International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest

Extract

Simón Rodríguez was a philosopher and pedagogue who advocated progressive education. He is perhaps best known as the mentor of Simón Bolívar and author of a revolutionary concept of education for postcolonial Latin America. Rodríguez grew up as a foundling in the family of a priest named Simón Carreño Rodríguez. In 1791 he became a teacher in a primary school in Caracas, where Bolívar was one of his students. Impressed by Jean-Jacques Rousseau's ideas, he developed a thesis that education forms one of the few central elements of political emancipation. This led him to demand the opening of schools for all boys, not just white boys. As a teacher, his goal was to educate, not to instruct. Thus he used not only books but also less traditional methodology such as play and experimentation. In 1797 he was suspected of participating in the insurrection of Gual y España and was forced to leave Venezuela, never to return. While in exile, first in Jamaica and then in the Us and France, he changed his name to samuel Robinson and met up with Bolívar again in 1804. He spent time with his former student, who credited him with forming his appreciation for justice and liberty, as they traveled through France and Italy, attending the coronation of Napoléon Bonaparte as king of Italy. In Rome on the Monte sacro, Bolívar swore to Rodríguez that he would dedicate his life to the liberation of Latin ... log in or subscribe to read full text