Makarenko

An. Shey Makarenko (1888-1939) was a famous educational practitioner and innovative educational theorist in the early Soviet Union. . Born into a worker's family in the city of Lopoli, Ukraine. Started working as a primary school teacher at the age of 17. After the victory of the October Revolution, Makarenko was mainly engaged in the education and reform of street children and juvenile delinquents. In 1920, he was assigned to organize a "Working School for Young Delinquents". Makarenko boldly carried out educational practices and actively explored new educational laws. After hard work, hundreds of criminal children grew into new people. In 1922, the Engineering Corps was renamed "Golky Engineering Corps". In 1927, he left the Works-Study Corps and organized and led the "Dzerzhinsky Children's Labor Commune" of the same nature. He further developed the experience of the Engineering Study Group and created an educational form that combined teaching with modern industrial production in the collective. In the education of the Engineering Corps and the practice of the commune, he transformed more than 3,000 young people who had gone astray into socialist construction talents and advanced figures with communist consciousness and certain knowledge and skills, which aroused widespread attention at home and abroad. Notice. After 1935, Makarenko mainly carried out the summary, research and propaganda work of educational theory. His main works include "Educational Poems", "Flags on the Tower", "Must Read for Parents", etc.

Running a school with hardships

Makarenko’s name is closely linked to the “Golky Engineering Group” and “Dzerzhinsky Commune”. During his 15 years of educational practice in these two special schools, he produced more than 3,000 veritable technicians, Red Army cadres, scholars and experts, many of whom later became national medal winners, advanced workers and heroes of the Patriotic War. . He has formed his own unique educational ideological system and has been recognized and praised by the society. However, people will not forget the hardships Makarenko endured in founding the Engineering and Study Corps.

At that time, shortly after the October Revolution in the Soviet Union, the Soviet regime had just been established. As a result of World War I and foreign imperialist armed intervention, many children in the country lost their parents and lived on the streets. Some even became criminals. The number has exceeded 2 million. In order to solve this serious social problem, the Soviet government established the "Children's Life Improvement Committee" headed by Dzerzhinsky and established engineering and study groups in various places. Against this background, Makarenko was ordered to found the "Poltava Engineering and Study Group for Young Delinquents", which was soon renamed the "Golky Engineering and Study Group".

At the beginning of founding the Engineering and Study Corps, Makarenko faced many difficulties. As the country's economy was in a temporary difficult period after the war, teachers and students were in unimaginable poverty - starving and freezing. The teachers and students ate millet porridge and wore similar rags. The teachers received almost no salary and did not even have the money to repair their boots. The soles of the boots had been torn for a long time and they were not slapped. There was always a piece of footcloth needed. Get out. The school buildings of the Engineering Study Group are all dilapidated buildings and lack any equipment; there are only four teachers. In addition to Makarenko himself, there is also an old general affairs director and two female teachers. Instead, they faced offenders who had committed armed robberies and thefts—all strong, agile teenagers. These people are arrogant and rude to teachers, rude and barbaric, and arrogantly reject and destroy all self-serving rules of the Engineering and Study Group. Makarenko did not advocate corporal punishment, but at first he was driven to despair and madness by the students and even beat Zadrov severely. Later, he calmed down and thought about it, and felt that this approach was really inappropriate and could only be a relief from the situation where he was powerless at the time.

In difficult circumstances, Makarenko worked 15-16 hours a day, sometimes even to the point of sleeping only every other night. Through analysis and research on the actual situation, he gradually formed a firm belief that delinquent teenagers can be educated. We should adopt an attitude that is both strict and full of respect and trust, and guide them to a normal and broad road of life by organizing them to engage in productive labor. Under the guidance of this idea, he took the lead to share the joys and sorrows with the students, leading them to cut down trees in the nearby forest and completing the labor tasks together. Taking this as a breakthrough, he put forward requirements for students to obey discipline, love labor, and establish and improve a living system.

