State Reforms in the Field of Education in Russia ( Late 18 th-Early 19 th Centuries ) ∗

The article examines the state policy of Russia in the field of education during the late 18th early 19th centuries. This period is characterized by a great democratization of education and the definition of new goals, objectives and content of education: the professional training of a young person becomes inseparable from the education of a citizen a patriot of a state and a broadly enlightened personality in different sciences. The paper analyzed historical documents (orders of Russian emperors concerning public education, school and university statutes, historical references). In the chronological order, state reforms in the field of education in Russia were constructed and characterized at the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th centuries, the statistical data on the number of pupils, teachers and schools within the period under review were presented.


Introduction
The end of the 18th and the early 19th century is one of the most important periods in the history of Russia, the era of significant reforms performed by Russian emperors in various spheres: military, peasant and educational one.This was the period of the Empress Catherine II reign (1762 -1796), the Emperor Paul I reign (1796 -1801), and the Emperor Alexander I reign .A special attention should be paid to the transformation in the field of science and education in Russia.During this period the problem of public education was one of the most important state problems: there were very few educated people who could read and write, and the rural population remained illiterate almost completely.The enlightenment of folk was viewed by the progressive part of society as the mechanism for economic growth, cultural transformation and the unity of nation achievement.The society of that period voiced the statements about the need to update the education system, its content, the improvement of teaching quality, and the increase of literate people number in both cities and villages.The popularization of public education became one of the primary tasks for the Russian emperors of the late 18th -early 19th centuries.This period of history is characterized by the expansion of public school network in Russia, the publication of the first Charters for the organization of schools and universities, the development of secular education and the upbringing for boys and girls.

Reforms of Empress Catherine II in the field of education
Catherine II is a bright historical personality in Russian history.She attempted to realize the idea of "enlightened absolutism" in Russian Empire: a network of city schools was created under Catherine II, professional schools were opened actively.At the end of the 18th century Russia experienced the lack of teachers.For this reason, the decrees of Catherine II on the opening of schools and colleges in Russia could not be realized on the scale at which the Empress planned the development of education.Until the end of 18th century Russia experienced the lack of specialized pedagogical educational institutions, therefore, there were no professional teachers.Noble families traditionally hired home teachers to teach and educate their children, mostly foreigners were the teachers in aristocratic houses.Due to the lack of domestic teaching staff in 1783 the Main People's College was opened in St. Petersburg, which trained mainly the teachers for public schools.In 1786 an independent educational institution was established from the Main People's College, a teacher's seminary, which trained future teachers.As M.P. Starodubtsev wrote (2012, p.38), the Empress supervised the funding of the teachers' seminary personally.
August 5, 1786: "The Charter of public schools in the Russian Empire, set during the reign of Empress Catherine II (in Tsar village, August 5, 1786)" was published by Fedor Ivanovich Yankovic de Mirievo 2 (The Complete Collection of Russian Empire Laws in 1784-1788, 1830, pp.646-662).According to the "Charter of National Schools", each provincial town established people's schools of two levels: "Small professional schools" with a two-year period of study (here they taught reading, writing, arithmetic and the Law of God), "Primary Schools" with a four-year term of study (here they prepared future teachers for "Small professional schools").This document consisted of 9 chapters: Chapter I. "About Main National Professional Schools" (sections: 1.About the classes of the main people's professional schools, 2.About the foreign languages at the main people's professional schools, 3.About the teaching aids at the main national professional schools).
Chapter II."On Small Folk Professional Schools" (sections: 1. about the classes of small people's professional schools, 2. about the number of teachers at small professional schools and teaching hours).
Chapter III."About Teachers' posts" (sections: 1.General positions of all teachers, 2. Special posts of teachers at the main people's professional schools; 3. Special positions of teachers of small professional schools, 4. Approval for teachers).
