"Ushinsky is our people's teacher, just like Pushkin is our people's poet, Lomonosov is the first people's scientist, Glinka is a people's composer, and Suvorov is a people's commander."
Lev Nikolaevich Modzalevsky
It is difficult to name another teacher of pre-revolutionary Russia who enjoyed the same authority, the same love of teachers, children and their parents as Konstantin Dmitrievich Ushinsky. This man made a real revolution in domestic pedagogical practice, becoming the founder of a new science that had not previously existed in Russia. For the emerging folk schools, Ushinsky developed textbooks of genius in their simplicity and accessibility, and for their teachers - a number of wonderful manuals. For more than fifty years, right up to the revolution itself, whole generations of Russian children and teachers were brought up on books written by Ushinsky.
Konstantin Dmitrievich was born into a noble family on March 2, 1824. His father, Dmitry Grigorievich, graduated from the Moscow Noble Boarding School and was a very educated man. For a long time he was in military service, took part in the war of 1812. After leaving, he settled in Tula, began to live a peaceful life and married the daughter of a local landowner. Some time after the birth of Konstantin, their family had to move - his father was appointed to the position of a judge in the small, old town of Novgorod-Seversky located in the Chernihiv region. All childhood and adolescence of the future teacher passed in the estate on the banks of the Desna River, surrounded by beautiful places full of legends of deep antiquity. The first eleven years of Konstantin Dmitrievich's life were cloudless. He knew no need, no domestic squabbles, no strict disciplines. Mother, Lyubov Stepanovna, herself supervised her son's studies, managing to awaken in him an inquisitive mind, curiosity and a great love of reading. In 1835, when Constantine was twelve, his mother died. Ushinsky kept the most tender memories of her for the rest of his life.
Soon, his father married a second time, his choice fell on the sister of General Gerbel, the manager of the Shosten gunpowder factory. No matter how great the change that took place in the family of little Konstantin, it, fortunately, did not affect him in any way with harmful consequences. Some time after the death of his mother, Ushinsky entered the local gymnasium, thanks to home preparation, he was immediately enrolled in the third grade. The class was dominated by over-aged students from a non-noble milieu. However, this did not prevent Ushinsky from getting closer to them. He often visited the homes of poor classmates, observed the situation in their families, lifestyle, attitudes and habits. These "lessons" were very useful to him in the future.
In training, the young Ushinsky was not distinguished by special diligence. With his immense ability, he rarely completed his homework, content to review what he had learned right before class. The boy preferred to devote all his free time to walking and reading. By the way, the gymnasium and the father's estate were located at opposite ends of the city, the distance between them was about four kilometers. From the moment of admission to the very end of his studies in it, Ushinsky, fascinated by the beauty of these places, and especially the banks of the Desna, preferred to overcome this path on foot, walking a total of at least eight kilometers daily. Wanting to expand the area of accessible reading, Konstantin Dmitrievich, without outside help, perfectly learned the German language and could read Schiller fluently. However, independent work took him too far - despite his remarkable talents, he could not pass the final exam and, as a result, was left without a certificate.
Having received the first click on the threshold of entering life, Ushinsky was not at all at a loss. On the contrary, he began to prepare with ardor for the entrance exam to the capital's university. In 1840, he successfully passed all the tests and ended up in the ranks of law students. During this period of time, Moscow University experienced an unprecedented rise. Most of the professors were young people who had recently returned from abroad with a huge store of knowledge, ardent devotion to science and a firm faith in it. The stars of the first magnitude in the brilliant composition of the teachers were the professor of state law and jurisprudence Pyotr Redkin and the professor of history Timofey Granovsky. Students from all faculties, including mathematics and medicine, flocked to the lectures of these luminaries. Redkin and Granovsky complemented each other remarkably. The first was not distinguished by his special lecturing talent, however, he carried away his listeners with inexorable logic, depth and breadth of erudition. His speeches always evoked intense thought work. The second, on the contrary, possessed an amazing skill in reading, acting mainly on the feelings of the listeners, arousing interest in history, however, without awakening intensified intellectual work.
Ushinsky studied the subjects of his chosen faculty freely, without difficulty. Possessing an excellent memory, he memorized not only the main idea of the material presented, but also all the particulars. At lectures, he rarely remained in the role of a passive listener, inserted good remarks, asked questions. Often, after lessons on a subject, he happened to explain to his friends thoughts that they could not understand in the professor's presentation. However, Ushinsky enjoyed the love of his classmates not only because of his direct and open character, intelligence and sharpness of statements. He knew how to be a really good friend, willingly shared his last ruble, his last pipe of tobacco with his friends. It is worth noting that during his student years, Ushinsky had a very difficult time. The condition of his family was decreasing every year, money rarely came from home, they were not enough even for the most modest life. During the entire time of his studies at the university, Konstantin Dmitrievich had to give private lessons.
