Igor S. Dmitriev
The Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia
Why did Mendeleev not go to university? (Educational policy of Nicholas I)
Abstract. The article examines the educational policy of the Russian Empire during the reign of Nicholas I. In particular, the history of the appearance of the order of Nicholas I on limiting the number of students at universities is considered. According to this order, the staff of students at the universities was “limited to 300 in each, with the prohibition of enrollment in students until the available number is not included in this legalized amount.” An exception was made only for medical faculties, since the army needed qualified doctors. This meant that in most universities in Russia the admission of students should be (and actually was) closed for several years. A particularly difficult situation has developed in the St. Petersburg and Moscow universities. That is why many talented young people, including D. I. Mendeleev, could not get a university education. The study shows that the educational policy in Nicholas Russia was ambiguous and contradictory. The emperor simultaneously wanted to get highly qualified officials and specialists who met the highest European requirements, but at the same time, considering universities as a source of social destabilization and ideological danger, he took measures that hindered the normal development of higher education (in primarily civic) in the country.
Keywords: Mendeleev, Nicholas I, S. S. Uvarov, educational policy, enlightenment in Russia
DOI: 10.32326/2618–9267–2021–4–2–158–179
References:
- Akhiezer, A., Klyamkin, I., Yakovenko, I. Istoriya Rossii: konets ili novoe nachalo? [History of Russia: End or New Beginning?]. Moscow: New Press, 2005. (In Russian)
Arkhiv D.I. Mendeleeva. Vol. 1: Avtobiograficheskie materialy [D.I. Mendeleev Archives. Volume 1: Autobiographical Materials]. Leningrad: Leningrad State University Press, 1951. (In Russian) - Black, C.E. The Dynamics of Modernization. A Study in Comparative History. New York: Harper & Row, 1966.
- Bulgakova, L.A. “Osobennosti sistemy vysshego obrazovaniya v tsarstvovanie Nikolaya I” [Features of the system of higher education in the reign of Nicholas I], in: Nikolaevskaya Rossiya: vlast i obshchestvo. Materialy kruglogo stola, posviashchennogo 80-letiyu I.V. Porokha [Russia of Nicolas the First: Power and Society. Materials of the round table dedicated to the 80th anniversary of I.V. Porokh]. Saratov: Countryman Press, 2004, p. 124–134. (In Russian)
- Davydov, I.I. “O naznachenii russkikh universitetov i ikh uchastie v obshchestvennom obrazovanii” [On the appointment of Russian universities and their participation in public education], Sovremennik [Contemporary], 1849, iss. 14, no. 3, pp. 35–42. (In Russian)
- Figurovskiy, N.A. Dmitriy Ivanovich Mendeleev (1834–1907) [Dmitrii Ivanovich Mendeleev (1834–1907)]. Moscow: Science Publ., 1961. (In Russian)
- Istoricheskie svedeniya o tsenzure v Rossii [Historical Information about Censorship in Russia]. Saint Petersburg: F. Person Printing House, 1862. (In Russian)
- Juvenalis Decimus Junius. Satiry [Satyrs]. Saint Petersburg: Aletheia Publ., 1994. (In Russian)
- Khartanovich, M.F. Uchenoe soslovie Rossii: Imperatorskaya Akademiya nauk vtoroy chetverti XIX v. [The Academic Estate of Russia: The Imperial Academy of Sciences of the Second Quarter of the 19th Century]. Saint Petersburg: Science Publ., 1999. (In Russian)
- Kinelev, V.G. (ed.) Vysshee obrazovanie v Rossii: Ocherk istorii do 1917 goda [Higher Education in Russia: An Outline of History until 1917]. Moscow: Institute of the Higher Education Publ., 1995. (In Russian)
- Lemke, M.K. Ocherki po istorii russkoy tsenzury i zhurnalistiki XIX stoletiya. [Essays on the History of Russian Censorship and Journalism in the 19th Century]. Saint Petersburg: Labour Publ., 1904. (In Russian)
