Teaching Russian history in primary school of the Russian Empire at the beginning of the 20 century

Political events in the Russian Empire at the beginning of the twentieth century updated public discussions about the ways of development of the education system, including the quality of teaching in a lower school. It was entrusted not only with the functions of educating the masses and teaching them elementary skills (the ability to read, write, perform simple arithmetic operations), but also with the tasks of shaping the world outlook of the younger generation. The main discussions were held between supporters of the anthropological direction of pedagogy, who emphasized the priority of universal human values, and those who advocated strengthening the national component of the Russian school and recognized the correct (patriotic) presentation of historical knowledge as one of the strongest factors in the formation of the children's picture of the world. These disagreements determined the lack of consensus in public discourse regarding the study of the historical past of the native country as part of the short stay of students in the walls of primary schools. The proposed article analyses various approaches of Russian teachers to the content of education programs, to the methods and forms of teaching; characterizes the views of public representatives on the educational books used as manuals for lessons on national history. The thesis is confirmed that in the absence of a political consensus and the unified state policy on education, the scope and quality of history teaching depended entirely on the personality of the teacher and his worldview.

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