Education and development have been allied concepts for more than 50 years. This monography retakes authors like Paulo Freire, Manfred Max-Neef, Amartya Sen, y Martha Nussbaum to analyze how the development shapes the way of how educational projects are structured in the Colombian context. The visions from economy theorist to educators complement each other around the idea that structures this work: the search for development guides the sense of education in projects as the National Plan for Reading and Writing (Plan Nacional de Lectura y Escritura) and determines the concept of freedom in the educative project in institutions as the Rural School Quiba Alta in Bogotá. Explaining why development has a leading role in this context is just part of the process, the objective is also to show how the ideal of liberty and a particular education model are limited by the economic growth.