The profession of an educator is known from the history of ancient Greece. In that era, the functions of an educator were performed by a slave, whose duties were the protection and development of the child. Even then, such people were of great importance in society. How significantly has the profession been transformed, and what has it become in our time?

The teacher is the person who introduces the child to the world. The work is difficult, and therefore exceptionally high requirements are imposed on such labor activity. A good child educator should have the following qualities:

• wisdom that will allow you to answer the most unexpected children's questions;
• responsiveness, without which it is impossible to earn respect;
• patience, especially necessary in this profession;
• attentiveness, the ability to control a large number of pupils;
• diligence;
• perseverance;
• a positive attitude towards children, the ability to convey a good mood to pupils;
• morality, the ability to listen to the child, understand him, help and win over.

The profession of an educator is very similar to the work of a teacher. However, the teacher often has to solve more complex problems. From a professional point of view, the work of an educator involves the following functions:

• conducting educational games that will help children prepare for school life;
• knowledge and understanding of the behavior of preschool children;
• possession of pedagogical skills;
• the ability to evaluate the activities of each child;
• sociability.

The last point applies not only to children, but also to their parents. The profession of an educator obliges to find an approach not only to children, but also to each parent, which is extremely difficult. Unfortunately, many mothers and fathers take the work of educators for granted, without thinking about how difficult it is. But, on the other hand, the activity of an educator cannot be called thankless, because the result is worth the effort: children learn, develop, prepare to enter school life, receive the necessary skills and abilities. The kindergarten teacher teaches kids to correctly assess events and interact with each other, forms in children such qualities as respect for elders, kindness, honesty, compliance and sincerity.

The profession of an educator is intended for those who find joy in communicating with children, in their kind smiles. Such people sincerely want to help kids learn about the world and prepare them for a more independent life. In the end, the educator is not even a profession. This is a calling.

The activities of the educator in the Russian Empire

In the days of the tsarist Russian Empire, educators were in great demand. Every self-respecting family entrusted the upbringing and education of their children to experienced educators. The urgent need for such services was due to distrust in the education system of that time, which, according to the generally accepted opinion, had more disadvantages than advantages. The children of wealthy parents did not attend school and received basic education from private teachers who were also responsible for the upbringing and protection of their charges.

Over time, confidence in the school increased, and in the 19th century only the most worthy and wealthy families could afford the services of an educator. Children who were taught by caregivers were no longer considered privileged. On the contrary, the erroneous opinion was spread that such children were not able to study in schools because of their “underdevelopment”.

One of the main criteria that the educator had to have was knowledge of foreign languages. In those days, languages ​​such as French and German were widely spoken. English was studied less frequently. In some families, communication was conducted exclusively in foreign languages. That is why they gave preference to educators with foreign roots or directly to foreigners who migrated to the territory of the Russian Empire. It should also be noted that the majority of highly qualified educators were women. Thus, until the 19th century, the ideal representative of such a profession as an educator was a woman who knew a foreign language, or even a foreigner (French, German, English).

However, after a certain period of time, knowledge of a foreign language lost its former significance, which is why foreign teachers acquired the simple status of a teacher.

In addition to the private teaching of children, educators spent some time in general education schools. In the conditions of such educational institutions, the work of an educator was divided into two areas: teaching children and their direct control. So, in turn, the educators turned into teachers and supervisors. Also at that time, such new terms as class mentor or class lady, supervisor or matron, and also teacher appeared.

Unlike the times of the Russian Empire, today the profession of an educator is not considered particularly prestigious or elite, and the salary of an educator leaves much to be desired. However, this does not mean that the importance of this profession has been lost.

A modern educator, or teacher-educator, is an employee of a kindergarten, boarding school, orphanages and any other educational institution. The teacher's program is extremely extensive and varied. The preschool teacher is responsible for the education and upbringing of a group of children. Teaching writing and drawing, conducting educational and entertaining activities, ensuring the safety of children during walks - all this is included in the basic duties of a teacher. And this is not a complete list of those.

The educator is responsible for the interaction of children in the group, for observing the daily routine, for nutrition and for much more, including for conducting activities such as matinees. In such cases, the children's educator is obliged to come up with a script for the holiday, involve the children in the preparation process and hold the celebration itself.

The profession of an educator is in demand not only in state institutions. There is a huge number of private kindergartens, where appropriate services are also needed. In turn, some parents turn to private caregivers, preferring them for their children. This happens in cases where the child is often sick, which is why he rarely attends kindergarten, or parents do not trust the preschool education system, relying on a private professional.

Boarding teacher

The complexity of this profession lies primarily in the age variation. Boarding schools cater for all ages. The main problem is that it is much easier to find an approach to preschool children than to teenagers of 12-15 years old. The educator is obliged to determine the way of communication with each of his pupils, and this is his most important service function.

Working in a boarding school, the educator must to some extent replace the child's parents, eliminating the problem of lack of communication with adults and their attention. Such a delicate situation requires constant care and attention to their wards. The teacher-educator is responsible for nutrition, health, education and general development, the behavior of each child. Also, the educator teaches children the most elementary: the rules of hygiene, the norms of behavior in society and etiquette.

In addition to constant communication with children, the teacher in the boarding school is obliged to learn about the progress of each child, organize extra-curricular activities, draw up the necessary pedagogical documentation. The activity of the educator also consists in teaching children, which entails new responsibilities. The educator, acting as a teacher, is obliged to convey the educational material to absolutely all students and control its assimilation.

The caregiver in the boarding school spends much more time with the children than their parents (if any). That is why a good educator will always be imbued with the problems and experiences of his wards.

Like a representative of any other profession, a professional educator has certain job responsibilities that are spelled out in the employment contract. Among the general provisions of the educator, including those working in a boarding school, there are such items as:

• the educator is accepted and removed from his position by order of the director of the institution;
• for appointment to the position of a teacher-educator, a higher or secondary vocational education is required;
• the direct supervisor of the educator is the assistant director for educational activities;
• during his pedagogical work, the educator must rely on the legal framework and regulations of the Russian Federation, which are spelled out in the Constitution, on the orders of the educational authorities, on the safety regulations, the charter of the school and the direct orders of the head of the educational institution;
• the educator, taking custody of children, is obliged to follow the acts and laws adopted by the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Entering the appropriate position in the boarding school, the new teacher takes responsibility for the performance of such duties and functions as:

• planning and organizing the life of students (a teacher's plan is drawn up);
• conducting educational processes during extracurricular time;
• drawing up the daily routine of students who live in the boarding school, and monitoring its observance;
• organization of extracurricular activities;
• creation of acceptable living conditions for students;
• control of the departure and arrival of students;
• accompanying the wards, if necessary;
• ensuring the safety of life and health of children;
• promoting the development of moral principles in the behavior of children.

This list of responsibilities is incomplete, it presents the most important functions of the educator. The teacher, in turn, has a number of rights. He can:

• improve qualifications;
• participate in certification (certification of educators is carried out annually);
• claim anonymity for an official investigation;
• independently choose the methodology of education and training, teaching materials, the method of assessing students;
• take part in events such as competitions for educators (based on the results of which the educator of the year is selected).

