BALTI TALURAHVAKOOLIST RAHVUSKOOLI LÄVELE. Terminoloogilisi ja tüpoloogilisi vaatlusi
FROM THE BALTIC PEASANT SCHOOL TO THE THRESHOLD OF NATIONAL SCHOOL. A terminological and typological observation

Summary/Abstract: In order to describe the peasant education in the Baltic provinces of the Russian Empire in the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century the author of this article took into use a more general term the Baltic peasant school. Accordingly with the ethnic composition of the peasant population in the provinces Estland, Livland and Kurland this school was either Estonian or Latvian school. Peasant school was mainly an autonomous domestic matter of the Baltic provinces, which was weakly tied with the state machinery of the Russian Empire and did not get any material aid from the state. Characteristic of the Baltic peasant school was also clear linguistic isolation (almost all the rest of the educational system used German or Russian as the language of instruction) and connection with well organized home teaching. The goals and content of teaching in the Latvian and Estonian peasant schools were very close, determined for peasants as an estate without any national connotations. The Baltic peasant school was an original phenomenon, a peculiar type of school in the Russian Empire with no equivalent in North Europe either. In the 1840s in Livland conversion from the Lutheranism to Russian Orthodoxy took place and about 65 000 Estonians changed their religion. For the converts new schools – partially funded by the state – were established. In these schools foundations of Orthodoxy and the Russian language were taught. By actions of the Orthodox Church and state the first Russian national nuances – as the first national nuances – soaked into the peasant school of the Baltic provinces. Children from Lutheran families were also admitted to Orthodox schools, which in particular irritated the Baltic upper strata. In the 1850s and 1860s national consciousness spread among Latvians and Estonians, and Latvian and Estonian national ideas penetrated into the Baltic peasant school. Many peasant school teachers grew into national agitators (according to M. Hroch’s theory). The Baltic upper strata now laid stress upon local patriotism and regional studies, as well as on teaching the German and Estonian languages in the peasant schools. Educated Estonians wrote textbooks for peasant schools, which promoted romantic home and homeland feeling and defined homeland as the ethnic location of the Estonians (C. R. Jakobson’s book for reading at school, 1867). New textbooks awakened national self-awareness and self-esteem in the Estonian youth. The Russian authorities tried to implant Russian and imperial mentality, for which the best conditions were found in the Orthodox peasant schools. In peasant schools of the Baltic provinces various national influences developed, but none of them predominated. In the 1880s Russian became the language of instruction in all peasant schools, while German was eliminated from the study plans. Limited conditions for the development Estonian nationalistic sentiments nevertheless remained, since Estonian was still taught in spite o

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