 40 municipalities, or 88.9% of this group - are located close to Goiânia, which has 16 of the educational establishments of the state (20.3%) (Figure 1).

In relation to the state of Mato Grosso, the data also indicate a trend towards expansion of secondary education with the increase in the number of school units, in addition to a larger number of municipalities served.

For purposes of analysis, three historical moments will be considered: the year 1942, when the Organic Law of Secondary Education was enacted; the year 1952, considered the beginning of the decade of greatest expansion in secondary education within the time frame established for this article; and 1961, when the Law of Guidelines and Foundations of National Education (LDB) was approved (Figure 1).

* Except for the years 1950 and 1951, for which information was not found.

Sources: IBGE (1946; 1954; 1961). Organization: Silvia Helena Andrade de Brito

Graph 1 Variation in the number of establishments of secondary education - Mato Grosso - 1942 to 1961* 

It should be noted that the expansion of secondary education at the historical time referred to is related to the process of growth of urban centers. In contrast, the centrality of primary education, which is obligatory education and therefore free, is affirmed. In this same period, much of the state's efforts fell on this primary stage of schooling, aiming at its expansion, including in rural areas. The statistical data collected from another source, the report by the intervener Júlio Müller of 1942 (MATO GROSSO, 1942), confirm this perspective impressed on educational policies in Mato Grosso: the vast majority of schools there were primary schools, and they were located in the rural areas of the state, where most of the population was concentrated. For example, in 1942, there were 243 rural primary schools in Mato Grosso (^{PAES, 2011}), while, in the same year, there were 12 secondary education establishments (IBGE, 1946), the latter all located in urban centers.

In the same direction, according to the message of Governor Fernando Corrêa da Costa (MATO GROSSO, 1951), in 1950 there were 770 primary school units and, in 1951, 62.5% of these establishments were in the rural area of Mato Grosso (^{BRITO, 2001}). In the case of secondary education school units, there were a larger number of establishments in 1952 than in 1942 (increasing from 12 to 21, growth of 75.0%); this was certainly expressive growth, but still far from the expansion in primary education.

In the third moment referred to, from 1952 to 1961, the number of secondary school units increased from 21 to 46, that is, an increase of 119.0%. In the total period in focus, from 1942 to 1961, the variation in the number of these school units was 283.3% upward. Graph 1 allows visualization of this increase, and shows that the greatest growth in the number of school units was from 1952 to 1961.

Another matter pertinent to school units is their administrative dependence. Unfortunately, this information was not found for Mato Grosso in 1942, only for 1952 and 1961. In 1952, of the total of 21 school units, 6 were public (28.6% of the total, all maintained by state government authority) and 15 were private (71.4% of the total). In 1961, 39.1% of the school units were public (18 school units - 16 state, one federal, and one municipal school), and 60.1% were private (28 school units, adding denominational and non-denominational together), making for a total of 46 educational establishments (IBGE, 1961).

Although the Statistical Yearbooks of Brazil (AEB) do not provide information on the sponsors of these educational establishments in the case of private schools, that is, whether they were religious or secular, some data show the importance of denominational secondary schools in this group. According to Souza e ^{Silva and Furtado (2021}), among the 12 secondary schools in existence in 1942, 8 were Salesian (66.7% of the total), without considering the presence of other religious orders in the state. In the same way, in 1952, of a total of 21 schools, 15 were private (71.4% of the total number of schools in existence, as shown above) and, among them, 12 were Salesian (80.0% of the private network of secondary education in Mato Grosso). In 1952, denominational schools were 28 of the 46 schools in existence (61.0% of the total) and Salesian schools had a network of 18 schools in the state (64.3% of the denominational schools were Salesian).

The second set of data to be examined will be enrollments¹⁶ by administrative dependence of the school units (public, municipal or state; and private), considering the three time periods referred to: 1942, 1952, and 1961.

* Except for the years 1950 and 1951, for which information was not found.