In addition, such a factor as the self-education of the educator, who must develop, hone his skills, his professional skills, is very important. You can improve in the profession both independently and by attending special classes for educators and other events, such as courses.

The profession of an educator is inextricably linked with responsibility. In particular, this applies to those educators who work in boarding schools. This work requires constant monitoring of students, the safety of their life and health. In such educational institutions as a boarding school, children are around the clock. In such conditions, the teacher-educator constantly monitors his wards. Thus, the educator is directly responsible for:

• health of boarding school students;
• the inviolability of the rights of students;
• compliance with the rules and regulations prescribed in the charter of the school, the laws of the Russian Federation and other regulatory documentation;
• implementation of full-fledged educational and training activities.

It is unacceptable for an educator:

• the use of educational methods in pedagogical activity that are associated with mental pressure or physical violence against students;
• causing damage to school property or property of students and school employees;
• the use in their pedagogical activities of educational methods that are associated with mental pressure or physical violence against students;
• failure to comply with the requirements of legal and regulatory documentation (school charter, legislation, safety precautions, etc.) without serious reasons.

For the commission of such immoral acts as violence against students, their moral and mental suppression, coercion to any action, the educator must be immediately removed from his post. Further, a disciplinary investigation is carried out, during which the fault of the teacher is proved or refuted. If the offense is proven, then the teacher is liable in the form of dismissal. In the event that the law of the Russian Federation is violated, the teacher bears administrative or criminal liability.

A person in the position of a kindergarten teacher is required to specialize in the education and development of preschool children. The main part of the work consists in conducting educational games and activities, taking care of children during their stay in kindergarten. The profession of educator is widespread mainly among women; men very rarely realize themselves in this field of activity.

In kindergarten, the teacher is responsible for a whole group of children (approximately 20 people). attended by children of three different age categories:

• younger preschool age (3-4 years);
• middle preschool age (4-5 years);
• senior preschool age (5-6 years).

Classes in kindergarten are held both indoors and outdoors. A walk outside directly depends on weather conditions, but teachers are advised to take children outside twice - after breakfast and after lunchtime. The responsibilities of the educator also include constant monitoring of children and the prevention of traumatic situations. The child caregiver is responsible for the safety of children during the day, and in case of an emergency, he must provide first aid. Thus, the work of an educator implies responsibility not only for the education and development of children, but also for maintaining their health during their stay in an educational institution.

According to the laws of the Russian Federation, the educator has the right to independently choose the educational methodology and form of education for preschoolers, as well as create their own system for evaluating their achievements. Each age group has its own special course of development. For example, toddlers get to know the world around them, learn to distinguish colors and geometric shapes. Middle preschool age, at the request of parents, attends choreography or foreign language lessons, learn to distinguish animals, count. Senior preschoolers learn to read and write in their last year. Also, the plan of the educator includes various educational games, the purpose of which is the comprehensive development of the kids.

Kindergarten is the first social environment in a child's life. That is why the educator has a huge impact on the process of socialization and moral education of children. It affects the social future of every child, because it is the educator who lays the foundations and rules for communication not only with his peers, but also with adults.

Another important aspect of the work of a teacher is interaction with. Parents are different, just like children, and not everyone can apply a standard communicative approach. However, the teacher must be able to find a common language with everyone. Among other things, communication with parents includes a report on the material costs, behavior and academic performance of each child.

Like any other activity, being a teacher has its downsides. One of them is the almost complete lack of career opportunities. The only kind of encouragement is an increase in the teacher's salary and qualifications. In rare cases, an experienced preschool teacher with experience eventually becomes a kindergarten director or gets a place in the education department. It is difficult to achieve such a level, but, on the other hand, there is always the possibility of opening a private kindergarten or other similar educational institution for preschool children.

In order to work as an educator, you must have certain qualities and skills. An ideal teacher should be patient and responsive, attentive and hardworking, be able to interest and involve children in some kind of game or other activity.

In Russia, the profession of an educator is in demand. Despite the fact that more and more specialists in this kind of activity are graduating every year, the number of vacancies for the position of teacher in kindergarten continues to grow. The work of an educator is attractive in that the main part of the work falls on intellectual activity, and physical labor is minimized. This is one of the reasons why this profession is popular mainly among women.

It is worth noting that candidates for the position of kindergarten teacher are selected very carefully. In addition to high moral qualities and love for children, a candidate for the position of educator must have a higher or secondary education. The modern education system needs competent specialists who perceive the profession of an educator not as a stable income, but as their calling. Educators who do not show interest in children and work simply “according to instructions” do not stay in their positions for a long time.

In the legislation of the Russian Federation, reforms are being carried out that relate to an increase in the salaries of educators. The amount of salary depends on several criteria:

• category - the higher the qualification of the employee, the greater his salary;
• certain specifics of the profession (for example, hard work, the conditions of which are prescribed in the Labor Code);
• management of sections and circles on the basis of a kindergarten;
• narrow specialization of the educator;
• performance of official duties at night;
• additional responsibility.

Educators working in private preschool institutions receive a higher salary than employees of state institutions, while the size of the teacher's salary depends significantly on the region and its socio-economic development.

senior caregiver

Most do not see the difference between the concepts of "educator" and "senior educator". Previously, there were the terms "methodologist-educator" and "teacher-educator", which over time were replaced by "senior educator". It should be noted that this position is different from the work of an ordinary educator.

The senior educator has more job responsibilities and bears more responsibility. While a person with a higher or secondary specialized education is accepted for the position of an educator, the activity of a senior educator requires a higher pedagogical education and special communication skills. This factor is considered the main one for hiring, since the main duty of a modern senior educator is to control the pedagogical process in a preschool institution.

The complexity of this profession lies in the fact that the work of the entire teaching staff depends on the work of one senior educator. If an official is a professionally competent specialist in the field of pedagogy, psychology and is familiar with the specifics of working with children of preschool age, then all other employees of the educational institution can be considered equally qualified. This is explained by the fact that the duties of the senior educator also include the selection and recruitment of teaching staff. In turn, he is responsible for monitoring the work of all employees of the kindergarten who have contact with children.

The senior educator must find a special approach not only to each child, but also to each work colleague, be able to avoid conflicts in the teaching staff. Since, according to the laws of the Russian Federation, the educator reserves the right to independently choose the method of education, the senior educator can only advise and in every possible way contribute to the improvement and development of these methods.

The senior educator must be ready to accept and promote the development of innovative methods of educating and educating preschool children. Nowadays, such a specialist must have the necessary skills to work with information technology, which are being introduced into the process of teaching and developing children in kindergarten.

The worker who helps the educator in working with children is the junior educator. You should not confuse the junior educator with the assistant educator (nanny). The nanny, or assistant teacher, is responsible only for the household part. In particular, the nanny is responsible for feeding the children and cleaning the premises.

The responsibilities of the junior teacher include the following responsibilities:

• control of the cleaning and ventilation of the premises according to the schedule prescribed by the management of the institution;
• assisting the caregiver in daily activities such as dressing children for a walk, feeding, as well as in carrying out activities;
• assistance in conducting timely inventory;
• fulfillment of the requirements of the senior educator, nurse;
• assistance in the kitchen if necessary;
• supervision of children during quiet hours.

