Old Russian school description. The origin of the Russian school and the history of the Russian school uniform

Every year, schoolchildren sit down at their desks to once again “gnaw on the granite of science.” This has been going on for over a thousand years. The first schools in Rus' were radically different from modern ones: before there were no directors, no grades, or even division into subjects. the site found out how education was conducted in schools of past centuries.

Lessons from the breadwinner

The first mention of the school in ancient chronicles dates back to 988, when the Baptism of Rus' took place. In the 10th century, children were taught mainly at the priest’s home, and the Psalter and Book of Hours served as textbooks. Only boys were accepted into schools - it was believed that women should not learn to read and write, but do household chores. Over time, the learning process evolved. By the 11th century, children were taught reading, writing, counting and choral singing. “Schools of book learning” appeared - original ancient Russian gymnasiums, the graduates of which entered the public service: as scribes and translators.

At the same time, the first girls' schools were born - however, only girls from noble families were accepted to study. Most often, the children of feudal lords and rich people studied at home. Their teacher was a boyar - the “breadwinner” - who taught schoolchildren not only literacy, but also several foreign languages, as well as the basics of government.

Children were taught literacy and numeracy. Photo: Painting by N. Bogdanov-Belsky “Oral Abacus”

Little information has been preserved about ancient Russian schools. It is known that training was carried out only in large cities, and with the invasion of Rus' by the Mongol-Tatars, it stopped altogether for several centuries and was revived only in the 16th century. Now schools were called “schools”, and only a representative of the church could become a teacher. Before starting a job, the teacher had to pass a knowledge exam himself, and the potential teacher’s acquaintances were asked about his behavior: cruel and aggressive people were not hired.

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The schoolchildren's day was completely different from what it is now. There was no division into subjects at all: students received new knowledge in one general flow. The concept of recess was also absent - during the whole day the children could only take one break, for lunch. At school, the children were met by one teacher, who taught everything at once - there was no need for directors and head teachers. The teacher did not grade the students. The system was much simpler: if a child learned and told the previous lesson, he received praise, and if he did not know anything, he was punished with rods.

Not everyone was accepted into the school, but only the smartest and most savvy children. The children spent the whole day in classes from morning until evening. Education in Rus' proceeded slowly. Now all first-graders can read, but previously, in the first year, schoolchildren learned the full names of letters - “az”, “buki”, “vedi”. Second graders could form intricate letters into syllables, and it was only in the third year that children could read. The main book for schoolchildren was the primer, first published in 1574 by Ivan Fedorov. Having mastered letters and words, the children read passages from the Bible. By the 17th century, new subjects appeared - rhetoric, grammar, land surveying - a symbiosis of geometry and geography - as well as the basics of astronomy and poetic art. The first lesson on the schedule necessarily began with general prayer. Another difference from the modern education system was that children did not carry textbooks with them: all the necessary books were kept at school.

Available to everyone

After the reform of Peter I, a lot has changed in schools. Education acquired a secular character: theology was now taught exclusively in diocesan schools. By decree of the emperor, so-called numerical schools were opened in the cities - they taught only literacy and basic arithmetic. Children of soldiers and lower ranks attended such schools. By the 18th century, education became more accessible: public schools appeared, which even serfs were allowed to attend. True, forced people could study only if the landowner decided to pay for their education.

Previously, schools did not have divisions into subjects. Photo: Painting by A. Morozov “Rural Free School”

It was not until the 19th century that primary education became free for everyone. Peasants went to parish schools, where education lasted only one year: it was believed that this was quite enough for serfs. Children of merchants and artisans attended district schools for three years, and gymnasiums were created for nobles. The peasants were taught only literacy and numeracy. In addition to all this, the townspeople, artisans and merchants were taught history, geography, geometry and astronomy, and the nobles were prepared in schools to enter universities. Women's schools began to open, the program in which was designed for 3 years or 6 years - to choose from. Education became publicly accessible after the adoption of the corresponding law in 1908. Now the school education system continues to develop: in September, children sit down at their desks and discover a whole world of new knowledge - interesting and immense.

31.08.2016

On the eve of Knowledge Day, WE decided to ask our parents about their school times and young parents about what a schoolchild looks like today.

SOVIET SCHOOLBOY

— Everyone had the same stationery. In the early days, students wrote with ink, so a special sheet of paper, a “blotter”, was included in each notebook, which quickly dried the ink and prevented it from smearing. Plastic rulers were considered a curiosity in some schools. Another attribute of the Soviet schoolchild is the sleeves, which were worn during labor lessons or while writing, so as not to stain the sleeves or wipe them.

