The relevance of small and medium class telescopes for the formation of future astronomers

In my personal history, I was an ESO student between 2003 and 2005 and an "Operation Paid Associate" (OPA) between 2007 and 2008. As a student, I volunteered for duties which consisted in participating in the development of the pipeline of the Coudé Echelle Spectrograph (CES) then offered on the ESO 3.6m. As an "OPA", I supported all the instruments which were offered at that time at La Silla. This experience was critical in my involvement in development of astronomical instrumentation which would eventually lead me to be the first professor hired for this topic at the University of São Paulo, Brazil. In this talk, I will develop on my experience to demonstrate the role that telescopes located at La Silla Observatory can play in the education of the new generation of astronomers. In particular, I will focus on the need for hands-on experience on topics like data reduction or scheduling of observations.