The Ideal of the Practical

Colombia’s Struggle to Form a Technical Elite

Nonfiction, History, Americas, South America
Cover of the book The Ideal of the Practical by Frank Safford, University of Texas Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Frank Safford ISBN: 9781477304846
Publisher: University of Texas Press Publication: November 11, 2014
Imprint: University of Texas Press Language: English
Author: Frank Safford
ISBN: 9781477304846
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Publication: November 11, 2014
Imprint: University of Texas Press
Language: English

The Ideal of the Practical is a study of efforts by a segment of the upper class in an aristocratic Latin American society to alter cultural values in the society, creating stronger orientations toward the technical and the practical. Frank Safford describes attempts by members of Colombia’s nineteenth-century political elite to use technical education as a means of nurturing energetic upper-class entrepreneurs and an industrious working class in a static agrarian economy. In the course of his analysis, Safford sketches the historical development of scientific and technical education and of the engineering profession in Colombia.The book opens with a description of the economic and social context of early nineteenth-century Colombia. It then discusses some early experiments with manual industrial training between 1820 and 1850. Later chapters deal with the careers of upper-class youths sent abroad for scientific and technical training, the growth of indigenous engineering education, and the crystallization of a Colombian engineering profession. While the book primarily explores the nineteenth century, it also touches on eighteenth-century Spanish Bourbon antecedents and provides an epilogue on the twentieth-century evolution of technical elites in Colombia.The author focuses on the reasons why the implantation of technical education and technical orientations proved difficult. He examines the interplay between various obstructions: on the one hand, a hierarchical social structure and aristocratic social values and, on the other, obstructions created by fundamental geographic and economic conditions. He concludes that, while Colombian leaders had hoped that technical education and the development of values oriented toward the technical would spearhead economic growth, in fact economic growth proved a prerequisite for the effective implantation of technical orientations and training.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

The Ideal of the Practical is a study of efforts by a segment of the upper class in an aristocratic Latin American society to alter cultural values in the society, creating stronger orientations toward the technical and the practical. Frank Safford describes attempts by members of Colombia’s nineteenth-century political elite to use technical education as a means of nurturing energetic upper-class entrepreneurs and an industrious working class in a static agrarian economy. In the course of his analysis, Safford sketches the historical development of scientific and technical education and of the engineering profession in Colombia.The book opens with a description of the economic and social context of early nineteenth-century Colombia. It then discusses some early experiments with manual industrial training between 1820 and 1850. Later chapters deal with the careers of upper-class youths sent abroad for scientific and technical training, the growth of indigenous engineering education, and the crystallization of a Colombian engineering profession. While the book primarily explores the nineteenth century, it also touches on eighteenth-century Spanish Bourbon antecedents and provides an epilogue on the twentieth-century evolution of technical elites in Colombia.The author focuses on the reasons why the implantation of technical education and technical orientations proved difficult. He examines the interplay between various obstructions: on the one hand, a hierarchical social structure and aristocratic social values and, on the other, obstructions created by fundamental geographic and economic conditions. He concludes that, while Colombian leaders had hoped that technical education and the development of values oriented toward the technical would spearhead economic growth, in fact economic growth proved a prerequisite for the effective implantation of technical orientations and training.

More books from University of Texas Press

Cover of the book Living with Oil by Frank Safford
Cover of the book Errant Journeys by Frank Safford
Cover of the book Saddam's War of Words by Frank Safford
Cover of the book Belo by Frank Safford
Cover of the book Words of Passage by Frank Safford
Cover of the book Classics from Papyrus to the Internet by Frank Safford
Cover of the book Ideas of the Twentieth Century by Frank Safford
Cover of the book The City Moves West by Frank Safford
Cover of the book Toward a Cognitive Theory of Narrative Acts by Frank Safford
Cover of the book Women Filmmakers in Mexico by Frank Safford
Cover of the book Three Men in Texas by Frank Safford
Cover of the book Metternich's Diplomacy at its Zenith, 1820-1823 by Frank Safford
Cover of the book The Community Forests of Mexico by Frank Safford
Cover of the book Comin' Right at Ya by Frank Safford
Cover of the book The Mobility of Modernism by Frank Safford
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy