Betskoy Ivan Ivanovich

Russian statesman, the illegitimate son of Field Marshal Prince Ivan Trubetskoy, abbreviated name of which subsequently received, and, probably, Baroness Wrede. Born February 3, 1704, Mr.. in Stockholm, where his father was in captivity, and there also lived a childhood. Having initially under the guidance of his father "preizryadnoe doctrine", . Betskoy was sent for further education in Copenhagen, . the local cadet corps, then briefly served in the Danish cavalry regiment, . during exercise was dropped horse and severely dented, . what, . apparently, . and forced him to refuse military service,
. He traveled in Europe for a long time, . and 1722 - 1726 years spent "for science" in Paris, . where, . however, . was the secretary at the Russian post, and was presented to John, Elizabeth Duchess of Anhalt-Zerbst (mother of Catherine II), . and that while, . and subsequently treated him very graciously,
. In Russia Betskoy initially consisted of adjutant with his father in Kiev and in Moscow, and in 1729, Mr.. determined to join the board of Foreign Affairs, on which was often sent as courier office in Berlin, Vienna and Paris. Thanks to his father and half-sister Anastasia Ivanovna, the wife of Prince Ludwig of Hesse and Hamburg, Betskoy was close to the court of Elizabeth. Its role in the coup on the night of 24 to 25 November 1741, vozvedshem to the throne of Elizabeth, formerly considered to be significant, but studies rm. Maikova found that he was not involved in this case. Due to the machinations of the Chancellor Bestuzhev Betskoy was forced (1747) to resign. He went abroad and on the way there trying, . in his own words, . "Try not to miss out a lengthy book of nature and live all he had seen, . more expressive than any books teach gather all important information, much to the education of the heart and mind ",
. Abroad Betskoy lived 15 years, mostly in Paris, where he attended secular lounges, made the acquaintance with encyclopaedists and through interviews and readings fell in with the then-fashionable idea. Peter III in early 1762, Mr.. Betsky summoned to St. Petersburg and appointed chief director of the office buildings and houses of His Majesty. At June 28, 1762 coup d. Betskoy not participate and of its preparation, apparently, did not know, maybe because we are always indifferent to politics in the strict sense. Catherine, who knew from the very Betsky his arrival in Russia, bringing it close to her, appreciated his erudition, refined taste, his inclination to rationalism, which itself was brought up. In case public Betskoy did not intervene and influence they had, he dissociated himself a particular region - educational. Decree of 3 March 1763, Mr.. it was entrusted management of the Academy of Fine Arts, . in which he gave an educational school, . and 1 September of the same year was published a manifesto on the establishment of the Moscow Orphanage plan, . compiled, . according to some data, . by Betsky, . according to others - a professor at Moscow University, AA,
. Barsov, on the instructions Betsky. By thinking Betsky, in St. Petersburg was opened "educational society of noble maidens" (later the Smolny Institute), entrusted to his care and leadership of the Chief. In 1765, Mr.. He was appointed chief of the land Gentry Cadet Corps, for which the statute was on a new basis. In 1773, the plan Betsky and the means of Procopius Demidova, was established by The educational commercial school for the children of merchants. Beckov entrusted the leadership of all educational and training institutions, the First Lady gave him great wealth, many of whom he gave to the cause of charity, and especially the development of educational institutions. Following the example of Moscow Betskoy opened the orphanage in St. Petersburg, and when it established a widow and secure the treasury, which is based on the generous donations made to them. In 1778, Mr.. Senate in the ceremonial meeting brought Beckov carved in his honor a gold medal (an unprecedented event), with the inscription: "For the love of the fatherland". As Director of the Office of the buildings Betskoy has encouraged many decorating Petersburg by official buildings and structures, the largest monuments of this part of its activities remain a monument to Peter the Great (Falconet), . granite embankments and canals and grille of the Summer Garden,
. By the end of life Betsky Catherine became cold to him, robbed him of his title of reader. From her expression: "Betskoy prisvoyaet himself to fame gosudarskoy" can think, . that the reason lay in the cool confidence of the Empress, . that Betskoy only a given credit for education reform, . while Catherine herself claimed to be a significant role in this,
