User:DAR7/Biographies/Teachers of Brazil/Emília Erichsen

Emília Brasiliana de Faria and Albuquerque (Engenho da Piedade, November 17, 1817 - Palmeira, September 28, 1907) was a Brazilian teacher and educator. She was born in the Captaincy of Pernambuco,   more precisely in Engenho da Piedade, today the municipality of Jaboatão dos Guararapes, close to Recife, the state capital. She was a very smart and intelligent girl, she learned several languages. She had a privileged education, as she was the daughter of a medical surgeon trained at the University of Coimbra, who had friendly relations with important families of the time, such as Andrada e Silva.

She was born during the Pernambucan revolt. In 1827, at the age of ten, he moved with his family to Santos. There, youth lived until the age of 23, on Rua da Praia, on the corner of Rua do Sal, currently Tuiuti and José Ricardo streets, respectively. At the age of 23, at the end of 1840, he met a Danish ship commander named Conrad Erichsen. They got married and moved to Europe. In Germany, Emília visited the kindergartens and learned about the Froebel methodology, used in these early childhood schools that were being implemented in Europe. Still in Europe, he had two daughters. She returned to Brazil in 1844 and had five more children. She was the sister of Balbina Henriqueta, wife of José Antônio Pimenta Bueno, the marquis of São Vicente and the right hand of Pedro II of Brazil.

On October 11, 1846, the brig Æolus, owned by her husband, Conrad Erichsen, was destroyed by a cyclone in Havana. Later, suffering from depression for having lost the ship and some friends, Conrad Erichsen was appointed director responsible for planning the implementation of the Assunguy Colony, current municipality of Cerro Azul, a position he held until 1862. In 1856, the family moved to Castro, where, the following year, Emília took a public school exam. She worked as a teacher in the Paraná Province until 1862, when Conrad Erichsen passed away. That year, Emília founded the first kindergarten in Brazil, using the Froebel methodology, which she had known in Europe. In 1880, Emperor Pedro II of Brazil visited this kindergarten, being received by Emília Erichsen, and wrote about the visit in his diary. As a teacher in Castro, Emília taught French, English, arts and cooking classes to girls from wealthier families. It was a pioneer in the use of mixed rooms, that is, girls and boys in the same classroom. He moved to Palmeira in 1900, where he died on September 28, 1907, at 89, with two months left to complete ninety.

According to Tizuko Morchida Kishimoto, kindergarten was a children's school for educational purposes founded by Friedrich Wilhelm August Froebel, in 1840 in Germany, referring to the gardener who takes care of the plant since she was a little girl to grow well, because the child's first years are considered necessary for their growth.

Childhood and education
According to teacher Aida Mansani Lavalle (1992, pp. 25–31), from the State University of Ponta Grossa, Emília Erichsen moved with her family to Santos, still young. In this city, his father, Dr. José Manuel de Faria and Albuquerque, who was a surgeon of elite Brazilian formed in the University of Coimbra, collaborated with their education to give careful and diverse education for his daughter who was to be the creator of first preschool in the country, different from that reserved for the girls of her time. Emilia's own father studied at higher education institutions in Europe, at a time of social and political changes that came after the French Revolution.

Teacher Lavalle also classifies that the social condition of Emilia's relatives, in Santos, was excellent, because in Brazil, recently proclaimed independent, a small aristocracy of farmers, doctors and bachelors dominated the poorest social classes. For this reason, the Faria and Albuquerque coexisted with the nobility, with the illustrious politicians at the time, with the wealthiest families and had contact with the best of the cultural and educational background.

According to the same teacher in her book In the Times of the Province: Emília Ericksen and the teaching in Castro, published by the city of Castro, in Paraná, in 1992, the future creator of the first preschool in Brazil had better chances of I study that any Brazilian, of her time, because in addition to acquiring basic knowledge, she studied several languages. It is said that he knew English, Castilian, French, Italian and German deeply.

This knowledge of other languages ​​provided several opportunities for Emília to live with foreigners. Good books in Portuguese were scarce in Brazil, with regard to the scientific scope. She studied science as a student of José Bonifácio de Andrada e Silva and received his botany book, written in English, with the following dedication: “To my dear student, Emília, the homage of José Bonifácio”.