Studying brilliantly, Ushinsky did not abandon his acquaintance with fiction. In Russian he preferred to read Pushkin, Gogol and Lermontov, in French - Rousseau, Descartes, Holbach and Diderot, in English - Mill and Bacon, in German - Kant and Hegel. Along with this, the future teacher was passionately fond of theater, visits to which he considered obligatory for himself. Every month he allocated a certain amount from his modest budget, for which he bought the top, cheapest seats.
In 1844, Konstantin Ushinsky graduated from the Faculty of Law as a "second candidate" rights. For another two years he continued his internship at the university, after which Count Stroganov, who was the trustee of the Moscow educational district, invited him to the Demidov Legal Lyceum located in Yaroslavl. Despite his young age, Konstantin Dmitrievich was appointed to the position of acting professor of cameral sciences at the department of state law, jurisprudence and finance. Having got acquainted with the students of the institution, Ushinsky wrote: “In each of them, to a greater or lesser extent, one feels a specialist, but very little“person”. Meanwhile, everything should be the other way around: upbringing should form a "person" - and only then from him, from a developed personality, an appropriate specialist will inevitably develop, who loves his job, studies it, is devoted to him, is able to benefit in his chosen field of activity in according to the size of their natural gifts”.
The young professor quickly won the favor of the lyceum students. He brilliantly mastered the subject, was able to clearly and interestingly explain the most difficult moments from the theory of knowledge and the history of philosophy, and his amazing erudition, ease of communication, indifference to the problems of others and a humane attitude towards students made him a universal favorite. Popularity was also promoted by the famous speech delivered by Konstantin Dmitrievich at a solemn meeting on September 18, 1848. In the era of blind imitation of Russian science to foreign science, mainly German, Ushinsky sharply criticized German methods of cameral education. In his speech, he was able to prove that foreign cameralists very unsuccessfully combined art and science, and their textbooks on the subject are only collections of advice and instructions on different areas of industry. However, Ushinsky did not limit himself only to criticism, rejecting the German system, he proposed his own. At his suggestion, cameral education was to be based on a detailed study of the life and needs of the people of our country in close connection with local conditions. Of course, these views did not meet with support among the leaders of the educational institution, who considered them harmful for students, inciting to protest against the existing order. The trustee of the lyceum wrote several denunciations against the young teacher, and secret supervision was organized over Konstantin Dmitrievich.
In 1850, at the council of teachers of the Lyceum, a new requirement was announced - to provide all teachers with complete and detailed programs of their courses, scheduled by day and hour. It was even ordered to indicate from which specific essay and what the teachers intend to quote. This caused new clashes between Ushinsky and the leadership. He ardently argued that every teacher, first of all, must reckon with his listeners and that splitting the course by the hour "will kill the living business of teaching." However, he was urged not to reason, but to execute unquestioningly. True to his principles, with the words "not a single respectable teacher would dare to do this," Ushinsky submitted his resignation. Some teachers also followed suit.
Having lost his job, Konstantin Dmitrievich for some time was interrupted by a literary day laborer - he wrote translations, reviews and reviews in small provincial journals. An attempt to get a job in any district school immediately aroused suspicion, for it was not clear why the young professor decided to change a prestigious, highly paid position at the Demidov Lyceum for a beggarly place in the backwoods. After suffering a year and a half in the provinces, he moved to St. Petersburg. He had no connections and acquaintances, having bypassed many schools, colleges and gymnasiums, the former professor with great difficulty managed to get a job as an official of the Department of Foreign Religions.
The department service could not provide a teacher, at that time already married to Nadezhda Semyonovna Doroshenko, who came from an ancient Cossack family. But the easy work did not interfere with the search for other occupations. Still carried away by the study of foreign languages and philosophy, Ushinsky gained access to journal work in its various forms - as a translator, compiler, critic. Soon enough, the reputation of an educated and talented writer was strengthened behind him. However, such activities were paid very poorly, taking away a lot of time and effort. His health, which had never been particularly strong, was failing. Perfectly understanding the danger of continuing such activities, Ushinsky began actively looking for a way out.