- Mendeleev, D.I. Zavetnye mysli [Cherished Thoughts]. Moscow: Think Publ., 1995. (In Russian)
- Nefedov, S.A. Istoriya Rossii. Faktornyy analiz. Vol. 2: Ot okonchaniya Smuty do Fevralskoy revolyutsii [Russian History. Factor Analysis. Volume 2: From the End of the Troubles to the February Revolution]. Moscow: Publishing House “Territory of the Future”, 2010. (In Russian)
- Nikitenko, A.V. Zapiski i dnevnik: V 3 tomakh [Notes and Diary]: in 3 vols. Moscow: Zakharov Publ., 2005. (In Russian)
- Oleynikov, D.I. Nikolay I [Nicolas the First]. Moscow: Young Guard Publ., 2012. (In Russian)
- Petrov, F.A. Rossiyskie universitety v pervoy polovine XIX veka. Formirovanie sistemy universitetskogo obrazovaniya. Vol. 4: Rossiyskie universitety i lyudi 1840 godov. Chast 2: Studenchestvo [Russian Universities in the First Half of the 19th Century. Formation of the University Education System. Vol. 4: Russian Universities and People of the 1840s. Part 2: Students]. Moscow: Moscow State University Press, 2003. (In Russian)
- Pogodin, M.P. Sochineniya. V 5 tomakh [The Works]: in 5 vols. Moscow: V.M. Frish Printing House, 1872–1876. (In Russian)
- Polnoe sobranie zakonov Rossiyskoy Imperii. Sobranie 2: 1825–1881. V 55 tomakh [Complete Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire. Collection 2: 1825–1881]: in 55 vols. Saint Petersburg: Printing House of the 2nd Branch of the Office of His Imperial Majesty, 1830–1885. (In Russian)
- Sbornik postanovleniy po Ministerstvu narodnogo prosveshcheniya: v 2 tomakh [Collection of Resolutions on the Ministry of Public Education]: in 2 vols. Saint Petersburg: V.S. Balashov Printing House, 1875–1876, vol. 2, part 1: 1825–1839, 1576 colm. (In Russian)
- Sbornik postanovleniy po Ministerstvu narodnogo prosveshcheniya: v 2 tomakh [Collection of Resolutions on the Ministry of Public Education]: in 2 vols. Saint Petersburg: V.S. Balashov Printing House, 1875–1876, vol. 2, part 1: part 2: 1840–1855, 1668 colm. (In Russian)
- Shepelev, L.E. Chinovnyy mir Rossii: XVIII–nachalo XX v. [Officials in Russia: 18th – Early 20th centuries]. Saint Petersburg: Art–SPb Publ., 1999. (In Russian)
- Shevchenko, M.M. Konets odnogo velichiya: vlast, obrazovanie i pechatnoe slovo v Imperatorskoy Rossii na poroge Osvoboditelnykh reform [The End of One Greatness: Power, Education and the Printed Word in Imperial Russia on the Threshold of the Liberation Reforms]. Moscow: Three Quadrats Publ., 2003. (In Russian)
- Solovyov, S.M. Moi zapiski dlya detey moikh, a esli mozhno, i dlya drugikh [My Notes for My Children, and If Possible, for Others]. Petrograd: Prometheus Publ., 1915. (In Russian)
- Tatishchev, S.S. Imperator Nikolay i inostrannye dvory (Istoricheskie ocherki) [Emperor Nicholas and Foreign Courts (Historical Sketches)]. Saint Petersburg: I.N. Skorokhodov Printing House, 1889. (In Russian)
- Uvarov, S.S. Desyatiletie Ministerstva narodnogo prosveshcheniya: 1833–1843 [Decade of the Ministry of Public Education: 1833–1843]. Saint Petersburg: Printing House of the Academy of Science, 1864. (In Russian)
- Vyskochkov, L.V. Nikolay I [Nicolas the First]. Moscow: Young Guard Publ., 2003. (In Russian)
- Whittaker, C.H. Graf Sergey Semenovich Uvarov i ego vremya [Count Sergei Uvarov and His Time, 1786–1855]. Moscow: Academical Project Publ., 1999. (In Russian)
- Zayonchkovskiy, P.A. Pravitelstvennyy apparat samoderzhavnoy Rossii v XIX v [The Government Apparatus of Autocratic Russia in the 19th Century]. Moscow: Think Publ., 1978. (In Russian)
- Zhukovskaya, T.N., Kazakova, K.S. Anima universitatis: studenchestvo Peterburgskogo universiteta v pervoy polovine XIX veka [Anima Universitatis: Students of St. Petersburg University in the First Half of the 19th century]. Moscow: New Chronograph Publ., 2018. (In Russian)
- Zhurnal Ministerstva narodnogo prosveshcheniya [Journal of the Ministry of Public Education]. 1834, part 1. (In Russian)