Aventuras y desventuras pedagógicas de un ilustrado local: El licenciado Tomás Virto de Vera y la reforma de las escuelas de Corella (1797-1803)

We know that the Spanish enlightened elites wished to enhance the instruction of all citizens, but it is not easy to confirm if they promoted a real change in the primary schools, because local sources are scarce and provide little data. However, some court records allow us to determine precisely what happened at the end of the Eighteenth-century in Corella, a small city in the Kingdom of Navarra, when Tomas Virto de Vera, a member of the local oligarchy, sought to impose compulsory schooling. According to the documents, our reformer failed in his attempt and he explained the reason: peasant families did not consider reading and write useful skills for their children. At the same time, teaching methods and school classrooms were modernized, following a typically enlightened way. In this field, there was a remarkable improvement, and for this reason Virto de Vera subsequently confessed that these measures were much more appropriate and effective. When analyzing the facts, it is verified what forces stopped literacy in the rural world for centuries.