Everything was changed by a chance meeting at the end of 1853 with a former colleague from the Demidov Lyceum P. V. Golokhvastov. This man knew and appreciated the talents of Constantine and helped him find a new place for him. Already on January 1, 1854, Ushinsky resigned from the Department of Foreign Confessions and went to the Gatchina Orphanage Institute as a teacher of Russian literature. More than six hundred orphan boys were brought up within the walls of this institution. The institute was known for its harsh practices, regular drill and strictest discipline. For the slightest offense, orphans were deprived of food, put in a punishment cell. In theory, such orders were supposed to make them people loyal to the "Tsar and the Fatherland." Ushinsky, on the other hand, described the new place of work: "Above the economy and the chancellery, in the middle of the administration, underfoot teaching, and outside the door - education."
He spent five years in Gatchina and managed to change a lot during this time. Ushinsky laid the foundation for the new education system on the development of a sense of sincere comradeship. He managed to eradicate fiscalism, everyone who committed a harmful offense, according to the unwritten law, had to find the courage to confess it. Also, the teacher managed to completely get rid of theft. The institute began to be considered a valor to protect and support the weak. Some traditions laid down by Konstantin Dmitrievich were firmly rooted in orphans and were passed on from one generation to another until 1917.
A year later, Ushinsky was promoted to the position of class inspector. During one of the checks, he noticed two sealed cabinets. Breaking down the locks, he discovered in them what gave him the last impetus in the search for both himself and his place in the world. They contained the papers of the former inspector Yegor Osipovich Gugel. All they remembered about him was that he was a “eccentric dreamer, a man out of his mind,” who ended up in an insane asylum. Ushinsky wrote about him: “This was an extraordinary personality. Probably the first teacher who took a serious look at the matter of upbringing and was carried away by it. Bitterly he paid for this hobby … . For more than twenty years, the unique, best for those times and useless works on the pedagogy of Gugel, which were not destroyed only because of laziness, fell into the hands of Ushinsky. Having studied the papers of the deceased inspector, Konstantin Dmitrievich finally clearly understood his path.
In 1857-1858, the first printed publications for teachers appeared in Russia. The famous Russian teacher Alexander Chumikov invited Konstantin Dmitrievich to work in the "Journal for Education" founded by him. One of the first works of Ushinsky was the article "On the Benefits of Pedagogical Literature", in which he put into clear formulations the thoughts and ideas he had thought over for many years. The article was a tremendous success. After that, Konstantin Dmitrievich became a regular contributor to Chumikov's magazine. Each of his work developed new views on the methods of education in the country, denounced officials from education, who saw the manifestation of free-thinking in every innovative venture. His articles were read out to the bone, in an instant the teacher became famous, and his opinion was authoritative. Contemporaries said about him: “The entire appearance of Ushinsky contributed to the fact that his words sink deeply into the soul. Extremely nervous, thin, above average height. Dark brown eyes sparkle feverishly from beneath thick, black eyebrows. An expressive face with thin features, a high, well-defined forehead, testifying to remarkable intelligence, jet black hair and black whiskers around the cheeks and chin, reminiscent of a thick, short beard. Bloodless and thin lips, a penetrating gaze, seeing, it seemed, a person through and through …. Everything spoke eloquently about the presence of a stubborn will and a strong character…. Anyone who saw Ushinsky at least once, forever remembered this man, strikingly distinguished from the crowd by his appearance."
In 1859, Ushinsky was invited to the post of inspector at the Smolny Institute. Moving to the "Institute of Noble Maidens", he first of all helped to invite new talented teachers there - Semevsky, Modzolevsky, Vodovozov. The teaching process, formerly carried out formally, was soon given a systematic and serious character. Then, based on the principles of democratization of public education, Konstantin Dmitrievich destroyed the division existing in the institute into noble and ignoble (bourgeois) girls, introducing joint education for all. In addition, the pupils were allowed to spend holidays and vacations with their parents. The directions of natural science, geography, Russian history and rhetoric were developed. The pupils got acquainted with the works of Lermontov, Gogol and many other authors, about whom they had never heard anything. The dismal teaching of mathematics, traditionally recognized as a subject incomprehensible to women's minds, was first presented as one of the best means for the development of logical thinking. A special pedagogical class appeared, in which female students received special training to work as educators. Ushinsky also advocated for the training of the teachers themselves, introducing a new form for this - seminars.
After his two years of work, the "institute of noble maidens", which had previously not been of interest to the metropolitan society because of its routine and isolation, suddenly became the subject of attention from the whole of St. Petersburg. The press spoke about the reforms taking place there, representatives of various departments, parents of students and ordinary teachers tried to get there and listen to lectures. What they saw and heard at the institute amazed them. Pupils of all grades in both departments were no longer burdened with learning, on the contrary, they were clearly captured by classes, while showing great abilities. From dolls and muslin young ladies, they turned into intelligent, developed girls with sound concepts and judgments. Ushinsky's teachers and students had a simple and natural relationship based on mutual trust, respect and goodwill. At the same time, the authority of the teachers in the eyes of the students was very great.
