Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy is known throughout the world as a great writer. Some people know that he was also active in community life. Tolstoy was engaged in pedagogy, considering it his civic duty to make a contribution to the education of the people. Lev Nikolaevich's pedagogical activity lasted (with interruptions) almost 60 years.
Tolstoy's first steps in pedagogy
In 1849, Lev Nikolaevich, who was then only 20 years old, began teaching peasant children to read and write in his family estate Yasnaya Polyana. But soon Tolstoy was forced to stop these studies due to admission to military service. He resumed his pedagogical work in 1859, already being a famous writer and a participant in the famous defense of Sevastopol. Lev Nikolaevich opened a school for peasant children in Yasnaya Polyana, and also actively contributed to the opening of several more schools in the nearby villages. In the writer's own words, he then experienced a three-year passion for this business.
Unfortunately, the progressive (at that time) teaching methods of Tolstoy, as well as his regular meetings with teachers and like-minded people, seemed suspicious to the local authorities. In 1862, gendarmes searched Tolstoy's house in Yasnaya Polyana, looking for evidence of seditious activity. Lev Nikolaevich was extremely offended by this and, in protest, stopped teaching.
Subsequent pedagogical activity of the writer
The break lasted 7 years. Tolstoy resumed his studies with children in 1869, and in 1872 his book "ABC" was published. Three years later, Lev Nikolayevich published "New Alphabet" and four "Books for Reading".
Tolstoy's article "On public education" attracted much public attention, in which the writer sharply criticized the activities of the zemstvo administrations on the education of the peasants. Subsequently, Tolstoy was elected to one of the zemstvos and made a great contribution to the creation of new schools. In addition, he developed a project for a peasant teacher's seminary. Tolstoy himself jokingly called such a seminary "a university in bast shoes." Lev Nikolaevich presented the project of this seminary to the Ministry of Public Education and in 1876 was able to obtain its approval. However, the zemstvo councils reacted negatively to Tolstoy's project. This dealt such a strong psychological blow to the writer that he again decided to stop teaching.
Only in old age did Lev Nikolaevich return to pedagogy. In the 90s of the 19th century, he began to promote his moral and philosophical concept of human upbringing and his relationship to life and society, which later received the name of "Tolstoyism". And in 1907-1908. on the threshold of his 80th birthday, he again taught classes with children.
