Karl's Gymnasium excursion. History of the Karl May School
Pre-revolutionary 1856 – 1918 (Gymnasium and Real College)
Pre-war 1918 - 1937 (Soviet school)
Military 1937 - 1944 (6 Special Art School)
Post-war 1944–present (5High School)
The “History” section of the site contains a brief description of the history of the School’s development, as well as a chronological table of the main events. To get acquainted in more detail with the historical fact that interests you, you should select the appropriate column of the table and go to the page with its description.
HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL
On the initiative of several German families, on September 22, 1856, a private German men's school was opened in the outbuilding of house No. 56 on the 1st line of Vasilievsky Island. The school was headed by a talented teacher-practitioner Karl Ivanovich May (1820–1895 - a follower of the advanced pedagogical views of A. Disterweg, I.G. Pestalozzi, N.I. Pirogov, K.D. Ushinsky and F. Froebel.
In the first years of its existence, the school was an elementary school, and since 1860 it received the unique official name “Real School at the Gymnasium Degree,” which reflected the enhanced, in comparison with state-owned educational institutions, the applied orientation of a full-fledged secondary education from then on. In the same year, a building was purchased specifically for the school on site No. 13 on the 10th line of Vasilievsky Island.
The main motto of the school was the saying of the founder of modern pedagogy, John Amos Komensky, “First to love, then to teach,” in accordance with which a team of teachers was created, consisting only of people with high moral and professional qualities. A graduate of the school in 1918, the writer Lev Uspensky noted in his memoirs: “... May does not and cannot have obscurantist teachers, Black Hundred teachers, people “in cases,” officials in uniform. Teachers, generation after generation, were selected from May on the basis of their scientific and pedagogical talent.”
Created by K.I. Our system of upbringing and education provided for mutual respect and trust between teachers and students, constant interaction with the family, the desire of teachers to take into account and develop the individual abilities of each student, to teach them to think independently. All this, combined with the high quality of education, made it possible year after year to graduate highly moral, well-rounded young men from the school, ready to work useful for society. Thanks to the special atmosphere that arose in this educational institution, called the “May spirit,” the school of K. May, in the apt expression of its 1890 graduate D.V. Filosofov, was “a state within a state, separated by an endless ocean from the government.”
The composition of the students, both in terms of social status and nationality, was very diverse. Without any discrimination, the children of the porter and the sons of princes Gagarin, Golitsyn, counts Olsufiev and Stenbock-Fermor, representatives of the families of entrepreneurs Vargunin, Durdin, Eliseev, Thornton and descendants of the liberal intelligentsia - the Benois, Grimms, Dobuzhinskys, Roerichs, Rimsky-Korsakovs, Semyonov-Tyanshansky, and, in many cases, this school provided education to several generations of the same family. A kind of record holder among these is the Benois dynasty - 25 members of this clan studied “from May”.
At this school, boys representing almost all the national diasporas of St. Petersburg received knowledge - Russians, Germans, French, English, Tatars, Jews, Finns, Chinese, etc.
Thus, as noted already at the beginning of the 20th century, this school “could never be called either monarchical, democratic, republican, or aristocratic. She always strived to be universal."
In the late 1850s, one school play opened with a procession of heralds carrying flags depicting the cockchafer; The director and everyone present really liked this symbol. Since then, those who studied at this school throughout their lives called themselves “Maybugs.”
From the very beginning the school consisted of two departments. Children who showed humanitarian abilities were called Latinists in the early years and studied in the department, later called the gymnasium. Here, in addition to German and French, ancient languages were taught - Latin and Greek. Gymnasium students, as a rule, prepared to continue their education at the University. Young men who were more inclined towards the natural sciences were called non-Latinists: they, in the real department for 8 years, received more knowledge in the exact sciences and prepared themselves for engineering work. Until 1909, there was also a small commercial department, where English was studied instead of French. Thanks to this structure, the official name of this secondary educational institution in 1881 became “K. May’s Gymnasium and Real School.”
For the first twenty-five years, the school was German, since lessons in all subjects, except for the Russian language, literature and history, as well as some real disciplines, were taught in Goethe's language.
The first graduation of the real department took place in 1863, and the gymnasium - in 1865. In 1890, K.I. May handed over the reins to Vasily Aleksandrovich Krakau (1857–1935), a graduate of the school in 1873, who graduated from the history and philology department of the university, who taught history at his school. Under him, teaching methods were improved, a real department was developed, and classroom equipment was improved.
