Poglądy Pawła Ksawerego Brzostowskiego w nurcie reform oświatowych doby Komisji Edukacji Narodowej

Abstract

In 1767 Paul Brzostowski organized in his estate of Merecz near Vilnius Pawłowska Republic, peasant “state” which was based on the principles of social equality, the right to prosperity and co-governing the country. He granted peasants personal liberty, conducted rent calculation, set up a bicameral peasant landowners government, formed noble militia as a peasant army, took care of the development of hygiene and general improvement in living conditions. As a supporter of physiocratism he was associating progress in rural areas with a well-developed system of education. He organized parochial schools to which next to general education he introduced agricultural knowledge and domestic crafts science as well as military exercises. He also organized a system of adult education through regular meetings of peasants combined with cultural entertainment, reading and discussions on agriculture. He paid special attention to moral teaching through religion, pastoral care and common reading of carefully selected works. Brzostowski’s experiment was widely known in Poland and abroad. He was visited by hundreds of influential people who promoted his views and tried to put it into effect. Some of the Brzostowski educational solutions can be found in the views of the leading reformers in Poland in the second half of 18th century as well as in the reforms carried out by The Commission of National Education.