Hrabia Dmitrij Andriejewicz Tołstoj (1823-1889) i jego reformatorska działalność oświatowa
Count Dmitry Andreyevich Tolstoy (1823-1889) and His Reformist Educational Activities

Summary/Abstract: This paper presents the silhouette of the minister of Public Enlightenment in Russia, Dmitry A. Tolstoy, between 1866 and 1880, that is, while he held office in said ministry. Additionally, it pro-vides an outline of ministerial changes executed by Tolstoy reforming various levels of education, and subsequently, it attempts to unravel their significance for the Russian education system. Furthermore, certain circumstances which made the government, and the Tsar himself accept these debatable reforms, despite their indisputable lack of support, both from the Tsar as well as from the society, have been indicated herein. In accordance with the Ministry of Public Enlightenment Gymnasium and Progymnasium Act of June 31, 1871, the goal of junior high schools was to pre-pare students for university or college level education. Classical languages would become the basis of secondary school teaching, therefore they constituted as much as 41% of weekly curriculum. The Act had been announced even before the teachers were prepared to carry it out; the reform aimed at educating entire generations was introduced unexpectedly. What is more, it is believed that classical languages had been chosen as one of ways to dissuade people from pursuing higher education, thus such curriculum was to reduce the number of students in universities.

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