In 1906, after the resignation of V.A. Krakau, a graduate of the university’s Faculty of History and Philology, Master of Slavic Studies, Alexander Lavrentievich Lipovsky (1867–1942), was elected as the new director. During his leadership of the educational institution, two important events occurred. Firstly, the school celebrated its fiftieth anniversary by releasing a unique anniversary collection of memories of former students on this occasion. Secondly, due to the fact that, due to the growing popularity of the school, there was a shortage of premises, in 1909 plot No. 39 along the 14th line was purchased, where, according to the design of academician of architecture G.D. Grimm, a graduate of 1883, a unique new building was built with a bas-relief of a cockchafer above the arch of the front door. On October 31, 1910, the building was consecrated in front of a large crowd of people. It was conducted by Bishop Veniamin of Gdov and Ladoga, the future Metropolitan of Petrograd.
On the four floors of the school, in addition to classrooms for 650 students, there were 8 well-equipped subject rooms for physics, chemistry, natural history, history, geography, drawing, modeling, singing (three of them had auditoriums in the form of an amphitheater), as well as a carpentry workshop, a library with 12 thousand books in Russian, German, French, English, Latin and Greek, a gym, a dining room.
On the eve of the First World War, 567 young men received knowledge here under the guidance of 38 highly qualified teachers. Numerous excursions were conducted, not only to famous St. Petersburg museums, but also to industrial enterprises. There were various circles: literary, which published its own printed magazine “May Collection”, historical, maritime, photographic, sports and aircraft modeling, where the first aircraft model in Russia was built by N.V. Fausek – graduate of 1913
After the outbreak of war with Germany, in September 1914. At the school, the “Infirmary of the gymnasium and real school of K. May, named after Emperor Alexander I” was opened, where all the auxiliary work was carried out by students.
During the period 1910–1917 The school reached its true peak. The last, fifty-fifth, issue took place on February 24 1918
In total, in the period 1856-1918. About 3,800 St. Petersburg youth studied at K. May's School, 1,300 of them received certificates. For excellent academic achievements, 15% of graduating high school students were awarded gold medals and 17% - silver. According to the then existing situation, Realists were not entitled to medals.
In the fall of 1918, the private educational institution of K.I. May was nationalized and transformed into the Soviet Unified Labor School of the I and II levels, where, according to the decrees of the new government, joint education of boys and girls was introduced, and grades and certificates were abolished. Later, a brigade-laboratory method of training was introduced, which was in effect until 1932.
In subsequent years, the fate of this educational institution, like many others, was reflected in numerous transformations of the post-revolutionary system of public education. In accordance with this, the school's director, name, duration of study (seven, nine, ten years), its serial number (15, 12, 217, 17) changed several times. The “May” pedagogical traditions were to some extent preserved until the winter of 1929, when, as a result of the anti-bourgeois campaign launched in the press and the publication of unfounded accusations in the Leningradskaya Pravda newspaper of January 15, 1929, many teachers and management were mostly replaced, and even the bas-relief above the front door was destroyed. From the beginning of the 1930s, K.I. became the head of the school. Polyakov (1902-1946), he again created a good teaching staff, and school life improved. A particularly prominent figure at this time was the physical education teacher R.V. Ozol, organizer of the Spartak circle. Pioneer and Komsomol organizations also appeared, and various circles operated.
Since the fall of 1937, according to government decree, the building housed the 6th Special Artillery School (6SASH), formed on a voluntary basis from students in grades 8-10 of this and nearby secondary schools. In 1938-1941. At least 600 “specialists” graduated from the 6th SAS (four graduations). During the harsh winter of the siege, on February 5, 1942, 239 exhausted special schoolchildren were evacuated to Tobolsk; At the same time, 65 young men died of hunger on the way. Graduates of the 6th SAS fought valiantly on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War, defended and liberated their native Leningrad. The first salvo in Berlin was fired by the guns of Captain I.R. Mirkin, and five artillery reconnaissance officers of this unit, led by Captain V. Makov, were the first to hoist the Victory Banner over the Reichstag. 111 graduates of the 6th SAS School died a brave death on the battlefields. Since 1983 in the current school No. 5 (13 line, no. 28) there is a museum 6 ASH, which arose thanks to the efforts of the then director of the school, and now the head of the museum L.V. Chernenkova. Until 2007, the Council of Veterans of the 6th SAS was headed by Major General V.G. Rozhkov, who in 2006 wrote and published the book “The Sixth (First Leningrad) Special Artillery School.” In 2007, on March 1, the name of Major General V.G. Rozhkov was assigned to the 6th SAS Museum.
