Anton S. Makarenko

Problems of Soviet School Education Anton S. Makarenko

Every historical epoch has had its educators whose practical activity and theoretical views exerted a strong influence on the educational philosophy and teaching methods of the time. Many of the pedagogical principles maintained by Jan Komenski and John Locke (17th century), Jean Jacques Rousseau (18th century), Johann Pestalozzi (end 18th - beginning 19th century), Johann Herbart, Friedrich Deisterweg and K. Ushinsky (19th century), are invaluable contributions to the treasure house of world pedagogical thought. The views of these outstanding educators and thinkers determined in considerable measure the development of the theory and practice of education over the course of decades and even centuries. In the middle of the twentieth century the same role is played by the pedagogical heritage of Anton Makarenko, the Soviet practising educator, theoretician and writer. The name of this remarkable man, who has greatly furthered the development of Soviet pedagogy and practice of communist education, is well known not only in the Soviet Union but also far beyond its boundaries. Makarenko's educational novels The Road to Life and Learning to Live are read with absorbing interest in different parts of the world. Makarenko's Problems of Soviet School Education which is a generalisation of his vast pedagogical experience and which contains profound theoretical conclusions, has long been the bible of Soviet teachers. It is a series of lectures read by Makarenko for the staff of the People's Commissariat of Education, R. S. F. S. R., in January 1938.