Ardalyon Borisovich Peredonov and His Colleagues. A review of the book: Zubkov I. (2010) Rossiyskoye uchitelstvo. Povsednevnaya zhizn prepodavateley zemskikh shkol, guimnaziy i realnykh uchilishch. 1870–1916 [Teaching in Russia. Everyday Life of Teachers in Zemstvo Schools, Gymnasia, and Realschulen. 1870–1916]. Moscow: Novy khronograf.

Abstract

We highly appreciate I. Zubkov’s book devoted to everyday life of Russian teachers in zemstvo schools, gymnasia, and realschulen at the turn of the 19th century, due to an extremely reader-friendly delivery of information and abundance of factual data. We find the most value in the narration scheme developed by the author: for each group, Zubkov first defines the legal status, then their financial situation, social characteristic (paying special attention to percentage of women in this traditionally male-dominated profession), motivation and fitness for teaching, and finally, conditions and specific aspects of working in relevant educational institutions, including contact with students’ parents, relationship with students, and conveniences. Based on the information given in the reviewed book, Zubkov compares the situations of teachers in secondary education institutions and zemstvo schools: their financial status and quality of life, their situation as compared to that of other educated class Russians, attitude of students’  arents, relationship with students at school. The conclusion is that primary village school and secondary city school are totally different worlds, and this contrast in the national education system was inevitable from the very beginning.