Sources: IBGE (1946-1961). Organization: Silvia Helena Andrade de Brito

Graph 2 Enrollments in secondary education, by year, in the state of Mato Grosso - 1940 to 1961* 

There were 2,206 enrolled in secondary education in Mato Grosso in 1942, and 4,725 enrolled in 1952 (increase of 114.2% in that decade); while the growth in enrollments from 1952 to 1961 was around 134.2% (from 4,725 to 11,065 enrolled). This constant upward movement of enrollments in secondary education, above all as of 1950, can be observed in Graph 2.

There is information about the administrative dependence of these enrollments only for the year 1961. According to IBGE data (1961), among the 11,065 enrolled in 1961, 34.4% came from public school units, the overwhelming majority being state schools, since only one school was municipal (3,806 enrollments in all). Enrollments in private schools totaled 65.6% (7,529 enrollments).

Another element to note in relation to enrollments is that they remained relatively stable from 1942 to 1949, probably indicating the difficulties of supporting oneself given the costs of remaining in secondary education, whether in public schools or private schools, but mainly in secondary education ( ^{BRITO, 2001}).

Completing the information already available, in 1952, of the 21 secondary school units registered in Mato Grosso, 18 offered junior high school courses (13 private and 5 public), while 3 offered high school courses (2 private and 1 public, the latter being the Liceu Cuiabano, in Cuiabá).

Another element that may assist in understanding the movement of expansion in secondary education in Mato Grosso is the location of the schools, beginning this reflection with Figure 2.

Position of the municipality in relation to the state and its capital city.

Legend: (1) Cuiabá, (2) Corumbá, (3) Campo Grande.

Sources: OLIVEIRA (2014), ^{BRITO (2001}), BRITO; ^{SILVA (2019}). Organization: Stella Sanches de Oliveira Silva.

Figure 2 Municipalities of the state of Mato Grosso that had at least one establishment, public or private, with a junior high school course in 1942. 

Thus, taking 1942 as a reference, there were 10 schools with a junior high school course: 3 in the city of Cuiabá, 3 in Corumbá, and 4 in Campo Grande. The latter two cities were located in the south of Mato Grosso. Continuing with Figure 3, the location of the school units is shown on the state map for 1956.

Position of the municipality in relation to the state and its capital city.

Legend: (1) Cáceres; (2) Cuiabá; (3) Alto Araguaia; (4) Corumbá; (5) Aquidauana; (6) Campo Grande; (7) Três Lagoas; (8) Paranaíba; (9) Bela Vista; (10) Dourados

Sources: BRASIL (1955), IBGE (1958), ^{BRITO (2001}). Organization: Stella Sanches de Oliveira Silva

Figure 3 Municipalities of the state of Mato Grosso that had at least one school unit of secondary education, public or private, in 1956. 

Figure 3 shows the spread of secondary education establishments, with an increase in the number of cities that had secondary education school units in the period of 1942 to 1956. In 1956, there were already 22 schools (an increase of 120.0% from 1942 to 1956). In addition, in 1956, four establishments appeared that offered junior high school and high school courses, namely, Colégio Estadual de Mato Grosso, in Cuiabá (public school); Colégio Dom Bosco (private school) and Colégio Estadual Campo-Grandense (public school), in Campo Grande; and Colégio Maria Leite, in Corumbá.

Once again, we see that the spread of secondary schools through the state of Mato Grosso occurs more in the southern part of the state; in 1956, 14 (63.6%) of the school units of secondary education were in this region, encompassing seven municipalities. For the northern part of the state, schools were distributed in three municipalities, which added up to eight school units (36.4% of the total number of secondary education establishments in 1956). Furthermore, regarding geographic distribution, while in 1942 only three cities concentrated the 10 school units in existence, fourteen years later there were seven more cities, making for a total of 10 municipalities (an increase of 233.3% in the number of municipalities served).

The scenario constituted by the process of expansion of secondary education in Mato Grosso was maintained until the final time period examined in this study, 1961, with growth both in the number of cities served and in the number of school establishments offering secondary education. There was a leap from 22 schools in 1956 to 42 schools in 1961 (an increase of 90.9%). In addition, growth in this level of schooling in this short period of five years, from 1956 to 1961, reached twelve more cities (140.0% increase), for a total of 24 different cities in Mato Grosso that had at least the 1st cycle of secondary education (junior high school course). And among these 24 municipalities, 4 had establishments that also offered the high school course, the 2nd cycle of secondary education: Campo Grande, with 2 school units; Corumbá, with one school unit; and Cuiabá, with one school unit (Figure 4).