After the siege of Leningrad was lifted, in September 1944, classes resumed in the building, only now the educational institution was called the 5th men's secondary school, and since 1954, in connection with the restoration of co-education, simply the 5th secondary school.
In 1944-59. A new, very good teaching staff was formed at the school, headed by front-line soldier S.I. Pashkov. Together with him, they passed on knowledge to our children: holders of the Order of Lenin, head teacher M.I. Lopareva and mathematics teacher V.S. Neverovsky, science teacher O.M. Demina, awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, and literature teacher, candidate of philological sciences D.L. Sorokina.
The first post-war release took place in 1948. In 1962, the status of the school was downgraded, it became an “eight-year school” and remained an incomplete secondary school until 1999, with a break in 1967-1975, when ten-year education was restored. Since 1999, eleven years of education have been introduced at the school.
In 1964 The school's pioneer squad was named after Hero of the Soviet Union Evgeniy Nikonov.
In 1966, on the initiative of the head of the educational department A.S. Baturina created a museum at the school, in which, along with an exhibition dedicated to the labor and military affairs of former students of the school, there was a stand dedicated to the pre-revolutionary period and the first director K.I. Mayu. However, this museum did not last long, and its exhibits, unfortunately, have hardly survived.
In 1976, the school celebrated its 120th anniversary. But, due to the fact that in the same year the plaster of one of the ceilings collapsed and cosmetic repairs were required, the team of teachers and students was temporarily transferred to another building at 13 line, no. 28. Due to lack of funds, repairs were not completed was, the educational process in the old school house did not resume. Unique office equipment, furniture, memorial plaques with the names of graduates of different years, busts of writers and scientists that decorated the interiors were abandoned to the mercy of fate. All this was soon plundered and lost forever.
For 30 years now, the school has been located on line 13, in house No. 28. In 2001, after a 25-year break, graduates were again awarded high school diplomas.
Graduates of the school have achieved great success in various fields of science and culture. More than 100 of them became doctors of science, 30 were elected full members or corresponding members of the Academy of Sciences or the Academy of Arts. Among those who studied at the school there were three members of the State Council - the rector of the University D.D. Grimm, Governor of St. Petersburg A.D. Zinoviev and the Minister of Internal Affairs, later the Minister of Justice A.A. Makarov; Minister of Internal Affairs D.S. Sipyagin, Rector of the University E.D. Grimm, military leaders - Infantry General N.A. Epanchin, Major General S.V. Belov, V.V. Volkov, V.G. Rozhkov, V.A. Sukhotsky, Vice Admiral E.I. Volobuev, rear admirals I.V. Kossovich, V.A. Petrovsky, P.V. Rimsky-Korsakov, cultural figures - members of the World of Art association, artists A.N. Benoit, N.K. Roerich, V.A. Serov, K.A. Somov, A.E. Yakovlev, as well as artists O.G. Vereisky, P.Ya. Pavlinov, I.A. Puni, S.N. Roerich, sculptor B.E. Kaplyansky, composers V.I. Tsytovich, F.D. Shevtsov, writers G.I. Alekseev, V.S. Golovinsky, V.A. Knekht, A.A. Liverovsky, V.P. Prokopyev, L.V. Uspensky, O.A. Khazin, F.K. Einbaum, poet Yu.A. Liverovsky, theater figures F.N. Kurikhin, P.P. Podervyansky, M.F. Stronin, film directors S.V. Biryuk, D.D. Meskhiev (Jr.). Warm memories of the school were preserved by its former student - twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, cosmonaut G.M. Grechko. It should also be noted that O.D. Khvolson was among the first to be awarded the title of Hero of Labor in 1926, and three graduates - V.V. Volkov, D.S. Likhachev and V.V. Novozhilov were awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor, six school graduates - V.V. Belomorets, M.A. Elyashevich, L.L. Kerber, V.D. Nalivkin, M.M. Chetvertakov and V.V. Novozhilov became laureates of the Lenin Prize.