In turn, the junior educator conducts pedagogical activities at the level with an ordinary educator. This position requires a secondary or secondary vocational education. The junior caregiver should have communication skills that will help to find an approach to children. In turn, such work requires a certain pedagogical specialization, with the help of which all educational processes in kindergarten are carried out.

Assistant teacher

This is an employee whose duties include ensuring the work of the economic sector. Such employees are called nannies. The job of an assistant teacher includes the following duties:

• cleaning and airing the premises according to the schedule prescribed by the management of the institution;
• sterilization of used linen;
• providing children with food according to the meal schedule;
• sterilization of dishes after each meal;
• cleaning the premises after classes and games;
• inventory.

Basically, the functions of a junior educator are similar to those of an assistant educator. The difference is in education - to work as an assistant teacher, you must have a secondary, preferably special, education. This job also requires communication skills with children.

In addition to having a secondary or higher specialized education, to work as an educator, it is necessary to have certain knowledge of the psychology of the behavior of preschool children and the ability to communicate not only with children, but also with adults.

The educator can improve his qualifications and expand the boundaries of his specialization. To improve the level of knowledge, the teacher can study such areas as:

• study of new legal documents in the field of education;
• studying new literature that will help develop pedagogical skills;
• familiarization with the latest methods of teaching preschool children in educational institutions;
• raising the level of general development.

All this can be considered self-development, which increases the knowledge and experience of the educator. Unfortunately, the self-education of the educator does not entail any job changes. In order to improve their own rank, the educator can go to advanced training courses. This type of education is documented, as a result of which the educator can increase their monthly salary or get the position of a senior educator. In any case, each educator should not stop there and continue to develop their knowledge and skills.

Work as an educator and personal qualities

Under the tutelage of a modern kindergarten teacher there are children aged 3-7 years, while there are cases when parents, for various reasons, send even 2-year-old babies to kindergarten. Depending on the age, children are divided into groups, and it is not easy to cope with two dozen (or even more) wards. That is why the group often has two employees - a senior and a junior educator, who are assisted by a nanny.

Being an educator is extremely responsible. The educator, the teacher, forms a personality in children, teaches them to interact in a team and with the outside world, is responsible for the health of each child, ensures children's leisure and adherence to the daily routine. In addition, the children's educator is responsible for organizing various activities in the group and outside it, is engaged in paperwork, and communicates with parents.

To date, the work of an educator is considered one of the most difficult and responsible. Despite the fact that the salary of an educator is relatively low, very serious requirements are placed on such a specialist, primarily in terms of personal qualities. This is natural, because without them it is simply impossible to work effectively with children. Sociability, responsibility and responsiveness, the ability to find a common language with the wards, tact and attentiveness - this is not a complete list of those personal qualities that a kindergarten teacher should have.

In addition, educational activities require the employee to have such qualities as:

• love for children;
• high moral principles;
• the ability to concentrate and organize the wards, to interest them;
• the ability to find a special approach to each child;
• the desire to improve in the profession;
• diligence;
• organizational skills;
• perseverance and so on.

The responsibilities of an educator include the following:

• admission to the kindergarten in the morning and return to their parents at the appropriate time in the evening;
• holding entertainment, educational, gaming events (games for the development of intelligence, motor skills, memory and speech, matinees, and so on);
• development and compilation of scenarios, methodological pans;
• non-group activities (excursions, visits to the park, theaters or museums);
• walks with children;
• ensuring the daily routine (eating, sleeping, games, activities);
• carrying out activities related to the improvement of children (physical education);
• helping little wards with meals, getting ready for bed, and so on.

In addition, the educator must supervise medical procedures, in particular, ensure that all children (with the consent of the parents) receive the necessary vaccinations.

The teacher's program is a necessary element of his professional activity. Defining its structure and content, the educator focuses on its practical value. The volume of the educator's program varies, but the main thing is that it contains a sufficient amount of material on the teacher's practically oriented work, including specific and necessary recommendations, both for the educator himself, and for the children and their parents. If this condition is met, the program of the educator can be considered really beneficial and effective.

When compiling the program, the educator-teacher does a voluminous and serious work. However, how much the program is practically significant, it will become clear as it is used in the work. In addition, the content of the program is checked by the relevant regulatory authorities.

Educator plan: content and structure of the work program

The plan of the educator - his work program - must have a certain structure that makes him in demand. In particular, the teacher's plan should be based on certain educational, teaching methods, standards, courses and disciplines. That is, a number of so-called modules that provide for the comprehensive development of children. Such modules are developed specifically with the aim of developing in children of different ages such qualities as:

• speech and motor skills;
• socialization;
• Physical Culture;
• aesthetic and artistic perception;
• desire for knowledge.

If the educator's plan includes actionable approaches and methods that will become effective in achieving the specified goals, it will be rational and will not gather dust on the shelf. The plan of the educator is not drawn up for the sake of a “tick”: it is needed for real use in the work of the educator.

The educational program of the process of educating preschoolers does not involve disparate methods, but a single, general approach in which different educational and educational areas are intertwined, complementary to each other and inextricably linked. Such integration is not easy to achieve, and each educator develops his own plan, taking into account the educational tasks that he must solve by virtue of his professional activity.

At the same time, if there are two educators in the group, the plan is drawn up by each of them, but under the condition of cooperation, in order to exclude any disagreements in the working approach. Today, drawing up a plan for the educator to effectively solve educational problems is facilitated by the fact that the educator can find many examples of such programs and take them as the basis of his own.

It is advisable if not only the educators of the group, but also other kindergarten specialists involved in the education process, take part in the development of one plan. This is a speech therapist, medical worker, music director, physical education teacher. With a competent approach, the tasks of education, development and upbringing of children will be fulfilled.

Contests for educators

Thematic competitions for educators at the present stage are a common and popular phenomenon. Such competitions can be organized on specialized Internet resources, within the kindergarten, district or city, even the region and the country as a whole. The topics of competitions for educators are very diverse. This may be a competition for the best thematic development of a child development methodology or the Educator of the Year competition, which is held regularly.

The benefits and practical value of such events are obvious. Any competitions for educators provide an opportunity to:

One of the most popular competitions in Russia is the “Educator of the Year”.

The Educator of the Year competition is an event where each participating teacher can show their professional skills. The purpose of this competition is:

• support, encourage and stimulate the work of the best, most talented educators;
• raise their social status and professional significance;
• to strengthen their support from the state and society;
• identify and disseminate the best experience in educational work, innovative activities in the field of preschool education and upbringing.

The competition consists of several, usually three, rounds, in each of which participants present their portfolios, give lectures, hold master classes with an adult audience and events with children. The plan of the competition may vary, but in general, such events are always interesting and informative.

The winners of the competition receive awards in the form of Certificates of Honor, which are presented by representatives of the educational committee or other relevant organization. The absolute winner receives the honorary title "Educator of the Year".