Position of the municipality in relation to the state and its capital city.

Legends: (1) Cáceres; (2) Poconé; (3) Cuiabá; (4) Poxoréu; (5) Rondonópolis; (6) Guiratinga; (7) Alto Araguaia; (8) Rio Verde de Mato Grosso; (9) Corumbá; (10) Ladário; (11) Porto Murtinho; (12) Miranda; (13) Aquidauana; (14) Bela Vista; (15) Jardim; (16) Guia Lopes da Laguna; (17) Maracaju; (18) Ponta Porã; (19) Amambaí; (20) Dourados; (21) Rio Brilhante; (22) Campo Grande; (23) Três Lagoas; (24) Paranaíba.

Source: BRASIL (1955; 1957; 1959; 1960); IBGE (1957); INEP (1945; 1949; 1951), ^{BRITO; SILVA (2019}).

Organization: Stella Sanches de Oliveira Silva

Figure 4 Municipalities of the state of Mato Grosso that had at least one school unit of secondary education, public or private, in 1961. 

It is noteworthy that most of these establishments were private, also in 1961, as previously highlighted. Prominent among the schools created by private institutions are those run by religious orders, as already discussed, and by the National Free Schools Campaign (Campanha Nacional de Educandários Gratuitos - CNEG), which created junior high schools in municipalities such as Bela Vista, Ponta Porã, and Porto Murtinho, which later became part of the state network of secondary schools (^{ASTOFE, 2017}). In summary, up to 1942, there were 10 schools distributed in 3 cities in the state of Mato Grosso; in 1956, 22 schools in 10 cities; and in 1961, 42 schools in 24 cities.

Particularly at the end of the period analyzed, in 1961, consideration of the state and the differences between the northern and southern parts shows that the schools in the northern part were concentrated in regions close to the state capital, Cuiabá, spreading across seven municipalities; and in the southern part, there were 15 cities with junior high school courses, filling the map in a nearly generalized way in the southern part of Mato Grosso, from east to west, taking the city of Cuiabá as a reference.

In conclusion: similarities and differences in the expansion of Secondary Education in Goiás and Mato Grosso

In the first part of this article, we already saw how the differences between the collections available on secondary education in the states of Goiás and Mato Grosso determined different possibilities for access to information, a key element for analyzing the similarities and differences between the secondary education established in the two states between 1942 and 1961. In the case of Mato Grosso, access to data from the Education and Culture Statistical Service of the Brazilian Ministry of Education (MEC) was quite limited; thus, data from the AEB, IBGE, and the Legislative Assembly of Mato Grosso were more frequently used. In the case of Goiás, the information from the AEB was crossed with data from the MEC, and collections of the Casa Civil of the state of Goiás were used, an element not available for Mato Grosso. And, in both cases, information was collected from the historiography produced about the two states.

As a work of comparative educational historiographical production, the methodological route followed allowed the proposal of ^{Ferreira (2009}) to be adopted, which has contributed to the scenario of comparative studies on education with a critical perspective. Ferreira (2009) addresses the differences and similarities in educational issues but also exposes the limits of educational phenomena, reaffirming comparison as a powerful tool for building knowledge about education in different times and spaces.

Based on these assumptions, taking up the area of comparison of the number of schools and their administrative dependence, a general trend appeared in both states from 1942 to 1961, which was the process of expansion of secondary education, especially from 1952 to 1961. In addition, considering the reduced number of school units and the fact that most of the establishments were private, it can be said that secondary education was deeply elitist, both in public and private institutions, serving a reduced number of students and being available in only part of the municipalities of both states (NUNES, 2000).

Thus, through the operation of comparison, the similarity between the states in the aspect of the elitist development of secondary education becomes clear, corroborating “the comparative history of education, as a historiographic modality, approaches[ed] by reciprocal examination of two or more sections of time and space of production and consumption of the product” (^{SILVA, 2021}, p. 58).