Personal life, marriage, trip to Europe, return to Brazil, financial difficulties and religion
According to Teacher Aida Mansani Lavalle (1992, cf. loc. Cit.), From the State University of Ponta Grossa, in 1841, Emília de Faria and Albuquerque, and the Danish Conrad Erichsen, commander of the Æolus ship, got married, living some time in Europe, where the safe and deep knowledge of several languages ​​by the future creator of the first pre-school in Brazil, as already mentioned, allowed her to get to know the cultural environment, so different from the one she lived in until a certain time.

According to two teachers, Aida Mansani Lavalle (1992, cf. loc. Cit.), And Luiza Pereira Dorfmund (1966, pp. 4–5), in Europe her two firstborn, Mariana and Nancy, came to the world. Probably, it was her mother's curiosity that led her to seek knowledge of the ideas of the German educator Froebel, who debated the current children's education system, suggesting turning schools into a kind of kindergarten.

Emília and Conrad returned to Brazil, where five more children were born (Conrado, Haraldo, Balbina, Caetano and Emília). They lived for some years in Santos, when they went through a serious financial ordeal due to the loss of the Æolus ship, forcing him to seek a new way of subsistence. The solution was the search for a public office.

According to notes by João Guimarães, in May 2018, and Conrado Caetano Erichsen in their “ Confidences …”, Emília Erichsen was a fervent Catholic Brazilian and her husband, Conrad Erichsen, a Lutheran from Denmark.

Assunguy Colony, transfer to Castro and educational trajectory
According to Professor Aida Mansani Lavalle (1992, cf. loc. Cit.), From the State University of Ponta Grossa, the Province of Paraná, installed on December 19, 1853, had new ventures, as far as the time was concerned. that nuclei of foreign immigrants were installed in its territory. One of these centers was the Assunguy Colony, designed to bring together a community formed by Irish immigrants in Paraná. Although some writings report that Conrad Erichsen's family would have gone to live in Assunguy, this fact is unlikely because the colony was only opened in 1860. In addition, no document related to the colony bears the name of Conrad Erichsen, but of others directors. The possibility is admitted that Conrad, without a source of remuneration in Brazil after the loss of his ship due to a typhoon, which occurred in Havana, was hired to help plan the arrival of immigrants, due to their relationship in Europe, including in Germany, where he also lived before moving to Santos. It is known about the relationship between Emília Erichsen and José Antônio Pimenta Bueno and José Bonifácio de Andrade e Silva, who had a close friendship with the Imperial Brazilian Family. Pimenta Bueno was Conrad's brother-in-law and, in a financial difficulty, could very well have helped his relatives in some way. There are reports of two trips by Conrad, who lived in Santos, to Rio de Janeiro, without specifying the reasons.

What is certain is that Conrad Erichsen brought his family to live in the newest province of the Empire of Brazil. If in fact he planned the arrival of the settlers, he is believed to have made at least one trip to Assunguy, which is about 100 km from Castro. In addition, the colony has received immigrants of various nationalities over more than a decade, beginning in 1860, and has declined for various reasons. And Conrad Erichsen passed away as early as 1862, when the colonists began to arrive.

Assunguy was removed from the consumer centers, connected by poorly maintained roads, which did not allow traffic other than horses and mules. According to reports by Reinaldo Benedito Nishikawa, in his dissertation entitled Lands and Immigrants in Assunguy Colony (Paraná, 1854–1874), the lands were not very fertile, they were doubled and the government did not fulfill its promises made to the settlers to give due assistance. Outlying colonies, with no roads that would lead what they produced to urban centers, or that would allow the colonists to help with their needs, were failing. These experiences ended the dreams of immigrants who settled on lands in the Province of Paraná in search of prosperity.

The village of Castro was chosen as a new home for the Conrad family probably because it had some facilities: it was located in the path of the troops; it was relatively close to the future Assunguy Colony; and there lived one of Emília's brothers, Antônio José Xavier de Faria Albuquerque, a wealthy farmer, who would certainly support him in whatever he needed. Castro was an attractive village in the interior of Paraná, a center of tropeira economy, with a small tertiary sector. Romário Martins mentions that in Castro, at the beginning of the Province of Paraná, around 1853, he had the following social and economic characteristics:

"Castro, with 16 blocks and 1088 dwellings, with a population of 5 899 inhabitants, of which 3 618 men and 2 006 women, being 3 952 married, 1 413 and widowed 534. White 3 618, mulattos and pardos 1 295, black 986, of which 796 were slaves. It had 510 farmers, 145 dealers, 16 carpenters, 7 goldsmiths, 7 shoemakers, 3 blacksmiths, 2 tailors, 1 saddler, etc. Numerous cattle ranches, abundant production of corn, beans, rice, cotton, cane, coffee, fruits and vegetables."