Then, Makarenko seized the opportunity and took advantage of the advantage of the large estate of the escaped landlord to organize the students to cultivate the land themselves. In the first three years, new students came in batches, and the scope of the engineering troupe's operations and production gradually expanded. They successively organized an iron factory, a carpentry factory, a shoe factory, a bakery, and also set up a pig farm and a grazing farm. The students' lives are getting richer and richer, and their mental outlook has gradually changed. Labor reformed their bad habits of laziness and profit-seeking.

Makarenko attaches great importance to collective education. In response to the successive theft incidents in the engineering school group, he organized a "people's court" to educate Bronn, the chief criminal of the theft group; based on the needs of the local people, he organized students to consciously assume the task of defending the national forest. In the engineering troupe, in addition to strictly implementing the culture of half-day production labor and half-day class, poetry recitations and political study sessions are also held regularly. In this way, the students gradually improved their understanding and awareness, and enhanced their collective sense of honor and responsibility. The Engineering and Study Group not only improved its material life, but also had "the sprouts of a new collective."

Respect trust

Makarenko respects the personality of students very much in his educational work . He never viewed delinquent teenagers as delinquents or street children, but as people with positive factors and development possibilities. In his view, respecting and trusting people are the prerequisites for educating people; only by starting from respecting and trusting people can we produce reasonable educational measures and achieve good educational results. Semyon Karabarin, who was educated by Makarenko, once recalled how Makarenko respected and trusted him when he was a student in the Gorky Engineering Corps, which enabled him to embark on a new journey.

It was a day not long after the founding of the Gorky Engineering Group. Makarenko went to the prison to collect Karabalin. When Makarenko and the warden went through the formalities for Karabalin to be released from prison, Makarenko Kindly ask him to leave the office for a while. At the time, Karabalin didn't understand this. Ten years later, when Karabalin was already a people's teacher, Makarenko told him: "The reason why I asked you to leave the warden's office was so that you could not see the note guaranteeing your release. Because this procedure may insult your personality." Karabalin said: "Makarenko noticed my personality, but at that time, I didn't know what personality was. This was the first time he showed warmth to me. "When they went from the prison to the Provincial People's Education Department, Karabalin always walked in front of Makarenko to show that he did not intend to escape, and Makarenko always stood side by side with him. While doing this, talk to him and make him happy. All they talked about was about the Engineering Corps, not a word about the situation in the prison or anything about his past.

Once, Karabalin asked Makarenko: "Please tell me frankly, do you believe me?" Makarenko replied sincerely: "There is no need to mention the past." , "Believe" "I know you are as honest as me." Makarenko also took action and twice entrusted Karabalin with the important task of taking out huge sums of money with a gun, which deeply moved the student. He walked out of Makarenko's office and couldn't help singing:

Behind the mountains,

A group of eagles flew out,

They screamed as they flew,

Looking for a better life.

(See pages 224 to 227 of "Educational Poetry")

Yes, this clear and sweet song tells people that Makarenko can cure the disease with the medicine of respect and trust. The wounded wings of Karabalin made him understand the dignity of human beings and the value of human beings, so that he could fly confidently in the sky of the motherland. Later, Karabalin finally became the reliable successor and right-hand man of his teacher Makarenko.

The transformation process of Karabarin illustrates the power of respect and trust in education. Makarenko used this power to arouse the self-esteem of juvenile delinquents and street children, and rescue them from the abyss of self-violation, self-abandonment, inferiority, disappointment and degradation; igniting their love for life. , the fire of pursuing the future.

Education through fun

In the first few years of the Gorky Institute of Technology, life was hard, work tasks were heavy, and school life seemed a bit monotonous.

Makarenko came up with a wonderful way to get the students to gather in the dormitory at night, and the teachers and students played a game called "officials to catch thieves."

The gameplay of this game is: each person participating in the game is assigned a note that reads: "thief", "informant", "prosecutor", "judge", " "Executive Officer" and so on. The "informer" first announced that he was lucky to be the "informant", then picked up a rope whip in his hand and tried to guess who the thief was. Everyone stretched out their hands to him, and among these hands, he must hit the "thief" hand with his whip. Usually, he always hits the "judge" or "prosecutor" by mistake. These upright "citizens" who have been wronged by him will, in accordance with the provisions of punishment for false accusations, hit the "informant" in return. If the "informer" finally guesses who the "thief" is next time, his pain will end, but the pain of the "thief" will begin. At this time, the "judge" will give the verdict: five hard strikes, ten hard strikes, and five light strikes. The "executive officer" came to impose the punishment with a rope whip in hand.

