The return to democracy in 1983: An experience of citizen education in an Argentine primary school

Abstract

This article describes an educational experience at the Joaquín V. González Graduate School, a subsidiary of the National University of La Plata, Argentina. This school offers its 11-year-old sixth-grade students an optional, after-school program called "Extended Day," which operates as a workshop. The experience took place in the Social Sciences Laboratory, which conceives of active learning by addressing social reality through problem-solving situations that are relevant to the group's interests.

At our school, we propose to contribute to the development of critical, participatory, and democratic citizenship. As we mark 40 years since the restoration of democracy in Argentina, we believe it is appropriate to reflect on the meanings this category holds for our students and their ideas regarding political participation and the construction of the common good based on how they read and interpret the present. At a time when Argentina is debating the role of the state, individualism prevails over the collective, and citizenship education in schools is considered a form of indoctrination, the public space of classrooms and intergenerational dialogues are valuable opportunities to reflect on the common good. Therefore, we believe that the exercise of citizenship and democratic coexistence from childhood must be "a daily practice for teachers, students, and the entire educational community through activities that invite questions, doubts, dissent, and criticism." Based on the above, we invited students to consider what it was like to live in a democracy 40 years ago, drawing comparisons between that past and the present to discuss politics, citizenship, and participation today, and to foster new questions about that past that would enable new dialogues with our present.

Considering this topic required us to revisit academic research on the transmission of conflictive pasts, such as Jelin's work and her discussions about what to remember, why, and the social struggles surrounding memory(ies). Several works have pointed out the difficulties Latin American research faces in recognizing the voice of children when discussing citizenship education and conflictive pasts. They have also considered the risks of saturated memories and of petrifying transmission, issues that challenge us as teachers when addressing these topics in school.

Through a pedagogical narrative, we first clarify our conceptual, methodological, and didactic framework regarding how and why we work on citizenship in schools with children. Second, we present the background to the proposal and the sequence of lessons developed. Third, we analyze the implementation of the proposal, focusing on some student productions and scenes that, finally, allow us to reach our initial conclusions. The students' voices allow us to see the challenges of conveying conflictive pasts in the current context.