Source: livejournal.com

— The students had a highly developed sense of patriotism. Being in the Komsomol is pride for a child. To get into the Komsomol, children went through a strict selection process: excellent academic performance and knowledge of the charter. Many children would be upset to tears if they did not make the cut.

— The appearance is strictly standardized: a strict dress with a black apron on weekdays and a white apron on holidays, bows, rough but high-quality shoes, jackets with a regular collar or a stand-up collar. Perhaps in the city there was a variety of clothes, but in rural stores, if the size was right, the seller immediately wrapped the purchase and gave it to the buyer, since there was no point in choosing from something. The students' sports shoes were not sneakers, but exclusively sneakers.

Source: nnm.me

— The Soviet school provided its children with almost everything. If students lived far from school, they were often accommodated in a boarding school, where they were provided with everything they needed, sometimes milk and buns were given to students for free, and the gym was equipped with all kinds of equipment.

— Schoolchildren were more involved in sports. The system set strict requirements for children, and they, in turn, were more willing to meet them.

MODERN SCHOOLBOY

— The child is now in an unimaginable thicket of information, which is why today's teenagers and children are more advanced than their parents at their age, smarter and more purposeful. They can already clearly formulate how they see themselves in the future. This situation is partly dictated by tougher competition and developed motivation.

“The student now has a huge choice. This applies to everything: from the drawing on the cover of a notebook to the educational system.

Source: altaynews.kz

“Nowadays children are less independent, since their parents take more care of them. Moms and dads devote more time to their children, which cannot be said about the times when parents disappeared at work.

— In terms of school uniforms, now each school can show its individuality. Red jackets, gray-green vests, chest stripes with a coat of arms - by these signs you can find out what school the child is studying at. In other cases, schools adhere to state standards: white top, dark bottom.

Source: liter.kz

— The development of technology, of course, could not but affect the appearance of a modern schoolchild. Abstracts are now written exclusively on a computer and using the Internet, equations are solved using advanced phone applications, and schedules and cheat sheets are transmitted via WhatsApp and VKontakte. This could not but affect the health of children: many of them, before reaching the age of 17, already have problems with vision or posture.

What can you say about modern and Soviet schoolchildren?

We thank Kuanysh Dzhumataev, Yulia Goncharova, Madina Baibolova, Aliya Nurguatova, Erbol Nurguatov, Elena Shikera, Gulzira Abdraimova, Damesh Micheleva, Zaira Mukhamedzharova and Altynshash Uspanova for their help in creating the material.

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There is a point of view that the desire to return the Soviet school curriculum is nostalgia for youth, when the grass was greener and the water was sweeter for three kopecks. It seems to me that if it were possible to provide in a modern school the conditions that existed in good (! - not all schools were good, but there were many good schools) schools, the number of dissatisfied people would be reduced to a minimum. So it's not about nostalgia. I’ll try to list the features of a modern school - it doesn’t matter in comparison with what standard: Soviet, pre-revolutionary, Neanderthal, whatever.

1) The program is far behind in age. The 4-year primary school program was introduced to create a "zero" class. The age of first grade was returned to 7 years, but the program remained for the older group of kindergarten - and continues to be simplified. In the 20s and 30s, in the first grade, even in rural schools, they counted to one hundred and ended the year with the rudiments of multiplication. Today they finish first grade with the task “Lena had 6 dolls, she gave 2 dolls, how many are left?” (see Moreau's textbook) What kind of eight-year-old child is this task designed for?! The entire program is focused on developmental delays; normal children, by the end of 4th grade, without ever straining their brains, turn out to be ideal and hopelessly mentally lazy. Moscow International Gymnasium in Perovo (city school), 1st grade - children read... “Teremok”. Then we passed “Repka”. In second grade we read “The Fox and the Crane.”

2) The horizons of a child in elementary school are narrowed to the world of a three-year-old: you have to love your mother, you have to love animals, you have to walk happily together. Dictations about the rivers of Siberia, poems about war heroes, stories about military and civil feats and childhood experiences (what happens if you lie, are greedy, do not behave in a comradely manner) have been removed from the program - instead of Zhitkov, Aleksin, Alekseev, Mayakovsky, Dragunsky - endless Charushin (Bianchi is too difficult). The lack of children's organizations and clubs (for example, search groups in school museums) contributes. Again: if you don’t like the Soviet school, let’s take the gymnasium - the problems were full of names of cities and goods, trains went from Moscow to Torzhok, and not endless identical dolls sat on shelves and in drawers, as in today’s textbooks. Ushinsky wrote that for a good teacher, every task is an entertaining encyclopedia. Today, nine-year-old children do not know how many kopecks are in a ruble - some say sixty, some say ten. Do you understand that these are retarded children? It’s not that today they are behind in development, but tomorrow they will become academicians - that’s all! they will not become academics. Another couple of years of this life - they will no longer become engineers.
How many children can you count in a class who are passionate about one of the subjects and dream of a corresponding profession?