Because the identities of the players are constantly changing, the person who was a "thief" last time will become a "judge" or a "criminal" next time, so the main fun of the whole game is to take turns to endure hardships. and revenge. If a ferocious "judge" or a cruel "criminal officer" becomes an "informant" or a "thief", he will suffer cruel revenge from the current "judge" and the current "criminal officer", reminding him of the things he gave others in the past. Various sentences and penalties.

Makarenko, who is usually serious, played this game with the children, playing the role of their companion, and the children experienced his cuteness. Therefore, everyone always feels reserved when they play with other teachers, and the "executor" always has a gentle attitude when he imposes punishment. But when playing with Makarenko, he was unrestrained. When he became a "thief", he was often beaten severely, as if to test his endurance. At this time, Makarenko had no other choice but to act like a hero. And when Makarenko acts as a "judge", the person who is being tortured always loses his self-esteem and shouts: "Makarenko, this is not okay!"

However, Makarenko also suffered a lot. His left hand was always swollen when he returned home. It was considered unseemly to change hands, and he had to keep his right hand for writing.

This kind of game not only makes students have fun and harmonizes the relationship between teachers and students, but also cultivates students' perseverance, boldness, and unafraid of danger. For these special students, it undoubtedly also plays a role in strengthening the concept of legality - "thieves" are despised and will be severely punished. (See pages 96 to 97 of "Educational Poetry")

Thinking of everyone

In the early days of the founding of the Engineering and Study Corps, food was particularly scarce. Although Makarenko asked relevant departments for help many times, he received only a little each time, which could not solve the food and clothing problem of teachers and students. The first need in life is food and clothing, which makes the moral transformation of students complicated. Some students started to steal, but they kept stopping. Student Taraniec and a few schoolchildren came up with a way. They found a few fishing nets and fished in the nearby river for the enjoyment of only the people in their small circle. To satisfy appetite. After some time, Taranets boldly decided to recruit Makarenko into this small circle. One day, he brought a basin of fried fish to Makarenko's room. "This fish is for you." "Oh, it's for me? But I can't accept it." "Why?" "Because it's wrong. The fish should be distributed to all the students." "Why is this?" Taranets blushed with anger. "I got this net, I caught the fish, and I got all wet in the river; but the fish should be shared with everyone?"

"Then take your fish. "I didn't do anything, and I didn't get wet." "We gave it to you..." "No, I can't accept it, and I don't like it." "There's something wrong with it." Wrong?" "Because you didn't buy the fishing net. The net was given by the government, right?" "It was given as a gift." "Who was it given to? Is it given to you or to the entire reformatory?" "Why. Is it for the 'entire reformatory'? It's for me..." "I thought it was for me and everyone else.

Whose pot do you use to fry the fish? Is it yours? It belongs to everyone. Whose sunflower oil did you ask for from the cook? It belongs to everyone. And what about the firewood, the stove and the barrels? What else can you say? As long as I confiscate your fishing net, it will be over. The most important thing is that this is not the way you treat gays. Your website is nothing special. You should think about everyone. Everyone knows how to fish."

"Okay," Taranets said, "just do as you say. But please accept the fish. ”

Makarenko still accepted the fish sent by the children. From then on, everyone took turns fishing, and the products were sent to the kitchen. ("Educational Poems" No. 33-34 Page)

"Special Students"

Makarenko has this famous saying: "We must be good at speaking like this: let the children feel our will in our words, feel our "Cultivate ourselves and feel our personality." He has provided us with many excellent examples of this in his educational literary and artistic works such as "Educational Poems" and "Flags on the Tower". Here is an example: he and Opry The story of Xiko's conversation.

Oplishiko refused to go from the temporary shelter for homeless children to the engineering group, so Makarenko had to go out to pick up this "special" person. On the bed, he greeted Makarenko with contempt;

“Fuck you, I’m not going anywhere!”

