ABSTRACT
This chapter describes how the military conception of modern state has been imposed upon sections of the national elite and on the educational system of Brazil. During its whole history Brazilian education has struggled with the eternal tensions between utilitarianism an intellectualism; mass education and dispersal of manpower and resources over the country's vast area, and of course between liberalism and authoritarianism. Brazilian army felt itself to be the body best able to run the country came from its self-image, cultivated in the Escola Superior de Guerra mainly by officers who had fought in Italy. The Brazilians have a much higher standard of living than all the other countries in Latin America. Latin American students have, since the struggles for independence, been vocal and influential forces in national politics and the Brazilians have followed this tradition. Under MEC/USAID agreement, US educational advisers examine Brazil's needs and possibilities and prescribe the reform they considered would best fit the country's requirements.