3) The attitude towards the student in the Soviet school and pre-revolutionary gymnasium was demanding, but automatically respectful, as if he were an integral little person. And the little man sounds proud. In a modern school, primary schoolchildren are “children”, “dolls”, i.e. "little idiots" They cannot be upset and must be entertained according to the most base standard. I studied - there were no questions: the text in English must be read 10 times. Today, try and tell me that you need to read it at least five times - moms will faint, “how can you torture children like that?” How are we alive? In the 70s - in each class - one or two works of classical English literature, from the 6th grade - without editing, simply with comments (Alice in Wonderland, fairy tales by Kipling and Oscar Wilde - two entire volumes, The Call of the Wild, "Lorna Doone", "Little Women", "Six Weeks with the Circus", "The Incredible Journey", "Stuart Little"). Can you imagine how much time on the page you had to look in the dictionary; all the books were covered with pencil or pen. And now in first grade, it turns out, you can’t write more than three lines a day. The kids are getting tired. In class there are three lines in the copybook, there is no homework - you can’t do homework at 7 years old, children are still small.
This is the result - they treat themselves accordingly, they do not respect themselves. There is stupid aplomb, but no self-respect (not to mention efficiency and determination).

4) Same type tasks that do not require brain function. When I was studying, the program at school was designed in such a way that, after going through the material, the student would be caught using it. When simplifying expressions with polynomials, the efficiency of the solution was assessed - i.e. you could simplify, however, if you chose the clumsy, long path, the score was lower. Modern seventh graders go through the square of the sum - solve examples for the square of the sum, go through the following formula - solve examples for it. In the end, three examples will be given for mixed use, no one will solve them - well, okay, everyone got A's when solving using the example. Also in the Russian language - we went through the rule - inserted letters into the corresponding words in a printed notebook: there are no complex dictations, no expositions, no - God forbid - essays. In MMG, our children wrote their first essay in the 6th grade - “description of a room” - in their native language! not foreign! Let's take another example from the Tsar's gymnasium - interest rates have passed - now, if you please, solve a whole section of problems on the profitability of bills, and not just “we need to divide by a hundred and multiply by a number.”
The entire program is divided into formal steps, within which assignments must be completed based on samples. It is very convenient for teachers to check; there is no need to prepare for lessons. But it’s so easy to check the work of a teacher - conduct tests not at the school level, but at the district and city level, and give tasks in which the rules passed will only be elements for combinations. In English – don’t recite the text by heart, but talk about a similar object (give a story in pictures with a boy’s or a girl’s day and the time on the clock - 16, 20, 30 options for such a day with alternating activities in the pictures - and hear whether the student really speaks on this topic).
I give 30 students in grades 8-9 from different schools (excellent students, good students - a group of artists) the task of constructing a segment the length of the square root of five. Nobody could solve it! For some, the root of five is twenty-five. The most popular fun problem was using the Pythagorean theorem for middle school.
In the fifth grade, I asked to put two specified events on ready dates: the construction of the Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir and the baptism of Rus'. “But we,” they say, “have never experienced anything like this!” These children don’t even have the urge to turn on their heads.

5) In addition to the formalization of knowledge, textbooks have added many definitions and rules, no one knows why they were inserted there, often postulating elementary things, the understanding of which has never been a problem. For example, in the Russian language textbook for the second grade the following abracadabra appeared for memorization:
“In the same part (at the root) of the same word and in words with the same root, a consonant sound paired in deafness and voicedness is indicated by the same letter.”
Or was it clear to everyone what the word being tested was? So what? You never know, you need to come up with a definition, stick it in a textbook and memorize it:
“The word being tested is a word that is used to check the spelling of a letter denoting a paired voiced-voiced consonant at the end of a word or at the root before another paired consonant.”