Unfortunately, the same story was repeated at the Smolny Institute as in Yaroslavl. Not everyone liked the fresh stream of air that burst into the musty atmosphere of the classy ladies. Persistent and energetic in achieving goals, never compromising his principles, unable to get along with self-lovers and hypocrites, Ushinsky made himself a whole mass of enemies by 1862. The main conflict broke out between him and the head of the institute, Leontyeva, who accused the teacher of atheism, freethinking, immorality and disrespectful attitude towards the authorities. However, it was already impossible to dismiss Ushinsky just like that. His name has become too popular in Russia. And then a "plausible" pretext was used - the state of health of Konstantin Dmitrievich. For treatment and at the same time studying school affairs, the talented teacher was sent abroad. In fact, it was a five-year exile.
Full of plans, under the influx of new ideas of a scientific nature, Ushinsky visited Switzerland, Italy, Belgium, France, Germany. Idle entertainment and rest were alien to him, everywhere he attended educational institutions - kindergartens, shelters, schools. In Nice, the famous teacher repeatedly talked with Empress Maria Alexandrovna about the problems of education. It is known that she even instructed Ushinsky to develop a system for educating the heir to the Russian throne.
Abroad, Konstantin Dmitrievich managed to write unique works - educational books "Children's World" and "Native Word". Their success after being published in Russia was overwhelming. And this is not surprising, but rather natural. First, Ushinsky's books were the country's first textbooks for elementary education. Second, they were distributed at a public price. Thirdly, the textbooks were understandable for the child's mind. Before that, there were no books for children available to children. For the first time, children from a remote province were offered not cramming unintelligible words, but understandable and interesting stories about the world well known to them - about nature and about animals. This world was a home for the common people, and the people knew everything about it - its customs, its habits and its language. Even in his youth, Ushinsky wrote: "Call me a barbarian in pedagogy, but I am deeply convinced that the beautiful landscape has a tremendous educational influence on the development of a young soul … A day spent in the middle of groves and fields is worth weeks spent on the bench …". However, Ushinsky did not stop there. Following the two books, he published the "Book for Teachers" - a special guide for parents and teachers to his "Native Word". Until 1917, this textbook on teaching the native language went through more than 140 editions.
An interesting fact is that when A. V. Golovnin, Ushinsky's "Children's World" earned praise for its pragmatism, variety and richness of articles on natural science, helping children to visually familiarize children with natural objects. In 1866, after only five years, Konstantin Dmitrievich was struck by the news that his book was not admitted by the committee of the Ministry of Public Education, headed by Count D. A. Tolstoy. The same academic committee that gave the first review of Children's World, this time interpreted the articles as developing materialism and nihilism in children. Only at the beginning of the eighties of the nineteenth century, "Children's World" was again recommended in all educational institutions, although, of course, there were no changes in the book.
Living abroad, Ushinsky set out to write a publicly available anthropological book containing an orderly collection of all information about human nature. To do this, he had to re-read the mass of works of famous naturalists and thinkers from Aristotle to Darwin, Kant and Schopenhauer and make appropriate extracts from them, in order to then connect them with a common idea, obtaining a unified idea of what was already known to science about human nature. It took him five years to do the preparatory work alone. With a whole baggage of raw material, Ushinsky returned to the Northern capital in 1867. At the end of the same year, he published the first volume of his main work in life, which he called “Man as a subject of education. The experience of pedagogical anthropology”. In 1869 the second and final volume appeared. This essay is the only anthropological encyclopedia in the world pedagogical literature. It provides important information for anyone interested in the properties of the physical and spiritual nature of man. Konstantin Dmitrievich planned to write the third volume, but this work remained unfinished.
No matter how varied the pedagogical activity of Ushinsky - magazine, office, in personal and written communications with other teachers - it did not absorb all his strength. The vein of a scientist had not yet died in him, and he was very fond of being at university disputes. Konstantin Dmitrievich was keenly interested in history, philosophy, histology, human anatomy and physiology, legal sciences and political economy. In 1867, he published an excellent essay "On the Hunger in Russia" in Golos, in which he appeared as an outstanding economist who had a good understanding of the foundations of the country's economic well-being. Moreover, Ushinsky was a brilliant polemicist. Resourceful and witty, logical and accurate in positions and conclusions, he fully justified the name "learned fighter". Attending university debates, Ushinsky, who highly appreciates science, never hesitated to call a spade a spade and directly speak the bitter truth. Because of this, he often had violent disputes with patented scientists, many of whom looked askance at Ushinsky's interference in their scientific field.