An article about the history of the school was prepared based on
In fact, the excursion was called “Roerich’s places in St. Petersburg.” To my personal taste, it does not at all correspond to the spirit of the project, i.e. it does not open any doors that are usually closed to the general public. We even examined the buildings of Rosfoto and the Imperial Society for the Promotion of Arts only from the street... I signed up for it only for the faint hope of seeing Fedorovsky town from the inside, because the coordinators ignored my questions about getting into the territory. I had to find out on the spot. And when I literally heard from the program director of the project: “There is nothing to see inside in the Fedorovsky town, there are only ruins there. If you want, you can climb over the fence. The guide won’t drive your dogs away,” then I simply didn’t go to Tsarskoe Selo. Moreover, the story was very mediocre. And I categorically disagreed with the guide’s principled position of violating traffic rules: in the presence of traffic lights and pedestrian crossings on St. Isaac’s Square, she purposefully threw herself under cars in the wrong places, dragging tourists along with her. And if you suddenly walked at a traffic light, then only on a red light.
As a result, for me the excursion was shortened to the Karl May School. By the way, to get to the museum for free, you don’t need intermediaries; you just need to call or write and join one of the events.
You can make an appointment for a tour by phone. +7 812 3233710 or by submitting a request to the guest book of the website www.kmay.ru. All museum visitors must bring shoe covers or replacement shoes. Private visitors can join one of the announced excursions. Individual excursions are not available, but by calling in advance you can view the exhibition and watch a film about the Karl May School.
Upcoming excursions to the K. May School History Museum:
17.02 at 14.00 - for high school students;
17.03 at 12.00 - for connoisseurs of the history of St. Petersburg who are wise with life experience.
Address: St. Petersburg, 14th line V.O., 39.
Several halls will be offered to your attention:
The exhibition is accompanied by a fascinating story from the founder, ideological inspirer of the creation of the museum and its permanent head, Nikita Vladimirovich Blagovo.
And don't forget to pay attention to the stairs. It can be seen through a century.
Other excursions.
On the site of house No. 39 on the 14th line of Vasilyevsky Island in 1844, a wooden house with a mezzanine was built. In 1907, it was acquired by the K. May gymnasium, which was then located in the premises of house No. 13 on the 10th line.
The school was founded in 1856 by teacher Karl Ivanovich May. A German born in St. Petersburg managed to create a men's gymnasium and a real school on its basis. By the end of the 19th century, this educational institution became one of the most popular in St. Petersburg. Artists V. A. Serov, A. N. Benois, N. K. Roerich, K. A. Somov, architects Yu. Yu. Benois, G. D. Grimm, F. F. von Postels, A. A. studied here Ol, scientist N. N. Kachalov, merchant G. G. Eliseev, psychiatrist A. E. Bari. There is a known case when a certain doorman won a large sum in the lottery - 100,000 rubles. With this money, he first bought the house in which he had previously served. Immediately after that, he sent his son to the K. May gymnasium. By the beginning of the 20th century, the growing authority and needs of the K. May school forced its director A.L. Lipsky to build a special building. For this purpose, a plot of land on line 14 was purchased.
In the same 1907, the architect G. D. Grim drew up a design for the building. Later, the building design was slightly changed and approved by the City Council on January 21, 1909. Construction was completed in the spring of next year. The grand opening of the building of the gymnasium and real school of K. May took place on October 31, 1910.
The first floor of the gymnasium was occupied by rooms for the director, teachers and a library. Classrooms are located on the second to fourth floors. They were located in the front part of the building; the windows of the dining room and gymnastics and assembly hall looked out onto the courtyard. In the courtyard outbuildings, classrooms for special subjects and auditoriums in the form of an amphitheater were installed.
A bas-relief was placed above the entrance to the school - an image of a cockchafer, a symbol of the gymnasium. The pupils of the gymnasium in the city were called nothing more than “May bugs”.
Equipment for the gymnasium was purchased to order, and special furniture was made for each age. The railings of the main staircase were decorated with brass balls, which prevented students from sliding down them while playing. Busts of famous scientists and writers were installed on the walls of the main staircase.
In 1912, according to the design of G.D. Grimm, an outbuilding with a sports hall was built in the courtyard.
After 1918, the K. May gymnasium was nationalized and merged with the E. P. Schaffe women's gymnasium. After these transformations, the Soviet Unified Labor School of I and II degrees No. 217 opened here, grades and certificates were canceled in the educational institution. Until 1929, the school maintained some of the traditions of the K. May gymnasium. However, after some publication in the Leningradskaya Pravda newspaper, the teaching staff was changed. The bas-relief of the cockchafer was knocked down (now restored). In 1937-1942 - 6th artillery special school. After the evacuation of students in 1942 to Tobolsk, the building was empty for 2 years.
