Summary “Pedagogical Poem” by Makarenko


The theoretical legacy of A. S. Makarenko, his convictions and sparkling talent, which were fully developed in the 1920s and 1930s, still faithfully serve the school, enrich our ideological and creative life. Time does not extinguish, but opens up more and more facets of his selfless and versatile pedagogical work, he experienced 200,000 hours of working stress – those precious hours during which more than 3000 children and teenagers passed through his hands.

“The pedagogical poem” A. S. Makarenko gave 10 years of hard work. One of the most important events in the history of the creation of this remarkable book is the visit to AM of Gorky Colony, which was headed by Makarenko. The great interest of the great writer towards the intention to create a book about the pedagogical experiment was explained, in the words of Makarenko, by the fact that Gorky was vividly “interested in the new positions of man on earth, the new ways of trusting man and the new principles

of social creative discipline.”

“Poem” tells how in the children’s colony created in the first years after the Civil War, there was the formation of a “real man” among the homeless, small thieves, people crippled by the difficult and brutal conditions of the civil war. Creation of a team that is excellent in its ideological and moral qualities is shown in the poem widely and multichannel.

In the work on the book there were both ups and downs of disbelief in success. It used to be that the finished chapters seemed not an artwork, but a “book on pedagogy” written in the form of memoirs. Confidence in the writer infused AM Gorky – the first reader and editor of the “Pedagogical Poem”. He wrote: “In my opinion, the Poem was very successful for you, not to mention the significance of her story, about the most interesting material, you were able to develop this material very successfully and found a true, lively and sincere tone of the story, in which your humor is appropriate, like no more “.

“Poem” consists

of three parts. It is based on a chronological description of the formation and development of a very complex educational institution that has gone from anarchism of homelessness and petty-bourgeois individualism to militant, effervescent Soviet reality, illuminated by the norms of the socialist community.

A distinctive feature of the “Poem” is the masterful combination of artistic narrative, theoretical struggle in the pedagogy of the 1920s and journalism. Subtle artistic taste of A. S. Makarenko did not allow the book to be overloaded with details of everyday life and details of pedagogical searches. He draws the attention of the reader to the facts and events that ultimately determined the system of educating the collective of the colonists and very vividly revealed the essence of humanistic pedagogy, and the author himself was nominated among the best growers of her morale. The moral and aesthetic ideal of the author of the poem is most fully expressed in respect for man and in his high demands on him, in the poetization of creative work.

А С. Макаренко был очень одаренным человеком. Свою педагогическую деятельность он начинал в то время, когда наряду с талантливостью особое значение имели жизненный пример, гражданский пафос, нравственно-идейная целеустремленность и высочайшее бескорыстие. Эти качества позволили ему добиться блестящих успехов в борьбе за воспитание нового человека. Поэзию педагога Макаренко питало его стремление передать воспитанникам все богатство нового мироощущения, обрадовать их новыми перспективами, мыслями и чувствами, сделать их лучше и окрыленнее. Главное в его труде – не “укрощение” дикой ватаги беспризорников, а становление детского коллектива, формирование личности нового человека. Поэзия его человеческого и учительского подвига, поэзия постижения и преобразования жизни его воспитанников логически вылилась в “Педагогическую поэму” – одну из самых удивительных и читаемых книг мировой литературы.

The secret of the eternal youth of the Poem is a deep penetrating author in the social problems of his time, in active love for children, in the bold statement of the question of style, tone, organizational forms and means of Soviet upbringing, that the author managed to say his own, albeit not very well great, but necessary truth. As an artist of the word, he deeply felt the socio-economic changes in our society. As a teacher, he prospectively and boldly paved the way for a new Soviet system of education. Now all the greatness of the exploit of the teacher-innovator is clearly visible. This experience required approbation of time. Time has shown that the teacher and the artist still teaches us to think big, responsibly and specifically approach every pedagogical phenomenon.

The pedagogical skill itself was a moral necessity for Makarenko. After all, at the heart of everything he did was a relentless, uncompromising, jubilant and militant struggle for man, for his tomorrow’s joy. The lasting value of the “Pedagogical Poem” is that it is illuminated by the romance of this struggle, filled with the light of wisdom and the unfading beauty of pedagogical work.


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Summary “Pedagogical Poem” by Makarenko