As for his “brave” character, Makarenko Lenko heard others say it, so Makarenko said at this time: "Sir, I very much don't want to disturb you, but I have to do my duty, and I beg you to get on the carriage prepared for you. ”

Oplishko was initially surprised by Makarenko’s “extremely attentive and considerate attitude” and even sat up in bed. After a while, his original moody temper Gaining the upper hand again, he laid his head on the pillow again

“I already said I wouldn’t go! ...Don't be so wordy!"

"In this case, dear sir, I am extremely sorry and have to use force against you. "

Oplishko raised his curly head from the pillow and looked at Makarenko with unpretentious surprise.

" Oh, where did such a guy come from? You think you can restrain me with force so easily!"

"Please pay attention..." Makarenko increased his threatening tone and added He said in a sarcastic tone: "...Dear Oplishko..."

Then, Makarenko suddenly shouted to him:

"Hey, pack it up, Why are you still lying down? I tell you to stand up! "Oplishko jumped up from the bed and ran to the window: "Really, I'm going to jump out of the window!"

Makarenko said to him contemptuously; "Either jump out of the window quickly. Either open the window, or get in the car, I don’t have time to bother with you."

They were on the third floor, so Oplishko smiled happily and straightforwardly and said: "You are really troublesome! ...Well, what should I do? Are you the director of the Gorky Engineering Group?" "Exactly. "Wow, you should have told me earlier! If you had told us earlier, we could have left a long time ago." They were full of energy and ready to hit the road. ("Educational Poems" pp. 178-179)

This incident shows that teachers need to choose the appropriate place, time, environment and tone for any conversation, that is, teachers must have certain "performance skills" in their conversations .

"Silent Education"

Once, a boy insulted a girl. After Makarenko learned about this, he did not immediately come to talk to him, but wrote him a note: "Comrade Yevsky Genyev, please come at eleven o'clock this evening." Put it in an envelope. Send it to the Lijiao correspondent.

The correspondent knows all the details, but doesn't show it. He walked to the cafeteria with the note, looked for Yevskigenyev and said: "Your letter." "What's the matter?" "Teacher Makarenko is looking for you." "Why?" "I'll give it to you. you say.

Do you remember? Which one did you insult yesterday?"

At ten thirty in the morning, the correspondent came to Yevsky Geniev again:

"You Ready?" "Ready?"

"He's waiting for you. "

At this time, Yevskigenyev couldn't bear it any longer. He came to see Makarenko at three o'clock in the afternoon before eleven o'clock in the evening.

"Teacher Makarenko, are you looking for me?"

"No, not now, it is eleven o'clock in the evening. "In Makarenko's view, the conversation about the incident needs to be held later in the evening so that the conversation will not be interrupted.

The student returned to the unit, and everyone present asked : "What's wrong? You're punished?"

"You're punished. "

"For what?"

So, when everyone knew about the student's mistake, they all severely reprimanded Yevskigenyev. By ten o'clock in the evening At one o'clock he came to Makarenko's place again, a little restless from the excitement of the day, pale and anxious, and Makarenko knew what was going on when he saw him. It happened, so I asked him:

"Do you understand?"

"I understand. "

"Go!"

With these two words, there is no need to say anything more.

In this way, Makarenko One of many educational methods. In his opinion, talking alone will get very little help. When it is seen that talking is not necessary, no more words of this kind will be used. The silent education method plays a role in touching students' minds, convincing students, and achieving the purpose of education. It seems to better reflect the teacher's respect for educating students who make mistakes.

Extraordinary Observation

Gorky once pointed out: Makarenko knows each of his students and can describe the characteristics of each student in a few words, as if captured by a snapshot camera. This is true. A true portrayal of Makarenko's extraordinary ability to observe. He only needs to talk to you for a few words and contact you once to see into people's hearts. Here is an interesting story that reflects his ability in this regard.