School No. 5 was opened here in 1944, and girls began studying here again in 1954. The school occupied this house until 1976. Since 1977, the Computing Center of the USSR Academy of Sciences (now the St. Petersburg Institute of Informatics and Automation of the Russian Academy of Sciences) has been operating here.
In 1995, a memorial museum dedicated to the K. May gymnasium was opened in the building.
The Karl May School History Museum has been collecting information, documents, and exhibits related to the famous German St. Petersburg school, founded on the initiative of the German community in the mid-19th century, for more than twenty years. Address: St. Petersburg, Vasilievsky Island, 14 line, no. 39Society of Friends of Karl May School →
Details:
A private German boys' school opened in 1856 on the 1st line of Vasilyevsky Island in St. Petersburg in the apartment of the founder and first director of the school, the talented teacher Karl Ivanovich May (1820–1895). The main motto of the school was the saying of the founder of modern pedagogy, John Amos Comenius, “First to love, then to teach,” in accordance with which a team of teachers was created, consisting of people with high moral and professional qualities.
For sixty years, many German families sent their children to May, often two or three generations of boys studying at this school.
More details:
In the first years, the school was primary, but already in 1860 it received the official name “Real School at the Gymnasium Degree,” which reflected the strengthened applied focus of education compared to state-owned educational institutions. Teachers were selected from May based on their scientific and pedagogical talent. Created by K.I. Our system of upbringing and education provided for mutual respect and trust between teachers and students, constant interaction with the family, the desire of teachers to take into account and develop the individual abilities of each student, to teach them to think independently. All this, combined with the high quality of education, made it possible year after year to graduate highly moral, diversified young men from the school, ready for work useful for society. The composition of the students, both in terms of social status and nationality, was very diverse. Without any discrimination, children of peasants and doormen, sons of princes Gagarin, Golitsyn, counts Olsufiev and Stenbock-Fermor, barons Korf, Tiesenhausens and Stackelbergs, representatives of the families of entrepreneurs Schlisser, Bekkel, Durdin, Schitt, Eliseev, Thornton and descendants of the liberal intelligentsia studied here - Benois, Grimms, Dobuzhinskys, Roerichs, Rimsky-Korsakovs, Semenov-Tyan-Shanskys, and, in many cases, this school provided education to several generations of the same family.
For the first twenty-five years, the school was purely German, since lessons in all subjects, except for the Russian language, literature and history, as well as some real disciplines, were taught in Goethe's language.
During the period 1856 - 1918. About 3,800 St. Petersburg youth studied at the school, 1,300 of them received certificates. For excellent academic achievements, 15% of graduating high school students were awarded gold medals and 17% - silver.
In the fall of 1918, the private educational institution K.I. May was nationalized and transformed into the Soviet Unified Labor School of the 1st and 2nd stages. The museum's exposition also reflects the Soviet period of the school. Since the autumn of 1937, the building housed the 6th Special Artillery School, which in 1938-1941. At least 600 “specialists” graduated. Graduates of 6SASH fought valiantly on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War, defended and liberated their native Leningrad.
Over the long history of the school, its graduates have achieved great success in various fields of science and culture. Over 160 graduates of the school became doctors of science, 41 were awarded academic titles. Among those who studied at the school were members of the State Council - Rector of the University D. D. Grimm, Governor of St. Petersburg A. D. Zinoviev and the Minister of Internal Affairs, later the Minister of Justice A.A. Makarov; Rector of the University E.D. Grimm, military leaders - generals and admirals N.A. Epanchin, P.N. Vagner, A.I. Varnek, N. Fogel I.V. Kossovich, P.V. Rimsky-Korsakov, cultural figures - members of the World of Art association, artists A.N. Benoit, N.K. Roerich, V.A. Serov, K.A. Somov, A.E. Yakovlev.
From 1978 to the present, the building of the former school has been occupied by the St. Petersburg Institute of Informatics and Automation of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SPIIRAN), whose leadership is represented by the director, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Honored Worker of Science and Technology of the Russian Federation, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor R .M. Yusupova, provides constant and selfless assistance to the museum.
The museum was opened on May 12, 1995 by the oldest student of the school, academician D.S. Likhachev. Since then, the permanent director of the museum and the main collector and custodian of the “May” history has been Nikita Vladimirovich Blagovo, through whose efforts over the twenty years of its existence the museum has turned into a significant phenomenon in the cultural landscape of St. Petersburg. In 2005 and 2009 A monograph by N.V. was published. Blagovo “School on Vasilyevsky Island” (in two parts).
