Education for Citizenship

This chapter discusses the popular education during the wars of independence, noting it as one of the few priorities upon which royalists, reformers and revolutionaries could agree. It mentions the prevalent demands for knowledge to be shared and expectations that ran high as education was seen as the route to promoting political rights, industrial prosperity, and social integration. It also explores the independence era, which produced bold proposals for popular education policies that were radical in inclusivity, in approach, or in method. The chapter refers to Fernando López Aldana, a migrant from Lima who advocated education for all Americans in 1812. It emphasizes the idea that education was a universal right and was nonetheless in the air at the birth of the independent states.