Intellectuals in the Ministry of Education during the Civil-Military Dictatorship

Abstract

The central aim of this study is to identify the intellectuals linked to the Ministry of Education and Culture (MEC) who played an active role in shaping economically oriented educational reforms during the civil-military dictatorship (1964–1971). Drawing on Jean-François Sirinelli’s concept of intellectuals, Dermeval Saviani’s critique of technicist pedagogy, and José Oliveira Arapiraca’s critique of Human Capital Theory, the article examines how these actors legitimized educational policies aligned with the authoritarian project. Situated within the context of the Cold War and the international spread of human capital ideas, the research employs qualitative, bibliographic, and documentary methods to analyze official MEC sources, opinions from the Federal Education Council (CFE), and the journal Documenta. Findings show that ministers such as Jarbas Passarinho and councilors like Valnir Chagas and Newton Sucupira were pivotal in the 1968 and 1971 reforms, subordinating education to a productivity-driven logic and addressing a historiographical gap.