Chapter IV. "About pupils" (sections: 1. Posts (duties) of the students, 2. Approval to the students).Chapter V. "On the Guardian of the People's Professional Schools of a Province or on the Governorgeneral".
Chapter VI. "About the Director of People's Professional Schools".
Chapter VII."On the Overseer of the District People's Professional Schools".
Chapter VIII."On the part of the Economic Folk Professional Schools".
Chapter IX. "On the Main Government of Professional Schools".
Each chapter consisted of paragraphs, the entire document included 115 paragraphs.Then came the following sections: 1) "Instruction of the main people's professional schools for the teachers of foreign languages"; 2) "the location of main subjects and the hours of the main people's professional school"; 3) "The location of educational subjects and hours for the 1st and the 2nd class in professional schools"; 4) "Notebook to the pupils adopted at the national professional school of the city"; 5) "From the teachers of the national professional school, a report in a month"; 6) Sample of the sheet about the state of national and domestic professional schools; 7) An order to the holders of domestic professional schools and to teachers who have pupils.
Let's quote some paragraphs from this "Charter": Chapter I.About the Main People's Professional Schools.Section 1.On the classes of the Main People's Professional Schools.Each provincial city should have one Main People's Professional School, consisting of 4 classes where the youth should study the following subjects and sciences using a natural language, namely: 1st grade -teaching of reading, writing, the original foundations of the Christian law and goodfaith.... 2nd grade -begin to read the book "On the positions (responsibility) of a man and a citizen", the first part of "Arithmetic", repeat the Sacred history, continue the writing and the teaching of grammatical rules.… In this category, the youth should begin to study drawing.... In the 3rd class they should continue drawing art, the reading the Gospel explanations, the teaching of the second part of Arithmetic and the first part of the Universal History, the Introduction to the Universal European Geography, and then they begin to study the Earth description of the Russian State and the Russian Grammar with exercises in spelling.... In the 4th grade, they repeat Russian Geography, continue drawing, General History, Russian Grammar, while exercising the youth in commonly used writings, such as: letters, bills and receipts.Russian history, Universal and Mathematical Geography should be taught with the tasks on the globe; Also the foundations of Geometry, Mechanics, Physics, Natural History and Civil Architecture should be taught" (The Complete Collection of the Russian Empire Laws in 1784-1788, 1830, pp.646-647).
In 1764, a state educational institution for foundlings and homeless children was opened in Moscow -the first Moscow institution for orphans.The Empress Catherine II donated 100 thousand rubles to the foundation of this house and allocated 50 thousand rubles a year for the maintenance of children, urging her subjects to follow her example.A large mining entrepreneur of that time, Prokofiy Akinfeevich Demidov, 3 donated 200 thousand rubles for the establishment of the Maternity Hospital at the orphanage, and 1 million rubles was donated for the construction of the Educational House.I.I.Betskoi, the personal secretary of the Empress Catherine II, contributed 163 thousand rubles.V.V. Kolyvanova writes that "children abandoned by their parents and doomed to die on the street found an orphanage in this house.Children were not only fed, watered, dressed, but also taught in an foundling hospital.So they became independent people, able to benefit both for themselves and the Fatherland" (V.V. Kolyvanova, 2013, p.32).The mortgage board of the house for orphans had the following inscription: "Catherine II, the empress of All-Russia ordered to build this building for the preservation of life and education for the benefit of society, for the babies born in poverty, and moreover in the refuge of impoverished and poor puerperal.It was founded on the 21st day of April in 1764".
For 150 years, until 1917, primary education in the orphanage was given to the children left by their parents: girls mastered the profession of a governess (girls were taught even French) or a midwife, and boys studied technical crafts.The Craft Institute was founded here in 1830.It became the foundation of the Moscow State Technical University named after N.E.Bauman -the first Russian university, preparing technicians for modern Russia.Soon the same orphanage was built in St. Petersburg, and the Widow's treasury was organized on the initiative of Catherine II's secretary: the husband contributed a certain amount of money.After his ruin or death his wife received a benefit as half of the amount paid annually.For example, the husband contributed 180 rubles once, his widow received 75 rubles annually.
