Pedagogia i ciutat en el “Glosari” de Xènius

Abstract

The magic word in ethics at the beginning of the 19th century was intervention. The society of the century that had just begun was to change radically thanks to the actions of journalists, teachers, university lecturers, artists and politicians who had to contribute to the shaping of new men and women. For this reason, Eugeni d’Ors wrote to the newspapers in order to educate new citizens. This article analyzes how the young Ors reflects on the private activity of teachers and lecturers in the general fight to modernize the country. In the “glosses” or notes published in La Veu de Catalunya, Ors makes a harsh, well-reasoned and at times sarcastic critique of the school and the university. But at the same time he proposes reforms that are ambitious, inspired by the best international theoreticians of the time and by the practices, above all those of universities, which he sees in his trips to different European cities. It is surprising then that one hundred years after the start of the Glossary, what Ors writes about education continues to be apropos today.