Verbal and Arithmetic Schools of Verkh-Isetsky Plant (1736–1742)

Abstract

Thanks to the active work of V. N. Tatishchev in the second period of his leadership of the Ural state-owned factories, the network of verbal and arithmetic schools was expanded; they were opened at 9 more factories and in Kungur; they also appeared at the Verkh-Isetsky factory, which gave children an opportunity to learn the basics of literacy and arithmetic at their place of residence. The article is aimed at reconstructing the activities of verbal and arithmetic schools at the Verkh-Isetsky plant on the basis of archival documents introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. The number of documents about the educational institutions of Verkh-Isetsky Zavod is very limited in comparison with other educational institutions, but quite representative. The analysis of the content of the trimester progress reports, lists of children sent to the Ekaterinburg school, and lists of children to be educated at their place of residence allowed the author to conclude that in 1734–1735 two groups of 23 children were taken to Ekaterinburg for literacy training; some of them continued their literacy, arithmetic, and German studies and were assigned to work. The school at Verkh-Isetsky factory was opened only on September 22, 1736 by transferring 12 students from Ekaterinburg and a group of 11 children who started their education at their place of residence. Both in Ekaterinburg and at Verkh-Isetsky Zavod it was the exiles who worked as literacy teachers. Comparing the surnames of the pupils in the lists and statements the author has established that 58 children of the factory were taught literacy, including 47 who were taught by the unfrocked priest Ivan Ivanov, an exile at their place of residence. The pupils of Verkh-Isetskaya school mastered literacy slower in comparison with the pupils of Uktuskaya school, because they mastered in succession the Book of hours, Psalter, alphabet, while at Uktus they could read only one of them in parallel with writing and then proceed to arithmetic. Only 6 pupils of the Verkh-Isetskaya verbal school continued to study arithmetic, and 5 of them — at their place of residence: they were taught by pupils sent alternately from the Ekaterinburg arithmetic school, their peers and even younger ones, under the supervision of a teacher.

Keywords

• v. n. tatishchev
• verkh-isetsky plant
• verbal
• arithmetic schools
• teachers
• students