Open AccessThis paper seeks to understand the relationship between the thinking of Maurício Tragtenberg and the ideals of the Modern School of Francisco Ferrer y Guardia in the early 20th century, based on the analysis of Tragtenberg’s publications in the journal “Educação and Sociedade” (1978-2008). In these publications, emphasis is given to the approximations between the thoughts of the two authors in defense of an education focused on the interests of the working class, making it a class conscious of the domination processes of capitalist society as well as the possibilities of overcoming them. By denouncing the monopolization of knowledge by private, prejudiced and exclusionary interests – whether religious or in the secular form of the bourgeois state – the education advocated by the authors seeks to lead people through awareness, autonomy and self-management, all of which are necessary for a true democracy. Against training, obedience and ideological manipulation, the authors converge in the defense of an education aimed at freedom, criticism and solidarity