In 1770, the draft was developed on compulsory literacy of the entire male rural population of Russian Empire.The course included reading, writing, arithmetic, drawing and catechism.In 1782, at the expense of Catherine II St. Isaac's School was opened in St. Petersburg, where they studied reading, writing, drawing and arithmetic.In 1783, the Russian Academy (the center for the study of Russian language and literature) was founded in St. Petersburg and by the order of Catherine II (October 5, 1786) "The Main People's Professional School" was opened in Moscow, which trained future teachers.
Catherine II paid great attention to women's education, and in this regard the Educational Society of Noble Maidens was established at the Smolny Convent in St. Petersburg (1764) (Institute of Noble Maidens, the first open educational institution for women in Russia) (V.V. Kolyvanova, 2013, p.32).Prior to this, the girls were brought up at home or in monasteries.Smolny Institute was designed for 200 pupils -girls at the age of 4-6 years, the training lasted for 15 years.The training program was primarily of a humanitarian profile, but also taught the basics of physics and mathematics.Pupils studied grammar, foreign languages, music, dancing, housekeeping and needlework.
The results of Catherine II reform in the field of education are reflected in the table "The development of public education in 1782-1800", which was compiled in 1801 by the government commission (Kapterev, 1915, p.746;Table, p.255).Let's note that the population of Russian Empire made 37,4 million people in 1796 (Mironov, 2003, p.20)In 1795, by the order of Catherine II the first public library in Russia ("The Imperial library") was opened in St. Petersburg, one of the oldest libraries in Eastern Europe.The interest of the population in reading was an enormous one -during the first 30 years the readers were given more than 100 thousand of publications.

Reforms of the Emperor Alexander I in the field of public education
After the death of Catherine II (November 17, 1796), the Russian throne was taken by her son, Emperor Paul I.He was at the head of the Russian state for 5 years only (he was killed in his own bedroom as the result of political collusion), he carried out large-scale military and peasant reforms during his reign.Nevertheless, he did a lot in the field of education, taking into account a short period of his reign: Paul I opened 13 schools, and the Medical and Surgical Academy was founded in St. Petersburg.
A great contribution to the reforming of Russian education was made by the Emperor Alexander I, who ascended the throne on September 27, 1801 and reigned until 1825.When Alexander I increased the number of universities and lyceums, the following institutions were opened: the University of Dorpat (1802), the University of Vilna ( 1803), the University of Kharkov (1804), the Kazan University (1804), the Petersburg Pedagogical Institute (1804), the Demidov's Professional School of Higher Education Sciences (1803), St. Petersburg State University of Communications (1809), the Tsar Village Lyceum (1811) and others.
The liberal-minded Alexander I permitted the activity of private printing houses, the import of foreign literature to Russia was resumed.A censorship statute was adopted, about which the historian wrote the following: "This was the softest of all our censorship statutes, ready to give a large scope for thoughts and printed words" (Bulich, 1905, p.65).
In 1802, "The Ministry of Public Education, the Education of Youth and the Spread of Sciences" was established, which began the reform of education.It was decided to create "The regulations on the organization of educational institutions".The Emperor Alexander I drew his closest friends and associates to the development of these regulations.Mikhail Mikhailovich Speransky was among the confidants of the emperor, a native of a poor peasant family who made a state career due to his intellect and zeal and became the closest adviser to the Emperor Alexander I.