Certification of educators

Certification is considered one of the most effective ways to improve the quality of educational work. Its main essence is that the educator teacher, having received the appropriate education and started working in his specialty, must continue to improve, improve his professional skills. The level of such mastery is determined by the qualification, and the degree of such skill is indicated by the category assigned to the educator. Accordingly, as the category increases, the remuneration, that is, the salary of educators, also increases.

Certification of educators is a rather stressful procedure for those being certified, but it is necessary to improve the category of a specialist. Certification is mandatory for all employees of preschool educational organizations. In this case, certification can be of two types:

1. mandatory, when the educator must confirm his compliance with the position he occupies;
2. voluntary, in which the teacher, if desired, wants to get a higher qualification category.

Certification may not pass:

• new educators, that is, those who have worked in their position for less than two years;
• women during pregnancy and on maternity leave (in the latter case, a kindergarten teacher passes certification no earlier than two years after starting work);
• educators who have a valid qualification category, that is, the category has not yet expired.

The certification procedure is carried out in accordance with the established procedure.

Mandatory attestation procedure is an integral part of the activities of the educator. It is carried out regardless of the desire of the specialist, and an application for its passage is submitted directly by the management of the institution. The teacher educator must be certified once every five years.

The purpose of voluntary certification is the self-education of the educator, confirmation of professional training and obtaining a higher category. This form of certification for the educator is an opportunity to increase self-esteem, grow as a professional, and set tasks for the future.

According to the Order of the Ministry of Education of Russia, the certification of educators is carried out in this way. First, an application is submitted, which indicates the relevant information, in particular:

• an existing category (if any);
• what category does the certified worker apply for;
• experience and other information.

In the process of passing the certification, which is conducted by a commission specially convened for this purpose (the list of its members is approved by the educational organization), the educator must demonstrate his professional knowledge and skills. The commission checks those who are certified for professional suitability, evaluating all components of its activities (including the teacher's program) according to a number of criteria.

Certification involves passing an exam (in writing, orally or by passing testing on a computer). Based on the results of such testing (examination), the degree of mastery of the teacher with modern methods of preschool educational and educational work, his competence and professionalism are established and evaluated.

The decision that the commission makes is drawn up as a protocol, which is entered into a special certification sheet for the employee. When the document is approved by a higher educational organization in Russia, it is transferred to the leadership of the institution where the teacher-educator works.

Man as an educator. Each person, Fichte is convinced, is obliged to be an educator and an educated person at the same time. In order to become and remain human, one must be an educator.

A social motive lives in a person - the desire to be in interaction with free rational beings as such.

This inclination includes the following two strivings.

The first is the desire to transfer knowledge. It is the desire to develop someone in the area in which we are especially developed, to equalize everyone else with the best in us.

Then - the desire for perception, i.e. the desire to acquire from each culture in the area in which he is especially developed, and we are not particularly developed.

Society collects the benefits of all individuals as a common good for free use and multiplies them according to the number of individuals.

All individuals belonging to the human race are different from each other. They agree on one thing only: that is their ultimate goal—perfection. Approaching and approaching this goal to infinity - this man can and this he must. The general improvement and improvement of oneself through the freely used influence of others on us and the improvement of others through the reverse impact on them as free beings - this is the purpose of a person in society.

In order to reach this destination and to constantly achieve it more and more, a person needs a capacity that is acquired and increased only through culture, namely, a capacity of two kinds: 1) the ability to give or act on others as free beings; 2) receptivity, or the ability to take or make the most of the impact of others on us.

Man's destiny is to have an impact on humanity in a narrower or wider range by teaching or action or both. To spread further the education they themselves received, and, having a beneficial effect everywhere, to raise our common fraternal race to the highest level of culture.

Working on the development of today's youth, the educator also works on the development of millions of people who have not yet been born.

What is the nature of the relationship between teacher and student?

When the human soul was considered, as was often the case, for example, in Leibniz, as separate, discrete, and, moreover, impenetrable, then education as an immanent connection between the educated person and the educator was considered accidental and external. Fichte, on the other hand, clearly discovered the general nature of the individual, inextricably linked with the historically concrete, the special, and the singularly unique.

Under the optimistic belief in the possibilities of education, a theoretical basis was laid.

The most difficult and important part of education is the self-education of the educator. He often has to destroy in himself the traces of his own, long received upbringing, and enter into a difficult struggle with himself.

Higher educators are scientists and artists. Fichte developed the concept of an educator as a scientist and artist in his treatises On the Appointment of a Scientist and On the Duties of an Artist.

The scientist is the moral mentor of the people and the educator of the human race. The artist has an equally large, but not as noticeable impact on education.

The learned estate carries out the highest supervision over the actual development of the human race and constantly contributes to this development.

The scientist is preeminently destined for society: he, inasmuch as he is a scientist, exists more than a representative of any other class, only thanks to society and for society. Therefore, it is primarily his responsibility to develop in himself, to the fullest extent, both his talents, his receptivity, and his ability to transmit culture.

The ability to teach is always necessary for a scientist, since he owns his knowledge not for himself, but for society. From youth he must develop it and must always keep it active.

In his projects for university reforms, Fichte proceeded from this idea of ​​training scientists capable of spreading culture, intelligently leading society, and revised the curriculum, methods and organization of the educational process in a higher educational institution in this spirit.

The scientist must apply his knowledge, acquired for society, really for the benefit of society. He is obliged to instill in people a sense of their true needs and to acquaint them with the means of satisfying them.

Consequently, a scientist who meets his concept, according to his very purpose, is a teacher of the human race.

He sees not only the present, he also sees the future. He sees not only the present point of view, he also sees where the human race must now move if it wants to stay on the path to its final goal and not deviate from it and not go back along it. He cannot demand that the human race immediately find itself at the goal that will only attract his eye, and cannot jump over his path, and the scientist must only take care that he does not stand still and does not go back. In this sense, the scientist is the educator of humanity.

The duty of a scientist is to always have before his eyes the goal of moral ennoblement of a person in everything that he does in society. But no one can successfully work on the moral ennoblement of society without being a good person himself. We teach not only with words, we also teach, much more convincingly, by our example.

How many times more must a scientist do this, who in all manifestations of culture must be ahead of other classes?

The words with which the founder of the Christian religion addressed his disciples refer entirely to the scientist: you are the salt of the earth, if the salt loses its strength, then what to salt with? If the elect among men are corrupt, where else is moral goodness to be found?

The scientist is entrusted with a part of the culture of his age and subsequent eras. From his works will be born the path of future generations, the world history of nations that are yet to appear. He is called to testify to the truth, his life and fate do not matter; the influence of his life is infinitely great. He is a priest of truth, he serves her, he has pledged to do everything for her - and to dare and suffer. If he were persecuted and hated for her sake, if he died in her service, what special thing would he do then, what would he do beyond what I simply had to do?

The same, only in a different sense of content, should be said about the artist.

Art forms not only the mind and not only the heart, as a scientist does as a moral mentor of the people. It forms a whole person, it does not appeal to the mind and not to the heart, but to the whole soul in the unity of its abilities. This is something third, consisting of the first two.

Art makes the transcendental point of view ordinary. The philosopher raises himself and others to this point of view in hard work, following certain rules.

The spirit of beauty stands on this point of view without thinking about it. He knows no other point of view. He so imperceptibly elevates to her those who yield to his influence that they are not aware of this transition.

