In all professions there are unsung heroes. Characters of deep human quality and unforgettable imprint that left their mark on their professional activity and marked their families and friends with fire for their kindness and simplicity. Despite possessing an immense wealth of knowledge and experience, they were never overwhelmed by flattery and, on the contrary, redoubled their efforts to always be better and leave examples that would serve the new generations. On this occasion, our biographical series "And who was it?" deals with a full-fledged educator, who lived to be 104 years old and remained lucid until shortly before his death, all the while giving master classes on life and the teaching profession. Let's get to know Mr. Emilio Barrantes Revoredo , through this text written by Jaime Guadalupe Bobadilla and dedicated to the memory of our unforgettable co-worker and generous friend JUAN CARLOS VICENTE CASTRO, an anonymous hero of national journalism.
he is one of the most transformative educators in Peruvian Education. As a writer he has numerous books on his profession and other topics. He also wrote poetry, in which he fell in love with the work of César Vallejo. He met Amauta José Carlos Mariátegui and was a great friend of José María Arguedas.
He was born in Cajamarca in October 1903 and died in Lima in July 2007. He was a student at the Colegio Nacional San Ramón de la solar native of him. He studied at the National Pedagogical Institute for Men in Lima, graduating with the title of Normalista, in 1930. As soon as he began professional teaching, he was Director of the Modern Institute. He then took the course of History of Peru in the Secondary School of the Colegio Nacional Santa Isabel, in Huancayo, in 1938.
In 1941 he assumed the Head of Secondary Education of the Ministry of Education, in Lima, in which he contributed to the updating of the Plans and Programs. In 1946 he opted for the degree of Doctor of Pedagogy at the Faculty of Letters of the UNMSM with the thesis Secondary Education in Peru. After the creation of the Faculty of Education, in which he was Professor, he held the Deanship for two periods (1956-1961 and 1964-1967).
In 1941 he became Head of the Secondary Education Pedagogical Section of the Ministry of Education. Likewise, he chaired the Permanent Board of Educational Coordination, as well as the Commission for Studies of the Situation of the Teaching.
During the Government of General Juan Velasco Alvarado he was President of the Education Reform Commission, together with the illustrious teachers Augusto Salazar Bondy and Wálter Peñaloza Ramella, and with the help of top-tier experts. In this transcendental national pedagogical and cultural innovation, a comprehensive diagnosis of the educational problem was made and the reform of Education at all levels was proposed, conceiving it as an integrated system that goes from Initial to Higher Education.
This innovative project was reversed during the second Government of the Architect Fernando Belaunde Terry, with whom we returned to the traditional system of Primary, Secondary and Higher Education.
His teaching exercise, when he left Palca, continued at the Colegio Santa Isabel, in Huancayo, later in the Great Alfonso Ugarte School Unit, in Lima. Then at the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, and later at the pinnacle of his work:the Presidency of the Education Reform Commission.
The pedagogical thought of Emilio Barrantes Revoredo it is linked with his life, with his work and his humanistic vocation. Undoubtedly little studied and less recognized, his contributions are making their way and enlightening educators who want to have a reference that cannot be bought on the market, nor with a patent.
Here is his prolific work:1940 – Folklore de Huancayo; 1945 – Secondary education in Peru; 1946 – Secondary education in Peru and New Education; 1948 – Philosophy and technique of Study Plans and Programs; 1950 – Introduction to Pedagogy; 1952 – Life in the classrooms; 1954 – Tasks that education must fulfill in Peru; 1963 – The human school; 1979 – The child and us; 1985 – Perspective and analysis of a changing reality; 1989 – History of education in Peru; 1990 – Chronicle of a Reformation; 1993 – Breviary of Education; 1998 – Around nature, society and culture; 1999 – Peru alive; 2003 – Sunset prose; 2004 – A new political horizon. From representative democracy to direct democracy, which was presented when he turned 100 years old and is listed as his testament.
Emilio Barrantes Revoredo , Teacher of Fiscal School and National School, Professor of San Marcos, educator with character and talent trained in the Normal School for Men, which became the National Pedagogical Institute, which became the National University of Education Enrique Guzmán y Valle – La Cantuta, is a paradigm today and posterity for its vocation and for its performance. He not only leaves a mark, but, therefore, teaches how to discover the path. And that's what we need from teachers today.
In July 2003, the Ministry of Education awarded him the Palmas Magisteriales in the highest degree:Amauta. Y Derrama Magisterial, on October 29, 2003 distinguished him with its highest institutional award:the José Antonio Encinas Medal of Honor, the greatest Peruvian Master of our time, whose Emilio Barrantes Revoredo He is one of the most illustrious disciples and followers of him.