The role of the educator in the neocolonial stage: Julio Baguer Hernández, an example of a teacher

El papel del educador en la etapa neocolonial: Julio Baguer Hernández, ejemplo de maestro

O papel do educador na fase neocolonial: Julio Baguer Hernández, um exemplo de professor

Teresa Celeida Padrón Zabala¹ https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6725-6444
Jorge Luis Amador Hernández¹ https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1428-0803
Yanelis Rodríguez Ramos¹ https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2363-8393

¹ University of Pinar del Río "Hermanos Saíz Montes de Oca". czabala@upr.edu.cu; jorgeluis.amador@upr.edu.cu; yanelis.rodriguez@upr.edu.cu

In the neocolonial stage, the memoristic and reproductive educational method is evidenced in the Cuban School; however, there were teachers who applied others that served as the basis for developing student's creativity and talent. Julio Baguer Hernández was one of those teachers who were ahead of his time by developing love for his country and raising aesthetic values through innovative educational methods. In addition to being a teacher, he was a social fighter who with his journalist's pen was able to defend the poor and the people, raising his voice in defense of the nation's natural wealth.

The teaching ethics of this master, born in the demarcation of Guane, province of Pinar de Rio, in the neocolonial stage, left a mark on the town, since, in addition to one educator of his time, was editor of local newspapers that circulated and social fighter and, in each one of these edges, forged, through educational methods, values and principles in the society of its environment.

The points of contact between Julio Baguer's educational work and the thinking of his predecessors, who laid the foundations of Cuban pedagogy, are evident. This school has as a principle of school work research, the awakening of the investigative spirit, not the passive acquisition of knowledge. To themselves, tasks are assigned to the students who respond, both to their possibilities and to their interests, taking into account in the succession of these works the importance of starting from the objects, of their manipulation.

We can say that Baguer method of self - taught way, because it was unaware of the conceptual bases, creating in his students teaching skills to research and development. This is evidenced in the development of a brochure, with the help of their students, to provide information, from a geopolitical perspective, about the composition of the soils in the town of Guane.  Described this as an area with mountainous areas, plains of large sheets that contain silica sand as a main rich mineral, demonstrating the exemplary nature of this master teaching from their homeland, strengthening the identity and nationality.

As for the educational work based on the Values formation, Baguer developed in its students respect for local heroes as was Isabel Rubio Diaz, captain of the Liberation Army in the Wars of Independence in the XIX Century, lto which he contributed to create one of the pillars of the rearguard of the Liberation Army and on which he led them to investigate, highlighting their moral qualities and their value. He wrote verses about this famous mambisa to promote in his students the liking for poetry, strengthening their love for the country. A snippet of these says:

It was his greatest ideal

That your Cuba was free

And in the fields you went to fight

For defending your flag

No less important is his work to achieve in the students the knowledge of our Apostle José Martí, since he was his most fervent admirer, hence he convened and developed conversations about his life on dates indicated such as the commemoration of his birth, the 28th of January, which highlights Marti's work in various fields: his love for homeland, his Americanism conviction and his admiration for Latin heroes as Bolivar, Sucre and San Martín.

It is appreciated that the teacher Julio Baguer Hernández was a man of lofty culture, with a deep knowledge of local and national events and, above all , knowledgeable about history , which is evidenced in the booklet of his authorship, which he prepared for his students entitled " Notes for the history of Guane " and it is structured into chapters in the following way:

• Chapter I. Pre-Columbian Time
• Chapter II. Geographical accidents
• Chapter III. Guane Foundation
• Chapter IV. Term Surface
• Chapter V. Social Development
• Chapter VI. Popular education and its development
• Chapter VII. Government Organization
• Chapter VIII. Political period
• Chapter IX. Revolutionary period
• Chapter X. Some distinguished guaneros

In addition, its educational work not only develops in the classroom, it also had a social impact as it became a public figure making discussions, lectures and preparing document  for society , as it was an article in salute to the  October 10^th, where he expressed: "Freedom was awakened by the ringing of the glorious bells of La Damajagua that with daring hands made the immortal Carlos Manuel de Céspedes vibrate, with that column that proclaimed before the civilized world his sanctified determination to be free, or to fall in the sacred field of honor" (Hart, 2002). In this way it also influences the citizens of the town.

He also worked as a columnist and editor in the local newspapers known as Tierra and Cuyaguateje  in the period between 1920-1934, some copies of which are preserved today in the museum or Guane municipality. In them he writes innumerable articles of a social nature, among which the following stand out: "Via Crusis", "Clarifying Concepts", "Grotesque Scene", "El Voto", "Politics" and "Los Partidos Políticos Guaneros". The essence of all these items is a call to reflection about the defense of the ideal of social justice and basically were directed to the peasantry, to fight against exploitation and agglutinated by a union.

For example, with regard to the vote, in the complimentary newspapers  Tierra arises that is sacred, that all the city are entitled to exercise; However, there is a clear denunciation and at the same time a message to the humble about the political corruption with which it operated in the neocolonial Cuba, when he comments that nevertheless it is the business of the pharmacist, the doctor or the merchant, who are in charge of guaranteeing the votes of the people, which leads to making them their slave in times of so much poverty and disease, which force the poor to vote in the interests of the exploiting classes. This constitutes a complaint in order to educate the poorest sectors of the need to defend their rights.

All this can be said that in the work of July Baguer Hernández behind a sociological - pedagogical lattice of a humanistic character, which is the substrate of its integral conception  of the world, constituting a paradigm and applying the pedagogy of their Antecessors, Varela, Luz y Caballero and Martí in their educational work in the neocolonial period.

This illustrious man from Pinar del Río was not only an example for the teaching profession of his locality, he went beyond the borders of his context, taking his pedagogical mastery at a regional and national level using methods that contributed to developing skills in his students that today are raised by contemporary pedagogy, among them  learn to learn.

In addition, he carried his message of rebellion and patriotism in defense of the homeless and the humble, both in teaching and in journalism and in social life, so today we pay tribute to his greatness.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Agramante, Roberto (1950). Prédica y ejemplo de Luz y Caballero. La Habana, Pueblo y Educación.

Hart Dávalos, Armando (2002). Perfiles. Editorial Pueblo y Educación. Ciudad de La Habana.

Conflict of interest:

The authors declare not to have conflicts of interest.

Authors´ Contribution:

The authors have participated in the writing of the work and analysis of the documents.

This work is under a licencia de Creative Commons Reconocimiento-NoComercial 4.0 Internacional
Copyright (c) Teresa Celeida Padrón Zabala, Jorge Luis Amador Hernández, Yanelis Rodríguez Ramos