Dostoevsky’s idea: deeper understanding of Russia as an educational challenge learning

Among Dostoevsky’s manuscripts, a seemingly insignificant document can be found. It consists of five pages torn out by the writer from his sketchbook — apparently, in August 1864. This document demonstrates how Dostoevsky the editor would work with authors, guide them and shape the policy of his journal. In his notes on classical and real education, Dostoevsky expressed the idea and conception of the article, which he commissioned to be written by

A. A. Golovachov, a Moscow litterateur. Despite its brevity, the text reads as a complete statement. In it, Dostoevsky puts forward his vision of the new education in Russia which must overcome the “Roman and Germanic” influence, as well as teach young people how to become Russian “through learning” (if they cannot be Russians a priori), and how to strive for “deeper understanding of Russia” in schools and universities. Later, in his 1880 sketchbook, Dostoevsky took these ideas a step further in an essay titled “To study Russia”. Dostoevsky’s pedagogical ideas have not lost their relevance for contemporary Russia: his call for a deeper study and understanding of Russia as the main challenge for national education still remains largely unheeded.