A Name in Scholarship

Abstract

When you think of the leading lights of pedagogical science, of the outstanding psychologists and methods experts who have exerted an enduring influence on the development of the theory and practice of teaching and upbringing in various countries of the world, when you study their life stories, you cannot help being struck by the depth and scale of their interests, not only in science and scholarship but also in culture in general. Comenius, Pestalozzi, Rousseau, Ushinskii, Shatskii, Krupskaia, Korchak, Makarenko, Sukhomlinskii. … Each of them represents an entire epoch, not only in the history of pedagogy but also in the history of culture, of their peoples' destiny. A contemporary reading of these renowned educators and thinkers arouses and develops creative thought, a profound scholarly interest in pedagogical activity and in understanding the completely unique role that activity has played at historical turning points and in the destiny of the individual person and of his people.