The Educational Concepts of F.-C. La Hapre and Their Forming: European Ideals and Russian Realization
Abstract
As an actual problem in the modern historical studies is discussed how the educational ideals in the Russian culture were formed and developed. The subject of this article reveals the same problem from the biography of the Swiss pedagogue, who was commended to teach the grandsons of the Russian empress Catherine II, Frédéric-César de La Harpe. Inspite of the high reputation of the Swiss tutors at the end of 18th century, La Harpe wasn’t a pedagogue by profession — it was rather by chance that his career in Russia went that way. But at the same time La Harpe made great efforts after his appointment to the Russian court in order to become familiar with the main pedagogical literature of his time, and therefore he could “make himself his own position” among other tutors, becoming de facto the main teacher of Alexander I, and had a great influence on the personality of the future Russian emperor. The pedagogical concepts of La Harpe were closely connected with those of Catherine II, formulated in her “Instruction” for her grandson’s teachers and aimed at the formation of a new enlightened monarch for Russia. The “educational standard” by La Harpe included all principals ciences of the Age of Enlightenment, with the stress on history and philosophy, as well as “civil education”, which was meant to help the future ruler to make a “clear concept of his duties”. But here a lization of these ideas was opposed by the court milieu and lead to the number of conflicts, which caused the generally uncompleted character of the education of Alexander I.
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