For example, each figure in space can be considered as a restriction to neighboring bodies. But it can also be regarded as an expression of the fullness and strength of the very body that possesses it.

Whoever follows the first view sees only distorted, flattened, pitiful forms, he sees the ugly.

Whoever follows the latter view sees the mighty fullness of nature, sees life and striving, he sees beauty.

The same is true of the higher. The moral law commands absolutely, and it suppresses every inclination. Whoever views him in this way treats him like a slave.

But this same law simultaneously flows from the inner depths of our own essence, and if we obey it, then we obey only ourselves. Whoever views it in this way views it aesthetically.

The spirit of beauty sees everything free and alive. Thanks to this, he educates and ennobles people for the sake of their true destiny.

Art brings a person into himself and makes him feel at home there. It separates him from his given nature and makes him independent of himself. After all, the independence of the mind is our ultimate goal.

Aesthetic feeling is not a virtue. The moral law requires independence according to concepts, while beauty comes by itself, without any concepts. But it is a preparation for virtue, it prepares the ground for it, and when morality arises, it finds half the work already done - liberation from the bonds of primitive sensibility.

Therefore, aesthetic education contributes to the goals of reason in an unusual measure, and one can deliberately devote oneself to its tasks. No one can be required to take care of the aesthetic education of the human race. However, in the name of morality, everyone can be forbidden to interfere with this education and, so far as it depends on him, to spread bad taste.

The spread of bad taste in the creation of beauty does not remain indifferent to people from the point of view of the formation of their mental image, but it educates them wrongly.

Let the artist beware, out of greed or a desire for fleeting fame, to give himself up to the corrupted taste of his age. He should try to embody the ideal and forget everything else.

The artist does not serve people with his talent, but only his duty, and then he will contemplate his art with completely different eyes; he will become a better man, and a better artist at that.

For art, as well as for morality, the generally accepted adage is equally harmful: what is beautiful is what pleases. In fact, that and only that which pleases educated mankind is beautiful. While it is not yet educated, he may often like the tasteless, because it is fashionable, and the excellent work of art may not find a response.

The goals of the activities of educators. The ultimate goal of education stems from the goals of history, humanity, and culture. To subdue all that is unreasonable, to master it freely and according to one's own law is the ultimate goal of man. And the aim of all education of the faculties is to subordinate nature to reason.

Teaching and perfection were for Fichte, as for Plato, inseparable concepts. “Which philosophy you choose depends on what kind of person you are,” in other words, you must strive for independence and freedom (this is true life) with the help of philosophy.

The task of education, according to Fichte, is to change the world for the better. Fichte did not recognize the renunciation of the Earth, on the contrary, he preached the replacement of the squalor of life with the creative interaction of free and quite worthy people. Like willow cranes, Fichte and after him Hegel tirelessly hovered over the heads of the German burghers, constantly reminding them of this ideal.

From now on, the pedagogy of the spirit must clarify the pedagogy of things, that is, the special organization of education must be stronger than the educational influence of the environment as a whole.

Nature and science become educative through their constructive appeal to reason, and not through an encyclopedic familiarity with facts. It is educational to know the principles, and not just the facts, and the exercise in applying these principles to the solution of life and scientific problems. Hence the demand for deduction, criticism and generalization.

Like Pestalozzi, Fichte sees the concrete goal and means of education in subordinating the forms of all learning to those eternal laws according to which human knowledge rises from sensory contemplation to clear concepts.

According to these laws, it is necessary to simplify the elements of all human knowledge and arrange them in successive rows. The psychological effect of this should be to provide pupils with a broad knowledge of nature, a general clarity of basic concepts, and intensive training in essential skills.

If complete agreement with oneself is called perfection in the full sense of the word, then perfection is the unattainable highest goal of man. Perfection to infinity is its purpose.

It is in the concept of man that this last goal of his must be unattainable, and the path to it must be endless. Therefore, the purpose of man is not to achieve this goal. But he can and must come closer and closer to this goal. Therefore, the approach to infinity to this goal is the true destiny of man as a rational, but finite, as a sensual, but free being.

He exists to constantly become morally better and improve everything around him in a sensual and moral sense.

Thus, the bond that unites everyone into one whole, precisely because of the inequality of individuals, acquires an additional strength. Social needs and the desire to satisfy these needs unites people more closely.

The highest law of humanity, the law of complete harmony with oneself, requires that in the individual all inclinations be developed in proportion, all abilities should be manifested with the greatest possible perfection.

Free will must and can strive ever closer to this goal.

The intellectual and bodily development of the child is the first half of education.

The second half of it is moral education, which should be based on thinking and on the child's inherent desire for respect.

The primary goal of education, according to Fichte, is to teach correct thinking, the clarity of which, reincarnated in a person's convictions, lays the foundation of morality.

The main educator of any person is his life experience, but in this concept we must include not only the “external” biography, but also the “internal” biography, inseparable from our assimilation of the experience of mankind through books and the media.
And I would like, however belatedly and not comprehensively, to express my deep gratitude to all the people in my life who raised me to love people. If I had not become a teacher, I would probably have worked as a librarian, because this profession involves working not only with books, but also with people.
Probably, I am a person of one passion: I love the Russian language selflessly, I think that I know it well and I try to convey my knowledge to people. By the nature of my profession, as a teacher of the Russian language and literature, I pass on my knowledge to children. And I thank fate for the fact that I was lucky on my life and professional path to meet such people who helped me choose the right path. Of course they are my parents. Mom, Nina Ivanovna, a very sensitive, kind woman, taught kindness and attentiveness to people. Father, Alexander Pavlovich, helped to comprehend the world through creativity. He himself was a creative person and developed in me the ability to improvise, create interesting scenes that were staged together with classmates in front of the villagers.
My abilities, of course, did not go unnoticed by teachers. During my school years, I was engaged in various circles, already developing professionally. In the 5th grade in Russian language and literature, I had an amazing teacher - Tamara Mikhailovna Gerasimova, a teacher from God. There is no other way I can express my feelings towards her. She gave lessons that I remember to this day. Since then, I have caught fire: I will become the same as my teacher. And she became. Of course, what kind of teacher I am, my students will judge, but the fact that I love my job and children comes from the heart.
I involuntarily recall Sergius of Radonezh, who, doing the hardest work, believed that the monks should constantly work, earning a living by this. I would not want people to think wrongly about me: here, they say, he refers to a holy man and puts himself on the same level with him. But, speaking of him, I meant only that I do all the hard work myself and never shift it to anyone. This was instilled in me by my parents and teachers.
There are different opinions about whether one should follow the path of spiritual development alone or together with someone. The path of a lonely soul is the most difficult and to some extent the fastest, because the struggle with oneself is always shorter, although more cruel and more difficult, especially if there is no support and understanding. And I think that after all, I was very lucky in my life, because I met people who understood me. We complemented and enriched each other.
Why did I suddenly start talking about the connection of souls? I don't think it's all of a sudden. My profession is exactly this, because people working at the school are united by a common goal, common principles. Then you work and live in one breath. On my way I met all sorts of people, but I tried to take only the good from them, and this helped me and helps me survive and continue to work.
Life teaches many lessons, some remain in memory, others go unnoticed. Having worked at the school for almost 37 years, I tried to convey only good things to my children, but they also taught me a lot. So I think, if I still have something unspent, then there is a need to continue what I started. And in general: it is useful to learn from each other! However, to say that I know everything would be at least stupid, because, as the parable says, “the human self obscures not only the eyes of a person, but also the mind.”
Young specialists also came to our school. I remember seeing two pretty girls. I asked who they were. It turned out that there were new teachers: Natalya Yuryevna and Zhamilya Tyulebaevna. I immediately wanted to help them with something: they seemed too young and modest. For some reason, I felt sorry for them. I thought: “No matter how the current “cool” generation does not discourage them from the desire to work with pleasure. Fortunately, my fears did not come true. Of course, it is difficult to start, but they cope - and not bad. The girls joined the school team, as if they were there. Well done! Keep it up! So they are in the right place. May success accompany them, and may there always be good people by their side who can help in difficult times.
Young teachers in such a short period of time are already calling their students assistants, and the children are calling them their favorites, which means that such teachers will be useful.
A few years passed, and Natalya Yurievna really found her way to the hearts of her students, she works with love and interest. But Zhamilya acquired a different specialty, and that's good. Why work where there is no interest?
I often think about whether we will be replaced by good, smart, kind, fair, decent teachers who are not indifferent to children. I want to believe that they will come. And God grant them and all of us the strength and desire to serve their cause with honor.

