Translation. Region: Russian Federation –
Source: Official website of the State –
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
On March 13, 1888, one of the greatest educators of the 20th century, Anton Makarenko, was born.
Since childhood, he was a sickly child, he loved books most of all, and had little contact with his family.
In 1904, he graduated from a four-grade school in Kremenchuk, and in 1905, he completed a one-year pedagogical course, after which he worked for several years as a teacher in various institutions, and in parallel, in 1917, he graduated with honors from the Poltava Teachers' Institute.
Makarenko and the street children
As a result of World War I, the Revolution, and the Civil War, a huge number of street children appeared in the USSR: according to various estimates, between 4.5 and 7 million. Special colonies were established everywhere to educate and resocialize these juvenile delinquents, many of which evolved into communes.
Since 1920, Anton Makarenko directed a labor colony for street children and juvenile delinquents in the village of Kovalivka near Poltava. He named it after the writer Maxim Gorky, with whom he corresponded. In 1928, the colony was visited by the writer himself, who later called Makarenko a "great teacher."
The teacher's approach truly bore fruit: most of the children who ended up in the colony earned an honest living and never returned to criminal activity.
He shared his experience in raising difficult teenagers in his "Pedagogical Poem," which was named one of the ten most significant books on education of the 20th century and translated into dozens of languages. Anton Makarenko himself was recognized by UNESCO as one of the greatest educators of the 20th century.
Makarenko's educational system
Anton Makarenko was the first in world pedagogy to place the collective as a living system with a complex internal structure, traditions, and prospects at the center of the educational process.
A key element of the collective was the system of self-government. The colonists were divided into squads of 10-12 people, each squad electing a leader. The commanders formed a council that decided the most important issues. This system worked because it was based on the principle of responsibility. Every colonist was both a leader and a subordinate. One day you were a squad leader, the next, a rank-and-file soldier. This is how the understanding was born: power is not a privilege, but a service.
One of Makarenko's key discoveries is the principle of "parallel pedagogical action." Instead of influencing an individual student, the teacher influences the group, and the group influences the individual.
A second integral part of their upbringing was shared labor. The colony was located outside the city and was almost entirely self-sufficient. The teenagers themselves plowed the land, planted and harvested crops, carried out repairs and construction, and landscaped the grounds. However, there was no focus on labor alone. Makarenko believed that the integration of academic, work, social, athletic, and even aesthetic activities was crucial to their upbringing.
Moreover, Anton Makarenko was one of the first to understand the educational value of traditions. A whole set of customs developed in his colonies: ceremonial assemblies, the first sheaf festival, special dress codes, rituals for welcoming newcomers and seeing off graduates.
Traditions created an emotional memory for the collective, bonded generations of colonists, and fostered a sense of belonging to a special community. When a former street child donned a colonist uniform, they acquired a new identity—they ceased to be "nobodies" and became part of the collective.
Makarenko's pedagogical legacy continues to influence the Russian education system and student management. Today, many educational institutions build their work on the principles of collectivism, self-governance, and the development of the personal qualities of each student.
Subscribe to the "Our GUU" Telegram channel. Publication date: March 13, 2026.
Please note: This information is raw content obtained directly from the source. It represents an accurate account of the source's assertions and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.