In placing the cases of Mato Grosso and Goiás in relation in the continuity of a comparative approach, we were attentive to regularities, displacements, and transformations regarding the broadening of the elements that confirmed the expansion of secondary education. But it was the action of establishing an area of comparison that allowed the “construction of models and typologies, identification of continuities and discontinuities, similarities and differences” (^{SILVA, 2021}, p. 59) that allowed the construction of the following problematizations.

In the case of Mato Grosso, highlighting the age variable for the 1940s, we have 66,607 people in the 12-18 year age group, and 82,689 in the same age group in 1950 (IBGE, 1939-1961). Although there is no information on the place of residence of this population, through comparison with the number of enrollments in secondary school in those years, we see that in 1940 (IBGE, 1952), the crude schooling rate¹⁷ for secondary education was 2.8% of the school-age population attending secondary education.

Still working with the same variable, it was only for the year 1960 (IBGE, [1960]) that the census presented data on the population by age group and place of residence. Taking the population from 12 to 18 years of age in the urban context, there are 60,168 people (41.4% of the total population in this age group) and 85,019 people in the rural area (58.6% of the total population in this age group). Enrollments in secondary education, in the respective year, totaled 9,601. Considering only residents in the urban area, there was a crude enrollment rate for secondary education of 16.0% for the population of 12-18 years. Furthermore, it should be noted that, given the administrative dependence situation of the existing enrollments (54.0% belonged to the private secondary education network, whether denominational or non-denominational; while 46.0% belonged to public secondary education network), the costs of secondary education, and other factors, could have been a burden on attaining it among the population of Mato Grosso, as previously stated.

Regarding the State of Goiás, however, it should be noted that from 1930 to 1945, it was governed by Pedro Ludovico Teixeira, representative of the dissident oligarchies of the southern and southwestern parts of the state. He took control of the state administrative apparatus with a moralistic and modernizing discourse.

Even having been defeated by the National Democratic Union (UDN) represented by Jerônimo Coimbra Bueno, who was victorious in the election that took place after 1945, Pedro Ludovico Teixeira ran again for the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and won in the following election, returning to running the state in 1951.

The subsequent election was won by his nephew, José Ludovico de Almeida, also of the PSD, who governed from 1955 to 1959. His successor was José Feliciano Ferreira, former secretary of education in his government, who was also of the PSD, who, in turn, was replaced on January 31, 1961, by Mauro Borges Teixeira, son of Pedro Ludovico Teixeira. This succession situation in local politics shows a continuity in power, that is, the political group of the intervener Pedro Ludovico Teixeira was in charge of the state from 1930 to 1945 and afterwards in the ten-year period of 1952-1961. This continuity in the administrative command in Goiás favored the maintenance of Pedro Ludovico Teixeira's political policies regarding secondary education, in favor of its expansion. In the period of greatest growth, 17 schools were created from 1949 to 1952, reaching a total of 79 schools in 1961 (a positive variation of 59.5% from 1952 to 1961). Moreover, many already existing schools were expanded. A favorable position toward private institutions was also observed through subsidies, during his terms in office and/or those of the group committed to him. Thus, in 1961, among the 79 schools in existence, 61 were private, representing 77.2% of the total number of school units (IBGE, 1961). Despite this growth, however, 65.8% of the municipalities of Goiás, a total of 179 municipalities, did not have secondary education in 1961.

In addition, we see that the municipalities that received secondary education are located in the south of the state, and one of the determining factors for this location was the presence of the Goiás Railroad, which, upon arriving in the state in the early twentieth century, favored economic development, above all facilitating the flow of agricultural production in the municipalities through which it extends (^{CASTILHO, 2012}). Thus, the increase in population density in this region favored the opening of schools, and the populations of these municipalities also requested them (^{GONCALVES; BARROS, 2021}).

