Repression to Reform: Education in the Republic of Paraguay, 1811–1850

The independence of Spanish America presented new problems to the republics created out of the wreckage of Spain's American Empire. Economic restructuring, political organization, relations with neighbors and Europe, and the rise of new political groups all occupied the attention of young governments. One of the many social questions that had to be faced was that of education. Was it to be elitist and traditional as in the colonial era? Would the Church still be the primary agency for education? And how should formal learning be utilized for the good of the new societies?