Modern schoolchildren and college students do not even imagine how lucky they are to study in a different atmosphere, in which there is no longer the rigor that reigned in educational institutions of the 19th century. And it’s not just a matter of punishment with willow rods. They could have simply placed their hand on the cheek, head, or pulled him by the hair and pulled his ears.
If several schoolchildren were subject to punishment, then they stood in a circle, each grabbed the neighbor on the right and left by the ears, and at the teacher’s command, they began to bend their heads inward in the circle. This punishment continued until sweat began to pour from the students – then, at a sign from the teacher, the chain was opened. It is surprising that no one cried loudly, although everyone had tears in their eyes: the students were ashamed to show themselves as sissies.
Gymnasiums were very different from zemstvo schools, which provided primary education even to low-income children. Getting into high school was not an easy task. Only those students who already possessed the necessary set of knowledge could get there. Judging by the number of private courses that helped prepare for entering the gymnasium, the entrance exams were very serious. But graduates had the potential to enroll in a university.
Local historians emphasize that the cost of education at the gymnasium was quite high, while zemstvo schools were maintained at the expense of local government. Various charitable organizations acted as sponsors and provided the most talented children from poor families with the opportunity to study in gymnasiums. The gymnasium students passed the exams in every course and treated them without any scruples. The life of students was very strictly regulated, especially in those educational institutions that provided boarding accommodation. Memories from the life of students of the Ural Mining School are described by researcher Evgeny Korotkov.
“At six o’clock in the morning the warden, who always slept in front of the students, would ring from the corridor to let them know that it was time to get up,” Anastasia Karimova quotes the everyday life writer. – He carefully woke up those who had not heard the bell, going around the beds. Each student, getting up, had to put his bed in complete order and go wash. Those students who washed and put on their uniform, buttoned up with all the buttons, went out into the corridor, where they walked around waiting for the others.
At eight o’clock the teacher appeared, prayers were read before teaching and until 11 o’clock there was a lesson with a break of a quarter of an hour when changing lessons and teachers. At 12 o’clock the bell called to the dining room, where a device was placed for each pupil: three plates, a knife, a fork, a silver spoon and a glass. On the table were large carafes of water and kvass. One of the students took turns reading the pre-dinner prayer, after which everyone sat down in groups at their tables.
Mathematics teacher Georgy Eberhardt with a student. Eberhardt was the best teacher at the Yekaterinburg Men’s Gymnasium, although not particularly beloved. There was order and dead silence in his lessons. Photo: N. Terekhova
Korotkov’s essays describe in detail the students’ lunch menu: the first course was served with cabbage soup or borscht, which alternated according to the schedule, the second course was served with fried meat with sauce or boiled with potatoes or carrots, and the third with a spoonful of milk. On Thursdays and Sundays there were pies with porridge or oard, or sauerkraut. During fasting, the food consisted of peas or “thick cabbage soup” (made from barley grits), and on holidays there was fish soup, for the second – porridge or fried potatoes, and for the third – kvass, thick as wort.
At one o’clock in the afternoon work began in the drawing room. At this time, the students prepared various drawings for “notes”, copies of drawings for their future practice, or simply practiced copying, drawing and coloring. From three to five in the evening there were classes in classes with teachers. There was a break between these two lessons. The end of classes was announced by the guards from the corridor with a bell. At the end of classes, the students freely went to the hall, where a prepared “pauzin” (the so-called meal between lunch and dinner) awaited them, consisting of a small slice of rye bread with salt for each, and spring water was offered for washing down. The dinner itself consisted of soup without meat and a spread of buckwheat porridge with butter; black bread and kvass were also served.
As for ordinary schools, local historians managed to find information about five such institutions that began accepting students almost simultaneously with the founding of the city: in 1724, an arithmetic school began operating in Yekaterinburg. Then they opened a verbal school. Since 1735, the German, Latin and sign schools appeared, where they taught drawing and drawing.
– Students from the verbal school who had already mastered reading and writing were transferred to the arithmetic school. Students from the school of signification, as well as German and Latin, came to the arithmetic school to learn the basics of mathematics. According to Korotkov’s calculations, there were few students in 1737: in Yekaterinburg there were 70 students in the verbal school, 47 in the arithmetic school, 8 in the omen school, 27 in the German school. At the Verkh-Isetsky plant there were 10 students, at the Nizhne-Uktussky plant there were students there were 8. In the last two factories, students were given only primary education, then children could go to schools at Yekaterinburg plant,” Karimova continued her story.
Vasily Tatishchev is considered by local historians to be the main “engine” of the educational system. He understood that it was impossible to establish a mining and processing industry without competent people. Schools were also supposed to provide vocational education: students in lessons gained the skill to recognize ores by appearance and determine their internal content, study mechanics, architecture – construction art, marking and painting, also learn stone-cutting and lapidary art, crafts – turning, carpentry and soldering business.
It was not possible to make education mass, as Tatishchev dreamed, for a number of reasons: firstly, students who could count and write were most often taken from schools to work in factory offices; they were in dire need of people. There was no talk about the education of girls at all; there were no such schools until 1789, when a small public school was opened, in which children of both sexes could take a two-year course of study. The lack of textbooks affected the success of students: they were delivered by horse-drawn transport, and there were not enough single copies for all the children.
Schoolgirls. Beginning of the 20th century. Photo: Br. Kozlovsky
Secondly, teachers were not available for all subjects, and the acting masters were not always able to clearly explain to students what was being done and how. By the way, modest scholarships were paid to clever people starting on June 24, 1721. Historians note that mainly orphans and low-income schoolchildren could count on this benefit, but it was not paid regularly.
– Tatishchev ordered orphans and children of poor parents to pay 0.5 pounds of rye flour per month and one ruble per year for clothes. This amount and the circle of those who could receive it changed over the years. Already in 1726, Gennin ordered those students whose fathers received less than 30 rubles a year to give two rubles a year for a dress, and 1.5 poods a month for food, she gave examples of Karimov’s scholarships.
Schools of that time constantly needed a strong patron to hire teachers, purchase teaching aids, “knock out” funding, and monitor compliance with the schedule of theoretical and practical training. After Tatishchev’s transfer from Yekaterinburg, for many decades no one was able to achieve noticeable success on these issues.
By the way, experts in the history of Yekaterinburg note that students had the opportunity to earn their living by honest work. They were helped out by mastered crafts – in addition to primary education, many educational institutions tried to teach the basics of tailoring, shoemaking, bookbinding, seamstress and laundry. For example, in Yekaterinburg at the end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th centuries, there were several institutions that provided craft education. We are talking, among other things, about the Nurovsky orphanage, which was initially designed for 30 children, gradually their number doubled. And then the shelter became 24/7. Currently, on the site of the former shelter there is the building of the Ural Geological Museum.
– The girls-pupils sheathed their classmates and even carried out work to order. In addition, the shelter operated a culinary school, which even partially generated income for the shelter by offering relatively inexpensive lunches to those interested. True, the culinary school, like all educational institutions, was closed for the summer, Karimova added.
Another institution that provided education and a future profession to girls from poor families was opened by Maria Alekseeva in 1899, whom many know as the common-law wife of Mamin-Sibiryak. The students studied handicrafts (knitting, sewing), culinary arts, laundry, painting on wood, porcelain, silk, gardening and horticulture.
Source: rodina-history.ru