Two young female college students were very surprised to learn that the Gorky Institute of Technology had not established an institution specializing in the study of children's psychology based on the perspective of "pedology", so they had a discussion with Makarenko. "Ask the truth" conversation: "Do you have a pediatrics laboratory here?" "There is no pediatrics laboratory. "Then how do you study personality?" "Study children's personality?" Makarenko asked as seriously as he could. "Well, yes." The personality of your students. "Why study personality?" "What do you call 'why'? How else would you work? How do you deal with what you don't know? What are the distinguishing characteristics of your students?"

Another A female college student interrupted her and said softly: "If personality is not studied in the engineering troupe, it is useless to ask about his distinguishing characteristics. "

"No, why is it a vain question?" Makarenko said seriously. "I can talk a little about the salient features. The salient features that are dominant here are the same as yours... "

"How do you know what kind of people we are?" the first female college student asked stiffly.

"Aren't you sitting in front of me and talking to me now?"

"So what?"

"That way I can see through you. You are sitting here like glass figures, and I can see the changes in your hearts. "

This example tells us that Makarenko is an educator who is good at observing and understanding the psychology of his students. He has a clear understanding of the age characteristics and personality characteristics of his students. ("Educational Poetry" 》Pages 341 to 342)

Follow what is good

Some people think that good teachers do not use punishment. Makarenko has a different view on this. Based on his own work experience, The view that "not using punitive measures" is purely an "intellectual" view, an view held by "educators."

Such logic will leave teachers at a loss as to what to do. In his view, punishment itself is a means of education, but he does not advocate the use of deprivation of food and corporal punishment as punishment. Therefore, in his education, you can often see him using various specific punishment methods such as confinement, criticism, prohibition of vacations, and job changes. Moreover, these methods were adopted by the students collectively, but he himself was often merciless when implementing punishments, which caused dissatisfaction among the students.

This has happened. Members of Makarenko's Punishment Worker's Society were in solitary confinement in their offices. Often after sitting there for only half an hour, he would say, "Go back." In his opinion, the members would think he was such a charitable person and let him go after being fined for half an hour. Everyone must like him very much. No matter what, he should be considerate of his good heart.

But at the plenary meeting, someone suddenly said: "We have a proposal that Makarenko has the right to punish members. We support and welcome this right. But we suggest that he does not have the right to forgive and release. What kind of words does this sound like - Makarenko always punished the members of the commune, but later he softened his heart, and when people asked him, he forgave. What right did he have to forgive? Sometimes Makarenko waved his hand and said: Sit ten. It's wrong to confine him for an hour, but then let him go after one hour. You should have thought about how many hours the punishment should be before announcing the punishment. Forgiveness. This is completely unacceptable.” The general meeting decided: “The chief has the right to punish, but not to forgive.” Regarding this collective resolution, Makarenko said: “Thank you, not because you proposed the right motion. It’s because you taught me.” He felt that he could not forgive without giving orders, which was a sign of his wanton behavior and loose self-determination. He said at the conference that he should learn from his own students and be strict with himself.

This incident reflects the spirit of criticism and self-criticism of the collective led by Makarenko, and also illustrates that punishment must be inevitable and fair. When teachers apply punishment, they must be extremely alert and cautious, and must also have strict standards and cannot abuse punishment.

"Parallel influence"

One of Makarenko's famous educational methods is "parallel influence". Its essence lies in requiring teachers to influence people through the collective, requiring teachers to frequently turn from the individual to the collective or from the collective to the individual. One advantage of this method is that when teachers educate students, they should not make students always feel that they are the object of education, which will lead to feelings of disgust, or even alienate and destroy the normal relationship between teachers and students; rather, students should be allowed to Experience themselves as the subject of education in order to improve their self-esteem and self-confidence. Here are just two examples of Makarenko using this method to educate students.

The student Vasya was so obsessed with playing football that he neglected his homework and received only two points. Makarenko did not talk to Vasya himself, but took advantage of a good opportunity to talk to his good friend Shura about some things in the class, and then naturally talked about Vasya.

He said to Shura with a very sad mood and tone: "According to Vasya's ability, he can become an outstanding student in the class, but he is addicted to playing football and ends up doing everything. Broken." Then he sighed and said: "Is your friend's will so weak that he can't restrain himself? No, never, I believe Vasya can restrain himself." Then Makarenko continued. On to other issues.