In three halls of the museum, an exhibition has been created that reflects all the main stages of the 150-year history of the school. Visitors have the opportunity to get acquainted with school household items, textbooks, and personal belongings of former students and teachers of the school. Elements of the furnishings and equipment of the school classrooms have been preserved, and the atmosphere of the educational institution has been recreated. The stands provide information about the history of the school. In a separate room there is a special exhibition dedicated to academicians N.K. Roerich and D.S. Likhachev, pupils of the school, whose activities were aimed at preserving and developing national and world culture.
In 2006, the website “Society of Friends of the K. May School” and the group “ Society of Friends of the Karl May School". In addition, those interested can subscribe to the newsletter about the life of the museum and the website.
ACCORDING TO THE ARTICLE:
GAVRILIN A. V.
GYMNASIUM K. MAY:
PRESERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF SCHOOL TRADITIONS
In September 1856 in St. Petersburg, a young teacher, admirer of Ya. A. Komensky, propagandist of the ideas of K. D. Ushinsky and N. I. Pirogov, Karl Ivanovich May opened a private school for boys. He was prompted to take this step by dissatisfaction with the state of the educational process in gymnasiums and secondary schools, but besides this, K. May, as he himself wrote later, “felt the need to apply some theoretical issues of pedagogy to practice, to carry out some experiments carried out earlier, during individual training, on a larger scale." The school quickly gained popularity, and in 1860, upon official approval (accreditation), it received an unusual, but corresponding to its essence, name “Real school as a gymnasium.” This was explained by the fact that in the first period of its existence, until 1864, most subjects, including the Greek language, were taught in German; grammar, literature, history, and real subjects were taught in Russian. The natural sciences in the curriculum were given much more time than in state-owned gymnasiums, because K.I. May considered it necessary to develop an applied orientation in teaching, thereby expanding the horizons of students and thereby providing better preparation for practical activities. From the first year, the gymnasium curriculum included gymnastics as a subject.
In 1868, graduates of private gymnasiums received the right to enter the university. At the same time, private gymnasiums retained freedom in drawing up curricula and distributing educational material among classes, and in the general organization of the pedagogical process. There were two departments at the school of K.I. May. The school curriculum in the primary grades was common for future realists and high school students. Starting from the fifth grade, at the request of the parents or at the request of the students themselves, some of them began to study ancient languages - Latin and Greek, while others during these hours attended lessons in natural history, drawing, studied mathematics and new languages - German, French - to a greater extent. , English (the latter is optional). In addition, a little later, a commercial department was formed, which directly prepared students for commercial activities. In addition to other subjects, they were given a course in merchant arithmetic.
In 1882, the school was given the rights of a gymnasium of the Ministry of Public Education, and by 1885 the rights of state-owned real schools received the real department.
The soul of the school from the moment of its formation was K.I. May. He developed and constantly developed the pedagogical concept of his school, laid down many of its traditions, which the single educational team adhered to for more than half a century. K.I. May considered the main goal of education to be the harmonious development of all the forces and natural abilities of a person. As the motto of the school’s teaching staff, he proclaimed the saying of the founder of modern pedagogy, the Czech educator J. A. Komensky: “First to love, then to teach.” Mai himself throughout his long selfless life strictly followed this motto. In 1906, at the anniversary evening, the last director of the gymnasium, A.L. Lipovsky, a former graduate of May, called him “the good genius of the school” and noted that “Karl Ivanovich created a special environment at the school, in which it was so easy to breathe, so light, despite all the hardships of life, I believed in the future.”
The day of the gymnasium began with the director personally greeting all the students by the hand, and only the student who had misbehaved yesterday was not given a handshake. An important personality trait of May as a teacher was her impartial approach to different students. “In his attitude towards everyone, he was equal and fair; no one could boast of his preference or complain of neglect,” noted one of the students.
In 1860, in the magazine “Education,” K. I. May proclaimed the main, in his understanding, goal that every teacher should set for himself: “The main task of a mentor is to prepare a young man for work useful to society.” May considered one of the most important judgments of N.I. Pirogov that “one cannot cut everyone with the same brush, but act wisely, applying to the properties of the subject, personality, degree of development of students and teachers,” and always followed this precept. It was not for nothing that D.I. Semenov, a graduate of 1872, recalled that he “always knew how to establish such simple and frank relationships with each student that, although they, of course, certainly listened to their director, they felt much freer with him than with some of the teachers." He managed to instill in his students a love of truth, respect for themselves and their teachers. The school has become a kind of community with its own “spirit”.
