Abstract:
The paper aims to analyze the social construction of excellence at Colégio Estadual Central de Belo Horizonte, a public school that was considered a reference in secondary education in Minas Gerais. The period of study consists in the establishment of new school's headquarters in 1956 and its expansion that coincided with the end of Brazilian democratic regime in 1964. This event was a rupture on the idea of excellence and freedom, elements that defined the institution's identity. Using registers of students trajectory, their social and cultural background, newspapers and interviews with former students and teachers of that period as sources, we seek to analyze how excellence in teaching and student self-government were defined as distinctive features of the institution. To grasp the construction of excellence and self-government we put focus on architectural design, developed by Oscar Niemeyer, social origin and cultural capital of the students, the high selectivity and rigor in the selection and assessment processes, teaching excellence, practices of sociability and political action inside the institution.
Keywords:
Secondary education; Excellence; Self-government; History