- Romário Martins

In this condition, the Erichsen family settled in Castro. While Conrad took care of the affairs of the Assunguy colony, Emilia, who sought teaching support for her family members, thus overcoming the initial problems. To this end, she took a public exam, starting her professional career as a teacher, bringing Castro an individual education, very different from that of teachers who worked in Paraná Province. His main contribution was his differentiated culture and his knowledge of Froebelian ideas, because he does not appear to have had appropriate pedagogical education for the profession as an educator. Lacking trained people, the authorities held competitions to select, among the most educated, those who would teach children the first letters. Thus, Emília had a chance to pass on her knowledge to all those interested, even in the knowledge of foreign languages.

Emília Erichsen and the Froebel methodology
According to Aida Mansani Lavalle (1992, cf. loc. Cit.), From the State University of Ponta Grossa, the encounter with the knowledge of the German pedagogue, in general, led all those who were involved or interested in education, in different times, to ask again a question that was born in the 18th century, in the midst of France's cultural conjuncture. Essentially, this question went through important questions: what is education ? How and to whom should it be taught? Who and what should be taught?

A critique of Froebelian philosophy goes back, therefore, to the 18th century, when formal education was being profoundly altered. A more popular, less aristocratic orientation was introduced by the philosophy of Enlightenment thinkers for school education. Criticizing the absolutist regime and the rights reserved to it, some of these thinkers used to defend a universal instruction for all citizens to learn to read, write and calculate.

Education would, through this point of view, constitute the greatest resource for spreading the democratic regime, a concrete way to reduce elitist complexity, which, at the time, could spread knowledge and unify peoples.

Of all these thinkers of the Enlightenment, it was Jean-Jacques Rousseau who, due to his political views, influenced pedagogy, both of those who lived in his time and of those who came later. Debating the human condition with regard to social life, Rousseau not only demonstrated that it was necessary to provide education to all citizens, but also attracted attention to the child, who in his activities usually appears as a point of convergence for the entire educational system. The society that wants to form excellent citizens needs to focus its efforts on the child. Rousseau claimed that nature wants children to be themselves before they become adults. If we intend to disturb this balance, we will produce premature fruits, which will not ripen, will taste bitter and will quickly rot.

However, it is not only the Enlightenment that defines European educational norms, in the middle of the 19th century. Major social and economic changes gave rise to opportunities and problems for the educational system then structured.

The progress of capitalism brings the most important of the transformations, in the same proportion that the Industrial Revolution crossed the limits of England and brought, in addition to scientific development, an increasing flow of urbanization and a growth of power for the bourgeoisie. The urban concentration, which took place due to the rural exodus, brought to the proletariat hitherto organized, a decrease in the quality of life. Large concentrations, worse wages, lack of labor laws guaranteeing the rights of civil servants, the work of minors and women subjected to excessive abuse, this is usually the reality in several countries.

Such a difficult social context did not coexist at the philosophical, political or ideological level, only with the legacy of the Enlightenment. The 19th century was marked by philosophers, few of important prestige like Hegel, Marx and Auguste Comte, and the educators who experienced this context reflected, in their ideas, one or the other of these guidelines. Among those who sought to modernize the educational process at the time mentioned, seeking to better explore the child's abilities and, at the same time, adjust them to school, Friedrich Froebel deserves mention, which was a consequence of the educational system in Germany.

In order to better understand the methods that Froebel developed for education, mainly aimed at the age between three and seven years old, it is necessary to know a little about his life. As a child, he faced difficulties and trauma. Having lost his mother before reaching one year of age, educated by the stepmother who attacked him, he became shy and unfriendly, seeking in nature a retreat and relief from his emotional conflicts. His experience at school was not enough to provide him with a regular education. Perhaps for this reason, he dedicated himself to education, analyzed the philosophy of Rousseau and Pestalozzi and since then has carried out his own educational reforms. For several analysts of his work, Froebel is known as "a Teutonic Rousseau".

Professional career
According to Aida Mansani Lavalle (1992, cf. loc. Cit.), From the State University of Ponta Grossa, Emília Erichsen's career as an educator begins shortly after her arrival in Castro. Through the ordinance published on September 26, 1857, the Province created a second order chair for women, in the city of Castro and, two days later, a competition was opened to fill the position of professor for that chair. At the request of Emilia, who claimed she could not travel, the selection was made in the city itself.

