Cool lady in the 19th century. The cool lady is who?

It is strange to realize this now, but in pre-revolutionary Russia there were not any representatives of pedagogy - teachers and governesses - who were lucky in their personal lives.

And why only in Russia? It seems that the whole world. Almost in all the literary works of the century before last, the cool lady is Deprived of the joys of life, a closed, and sometimes rather brutal creation, often frustrating annoyance on his pupils.

How was everything in reality?

Gymnastics and the truth did not really like their teachers. Knikseny, lowered eyes, insincere courtesy. And in the shower - the desire to quickly get rid of the company intrusive lady, and even laugh at her, give some good nickname.

For students a cool lady is not an ideal. Between them, the gap in views, in relation to life. Girls who consider themselves old enough and belong to a far from poor family do not find anything of value in the teachings of elderly, poor and, as a rule, unmarried teachers and listen to them purely formally, out of courtesy.

The image that has been preserved since the time of the gymnasiums of the 19th century is, indeed, not very attractive: The classy lady looked rather boring, constantly dressed in a blue uniform dress, for which the schoolgirls called her "bruised," she had no idea what sincerity was, zealously carried out all the orders "from above" and endlessly suffered from her female unrealization.

Classroom lady and governess

The differences between these two related professions, of course, existed and were due to the age of the students. The governesses were hired in rich houses, raised children, as they say now, preschool and primary school age and gave them primary education.

The class lady had a permanent workplace in the gymnasium, taught certain subjects and strictly monitored the moral appearance of her students. Both in the lessons and during the changes she held them in rigor and often disliked for youth, beauty and freshness.

The most famous literary image of the governess is Jane Eyre, hardened by adversities since childhood, sympathizing with orphans, educated and able to love.

And as the most kind of class ladies, readers remembered Feride-khanum - a restless bird-king with a huge heart and wild eastern pride.

Exceptions to the rules

Thanks to the surviving memoirs of several institutes, today we can have an idea of who it is - a cool lady in the 19th century.

Pupils and teachers spent so much time together that they could not help annoying each other. They were constantly in sight of each other and had time to study all the weaknesses of the "opponents" very well. This left almost no chance of mutual trust.

However, there were rare exceptions to the rules. Girls' hearts were won by teachers who loved their work and their pupils. A real cool lady is, according to the girls, a teacher who teaches not so much the book as her example.

They adored and idolized the class ladies who manage at their meager salaries and in their formal dress look feminine and attractive, able to teach their subject so that he would like to be taught and know, capable of sincerity and inadvertence in communicating with the Institutes.

So many years have passed, and teachers have appreciated the same thing ...

Punishment from the classroom

Sometimes classy became unpredictable creatures, in one word - a lady. Because of their own failures or negative emotions, they broke up at the institute. For this unloved teacher "sentenced" to universal contempt, and from the beloved just waiting for a period of calm. And when emotions calmed down, communication continued in the already familiar regime of trust.

It was considered an impermissible insolence on the part of the schoolgirl to join a classy lady in a simple human conversation, for which punishment was threatened. Therefore, communicating with the beloved teacher, the girls kept their conversations in the strictest secrecy from the directorate and other educators, otherwise the teacher could lose her place, and the students were severely punished for violating the subordination.

But the class ladies themselves often became "inquisitors". The most common punishment in gymnasiums was the ripping off of the apron from the girl in front of the whole class and leaving the guilty in this form for a few hours at the board.

At the same time, students of the lower grades were forbidden to cry during the punishment. Thus, the young gymnasium students, unable to cope with emotions, at first did not understand: a classy lady, A person who must teach, or a person who must constantly punish for the slightest oversight?

As a result, the students closed themselves up, hated the teacher, and began to be punished as something ordinary and natural.

The image of a cool lady in the literature

In the works of Russian masters of the word of the 19th century, a classy lady was never the main character. These women had such a face that, it seems, only suited the role of the background.

In the famous work of I. Bunin, for example, the image of the teacher was introduced for the contrast between the bright, light, spring breath, the merry young beauty Olya and her teacher, also hovering, but not in reality, but in dreams.

The stereotype that a cool lady is strictness, restraint and almost monasticism, has not allowed this woman to really take off at least once. Therefore, she continues to dream and look for the secret of the main component of female charm - the light breath that the gymnast Olya Meshcherskaya, who died at the age of 15, knew.

The other extreme, which often happens in the fates of the teachers of gymnasiums, is the conduct of a double life. Too small salary forced the teachers to be an example of decency and stiffness, sometimes even excessive, and in the evenings reincarnated as "night butterflies" and still try to keep their "part-time job" in secret. Such a story from the life of a young teacher offers the viewer the "Classy Lady" - a film based on the story of A. Kuprin "Natalia Davydovna."

And was there justice?

Now, from the point of view of a person who does not even allow the thought that the class teacher will dare to offend, humiliate, physically punish the student, the question arises: were there any teachers in the then educational institutions who are called a teacher from God?

Undoubtedly, the color of Russian pedagogy was born and already existed within the walls of the gymnasium of the 19th century, and its main indicators were justice and equality with respect to all students, regardless of estates.

In the memoirs of one of the graduates of the gymnasium, the name of a certain Mademoiselle Gan, a very strict and pedantic classy lady, is very often mentioned. However, her strictness only benefits the students and, as a consequence, their gratitude in the future for proper upbringing. The teacher, as is now customary to say, somewhat overstated the bar, demanding from each gymnast to the most accurate performance of duties. Punished - not without it. But how happy she was for the success of the girls! How much was kind and motherly loving, if the student was corrected and pleased the teacher with excellent knowledge and exemplary behavior.