Yasnaya Polyana School

Notes
Dvorovaya dyevka, the daughter of a serf attached to the bar sky dvor, or mansion-house. Alekse'i Vasiiyevitch Koltsof (1809-1842), a distinguished poet, by some called the Burns of Russia. The ponomar, or paramonar, a word derived from modern Greek, airl signifying doorkeeper, sacristan. One of the domestic servants, formerly serfs, like the little girl mentioned. Dvorovui, or domestic servant. Dvornik, generally one who serves in a dvor; also house-porter. Here, one who occupies a dvor, including house and land. Little Olga. The fantastic story of a beautiful and wealthy maiden who is in reality a witch, and causes the destruction of the groom who falls in love with her. Diminutive of Feodor, Theodore; as Semka is of Semyon. Fifty sazhen. Contemptuous diminutive of Gavriil, Gabriel. Batya, shortened form of b... (From : Wikisource.org.)

Chapter 38 : Singing
Last summer we were coming home from bathing. All of us were feeling very gay. A peasant lad, the very one who had been enticed by the domestic peasant lad into stealing books, a wide-cheeked, thick-set lad, all covered with freckles, with crooked, knock-kneed legs, with all the ways of a grown-up muzhik of the steppe, but a clever, strong, and gifted nature, ran ahead and sat in the wagon, which was proceeding in front of us. He picked up the reins, cocked his hat, spat to one side, and burst out into a dragging muzhik song oh, how he sang! with feeling, with repose, with the full power of his lungs! The children laughed: - "Semka, Semka lo! how cleverly he sings!" Semka was perfectly serious. "There, now, don't you interrupt my song!" said he, in a pause, using a peculiar and purposely hoarse voice, and then he went on with his song sedately. Two very musical lads took their places in the cart and began to take th... (From : Wikisource.org.)

Chapter 37 : Drawing
When, nine months ago, I entered upon the teaching of drawing, I had as yet no definite plan, either for laying out the course of instruction or for guiding the pupils. I had neither designs nor models, save for a few albums of illustrations, which, however, I did not make use of at the time of my most advanced lessons, confining myself to simple auxiliary means, such as can always be found in every country school. A painted wooden board, chalk, slates, and rectangular boards of various sizes, and sticks, which we had used in the visual teaching of mathematics these were all the material we had for our instruction, and yet we were not hindered from copying everything that came under our hands. Not one of the pupils had ever before had any lessons in drawing; they brought to me only their faculty of judgment, which they were given perfect liberty to express when and as they pleased, and which I wanted as a guide to teach me their requirements so that... (From : Wikisource.org.)

Chapter 36 : The Arts
In the sketch of the Yasnaya Polyana School during the months of November and December, I have now to speak of two subjects which have an entirely distinct character from all the others: these are drawing and singing the arts. If I had not my own views, based on the fact that I don't know why any one should study either, I should be obliged to ask myself: Is the study of art profitable for peasant children, put under the necessity of working all their lives long just for their daily bread, and what is the good of it? Ninety-nine out of a hundred would answer this question in the negative. And it is impossible to answer otherwise. As soon as this question is put, sound common sense demands such an answer: he is not to be aft artist; he will have to plow. If he has artistic demands, he will not have the power to endure the steady unwearying labor which he must endure; which, if he does not endure, the very existence of the empire would be... (From : Wikisource.org.)

Chapter 35 : Geography
In the teaching of geography I did the same thing. First of all, I began with physical geography. I remember the first lesson. I began it, and immediately lost my way. The result obtained was what I did not at all anticipate; namely, that I did not know what I wanted ten-year-old peasant children to learn. I was able to explain "day" and "night," but in my explanation of "winter" and "summer" I went astray. Ashamed of my ignorance, I tried it again, and then I asked many of my acquaintances, cultivated men, and no one except those that had recently left school, or teachers, was able to give me a very good explanation without a globe. I beg all who read this to test this observation. I affirm that out of a hundred men not more than one knows this, though all children are taught it. Having rehearsed pretty carefully, I once more took up the explanation, and with the aid of a candle and a globe, I explained it, as it seemed to me, admirably. Th... (From : Wikisource.org.)

Experiments
Thanks to the vitality in the spirit of the school, especially when its older pupils returned from their village occupations, this method of reading failed of itself, they began to grow listless, to play pranks, they cut the lessons. The main point, the reading of stories, which would go to prove the success of this mechanical method, showed that there was no success at all, that during five weeks not a step of progress had been made, many had fallen behind. The best mathematician of the first class, R, who could perform examples in square root in his head, got during this time so out of the practice of reading that he even had to spell out words. We dropped reading in books and racked our brains in trying to invent a method of mechanical r... (From : Wikisource.org.)

The Teaching Of Grammar
We made various experiments in teaching grammar, and must confess that no one of them succeeded in our aim of rendering this study attractive. In the summer, in the second and first classes, a new teacher made a beginning with explaining the parts of speech, and the children at least some of them at first were interested, as they would have been in charades and enigmas. Often, after the lesson was finished, they recurred to the idea of enigmas, and amused themselves in puzzling one another with such questions as, "Where is the predicate?" or "What sits in the spoon, Letting his legs hang down?" But there was no application to correct writing, or if there was any it was rather to erroneous than to correct sentences. Just exactly as it was wi... (From : Wikisource.org.)

Bible Stories
In our school the best test of how much the pupils remember of these recitations are the exercises which they themselves write out from memory, and merely with the correction of faults in 'spelling. Here is an extract from the copy-book of the ten-year-old M . The Story of Isaac: God commanded Abraham to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice. Abraham took two servants, Isaac carried the wood and the fire, and Abraham carried a knife. When they came to the mountain Horeb, Abraham left his servants there, and he went up on the mountain with Isaac. Isaac said, "Batyushka, we have everything, but where is the victim?" Abraham said, "God commanded me to bring you." Then Abraham set fire to the pile and put his son on it. Isaac said: "Bind me, or el... (From : Wikisource.org.)

Proshchai And Proschaite
We returned to the village. Fedka had not once let go of my hand. It seemed to me that he held it now out of gratefulness. We were all brought so close together that night! as we had not been for a long time. Pronka walked abreast with us, along the wide village street. "See, there 's a light at the Mazanofs' yet!" said he. "As I was going to school to-day, Gavriukha was coming out of the tavern dr-u-u-unk!" he added, "blind drunk; his horse was all of a lather, and he was beating her like everything. I feel sorry even now! Indeed, I do! Why should he beat her? And lately, father," said Semka, "he drove his horse from Tula, and she ran him into a snowdrift, but he was asleep, he was so drunk!" "But Gavriukha was beating his horse right acro... (From : Wikisource.org.)

A Walk Through the Woods
Not long ago the first class were reading Gogol's "Vii"; the last scene had a powerful effect on them, and excited their imaginations; some of them acted the witch, and kept reminding one another of the last night. Out-of-doors it was not cold; a moonless winter's night, with clouds floating across the sky. We stopped at the cross-roads; the older scholars, who had been with me three years, stood near me, begging me to accompany them a little farther; the younger ones cast sheep's-eyes at me, and then started down the hill. The younger ones had begun their studies with a new teacher, and between me and them there was not as yet that confidence which existed between the older ones and me. "Well," said one of them, "then we will go into the z... (From : Wikisource.org.)