The evaluation of candidates was carried out by a committee made up of Joaquim Ignácio Silveira da Motta, Father Damaso José Correia and Dr. Felipe Correia Pacheco, giving a win to Emília, who had already created a private educational institution, initially reserved for teaching French language, with its first students being few youngsters from Castro.

The period that she taught for public teaching sponsored by the province was short for Emília, since the chair was extinguished in 1862. Without public employment, without her husband who died in March of that year, it would be up to Emília to support her family. Experience and knowledge led her to continue with her private school, which also operated as a boarding school, and to found the first kindergarten in Brazil in 1862, adopting the philosophy preached by Froebel.

In her institution, according to what was mentioned in her reports, Emília Erichsen decided to abolish paddling and decided to adopt an educational system that was opposed to what was used in public schools. Liberal to the extreme, he placed the children of the landowners, who formed the elite, side by side with the poor youth and even children of slaves. The teaching method was also different from that recommended by political institutions, and showed the enormous influence it received from Froebel. Lack of routine, incentive for creativity, each student filling their gap with their own performance and encouraged by the teacher.

Several students who attended Emília Erichsen's school, later stood out as politicians, which contributed to publicize their innovative work in the teaching profession.

A daughter of yours sought to relate this influence to important projects associated with education, at national and state level, because she lived and exchanged ideas with public and learned men such as Councilor Laurindo, Dr. Francisco Xavier da Silva, José Francisco da Rocha and Doctor Vicente Machado, the latter, in 1904, in charge of the state government, created the first public preschool based on Froebelian methods, in Paraná. In 1911, when Emília Erichsen had already died, Xavier da Silva named the kindergarten educator, serving as an example for elementary school in Paraná.

Conrad Erichsen's death, last years and death
Aida Mansani Lavalle (1992, cf. loc. Cit.), From the State University of Ponta Grossa, refers to a certain restriction on the leadership of the Erichsen family, since the head of the family was a supporter of Protestantism. In a city where the Church exercised enormous power, non-followers of Roman Catholicism suffered the consequences of this religious difference. However, due to the position of teacher, because she is highly respected by the community, Emília managed to partially solve this problem. After Conrad's death, his sons "converted" to Catholicism. For information, the death certificate of Conrad Erichsen, signed by Father Damaso Correa, is transcribed, which reads as follows:

"''On the thirteenth of March, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in this city of Castro, Conrado Erichsen, a Protestant, born in the Kingdom of Denmark, died suddenly of apoplexy, married to Emília de Faria Erichsen, resident in this parish. He was sixty-two years old, more or less, and it was observed what in such circumstances the Roman ritual prescribes. His corpse lies on a ram raised in the cemetery of this same city."

The Erichsen family immediately came to the Church after Conrad's death. Thus, in less than thirty days, Father Damaso records the following information:

"On April 8, 1862, at the headquarters of this city of Castro, the Reverend Friar Matias de Genoa, with my permission, baptized = sub conditione = for doubting the validity of the first baptism, done in Copenhagen on August 7, 1842, and put Santos Oleos to Mariana ... legitimate daughter of Conrado ... of Dona Emília de Faria Erichsen ... whites: so-called Mariana declared very formally, that although she was baptized according to the Protestant rite, because her father was a Protestant, Lutheran communion; however, he constantly renounced the errors of a similar religion and embraced the true principles of the Catholic, Roman Apostolic Religion, the only one he knew to be true, without which there is no salvation, thus following the education of his mother, who was born in the said Catholic Religion, whose dogmas and doctrines he always followed and respected: Captain Antonio José Xavier de Faria and Albuquerque, married, and Maria de Jesus Marcondes were godfathers ..."

The family continued to live in Castro and in 1870, in addition to the work done by Emília, their son Dr. Conrado Caetano Erichsen was a public prosecutor. When these two children lived in Castro, they had an active participation in municipal politics, as councilors.

Around 1900, already quite old, Emília Erichsen moved to a house in Palmeira, where she started to live with some of her descendants who lived there before her. He died in that city in 1907, on September 28 , according to the death certificate: "Record 301, of September 29, 1907, which recorded the death on October 28, at 10:30 pm, of Emília Faria Erichsen, at the residence of Dr. Conrado Caetano Erichsen, as a result of altério sclerosi (sic) with 90 years old, widow, Brazilian, born in Pernambuco, residing in the city for many years."