Terra sebv s acta mvsei sabesiensi s

The Establishment and Development of Rural Schools in Russia (19

th

-21

st

 Centuries) 

 

33

sentiment would be brought about “if we will keep untouched the sanctuary 

of our national concepts.”

9

 The main idea the writer appears to be 

conveying here is the value of national traditions and a national mentality. 

K. D. Ushinskiy, a scholar of Russian pedagogy, expressed his 

thoughts on issues of the management of zemstvo schools in an article, 

Obschiy vzglyad na vozniknoveniye nashikh narodnikh shkol, published in 1870: 

“We are certain that the public that has piously defended its beliefs in the 

past will hold to them for the establishment of its schools as well.”

10

 This 

statement is not about the necessity for and importance of public (family) 

traditions in nurturing children: rather, it declares that the natural 

development of zemstvo schools would ideally lead to school management 

that involves parents and considers the interests of rural citizens, rather than 

be subject to constraint, restrictions and regulation by governmental 

administrations. Ushinskiy, in works such as Rodnoye Slovo,  Poezdka za 

Volkhov,  Trudi Ural’skoy Ekspeditsii and Obschiy vzglyad na vozniknoveniye 

nashikh narodnikh shkol, expresses thoughts that later became foundations of 

the concept of nationalism.

11

 The idea of nationalism is that the education 

of any population is based on the national character, which is determined by 

the way societies develop under the influence of their history, social 

conditions and geographical location. Thus, education should have 

distinctive public (national) roots and should be based on the native 

language, which reflects “the climate, the nature and the history of the 

motherland.”

12

 

The educational beliefs of the great Russian writer L. N. Tolstoj 

(1828-1910) are of great interest, because as well as being a manager with 

teaching experience at Yasnaya Polyana School, he supported the traditions 

of rural life: 

“It is very common to hear and read an opinion that conditions at home, 

the rudeness of parents, work in the fields, rural games, etc., are the main 

disturbances to school education…, but it is time to see that these 

conditions are the very foundation of any education, … its first and 

foremost conductors.”

13

 

In 1911, for the first time in the existence of zemstvo organisations, 

an all-zemstvo meeting on public education tool place. The meeting 

summarised the outcomes of the 1909-1910 school period. Among the 

issues affecting the efficiency of education were mentioned: a lack of 

                                                 

9

 Shevchenko 1995, p. 71. 

10

 Ushinskiy 1870, p. 6-16. 

11

 Ushinskiy 1948, p. 607. 

12

 Ibid., p. 28. 

13

 Tolstoj 1989, p. 61. 

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V. J. Arestova 

 

34

connection between schools and local population due to too few libraries; 

repetitive courses; a lack of Sunday and evening classes for school 

graduates; a lack of native language classes; poverty (scarcity of clothes and 

footwear); and children being responsible for household and field work, 

resulting in a lack of motivation among parents to educate their children.

14

 

The conclusions of V. I. Charnolusky, published in Voprosy narodnogo 

obrazovaniya na pervom obschezemskom syezde (1911) are particularly pertinent to 

this study. He noted that “Expenditure on school education without 

establishment of extracurricular education is inefficient; extracurricular 

education should take a significant place in the chain of actions for public 

cultural education.”

15

 Charnolusky suggested that a successful 

extracurricular education programme meant the “provision of all people 

with extracurricular education that meets their needs.”

16

  

Besides this, questions were raised in the all-zemstvo meeting as to 

how the zemstvo, as an elective local government organisation, should best 

represent all the local public, including different nationalities and 

confessions (religious groups), an outcome which was considered important 

“for the facilitation of national dignity and freedom of will.”

17

 

In the 20

th

 century, Russia experienced changes in all aspects of social 

life. Rural schools were the most common type of educational institution, 

and the main goal of schools was the propagation of communist ideology. 

Nevertheless, educators researched issues relating to the use of folk 

traditions in education. It is known that the founder of the Pavlysh School, 

V. A. Sukhomlinskiy used ethnic traditions, for example, organising the 

“Prazdnik Zhavoronka” (Skylark holiday) with children and their parents, 

making use of folk games and songs, and staging folk and fairy tales.

18

 

It is important to note that the idea of using theatre in rural schools 

has a substantial history. The first all-zemstvo meeting on public education 

in 1911 (see above) published a resolution on extracurricular education 

which stated that public theatre, when the proper plays are selected, has a 

significant educational and nurturing potential, and therefore theatrical plays 

should have a place in extracurricular education.

19

 To support the expansion 

of theatre amongst rural populations, the meeting recommended eliminating 

existing administrative and bureaucratic obstacles to organising theatres for 

                                                 

14

 Charnoluskiy 1912, p. 14-15. 

15

 Ibid., p. 163. 

16

 Ibid., p. 123. 

17

 Ibid., p. 70. 

18

 Sukhomlinskiy 1974, p. 207. 

19

 Charnoluskiy 1912, p. 176. 

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