. Betskoy died in St. Petersburg on Aug. 31, 1795, Mr.. and was buried in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. Derzhavin honored his memory with an ode, which, in enumerating his achievements, said: "Ray was a mercy, Betskoy you". These words are engraved on his tomb monument. Fundamentals of educational reforms undertaken by Betsky outlined in his report: "General on the establishment of the education of youth of both sexes", approved by the Empress March 12, 1764, Mr.. Neither this document nor in other homogeneous with acts (statutes Gentry housing and educational buildings) Betskoy finds no independent ideological creativity. In the "General facility" - the common aphoristic expressions, and in the statutes - on items in the annex to the practical need, outlined pedagogical views of Western European rationalism. Creativity Betsky is only in the fact that he is not far from coinciding views of Locke, Rousseau, and Helvetius, taking one and rejecting another, was an eclectic system of integral. At its base lay a task to create a new breed of people. The image of the new man is definitely a Betsky never drawn, but, judging from the scattered observations, its main feature was the absence of those negative qualities that were characteristic of the contemporary. Some positive strokes are as follows: "Man, feeling man ... should not be allowed to do with him as a pet," "a fine mind that most graceful yet connected the heart", "man must learn the rules of civil life". Catherine, the former as Betskoy, follower of educational philosophy, sympathized with this great idea, and "master plan" drawn up Betsky certainly after a preliminary discussion of its main provisions, together with the Empress. The means of the "new breed" is to educate. Without denying the importance of general education, education of the mind, Betskoy center of gravity moves to the education of the heart, raising. "The root of all evil and good - education," he says. "Decorated with science or enlightened mind does not have a good and direct citizen, but in many cases more so to the detriment of the case, if one of the most tender years of his youth brought up not in virtue". According to Rousseau, Betskoy recognizes that man by nature is not evil, but good, and the soul of a child is like a wax, where you can write anything. Betskoy offers educational institutions to write on it good: "To say the heart of boys in the laudable disposition, . arouse in them the desire for hard work, . and that dreaded idleness, to teach them decent behavior, . courtesy, . sympathy for the poor, . unhappy; teach them the dispensation ..., . especially as vkorenyat in them ..,
. propensity for neatness and cleanliness ". It is important to form in this direction, first the first generation, . "new fathers and mothers, . who would your children the same direct and thorough education of the rules in the heart can inspire, . what were they, . and so following the birth of the generations, . in the future ever ",
. Education also play a significant role, but she gives the role of education in the development of character, and in any case, preferably a general education rather than special. Assigning a power of education, which "granted a new existence and made a new kind of subjects, Betskoy pinned responsibility to educate people on the state: it only under a task force. But education can not achieve its goal if the first generation brought up not to be completely isolated from the adjacent older, steeped in ignorance, routine and vices. This idea, only slightly outlined by Rousseau ( "no congenital defects and misdeeds, but the bad examples to inspire"), Betskoy developed to the extreme. Between the old and the new generation, according to Betsky, you must create an artificial barrier, so that the first "theromorphs and violent in words and deeds, has lost the possibility to have any effect on the second. Such artificial barriers were to be the closure of educational institutions (boarding), where, under the guidance of enlightened teachers, children and youths would be kept until such time has not yet been consolidated their hearts and minds mature, t. e. 18 - 20 years. Like Locke, Betskoy recognized the importance of physical education and the need to consider the temperament of the child, and like Rousseau's "felt need to follow in the footsteps of nature, not overcoming perelamyvaya not her, but contributing to it". The idea of teaching Betskoy blended and politico-social aspiration: to create in Russia formed the third estate, "the third rank of people". He saw, . grew in the West as a moral, . political and especially economic importance of this class, . and sorry, . that in Russia only "two-tier set: nobles and peasants', . and merchants, . burgers, . Craftsmen and related to these industries ranks of public life had no value,
. "In foreign countries, - reasoned Betskoy - the third rank of the people, institutions have been already for several centuries, going from generation to generation: but both here [in Russia] This rite is not yet, it seems as in the hold and the need is". "Direct determination of the new institutions [Orphanage] - make people able to serve my country works of their hands in the various arts and crafts". The device number of institutions (educational home, . burgher school at Gentry building and the Academy of Fine Arts), . In addition to its direct and immediate goals - to educate children rootless, . educate the children of lower classes, . - Was aimed at precisely the creation of this "third tier of people",
. All pedagogical plans Betsky and regulations established by their institutions are collected in a separate publication: "The institutions and statutes relating to education in Russia, both sexes Youth" (St. Petersburg, 1774). - See. Rm. Maikov, Yves. Yves. Betskoy. Experience biography "(St. Petersburg, 1904); Lappo-Danilevsky," I.I. Betskoy "review of the previous book (St. Petersburg, 1904). N. S.