6) The use of speech is kept to a minimum. Essays, presentations, reports on the topic (except for paragraphs of abstracts printed or copied by parents), and discussions of literature have sunk into oblivion. The use of printed notebooks makes not just writing, but speech unnecessary. I look at the Russian language textbook for the 2nd grade of a three-year-old - on each page there are tasks “finish the story”, “complete the sentences”, “answer the questions”, “make up questions”, “read poems aloud and write them from memory”, “rewrite the sentences, choosing the appropriate word according to its meaning”, “copy the sentences by opening the brackets and putting the words in the correct form”, etc., etc. – all 178 pages of the textbook. I couldn’t even imagine how many statements we had to generate on our own in our native language. But this is what a teacher has to do! Listen, check what is written - but who would refuse printed notebooks now?

7) Thoughtless gadgetization of education under the constant premise that education must move forward. Where should it go forward? To learn to write, you still need to write, and not look at pictures on the computer. All homework in second grade is to click on the desired letter in the names of 8 vegetables. And nothing in the notebook. And during the lesson, they handed out macintoshes, typed a sentence with one finger, disassembled its structure and assembled the mackintoshes. It was a Russian language lesson.

To count - you won’t believe it - you need to count and communicate with counting objects, and not go virtual from real life. Good teachers brought jars of beans into the class and forced them to sort through the beans and arrange them while counting, because mathematical representation is a representation of objects, tactile and visual as well. (Mathematics is subject-specific, which is why word problems with situational conditions, thrown out of textbooks, are so important.)
Education should move forward in the sense that we need to come up with new ways to make children THINK, make mistakes, achieve, and not repeat primitive identical material under different pictures and shorten texts, because it is difficult for children to read to the end.
The time of personality formation is the time when it is necessary to actively get acquainted with all facets of the object world, and not abstract it into a two-dimensional identical screen. (Not counting the fact that our teachers are increasingly replacing any real learning experience with the use of a computer - where you can sit in the back instead of teaching a lesson while the children “work on the computer”).
The psychological priorities of learning in primates are such that the most active way to gain experience is to repeat after comrades, communicate and discuss.

8) There is no system of alternative schools. “Gymnasiums” actually have the same level of curriculum as regular schools, even those created on the basis of old specialized schools. The only difference is financing. You can go to school and, just like at school in your own backyard, learn to count to 100 for the first three years. The program of the “English” “special school” has been completely destroyed: reading English literature every year, 1-2 classic works, assignments for texts in the amount of 35 questions, 30 sentences in an exercise (and exercises for the text - at least a dozen), mandatory English matinees and evenings of English dramatization, newspaper reading, listening, etc. - and all with the corresponding district and city checks. In modern “gymnasiums” they study using the same Russian textbooks as in “non-gymnasiums” (according to longer-term versions), they do not use any audio or video materials (once every six months, perhaps), there are no tests for listening comprehension at all, there are minimal presentations and essays , lexical minimums for topics - they seem to have completely forgotten about this, they just hammer out the corresponding texts by heart.
So, in “Soviet times” - no, it’s better to say “during the time before the collapse of the school” (it doesn’t matter whether it was Soviet or Tsarist) - there were guaranteed to be schools where more was required from students: English, physics, biology. Elitism was determined not by special concern for students, but by the level of requirements. The students had to study a lot, they were periodically kicked out (asked to leave) - for behavior and poor performance. Special schools trained efficient, responsible people, who almost entirely comprised university faculties and, accordingly, the scientific community. It is a myth that you can somehow study for ten years and then become a scientist. However, some of the “yard” schools were also very good - they had a smart teaching staff. Of course, there were also bad schools in the country.
Now read the reviews of former “special schoolchildren” about the “gymnasiums” created on the basis of their native schools: “there are no schools left, just teacher dullness.” A child who is ready to work for real: write reports and essays in elementary school, read Gerald Durrell, Conan Doyle, Jules Verne, Mayakovsky, perform operations with numbers within a thousand in the second grade (as was the case in ALL schools in the 20s), - there is simply nowhere to go.

9) The rules of behavior have been forgotten at school. Discipline is an important part of the learning process. In bedlam, knowledge is not absorbed. This is very simple: a well-mannered child must be friendly, neat, in a conversation - look at the interlocutor (especially if the interlocutor is a teacher), and not at the game console, cannot run in the school building, cannot come in clothes that expose inappropriate exposure in a public place body parts, phones must be turned off during class, etc. If there are rules and there is a desire to support them - first of all, teachers! – children learn proper behavior. If an adult doesn’t care, conversations begin that these are children, that there are no opportunities, etc.
Today the teacher doesn’t even have an idea of what a good student should be like. She only has a desire not to get involved. Of course, after a good gift from the parent committee, will there be a desire to conflict?
What kind of talk is this that girls won’t be banned from using cosmetics at school? There are wonderful schools where girls are not allowed to wear makeup - and the girls in these schools are alive and well, wearing makeup on dates and discos, and also understand that there are places where the use of cosmetics is inappropriate.