Assistant Trustee of the St. Petersburg Educational District V. A. Latyshev, in his speech on the fiftieth anniversary of the school, highlighted the following pedagogical principles of K. I. May, which formed the basis of the concept of development of the gymnasium, which his successor V. A. Krakau considered it his moral duty to follow. These principles remain extremely modern today:
Let the paths be different, depending on the individuality of the teacher, but the education and upbringing of the student in any case should remain the ultimate goal of teaching;
Not an objective attitude to education and teaching, but a subjective one;
The example of a teacher is the most effective educational tool;
By working tirelessly, we thereby fulfill one of the most important tasks of the school: we teach students to work.
Further, Latyshev continues: “Karl Ivanovich sought to raise a comprehensively developed person in his student. The intelligence, moral qualities, aesthetic sense, will and health of the pets caused the same concern on the part of Karl Ivanovich.”
Walking excursions in the vicinity of St. Petersburg played a large role in the organization of extracurricular and extracurricular activities. During such walks and hikes, students, collecting botanical, zoological and mineralogical collections, replenished and systematized in practice their knowledge in these subjects, expanded their historical and general cultural horizons. It was a time of informal communication with elements of some romance and mystery thanks to passages through a mysterious forest, overnight stays on the hay, and an evening bonfire.
School holidays, traditionally held on October 29, the birthday of Karl May, were even more important in the development and education of students. They were celebrated with new performances by the school theater and a special festive program. Preparations for the performance, the choice of one or another action from the planned play, rehearsals, housekeeping chores, creating scenery and developing the script for the evening contributed to the rapprochement of students, the development of their creative abilities, in-depth study of the arts, the realization of their interests and the formation of the “spirit” of the school.
Once, heralds with banners on which the cockchafer was depicted as a coat of arms took part in the performance. From that time on, the pupils of the school adopted and became almost official the unusual nickname “May Bugs”, or “Maits”, which they honored and were very proud of as a symbol of their belonging to a certain community, which was represented by the graduates of the May Gymnasium.
The composition of the students of this gymnasium is perhaps the brightest in the entire history of Russia. Among its graduates are scientists, writers, artists, teachers, travelers, but the main thing is that they are all worthy citizens. It is enough to name the names of academician N.A. Bruni and writer L.K. Uspensky, academician D.S. Likhachev and architect V.O. Muntz, artists R.M. and V.M. Dobuzhinsky and V.A. Serov. Entire families of Benois, Grimm, Rimsky-Korsakov, Gagarin, Semenov-Tien-Shansky, Golitsyn studied here. This gymnasium was graduated by the head of the famous Russian trading company G. G. Eliseev and the captain of the cruiser “Pallada” I. V. Kossovich, as well as many, many other students who later became the glory and pride of Russia.
All of them were united not only by the gymnasium bench, not only by carefully preserved “May” traditions. They were united by the belief that it was during their gymnasium and school years that their spiritual beliefs, scientific and artistic passions, and loyalty to their chosen path and ideals were finally formed. “And perhaps more than other titles that they achieved in proud and patient service to society, the title of “May Bug”, “Maitz” was perhaps the highest for them, because it was, as a rule, followed first of all by intelligence, spiritual nobility".
In 1890, K.I. May, who resigned for health reasons, was replaced as director by Vasily Aleksandrovich Krakau. The same V. A. Latyshev notes that in his activities he was guided by the following principle: “Students should be given as much freedom as possible. It is necessary to give an outcome to the child’s natural liveliness: a normal child, not crippled by the conditions of upbringing, is always alive. A boy, restrained by the demands of excessive external discipline, withdraws into himself, becoming secretive, often apathetic, or seeks the outcome of his liveliness, in spite of the teacher, behind his back, becomes angry and rude.”
Continuing to develop the educational system of the gymnasium, V. A. Krakau introduces music, dance, and fencing lessons. A carpentry workshop was organized. Literary evenings on Krakau's birthday on December 7 became regular. Particular attention was paid to the development of the teaching method, with the goal of making it more creative, amateur and applied in nature.