M.M. Speransky held high public post in the office of the emperor, and he was the State Secretary of the State Chancellery from January 1, 1810 to March 17, 1812.In 1803, with the direct participation of M.M. Speransky a new regulation on the organization of educational institutions prepared and published, which introduced the important principles in the system of Russian education -free primary education, the affordability of education among all classes.As they mentioned earlier, M.M. Speransky took an active part in the reform of Russian education.The name of M.M. Speransky is associated with the emergence of new reforms in education and the development of Russian pedagogy.M.M. Speransky, who graduated from the Alexander Nevsky Seminary and later taught in it for some time, studied all the shortcomings of the Russian education system thoroughly."The science of people enlightening has always been an important subject of reflection for good sovereigns, as good sovereigns have always found more glory to rule enlightened people through laws than to command a crowd of ignoramuses according to their limited will" -M.M. Speransky wrote (Rozhdestvensky, 1909, p.372).
During the reign of Alexander I, the school system was set up, distributed over academic districts for the first time.The territory of Russia was divided into 10 districts, headed by trustees.This system was subordinated to the Ministry of Public Education (it was created in 1802).All educational institutions were divided into 4 groups: 1. Parish schools, which were to open in urban and rural parishes; 2. County schools, which opened in each county town; 3. Provincial schools or gymnasiums; 4. Universities.
On November 5, 1804 "The statute of educational institutions subordinate to universities" was published (The Complete Collection of Russian Empire Laws in 1804-1805, 1830, pp.569-656), in which the content, the aims and the tasks of teaching, the administrative structure of gymnasiums, boarding schools, colleges, universities of the Russian Empire were fully and clearly indicated.The "Charter" listed the requirements for educational institutions (for example, it was stated that the pupils of an educational institution should be of the same gender only, therefore, the educational institutions were strictly divided into women's and men's), for the organization of examinations, for teachers (spiritual, moral and professional requirements) and for students (the need to be well-behaved, industrious, to pray, to observe Christian laws, etc.They also indicated the time for the study of children and their rest).
The "Charter" contained a list of educational disciplines, textbooks were recommended, curriculum and vacation time were regulated, economic issues (the funding sources of an educational institution and monthly payments of teachers' salaries) were prescribed, the recommendations were given concerning the choosing an educational institution location -in the center of a city, near a church, etc., the number of watchmen was indicated, etc.The benefits to teachers were indicated: a director of a school had to supply the teachers with firewood and candles if necessary (The Complete Collection of Russian Empire Laws in 1804-1805, 1830, pp.569-656).
In August 12, 1810, Alexander I signed the decree on the establishment of the Tsar Village Lyceum -an educational institution to training the personnel for the highest civil service.M.M. Speransky was the author of the lyceum project.In the autumn of 1811 there was a first group of students started to study, 30 boys from the most famous Russian aristocratic families at the age of 10-12 years were admitted to study.The emperor Alexander I supervised the education of children in this lyceum personally.The education received at the Lyceum was like university one.The training program was for 6 years: 2 courses of 3 years each.The first year's program included grammar, history, mathematics, literature, calligraphy, fine arts, drawing, dancing, fencing, horseback riding and swimming.During the senior course the pupils studied the Law of God, logic, mathematics, jurisprudence, political economy, foreign languages, history and ethics.Much attention was paid to the study of the history of Russia, since a future statesman must know the past and present of his country perfectly, working for the benefit of his Motherland future.
The pupils lived at the Lyceum: each boy had his own room with the necessary things and furniture.

Conclusion
This research investigated the educational development in Russia during the end of the 18 th -early 19 th century period.The reforms of Catherine II in the field of education and public education were not fully implemented, but the empress's educational work played a huge role in the development of Russian education.The school reform of the 1780s was the state's first attempt to create a unified system of universal education affordable to all segments of population.By the beginning of the 19th century 315 schools were founded in Russia, but there were almost no rural educational institutions among them.The access of peasantry to education was not affordable.