The position of Konstantin Dmitrievich during these years could be called enviable. Although there was no question of any teaching work (the Minister of Public Education did not even accept his petition), the financial position of the famous teacher was in the most flourishing state due to the extraordinary demand for all his published works. Without holding any official post, he was heard throughout Russia - of course, for those interested in pedagogical problems. Independent in managing his time and choosing his occupations, not dependent on anyone, Ushinsky could rightfully consider himself happy, but for this, unfortunately, he lacked the most important thing - health.
Overcome by a thirst for activity, the brilliant teacher made a mistake, remaining in St. Petersburg until the spring of 1870. His sore chest could hardly bear the damp Petersburg springs and autumn. Having finally got sick, Ushinsky was forced to go abroad, to Italy. However, in Vienna, he fell ill and spent two weeks in the hospital. Local medical luminaries recommended that he return to Russia and go to the Crimea. Konstantin Dmitrievich did so, settling not far from Bakhchisarai. In a month he became so strong that he took a trip along the southern coast of Crimea and visited the city of Simferopol, in which he took part in the congress of folk teachers. Ushinsky left these places in the middle of the summer of 1870. Cheerful in spirit and body, full of the best hopes, he left for his estate in the Chernigov province, hoping to return here with the whole family.
There was one more circumstance that hurried Ushinsky. His eldest son, Pavel, graduated from the military gymnasium course and was sent to one of the country's higher military institutions. He decided to spend the summer holidays with his family. The young man was superbly developed, both physically and mentally, and showed great promise. Konstantin Dmitrievich did not see a soul in him. However, the teacher returned to his estate just in time for the funeral of his son, who by accident mortally wounded himself while hunting….
It was a terrible blow that finally broke the mental and physical strength of Ushinsky. Remaining outwardly calm, he closed himself off, avoiding conversations even with relatives. In the autumn of the same year, Konstantin Dmitrievich, along with his whole family, moved to Kiev, where he arranged for two daughters to go to college. However, life here was terribly burdensome for him: “The wilderness chokes, nothing close to my heart. But I suppose it will be better for the family than elsewhere. I don’t think about myself - it seems that my song has already been sung completely”. At the same time, doctors tried to persuade him to return to Crimea for treatment, but the teacher himself was eager to go to Petersburg. He wrote: “Whether St. Petersburg is bad or good, but I got along with it in my heart … there I wandered without a piece of bread, there I made a fortune; there he unsuccessfully sought the position of a district teacher and talked with the Tsars; there he was unknown to any soul and there he earned a name for himself."
Ushinsky went to Crimea extremely reluctantly. Two younger sons went with him. On the way, the teacher caught a cold, and upon arrival in Odessa, he was diagnosed with pneumonia. Aware that his end was near, he immediately summoned the rest of the family from Kiev. On the night of January 2 to 3, 1871, Konstantin Dmitrievich died. He was only 46 years old. After the death of the teacher, his daughter Vera opened a men's school in Kiev at her own expense. Another daughter, Nadezhda, founded an elementary school in the village of Bogdanka, where the Ushinskys' estate was, with the money received from the sale of her father's manuscripts.
Ushinsky loved to repeat that love and patience for children is not enough for proper education, it is still necessary to study and know their nature. He considered the process of upbringing to be the greatest, holy deed, demanding that he be treated with the utmost seriousness. He said: “Improper upbringing affects the whole life of a person, this is the main cause of evil in the people. Responsibility for this falls on the educators … The criminal, the one who is engaged in education, not knowing him. Despite the prohibitions, the works of the great Teacher continued to be published, thousands of teachers in all parts of Russia used them. In total, Ushinsky's books were sold in tens of millions of copies in different strata and classes of the Russian population.
Almost two centuries after the birth of Konstantin Ushinsky, many of his phrases still remain relevant. He said: “Is it possible in fast movement on steamships and steam locomotives, in the instant transmission of news about the price of goods or the weather via electric telegraphs, in wearing out as many of the thickest tights and finest velvets as possible, in the extermination of stinking cheeses and fragrant cigars, a person will finally discover, the purpose of your earthly life? Of course not. Surround us with these blessings, and you will see that not only will we not become better, but we will not even be happier. We will either be burdened by life itself or we will begin to lower ourselves to the level of an animal. This is a moral axiom from which a person cannot wriggle out."