The lack of discipline in school is partly explained by the corruption and helpfulness of the teaching staff, partly by the laziness and indifference of adults, partly by the loss of standards and their own inability to behave, partly by the fact that many adults were “on the sidelines” in their youth and are now proving to themselves and others that in fact they are extremely liberated and do not force others.

But it’s so simple: there are rules, children must follow them, adults must monitor the children and demand from them.

10) The school should be a center of culture, but in reality it instills low, marginal standards. This would not be so scary if there were some other center of culture in the lives of millions of Russian schoolchildren.
There are entertainments and events that are suitable for a family circle, there are events that are suitable for a party at the office, there are those that are suitable for a drunken group of friends, and there are those that are acceptable at school. All of this is not the same thing.
The goal of a school event is not to provide schoolchildren with the kind of entertainment they want (parents can do this in the family circle), but to accustom children to such a pastime so that they can enjoy not only “corporate parties” with a lot of alcohol and “spicy” . You have to understand that bowling with a bar is for a team of friends outside of school, and the quiz “What? Where? When?" - for a school holiday. (And you don’t need to say in advance that a quiz is not interesting, especially if you have never had such quizzes. You should set yourself the task of making cultural school events as interesting as possible.)
We must understand that the school should promote reading - despite the fact that children do not like it, and not social networks.
Families that do not allow entertainment through the Comedy Club should not be placed in such conditions that it is unpleasant to send a child to a party at school (or to school in general). There should be rules for this and enforcement so that teachers who violate them are held accountable, not to mention delegating decisions about extracurricular activities to illiterate parents.
During breaks at school, the TV is turned on so that children do not play pranks. There is a TV in the after-school program, the TV is on in the school lobby - I pick up the child with wandering eyes and impressions of second-rate cartoons. During the after-school period the TV is on, children sit in front of it and play with their consoles and phones. What kind of school is this? How can you leave a child here? (By the way, a city school should have been an example.) I come to pick up the child from the last lesson - he finished work early and is sitting in the back desk playing on someone else’s phone in class, the teacher sees, she doesn’t care, as long as he doesn’t interfere .

11) Lack of control over teachers.
Indeed, teachers have become service personnel rather than mentors. Their own children spend hours playing electronic games, don’t read books, don’t do well in school—this is the teacher’s idea of a normal child. She herself doesn’t have enough stars in the sky, she studied in a very high school and there is no one to point out to her that in this school, in the one she works for, children at the age of 10 were reading Sherlock Holmes and Jules Verne. She herself has not read “The Children of Captain Grant” and is not able to finish reading it. She is addicted to pictures on the computer, forgets to check her notebooks, forgets to announce about the Olympiads - but she spent the whole night preparing a new presentation in Powerpoint, there are photographs of bears and interesting information that the bear sleeps in winter (for third graders). But she made sure that the inscription appears smoothly.
In a good school - I'm not sure such a teacher should exist - but if she does exist (considering that primary school teachers are a teacher's college, not a higher education at all) - there should be rules so that students do not suffer from the level of development or work teachers' relaxation. Inspectors should be periodically present at lessons, there should be responsibility for mobile phones that work in the middle of a lesson for half the class (not to mention electronic games in class), for bedlam in the locker room, for lost notebooks.

12) Material question. Increasing salaries for teachers in Moscow has reduced, rather than increased, the quality of the teaching staff: the work has become attractive. Now possible accountants, secretaries, and store managers are considering the teaching path as an acceptable option - and this is a completely new contingent. In combination with pedagogical colleges instead of a pedagogical university (3 years - and you are a primary school teacher, and even with in-depth training in the field of English or computer science! - and it is by no means a fact that the certificate contains only good marks) we get a standard teacher’s position yesterday's C-grade student, a girl from Contacts, who, during a working day, is one and a half times shorter than the national average, and during a vacation, two and a half times longer than the average, receives additional payments for clubs and additional ones, gifts from parents, as well as full lack of control from the administration and the education department.
The ability to manage finances instantly turned most of the directors into thieves and bribe-takers, recruiting twice the number for which the school is designed, introducing incredible paid clubs and classes, shielding themselves from parents by security guards and secretaries, and having criminal connections with their own teachers and senior employees. department.
* * *
So I admit, there really are reasons for nostalgia.
When I, as a little girl, went to school, there were three specialized “English” schools within half an hour’s drive from home. At first I was sent to a “simple” school in the yard, but the program turned out to be too easy for me and I misbehaved a lot. The teachers (thanks to them!) did not hush up the problem with my behavior (at 6 years old, I don’t make allowances for the “baby”) and my parents transferred me to one of the “English” schools (in Kuzminki), where there was no time to be a hooligan, but I had to catch up with the class (mainly in mathematics, there was no English in the first grade then). For the last two years I studied at another “English” school (in Perovo) - out of 50 graduates, eighteen entered Moscow State University.