After the conversation, Shura immediately ran to Vasya, told the teacher what he had said, and used the teacher's posture and tone to make the conversation more powerful.

From that day on, Vasya could sit down and do his homework. He did not leave his seat until he was ready for the lesson.

In Makarenko’s view, the correct use of this method not only requires distinguishing the differences in the “paired influences” of direct educational relationships between teachers and students being educated, but also overcoming the rigid and rigid Use this method. It is particularly important to master educational skills and use them flexibly.

One day, member Petrenko was late for work.

After Makarenko learned about the report of this incident, he did not immediately find Petrenko like some teachers who adopt the "pair influence" method, and reprimand or give appropriate punishment; Adopt "parallel educational impact", a method of influencing individuals through the collective. He called the captain of Petrenko's unit and said to the captain: "Someone in your team is late for work." "Yes, Petrenko is late." The captain replied. "Don't let this happen again." "Yes, it won't happen again."

But Petrenko was late again for the second time, and Makarenko still didn't find him. , but gathered the entire unit and scolded them: "Petrenko in your unit is late for the second time."

Makarenko scolded the entire unit, and the unit collectively agreed to guarantee This will never happen again. After the meeting, the detachment immediately educated Petrenko and said to him: "You are late for work, which means that our entire detachment is late." From then on, the detachment regarded Petrenko as a member of the detachment. Being a member of the entire collective put many strict demands on him, and under the influence of the collective, Petrenko overcame the phenomenon of being late.

It can be seen from the above two examples that applying "parallel educational influence" requires teachers to have a deep understanding of students and teachers' tact. At the same time, teachers also need to master certain educational skills and be good at applying them under different conditions. If this method is used mechanically, it is unimaginable to achieve good educational results.

Beautifying the Collective

Based on human psychology's various feelings of beauty, Makarenko used aesthetic perspectives to consider school buildings in the Dzerzhinsky Commune he led, and organized many The activity group related to aesthetic education adopts a series of measures such as protecting beauty based on militarized principles, spreading beauty to every corner, cultivating students' feelings and pursuit of beauty, and recreating beautiful souls. We can reflect this education and results from two aspects.

In the summer, a new group of street children were picked up from the train station and brought to the yard in front of the commune bathroom. Makarenko told them: There are baths and hairdressing rooms in the house. Please take a bath and get a haircut, and then put on the new uniforms, leather shoes and breeches prepared for everyone.

The new children walked into the bathroom and stripped naked. Makarenko immediately asked other students to load the shabby clothes taken off by the new students on the cart. The special request for everyone to pay attention to discipline just now made the newcomers blush; now the move of taking away the old clothes made these people even more uneasy. After they were washed and dressed, they put on new clothes and were led to the square in the middle of the commune's flower bed. By this time, their old clothes had piled up in a pile and were being sprinkled with kerosene and burned in public. After that, a member of the commune took a broom and bucket to sweep away the fluffy dust of the grease, and said harshly to the nearest newcomer: "All your experiences will be burned away." Now you have put on 'new clothes' and started a new life."

The members of the Engineering Club laughed, laughing at this member's subtle wisdom. Some of the freshmen looked around timidly, and some seemed to feel uncomfortable "wearing new clothes"...

This unique series of activities to welcome new street children into the commune symbolizes the old life, the old From now on, these wandering children’s thoughts and bad styles have ended forever. This act of washing, tidying up and putting on new clothes is a beautiful edification for new students.

After that, through the education and training of these members, Makarenko unexpectedly discovered when riding the tram that the new members, like the old members, could consciously implement the members' meeting's instructions on consciously "giving the old members the money" on the tram. "Weak, weak, women, and children give up their seats." A commune member was sitting in the tram but did not see Makarenko. When a person enters the tram, the member immediately and carefully gives up his seat; at the same time, he is careful not to let others notice him. He does good deeds without publicity and without leaving his name, which becomes the epitome of the beauty of behavior among members.