Reviews

Hello Galina.
You think about whether young teachers will replace the older generation. Of course, they will come, but will they stay. The existing practice in universities is not enough to understand and learn how to teach, how to behave and master the audience. After all, students usually practice in top and good schools, where students study with a good level of knowledge and intelligence, adequately and normally tuned in to the teacher. But after graduation, not all young teachers get into such schools. Therefore, many do not stand up and leave the school. Each new generation is significantly different from the previous one - if 40 years ago the authority of the teacher was indisputable, now the focus has shifted to the children's team. The teacher not only has to treat the child with great respect, he has no right to suggest to him without negative consequences for himself. As a result, not every teacher manages to learn how to hold a class on his own authority. You need a huge amount of energy, a quick reaction, a subtle knowledge of child psychology, and a young specialist does not and cannot have this. Yes, to be honest, there are a lot of teachers among teachers there are enough years who have worked at the school and those who can be called a teacher with a big stretch. Fortunately, there are those for whom a teacher is truly a vocation.
I want to bow low to such active teachers who, despite everything that is happening with our society and people, continue to conscientiously teach children.
Sincerely.
margarita

Text. M.P. Alpatov
(1) The result of upbringing sometimes seems discouraging to a person who rarely thinks about causal relationships. (2) Everyone knows that education is the most difficult of all processes of changing a person towards improvement. (Z) Brings up everything: parents, school, enemies, friends - in a word, the environment. (4) This is a truism - a well-known and well-worn truth.
(5) To the question of what is more effective in education: family or school, it is either difficult or impossible to answer, because it really educates everything.
(6) Take, for example, a family. (7) This "cell of society" is directly responsible for the moral state and fate of the person born in it. (8) I remember such a story. (9) A caring, loving father, taking care of his child, tracking every step of the offspring. (Y) When the son was still in the cradle, his father, a military engineer, firmly decided to make him a man in uniform and persistently, purposefully prepared the boy for a military career. (1 ^ An obedient child, indecisive in his own choice, trusting his father in everything and seeing his sincere concern, knew that the parent would not advise bad things. (12) The military school where the young man was assigned and where he studied for the prescribed number of years turned out to be slow for his slow , scattered nature, neither mind nor heart. (13) He learned, began to work - the service did not work out, and relations with colleagues did not stick. (14) Under the pressure of his father's will, the son overcame himself for a long time - all to no avail. (15) Time passed (16) The bright future was leaving forever, slipping away, turning into faceless, gray prose.
(17) The son, who eventually became a mature person, was afraid to do anything on his own, without paternal support. (18) A misfortune of this kind happened to him: because of his father's pressure and guardianship, he did not recognize himself or his true capabilities, did not find his calling and place in life.
(19) Self-doubt, fear of making your own decisions - such an ending awaits everyone who has not had to live with his own mind.
(20) But what, in general, to refuse to invade the life of a growing person? (21) Let everything take its course? (22) Do not interfere with the natural course of development? (23) This is hardly true. (24) A positive environment, and with it morals, must be formed. (25) To form first of all in the family. (26) If we, who love, do not do this, then others who do not love will do it, and it will be worse.
(27) 3 there are no trifles, here every nuance can play a huge role. (28) 3 everything is important here: the opinions expressed by the parents on the essential and most insignificant issues, and their conflicts that do not escape from the children, and their preferences. (29) At the same time, the most important thing is a positive personal example, and not teachings, not instructions, although they also matter.
(ZO) Suppose you say wise words to children about mercy, about self-giving, about the spiritual benefits of sacrifice. (31) But your words are only words if your children do not see the mercy you show, such as protecting homeless animals, giving alms to the poor, helping the sick, and so on.
(32) If you talk about generosity, but you yourself acquire, worrying, as you say, only about the future of your family, then it is unlikely that your children in the near future will not regret their beggar, even if they never demanded a thing. (33) They will hide it, thinking about their future.
(34) If you divide the world into two parts: your family, for which you are ready to sacrifice a lot, and all the rest, which you can sometimes sacrifice, you risk getting selfish, cynical inhabitants in the person of your own children. (35) And the day will come when their selfishness will be directed not to anyone, but to you. (Zb) It is you who will become for them useless “waste material”, a burden on their life celebration.
(M.P. Alpatov)

The writing
In the text proposed for analysis by M.P. Alpatov poses the problem of education. The author of the article asks the question: should the mentor intervene in the development of his ward, or is it better to give preference to the “natural” development of the personality?
Speaking about the importance of family education, the author expresses the opinion that the educator, of course, must influence the child. However, this impact must be delicate and accurate, not allowing violence against the person. M. Alpatov gives an example of how a loving father, wishing that his son would certainly become an officer, prevented the free spiritual development of his “child”. As a result, he grew up as a dependent person, did not find his place in life and was not happy. At the same time, the author believes that a positive family environment is extremely important in education and should be formed. Moreover, as the author emphasizes, a positive environment can be formed by the personal example of the educator, and not by verbal teachings alone.
The main idea of ​​M. Alpatov's text is that if we want to have a worthy result of upbringing, we should take care of the child's personality and demonstrate exclusively moral behavior ourselves.
Agreeing with the author, I emphasize that the process of education should not be left to chance and the words of the educator should never diverge from deeds.
The validity of the expressed thought is confirmed by examples from the works of Russian literature.
Let us turn to the story of V.G. Korolenko "Children of the Underground". The son of a wealthy judge, the young man Vasya, having become friends with poor children - Marusya and Valek, commits a “theft”: he takes out a family heirloom from the house - a doll donated by his late mother Vasya to his younger sister. Vasya gave the doll to Marusya, who was dying of tuberculosis. The judge, having learned about the offense of his son, is going to punish him. However, he completely forgives his son when he finds out that he wanted to please a seriously ill poor girl. So, the unfeigned participation of the father in the affairs of his son undoubtedly contributed to the formation of nobility in Vasya's character, his moral maturation.
Another example is the poem by N.V. Gogol's "Dead Souls", which describes the childhood of Pavlusha Chichikov - the main character of the work. The atmosphere of childhood was heavy and sad - no friend, no comrade nearby. Only a sick, stern father who treated the child strictly. Chichikov complied with his father's instructions to "save and save a penny", becoming a hero-acquirer, going up through human destinies, like up a ladder. Having not received a worthy family upbringing, having no moral foundation in his soul, the hero became a "scoundrel", despite the fact that he also had positive qualities that were not properly developed.
In conclusion, I will emphasize the idea that, while educating, one should respect the personality in the child and develop the best that is inherent in him.