What about my children? A school in the yard is no longer an option - thanks to the proximity of the Vykhinsky market (I hope everyone understands everything). The eldest daughter has to travel to the gymnasium across all of Moscow to the Lenin Hills. I take the youngest to my former school in Perovo - or rather, to what’s left of it: no discipline, no decency, no extracurricular work, the program is even more unassuming than in the “yard” school near the Vykhinsky market, each class - 4 parallels instead of two - everything to keep the clients happy (housewives with 2-3 jeeps per family and a Turkish beach during the holidays, which they tell their friends about at school every day until a new beach).

I went to my other old school (“English” in Kuzminki), talked with my parents - everything was the same as what I wrote about the previous school. The parent contingent is only smarter.

So, having on one palm the school of our childhood, and on the other, outright genocide - not to mention talented or capable! - but simply able-bodied, supervised children with a book instead of a game console in their backpack, it is quite understandable to succumb to nostalgia.

Social science. How is your school different from the old Russian school?

Today all schools are similar to each other, all schoolchildren study according to the same program, but in the past there were many different schools even at the same level of education, including private boarding schools. Today, children simply move from primary school to primary school, but before the revolution, children of the same age were admitted to the gymnasium based on exams. Today boys and girls study together, but once they studied separately from each other. Today the grades are 5-point, but before the revolution they were 12-point. Today, a guilty student is given a bad grade in the diary, a remark is written there, and in extreme cases, parents can be called to school; before the revolution, children were flogged (the only exception was the school that L.N. Tolstoy opened for peasant children). Today all children are required to go to school; before the revolution, not all children had this opportunity.

5th grade Social science Simple 748

More on the topic

Rotation of the Earth. In a mathematics lesson, students were given the task of composing a problem using material from other academic subjects. Sophia came up with the following problem: “How many revolutions around its axis will the Earth make in 12 hours; per month; in a year?". Can you solve this problem? What knowledge will be needed to solve it?

5th grade Social science Simple 10

5th grade Social science Simple 15

IN 9th century When a separate state, Kievan Rus, first appeared, and the Russians were pagans, writing already existed, but education was not yet developed. Children were taught mainly individually, and only then group education appeared, which became the prototype of schools. This coincided with the invention of the letter-sound learning system. Rus' in those days was closely connected by trade relations with Byzantium, from where Christianity began to penetrate to us, long before its official adoption. Therefore, the first schools in Rus' were of two types - pagan (where only the offspring of the pagan elite were accepted) and Christian (for the children of those small princes who had already been baptized by that time).

10th century

In ancient documents that have reached us it is written that the founder of schools in Rus' was Prince Vladimir the Red Sun. As is known, it was he who initiated and executed the transition of Rus' to the Orthodox Christian faith. The Russians at that time were pagans and fiercely opposed the new religion. In order for people to quickly accept Christianity, widespread literacy training was organized, most often at the priest’s home. Church books - the Psalter and the Book of Hours - served as textbooks. Children from the upper classes were sent to study, as it is written in the chronicle: “book learning.” The people resisted the innovation in every possible way, but they still had to send their sons to school (this was strictly monitored) and the mothers cried and lamented, collecting the simple belongings of their children.

"Verbal counting. At the public school of S. A. Rachinsky" - painting by Russian artist N. P. Bogdanov-Belsky
© Image: Wikimedia Commons

The date of foundation of the largest school of “book teaching” is known - 1028, the son of Prince Vladimir, Prince Yaroslav the Wise, personally selected 300 smart boys from the privileged environment of warriors and petty princes and sent them to study in Veliky Novgorod - the largest city at that time. At the direction of the country's leadership, Greek books and textbooks were actively translated. Schools were opened at almost every newly built church or monastery; these were the later widely known parochial schools.

11th century

Reconstruction of ancient abacus and alphabet
© Photo: lori.ru

This is the heyday of Kievan Rus. A wide network of monastery schools and primary literacy schools had already been developed. The school curriculum included counting, writing and choral singing. There were also “schools of book learning”, with an increased level of education, in which children were taught to work with text and prepared for the future public service. There was a “Palace School” at the St. Sophia Cathedral, the same one that was founded by Prince Yaroslav the Wise. It now had international significance; translators and scribes were trained there. There were also several girls' schools where girls from wealthy families were taught to read and write.

