Michael Speransky. Statesman of Imperial Russia, 1772–1839 - Marc Raeff

62 ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIVITIES 1802-1812

in response to Alexander's desire to plan the education of his younger
brothers, grand-dukes Nicholas and Michael. In this paper, accessible
to us only through the summary in KobekD's book, Speransky envisaged
the creation of a small school for about 15 students between the ages
of 10 and 12. He stressed very strongly a well-rounded general academic
education, with special attention paid to Russian language, rhetoric,
and physical sciences, more particularly mathematics. The school was
to do more than dispense factual knowledge and foster the pupils'

intellectual development; it was also to mold character. To this end,

all the daily activities of the students were to be supervised carefully

and constantly; their moral growth was to be fostered by close contacts

with the teachers. To facilitate these contacts, Speransky suggested

having one tutor for every four boys, in addition to the regular teaching

staff. In setting forth his pedagogical ideas, Speransky drew heavily on

the provisional regulations he had written for the Aleksandro-Nevskii

Academy. It was wrong, Speransky suggested, to clutter up memory

with lengthy arguments learned by rote; on the contrary, the pupils

should be encouraged to express their own ideas. The task of the

teacher is not so much to impart fixed knowledge as to plant the seeds

for further intellectual growth, to develop the receptivity of the minds. 1

Any educated and civilized human being should possess high qualities

of mind and character, but these were particularly important to the

future official in whose hands lay the happiness and fate of many

people. The prospective governor of men should have "une t~te bien

faite plutot que bien pleine", so as to be able to study further, to

reason independently, and to take the initiative, instead of relying on

a parrot-like imitation of poorly understood regulations and a blind

obedience to his superiors' orders. Such an education, moreover, was

essential for those who were to play the role of "public opinion" and

assist the absolute monarch with their information of local conditions

and advice. In other words, for Speransky, this "special" school was

another manifestation of the government's role of pedagogical and

moral leadership for the nation. Some of these views were incorporated,

albeit in a more limited and conservative form, in the rules for the

Lycee at Tsarskoe-Selo, even if Speransky himself did not participate

directly in the drafting of the final statute. His ideas were known to

the Emperor, and from all evidence, favorably received. In addition,

1 However commonplace these ideas may sound today, we should not forget that

in Russia, Speransky was one of the first and systematic exponents of a modern

pedagogical approach which, no doubt, he had derived - at least in part - from

Rousseau, Pestalozzi. Monge. and the "progressive" educators of his day.