Alexander I accession to the Russian throne was accompanied by the replacement of an outdated public administration system, in particular, the collegiums were replaced by ministries that were more in line with the requirements of that period.During Alexander I reign there were about 550 educational institutions in Russia, in which 62 thousand people were studying.This meant the success of state policy in the field of education, but still it did not satisfy the needs of the Russian Empire in educated people.The statutes, drawn up in 1786 and 1804, regulated the arrangement and the procedures in the educational institutions of Russia and systematized the curriculum.The principle of "free education for all classes" was a fundamental one in the policy of education of that time, but peasant children could not learn, since very few schools were built in villages.With his participation all documentation was prepared for public schools.He also wrote the textbooks and manuals for people's teachers, for example, "The plan for the establishment of national colleges" (1782), "The rules for students in popular schools" (1782), "The guide to the teachers of the first and the second grades of the national schools of the Russian Empire (the work was written in conjunction with the Russian scholars in 1783), "The primer" (1782), "Notebooks for writing and the guidance on calligraphy" (1782), "Manual on arithmetic" (1783-1784), "World history, published for the public schools of the Russian Empire" (co-authored with I.F.Yakovkin, 1787-1793).
Yankovich de Mirievo was a humanist pedagogue, he strived to introduce new, fresh ideas to popular schools, to move away from cramming, to give students the opportunity to take a creative approach to the study of subjects.He stressed the importance of visualization during lessons, the development of curiosity among children, the love to learning and to a book, and showed high professional and moral demands to a teacher.
3 Prokopy Akinfeevich Demidov (1710-1788) -Russian miner and philanthropist.In addition to large donations for the construction and the maintenance of the Orphanage for orphans in Moscow, he is known for his generous charity in the sphere of education in Russia: he allocated 20,000 rubles for scholarships to poor students of the Moscow University, 100,000 rubles for the creation of public schools (education institutions for children from all classes).In 1779 he opened the Moscow Commercial School for the children of merchants and commons at P.A. Demidov's expense.

Footnotes 2 Fedor
Mikhailovich Yankovich de Mirievo (1741-1814) -Serbian by nationality, one of the organizers of public education in Russia, a talented teacher.F.M. Yankovich de Mirievo knew Russian language perfectly.In 1782 he was invited from Austria to Russia to work in the "Commission on the establishment of public schools".Together with the scholars from the Russian Academy of Sciences and Moscow University professors he developed the content, the organization, the techniques and the forms of training to prepare teachers for the public schools in Russia.Since 1783 F.M. Yankovich de Mirievo served as the director and the chief instructor of the St. Petersburg public school opened on his own initiative.Since 1786 he led the creation of Teachers' Seminary in St. Petersburg, which prepared about 400 teachers for Russian national schools during 18 years of its existence.He participated in the creation of the Ministry of Public Education of the Russian Empire.He was the member of State School Main Administration. .
The schedule of the pupils' day at the Lyceum was strict: the wake at 6 o'clock in the morning, the morning prayer, classes from 7 to 9 o'clock, tea and a walk at 9 o'clock in the morning, the classes from 10 to 12 o'clock, lunch and a walk at 12 o'clock, mild studies until 3 o'clock (calligraphy or drawing) and the classes from 3 to 5 o'clock.Then a supper at 9 o'clock in the evening, and an evening prayer and tea at 10 o'clock.Lyceum students were forbidden to leave the Lyceum during the entire training period (for 6 years), and the meetings with parents took place only on holidays.Let us note that among the famous graduates of the Tsar Village Lyceum were D.N. Zamyatin (Minister of Justice), A.B. Richter (Extraordinary Envoy and Plenipotentiary Minister in Brussels, Belgium), A.S. Pushkin (writer and poet), V.E.Vrangel (Legal Adviser of the Maritime Ministry), S.P. Ubri (the member of the mission in Madrid, Spain), F.S. Usov (the translator of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs department), K.S. Chevati (Consul General in Livorno, Italy), A.P. Shabelsky (the Secretary of the Mission in Philadelphia, USA), A.K. Shtofregen (General Consulate Manager in Amsterdam, Holland) and others.