Other elements appear in the case of Mato Grosso. In 1944, the state had 29 municipalities (IBGE, 1841-1945), when adding the cities of Mato Grosso and the Federal Territory of Ponta Porã¹⁸. It had 35 municipalities in 1950 (IBGE, 1952), and 64 in 1960 (IBGE, 1961). That is, it had a smaller number of municipalities compared to Goiás. In addition, a large part of the economic and social development of the state was concentrated in the municipalities of the southern region of the state, where the vast majority of secondary education establishments were located, especially from 1952 on. It was in that region of the state that the Northwest Brazil railroad had been set up at the beginning of the 20th century, connecting Mato Grosso to São Paulo, which transformed Campo Grande into the second largest city in Mato Grosso. Its political and social importance was only behind that of the state capital, Cuiabá, located in the northern part of the State (^{BITTAR; FERREIRA JÚNIOR, 1999}). Likewise, the other access route for goods, labor, and capital to Mato Grosso, though on a smaller scale as of the 1940s, was the waterway through the Port of Corumbá. It was used as a center for exporting goods produced in the Paraguay River Basin that later flowed to Latin American countries, such as Paraguay, Bolivia, and Argentina, or to the Southeast and South regions of Brazil. It was also used as a center for importing goods from the same regions, distributed mainly to the north of Mato Grosso (^{ALVES, 1984}; ^{BRITO, 2001}).

It was also in the south of Mato Grosso that the Mate Larangeira Company (a maté tea company) was located and was still present. Its production was decreasing and it already suffered from competition from other countries in the period in question, but it was still a regionally important activity (^{CENTENO, 2022}). In addition, the region, whose epicenter was the city of Dourados, was developing, first driven by establishment of the National Agricultural Settlement of Dourados in 1943 (^{OLIVEIRA, 1999}), and in the years that followed, the region gained increasing prominence in agricultural activity (QUEIROZ, 1988).

Meanwhile, the northern part of Mato Grosso, up to this time in history, had developed in part around Cuiabá, which was the capital and one of the oldest cities in the region, the most important political-administrative center of Mato Grosso. The other center of activity (which included the cities of Cáceres, Poconé, Rondonopolis, Guiratinga, and Alto Araguaia) extended to the south, east, and west of Cuiabá. These areas were characterized by livestock raising and, in some cases, exploitation of mineral resources. Yet, the largest area in terms of extension was still undeveloped, which largely consisted of forests and/or cerrado not yet explored or exploited (^{FERREIRA 1957}; 1958; ^{SÁ; CORREA, 2019}). In fact, the center and extreme north of Mato Grosso, the latter considered part of what was called the Legal Amazon region, would only be effectively occupied through the colonization policies of the military government and of other agents in the state (^{DENTZ, 2018}).

Finally, we highlight the importance of the delimitation of space - Mato Grosso and Goiás - as an instrumental resource of the practice of comparative history to at last disentangle educational processes regarding the expansion of secondary education. A delicate exercise was carried out when studying the states, seeking not to establish a hierarchy between them and being attentive to the risk of seeing one or the other as better. According to ^{Silva (2019}), a mutual interdependence must be considered in geographic delimitations, which indicate specificities and tensions among them, as they simultaneously respond to constant transformations.

In conclusion, it can be said that there was a movement that impacted the entire Central-West region, denoting the more general trend of capitalist development in the region, especially in the post-war period, at which time secondary education expanded considerably. But, in addition, a trait common to both states is the concentration of the educational establishments in the cities of greater economic expression at that time in history, represented by the south of Goiás and the south of Mato Grosso. The specific geographic and social characteristics of the north of Goiás and the north of Mato Grosso (the first, an area of cerrado and intense indigenous occupation; the second, characterized by the southernmost extreme of what was called the Legal Amazon region) were certainly elements that determined their late colonization, carried out mainly beginning in the 1970s. The fronts of occupation were encouraged by the agricultural and livestock expansion policies of the military governments.

In Goiás, however, a state with 179 municipalities, this represented the presence of secondary education in 25.1% of the total number of cities in existence at that time in history, that is, 45 municipalities. In Mato Grosso, with a total of 64 municipalities according to the 1960 census (IBGE, 1961), the 24 cities that had secondary education in 1961 represented nearly 40.0% of the cities in existence in the state (more precisely, 37.5%). A noteworthy common element, however, is the high percentage of the rural population present in the two states of the federation, while observing that, for the most part, these secondary schools were urban. The rural population represented 60.0% of the total population in the case of Mato Grosso, and in the case of Goiás, it represented an even more expressive 69.3% of the total population.