Anton Semenovich Makarenko

 

Born: 13 January 1888 Belopolye, Sumskoy Uyezd, Kharkov Governorate, Russian Empire (now Sumy Oblast, Ukraine.)

Died: 1 April 1939 (aged 51) Golitsyno, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union.

Occupation: Educator, writer.

Language: Russian

Citizenship: Soviet

Subject: Educational theory, Pedagogy, Correctional education.

Anton Semenovich Makarenko, a Soviet educator, uncle of Lydia Makarenko, great uncle of Matthew, Natalya and Cameron Marr, social worker and writer, became the most influential educational theorist in the Soviet Union;he promoted democratic ideas and principles in educational theory and practice. As one of the founders of Soviet pedagogy, he elaborated the theory and methodology of upbringing in self-governing child collectives and introduced the concept of productive labor into the educational system. Makarenko is often reckoned by whom among the world's great educators, and his books have appeared in many countries.

In the aftermath of the Revolution of 1917, he established self-supporting orphanages for street children — including juvenile delinquents — left orphaned by the Russian Civil War of 1917-1923. These establishments included the Gorky Colony and later the Dzerzhinsky labor commune (where the FED camera was produced) in Kharkiv, Ukraine. Makarenko wrote several books, of which The Pedagogical Poem, a fictionalized story of the Gorky Colony, became especially popular in the USSR.A 1955 Soviet movie with English title Road to Life was based on this book. Makarenko died under unclear circumstances in 1939.

In 1988 UNESCO ranked Makarenko as one of four educators (along with John Dewey, Georg Kerschensteiner, and Maria Montessori) who determined the world's pedagogical thinking of the 20th century.

Makarenko's pedagogy is based on practice and experience, as we have already said. This was the only thing that helped him solve the real problems in the Gorki colony. Due to the characteristics with which the children arrived at the colony, Makarenko affirmed that the child is neither good nor bad by nature, but education is what ultimately decides this aspect.

To solve the problems that were lived in the colony, Makarenko based his pedagogy on two main points: the creation of group consciousness and productive work.

To create group consciousness he had the idea of dividing the children into small stable groups of 4 or 5 children among which there was a leader. This allowed the creation of a consolidated group that favored the re-education of children.

But experience showed that this group consciousness was referred only to this small stable group, so Makarenko decided to create unstable work groups for extraordinary tasks made up of one member of each group. Responsibility also varied, as Makarenko believed that children should learn both to obey and to command.

 Makarenko and education totally committed and was subject to two fundamental objectives that he assigns to education which are based on two exemplary pillars:

· His confidence in Soviet society.

· His faith in the possibilities of education.

Regarding the first point, Makarenko extols the new situation in his country, convinced that the 1917 revolution brought Russia to the pinnacle of history and marked the beginning of a new order in human relations and morality and that the Russian youth became a world phenomenon incomparable to any other, he was therefore proud to be a citizen of the Soviet Union, and as such he permanently dedicated himself to work and educational creation.

He orients his pedagogy to the formation of men capable, in turn, of also being active builders of communism, he considers that education is the expression of the pedagogue's political creed and that his knowledge only plays an auxiliary role, consequently, the Makarenko's pedagogy could only be a communist pedagogy.

Makarenko does not accept that education should be based on the needs of the child and rather, the needs that should be placed more emphasis on those of the community, of society, of the country and the feeling of duty has to go always linked to those needs; He also believes that man moves according to the laws of nature and consequently the role of education consists of: EDUCATE that nature based on that society, in such a way that the Soviet educators are not the servants of nature but the TEACHERS.