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Once I had the good fortune to read a poem to the composer Stravinsky. Stravinsky seemed to be listening half aloud, and suddenly, on the line "with his fingers perplexedly wise," he exclaimed, even closing his eyes with pleasure: "What a delicious line!" I was amazed, because not every professional poet could note such a low-key line. I am not sure that there is an innate poetic ear, but I am convinced that such an ear can be educated.

And I would like, however belatedly and not comprehensively, to express my deep gratitude to all the people in my life who raised me in love with poetry. If I had not become a professional poet, I would still remain a devoted reader of poetry until the end of my days.

My father, a geologist, wrote poetry, it seems to me that they are talented:

Shooting back from longing,
I wanted to run somewhere
But the stars are too high
And the pay for the stars is high ...

He loved poetry and passed on his love for it to me. I read perfectly from memory and, if I didn’t understand something, explained it, but not rationally, namely, the beauty of reading, emphasizing the rhythmic, figurative power of the lines, and not only Pushkin and Lermontov, but also modern poets, reveling in the verse that he especially liked :

The stallion under him sparkles with white refined sugar.
(E.Bagritsky)

Spins the wedding with a silver hem,
And in her ears are not earrings - horseshoes.
(P. Vasiliev)

From Makhachkala to Baku
The moons float on their side.
(B. Kornilov)

Eyebrows from under the shako threaten the palaces.
(N. Aseev)

Nails would be made of these people,
Stronger would not be in the world of nails.
(N. Tikhonov)

Teguantepec, Teguantepec, foreign country,
Three thousand rivers, three thousand rivers surround you.
(S.Kirsanov)

Of foreign poets, my father often read Burns and Kipling to me.

During the war years at the Zima station, I was placed in the care of my grandmother, who did not know poetry as well as my father, but she loved Shevchenko and often recalled his poems, reading them in Ukrainian. When I was in taiga villages, I listened to and even wrote down ditties, folk songs, and sometimes I added something. Probably, education in poetry is generally inseparable from education in folklore, and can a person who does not feel the beauty of folk songs be able to feel the beauty of poetry?

A man who loves both folk songs and poems by modern poets turned out to be my stepfather, an accordionist. From his lips, I first heard Mayakovsky's "Sergey Yesenin". I was especially struck by: "You are rocking a bag of your own bones." I remember I asked: "And who is Yesenin?" - and for the first time I heard Yesenin's poems, which were then almost impossible to get. Yesenin's poems were for me both a folk song and modern poetry.

Returning to Moscow, I greedily pounced on poetry. The pages of poetry collections published at that time seemed to be strewn with the ashes of the conflagrations of the Great Patriotic War. "Son" Antokolsky, "Zoya" Aliger, "Do you remember, Alyosha, the roads of the Smolensk region ..." Simonova, "Woe to you, mothers of the Oder, Elbe and Rhine ..." Surkov, "It was not in vain that we cherished friendship, as infantrymen cherish a meter of bloodied earth, when they take him in battles ... " Gudzenko, "Hospital. All in white. The walls smell of damp chalk ..." Lukonina, "The boy lived on the outskirts of the city of Kolpino ..." Mezhirova, "To become a man, it is not enough for them to be born..." Lvova, "Guys, tell Pole - nightingales sang today..." Dudina; all this entered into me, filled me with the joy of empathy, although I was still a boy. But during the war, even the boys felt they were part of a great fighting nation.

I liked Shefner's book "Suburbs" with its alienated images: "And, slowly turning the emeralds of green eyes, thoughtless as always, the frogs, like little Buddhas, sat on logs by the pond." Tvardovsky seemed to me then too rustic, Pasternak too fat. I hardly read such poets as Tyutchev and Baratynsky - they looked boring in my eyes, far from the life that we all lived during the war.

One day, I read to my father my poems about a Soviet parliamentarian killed by the Nazis in Budapest:

The great city was darkened
The enemy is hiding there.
White by accident
Flag of truce.

Auteuil suddenly said: "There is poetry in this word" unexpected ".

In the forty-seventh, I studied at the poetry studio of the House of Pioneers of the Dzerzhinsky District. Our leader L. Popova was a peculiar person - she not only did not condemn the passion of some students for formal experimentation, but even supported it in every possible way, believing that at a certain age the poet must be ill with formalism. The line of my friend "and now autumn is running away, flickering with yellow spots of leaves" was cited as an example. I wrote then:

Hosts - Kipling's heroes -
A bottle of whiskey meets the day.
And it seems that the blood lay down among the piles
Printed on tea bags.

Once, poets came to visit us - students of the Lenin Institute Vinokurov, Vanshenkin, Soloukhin, Ganabin, Kafanov, who were still very young, but had already passed the front-line school. Needless to say, how proud I was to perform with my poems along with real poets.

The second military generation, which they represented, brought a lot of new things to our poetry and defended the lyricism, from which the older poets began to move towards rhetoric. The low-profile lyrical poems "The Boy" by Vanshenkin and "Hamlet" by Vinokurov, written subsequently, made me feel like a bombshell.

"Do you love Bagritsky?" - he asked me after the speech at the House of Pioneers Vinokourov. I immediately began to read to him: "We are rusty leaves on rusty oaks ...". The left eyebrow of the young master went up in surprise. We became friends, despite the then noticeable difference in age and experience.

I am forever grateful to the poet Andrei Dostal. For more than three years, he worked with me almost daily at the literary consultation of the Molodaya Gvardiya publishing house. Andrey Dostal opened for me Leonid Martynov, in whose unique intonation - "Did you spend the night in flower beds?" - I immediately fell in love.

In 1949, I was lucky again when I met the journalist and poet Nikolai Tarasov in the newspaper Sovetsky Sport. He not only printed my first poems, but also sat with me for long hours, patiently explaining which line was good, which was bad, and why. His friends - then a geophysicist, now literary critic V. Barlas and journalist L. Filatov, now editor of the weekly "Football-Hockey" - also taught me a lot in poetry, giving me rare collections to read from their libraries. Now Tvardoasky did not seem simple to me, and Pasternak did not seem overly complicated.