The highest feudal nobility taught children at home, sending several offspring to separate villages that belonged to them. There, a noble boyar, literate and educated, who was called the “breadwinner,” taught children to read and write, 5-6 languages and the basics of government. It is known that the prince independently “led” the village in which the “feeding center” (a school for the highest nobility) was located. But schools were only in cities; in villages they did not teach literacy.

16th century

During the Mongol-Tatar invasion (starting from the 13th century), the widely developing mass education in Rus' was, for obvious reasons, suspended. And only starting from the 16th century, when Rus' was completely “freed from captivity,” schools began to be revived, and they began to be called “schools.” If before this time there was very little information about education in the chronicles that have reached us, then from the 16th century an invaluable document has been preserved, the book “Stoglav” - a collection of resolutions of the Stoglav Council, in which the country’s top leadership and church hierarchs participated.

Stoglav (Title page)
© Illustration: Wikimedia Commons

It devoted a lot of space to issues of education, in particular, it was pointed out that only a clergyman who had received an appropriate education could become a teacher. Such people were first examined, then information about their behavior was collected (a person should not be cruel and evil, otherwise no one would send their children to school) and only after all were they allowed to teach. The teacher taught all subjects alone, and was assisted by a headman from among the students. The first year they learned the alphabet (then you had to know the “full name” of the letter), the second year they put the letters into syllables, and the third year they started reading. Boys from any class were still selected for schools, the main thing was that they were savvy and intelligent.

The first Russian primer

The date of its appearance is known - the primer was printed by Ivan Fedorov, the first Russian book publisher, in 1574. It contained 5 notebooks, each with 8 sheets. If we recalculate everything into the format familiar to us, then the first primer had 80 pages. In those days, children were taught using the so-called “literal subjunctive” method, inherited from the Greeks and Romans. The children learned by heart syllables that initially consisted of two letters, then a third was added to them. The students were also introduced to the basics of grammar, they were given information about the correct stress, cases and verb conjugations. The second part of the ABC contained reading materials - prayers and passages from the Bible.

© Photo: lori.ru

17th century

The most valuable manuscript “Azbukovnik”, written by unknown authors or an author in the 17th century, has miraculously survived to us. This is something of a teacher's manual. It clearly states that teaching in Rus' has never been a class privilege. It is written in the book that even “the poor and the poor” can study. But, unlike in the 10th century, no one forced anyone to do it by force. Tuition fees for the poor were minimal, “at least some.” Of course, there were those who were so poor that they could not give the teacher anything, but if the child had a desire to learn and he was “quick-witted,” then the zemstvo (local leadership) was charged with the responsibility of giving him the most basic education. To be fair, it must be said that the zemstvo did not act this way everywhere.

The ABC book describes in detail the day of the then schoolboy. The rules for all schools in pre-Petrine Rus' were the same. Children came to school early in the morning and left after evening prayer, having spent the whole day at school. First, the children recited yesterday’s lesson, then all the students (they were called the “squad”) stood up for general prayer. After that, everyone sat down at a long table and listened to the teacher. Children were not given books home; they were the main value of the school.

Reconstruction of the classroom of the former art school of the Teneshev estate, Talashkino, Smolensk region.
© Photo: lori.ru

The children were told in detail how to handle the textbook so that it would be stored for a long time. The children themselves cleaned the school and took care of its heating. The “druzhina” was taught grammar, rhetoric, church singing, land surveying (i.e. the basics of geometry and geography), arithmetic, “star knowledge” or the basics of astronomy. Poetic art was also studied. The pre-Petrine era was extremely interesting in Rus', but it was Peter I who introduced the first revolutionary changes.

In Russia, every new century brings its own changes, and sometimes a new ruler changes everything. This is what happened with the reformer Tsar Peter I. Thanks to him, new approaches to education appeared in Russia.

XVIII century, 1st half

Education became more secular: theology was now taught only in diocesan schools and only for the children of the clergy, and for them learning to read and write was compulsory. Those who refused were threatened with military service, which was life-threatening in conditions of almost continuous wars. This is how a new class was formed in Rus'.

In 1701, by decree of Peter I, who wanted to train his own specialists for the army and navy (at that time only foreigners worked in these places), the School of Mathematical and Navigational Sciences or, as it was also called, the School of the Pushkar Order, was opened in Moscow. It had 2 departments: the lower school (junior grades), where they taught writing and arithmetic, and the upper school (senior grades), for teaching languages and engineering sciences.

