Leo Tolstoy: Interest in Education


Figure 1.--This illustration depicts Tolstoy and the peasant children inside their school room. It shows how he managed his classroom. Note the boys wearing tunics and the girls wearing head scarves and long frocks.

After his travels in Europe, Tolstoy returned again to Yasnya Polyana. When Tolstoy was born, Russia was still dominated by serfdom. He created a school for peasant children a few years befote Tzsar Alexander II emancipated Russia's serfs in 1861. He had come to the view that the best way of changing Russia was through education. He was not impressed with the schools that he had observed in the West. He read widely on educational theory and began publishing artivles and eventually textbooks. He did not like what he saw in European schools. He theorized that education should be a friendly partnership between pupil and teacher. He was appalled by the cruel rote learning carrot and stick methods he witnessed. Once back at the family estate he set up a school for peasant children. The school seems to have been a very kind and loving environment in which to learn (figure 1). The students are happy and attentive in their studies. There is individual learning and group work centred around Tolstoy in progress. He wrote text books for his students and made counting equipment for mathematic lessons. There is a photograph showing happy children how have graduated and are proudly showing their certificates. Many years later there is a photograph, taken in 1907, of Tolstoy surrounded by peasant children. It is clear that they still held him in high esteem all the years later. There is a diary entry in which he writes about the scruffy appearance of the children but behind the grime are eyes sparkling with wonder and enthusiasm to learn.








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Created: November 24, 2003
Last updated: November 24, 2003