Textbooks used in the primary Argentine education were a very important instrument for the transmission of the ideas of modernization and "civilization" of the society. They were a fundamental support in the diffusion of the moral, aesthetic and patriotic values, though they were not militaristic and tended to moderate the incorporation of hygienists rules, as the population was assimilating them. The consolidation of the spiritualist pedagogy, with elements of the New School, are found also in the contents of these books, which put the emphasis in the self-control of the student, appealing to the persuasion and the feelings of emulation and fault. Written for urban children, they were not functional for the rural area, though they contributed to an early urbanization of the agrarian mentality.
Textbooks; Spiritualist pedagogy; Agrarian mentality