There was also a preparatory department, or digital school, where they taught reading and counting. Peter liked the latter so much that he ordered the creation of such schools in other cities in her image and likeness. The first school was opened in Voronezh. It is interesting that adults were also taught there - as a rule, lower ranks of the military.

In numerical schools, children of the clergy, as well as children of soldiers, gunners, nobles, that is, almost everyone who demonstrated a thirst for knowledge, learned to read and write. In 1732, garrison schools for soldiers' offspring were founded at the regiments. In them, in addition to reading and arithmetic, the basics of military affairs were taught, and the teachers were officers.

Peter I had a good goal - large-scale universal primary education, but, as happened more than once in history, the people were forced to this with the help of rods and intimidation. Subjects began to grumble and oppose compulsory school attendance for some classes. It all ended with the fact that the Admiralty (which was in charge of digital schools) itself tried to get rid of them, but the Holy Synod (the highest governing body of the Russian Church, which influenced the life of the country) did not agree to take them under its wing, noting that spiritual and secular education was not must be combined. Then the digital schools were connected to the garrison ones. This was of great importance for the history of education. It was the garrison schools that were distinguished by a high level of training, and from there many well-trained people subsequently emerged, who until the reign of Catherine II served as a support for Russian education, working as teachers.

XVIII century, 2nd half

If earlier children from different classes could study in the same school, then later class schools began to form. The first sign was the Land Noble Corps or, in modern terms, a school for noble children. Based on this principle, the Page Corps, as well as the Naval and Artillery Corps, were later created.

The nobles sent very young children there, who upon completion received a specialty and an officer rank. For all other classes, public schools began to open everywhere. In large cities these were the so-called main schools, with four classes of education, in small cities - small schools, with two classes.

For the first time in Russia, subject teaching was introduced, curricula appeared, and methodological literature was developed. Classes began to begin and end at the same time throughout the country. Each class studied differently, but almost everyone could study, even the children of serfs, although, of course, it was most difficult for them: often their education depended on the whim of the landowner or on whether he wanted to maintain the school and pay the teacher’s salary.

By the end of the century there were more than 550 educational institutions and more than 70,000 students throughout Russia.

19th century

It was a time of great breakthrough, although, of course, we were still losing to Europe and the USA. General education schools (public schools) were active, and general education gymnasiums operated for nobles. At first they were opened only in the three largest cities - Moscow, St. Petersburg and Kazan.

Specialized education for children was represented by soldiers' schools, cadet and gentry (noble) corps, and many theological schools.

In 1802, the Ministry of Public Education was first established. The following year, it developed new principles: in particular, it was emphasized that the lower levels of education from now on would be free and representatives of any class would be accepted there.

Small public schools were replaced by one-class parish schools (for the children of peasants), in each city they were obliged to build and maintain a three-class district school (for merchants, artisans and other urban inhabitants), and the main public schools were transformed into gymnasiums (for nobles). The children of officials who did not have the rank of nobility now had the right to enter the latter institutions. Thanks to these transformations, the network of educational institutions was significantly expanded.

Children of the lower classes were taught the four rules of arithmetic, reading and writing, and the law of God. Children from the middle classes (burghers and merchants) in addition to this - geometry, geography, history. The gymnasiums prepared students for admission to universities, of which there were already six in Russia (a considerable number for that time). Girls were still extremely rarely sent to school; as a rule, they were taught at home.

After the abolition of serfdom (1861), accessible all-class education was introduced. Zemstvo, parish and Sunday schools appeared. Gymnasiums were divided into classical and real. Moreover, the latter accepted children from any class whose parents could save up for education. The fees were relatively low, which is confirmed by the large number of real gymnasiums.

Women's schools began to open actively, which were available only to children from among middle-income citizens. Women's schools offered three- and six-year education. Women's gymnasiums appeared.

Parochial school, 1913

XX century

In 1908, a law on universal education was adopted. Primary education began to develop at a particularly rapid pace - the state actively financed new educational institutions. Free (but not universal) education was legalized, which played a huge role in the development of the country. In the European part of Russia, almost all boys and half of girls studied in primary schools; in other territories the situation was worse, but almost half of urban children and almost a third of peasant children also had primary education.

Of course, compared to the background of other European countries, these were incommensurable figures, because by that time in developed countries the law on universal primary education had been in force for several centuries.

Education became universal and accessible to all in our country only after the adoption of Soviet power.