I managed to get acquainted with the work of Akhmatova, Tsvetaeva, Mandelstam. However, the poems that I was printing at that time, my expanding "poetic education" did not affect at all. As a reader, I was ahead of myself, the poet. I basically imitated Kirsanov and, when I met him, expected his praise, but Kirsanov rightly condemned my imitation.

An invaluable influence on me was my friendship with Vladimir Sokolov, who, by the way, helped me enter the Literary Institute, despite the lack of a matriculation certificate. Sokolov was, of course, the first poet of the post-war generation who found a lyrical expression of his talent. It was clear to me that Sokolov knew poetry brilliantly and his taste did not suffer from group limitations - he never divided poets into "traditionalists" and "innovators", but only into good and bad. This is what he taught me forever.

At the Literary Institute, my student life also gave me much to understand poetry. In seminars and in the corridors, judgments about each other's poetry were sometimes ruthless, but always sincere. It was this ruthless sincerity of my comrades that helped me jump off the stilts. I wrote poetry, and obviously this was the beginning of my serious work.

I met a wonderful, unfortunately still underestimated poet Nikolai Glazkov, who then wrote like this:

I make my own life
I'm playing the fool.
From a sea of ​​lies to a field of rye
the road is far.

I learned from Glazkov the freedom of intonation. The discovery of Slutsky's poems made a dumbfounding impression on me. They seemed to be anti-poetic, and at the same time they sounded the poetry of a mercilessly naked life. If earlier I tried to fight in my poems with "prosaisms", then after Slutsky's poems I tried to avoid excessively sublime "poeticisms".

Studying at the Literary Institute, we, young poets, were not free from mutual influences either. Some of Robert Rozhdestvensky's poems and mine, written in 1953-55, were like two peas in a pod. Now, I hope you will not confuse them: we have chosen different paths, and this is natural, like life itself.

A whole galaxy of female poets appeared, among which, perhaps, the most interesting were Akhmadulina, Moritz, Matveeva. Returning from the North, Smelyakov brought with him the poem "Strict Love" full of chaste romanticism. With the return of Smelyakov, poetry became somehow stronger, more reliable. Samoilov began to publish. His poems about Tsar Ivan, "Tea House" immediately created him a stable reputation as a highly cultured master. "The Cologne Pit", "Horses in the Ocean", "Let's wave our fists after the fight..." by Boris Slutsky, poems innovative in form and content, were published. Okudzhava's songs, breathed out by time, were sung all over the country. Coming out of a long crisis, Lugovsky wrote: "After all, the one that I knew does not exist ...", Svetlov's charming pure intonation again broke through. There was such a large-scale work as "Beyond the distance - distance" by Tvardovsky. Everyone was reading Martynov's new book, "The Ugly Girl" by Zabolotsky. How fireworks arose Voznesensky. Circulations of poetry books began to grow, poetry appeared on the square. This was the heyday of interest in poetry, hitherto unknown either in our country or anywhere else in the world. I am proud that I had to witness the time when poetry became a national event. It was rightly said: "An amazingly powerful echo - obviously, such an era!"

A powerful echo, however, not only gives the poet great rights, but also imposes great duties on him. The education of a poet begins with the education of poetry. But later, if the poet does not rise to self-education by his own duties and responsibilities, he slides down, even despite his professional sophistication. There is such a seemingly beautiful phrase: "No one owes anything to anyone." Everyone owes everyone, but the poet especially.

To become a poet is the courage to declare oneself in debt.

The poet is indebted to those who taught him to love poetry, for they gave him a sense of the meaning of life.

The poet is indebted to those poets who came before him, for they gave him the power of the word.

The poet is indebted to today's poets, his comrades in the shop, because their breath is the air that he breathes, and his breath is a particle of the air that they breathe.

The poet is indebted to his readers, his contemporaries, for they hope to speak in his voice about the time and about themselves.

The poet is indebted to his descendants, for through his eyes they will someday see us.

The feeling of this heavy and at the same time happy debt has never left me and, I hope, will not leave.

After Pushkin, a poet without citizenship is impossible. But in the 19th century, the so-called "common people" were far from poetry, if only because of their illiteracy. Now, when poetry is read not only by intellectuals, but also by workers and peasants, the concept of citizenship has expanded - it more than ever implies the poet's spiritual ties with the people. When I write lyrical poems, I always want, I want them to be close to many people, as if they wrote them themselves. When I work on things of an epic nature, I try to find myself in the people I write about. Flaubert once said, "Madame Bovary is me." Could he say that about a French factory worker? Of course not. And I hope that I can say the same, for example, about mine and about many of the heroes of my poems and poems: "Nyushka is me." Citizenship in the nineteenth century could not be as internationalistic as it is now, when the destinies of all countries are so closely connected with each other. Therefore, I tried to find people close to me in spirit, not only among the builders of Bratsk or the fishermen of the North, but also wherever there is a struggle for the future of mankind - in the USA, in Latin America and in many other countries. Without love for the motherland, there is no poet. But today there is no poet without participation in the struggle taking place all over the globe.

To be the poet of the world's first socialist country, which, through its own historical experience, tests the reliability of the ideals suffered by mankind, this imposes a special responsibility. The historical experience of our country is and will be studied in our literature, in our poetry, because no document in itself possesses a psychological insight into the essence of a fact. Thus, the best in Soviet literature acquires the lofty significance of a moral document, capturing not only the external, but also the internal features of the formation of a new, socialist society. Our poetry, if it does not stray either towards cheerful embellishment or skeptical distortion, but has a harmony of realistic reflection of reality in its development, can be a living, breathing, sounding history textbook. And if this textbook is true, then it will rightfully become a worthy tribute to our respect for the people who nurtured us.

The turning point in the life of a poet comes when, brought up on the poetry of others, he already begins to educate his readers with his poetry. The “powerful echo”, returning, can knock the poet down with the force of the return wave if he is not strong enough, or so shell-shock that he will lose his hearing for poetry, and by the time. But such an echo can also bring up. Thus, the poet will be educated by the return wave of his own poetry.

I sharply separate readers from admirers. The reader, with all his love for the poet, is kind, but exacting. I found such readers both in my professional environment and among people of various professions in different parts of the country. It was they who were always the secret co-authors of my poems. I still try to educate myself with poetry and now I often repeat the lines of Tyutchev, whom I have come to love in recent years:

We can't predict
How our word will respond, -
And sympathy is given to us,
How do we get grace...

I feel happy because I was not deprived of this sympathy, but sometimes I feel sad because I do not know if I will be able to fully thank him.

Beginning poets often write letters to me and ask: "What qualities do you need to have in order to become a real poet?" I have never answered this, as I thought, naive question, but now I will try, although this may also be naive.

There are five such qualities.

First: you need to have a conscience, but this is not enough to become a poet.

Second: you need to have a mind, but this is not enough to become a poet.

Third: you need to have courage, but this is not enough to become a poet.

Fourth: you must love not only your own poems, but also those of others, but even this is not enough to become a poet.

Fifth: you need to write poetry well, but if you do not have all the previous qualities, this is also not enough to become a poet, because

There is no poet outside the people,
There is no son without a father's shadow.

Poetry, according to a well-known expression, is the self-consciousness of the people. "In order to understand themselves, the people create their own poets."