In 1900, V. A. Krakau, at one of the meetings of the pedagogical council, made a detailed report in which he analyzed the state of teaching in schools of that time and developed basic proposals for its improvement. From his point of view, the school had to ensure that over the years of study the pupil:
Completely mastered the program course for each subject;
Developed his thinking abilities: memory, logical reasoning, ability to master and process educational material;
He acquired intellectual interests in issues of life, science, literature, and was consciously and lively about economic and social life;
I would expand my horizons and my knowledge at home by reading books outside of class;
I would be engaged in music and other arts, manual labor, crafts;
Developed ability to work,
Developed character.
To ensure the fulfillment of these positions, the student should not be overloaded with classes. Therefore, homework in primary grades was abolished, and for senior grades the basic principles of organizing the educational process were developed:
Transfer the center of gravity of educational work to class time, and not to homework, which can serve as repetition and mastery of what has been covered in class;
It is necessary to ask only what has been discussed, explained and learned in class;
Classwork should involve the whole class, not individual students;
Class work must be conducted strictly systematically and methodically - the teacher must know exactly what he will pay attention to during the survey, what he will go through and ask;
Go through something new only after making sure that the completed section has been learned and mastered;
These principles indicated that the humanistic approach in the gymnasium was not only proclaimed, but also implemented in practice.
Grades were given to the student only for quarters, and then only in order to give him final documents or documents for transfer to another school. Instead of current marks, characteristics were used in which the personal growth of the student was noted in a specially designed form.
The last director of the school was its former graduate Alexander Lavrentievich Lipovsky, who was elected to this post by secret vote of the teachers' council in September 1906. He outlined his pedagogical credo in his commencement speech at the graduation ceremony on October 29, 1908.
“In raising you, we first of all sought to conform to your nature. We recognized your right to the present, to your childhood and youth, which you had to experience precisely as childhood and youth, regardless of what you would become later... In your education, we primarily had in mind the development of your personality, and not any extraneous purposes. Man is not a means, but an end in itself. We did not pursue the ideal of a citizen, first of all, not a professional worker, etc., special tasks, but the development in you of a broad and deep understanding of life. Remember how much was said about the beauty of human experiences and sensations, about the truth of truth and knowledge, about the truth of fair social relations... And now that you have left our influence, and the schools you entered do not set the tasks of education, remember our words; your upbringing is not complete, continue to educate yourself in the spirit of that humanity, the seeds of which we tried to cultivate... No one, except you, can determine the meaning of your life. Be human, and the joy of your life will be a joy for us, witnesses of the irrevocable time of your childhood and youth!”
During this period, subject commissions were organized in the gymnasium, engaged in the study and correction of curriculum. Self-government is developing in the school. A school constitution was developed and approved. The teachers' council and the council of class teachers and the council of educators reporting to it, the main attention in their work, along with traditional teaching and educational forms, was paid to the individualization of education, the development of students' initiative, increasing visibility in teaching and organizing leisure time.
Such successes of the school were possible only because its teachers formed a team of like-minded people who were dedicated to their work and knew it. The selection of teachers at the May Gymnasium has always been given paramount importance. As a rule, people were invited who had not only highly professional knowledge of the subject, but also certainly the talent of an educator. They acted as spiritual mentors to their students, and the main mentor was always the director.
Extracurricular activities were organized in quite a variety of ways, focused mainly on cognitive activity, which was system-forming, and on the development of individual abilities. Among the circles, special mention should be made of the first air gliding and literary circles in Russia. “To accommodate students’ independent experiments of a literary and scientific nature,” their own publication “May Collection” was organized. All this confirms the main law of the school: respect for the student’s personality, an individual approach to the development of abilities, and provision of maximum opportunities for self-realization.
The May Gymnasium can serve as an example of a humanistic educational system of a school that was successfully formed, constantly supported its traditions and developed a special, integrative quality, a unique “spirit” of the school, which became a powerful educational factor and allowed the system to survive not only when changing pedagogical leaders, but also in the environment the surrounding anti-humanistic environment, when other institutions turned into schools of cramming and drilling.
A former pupil of the gymnasium, publicist D.V. Filosofov recalled: “I graduated from the gymnasium in 1889, therefore, I spent the eighties there, perhaps the most difficult times in the life of Russian gymnasiums...
When I ask my peers about their high school years, they all remember them with hatred. I have met almost no one who would remember with fondness the state gymnasium of the eighties. "Chafer bugs" are a happy exception. May's gymnasium was some kind of state within a state, a mysterious island separated by an endless ocean from the officialdom" 8.
