"Teka" a samokształcenie historyczne młodzieży galicyjskiej (1898-1912)

Abstract

One of the stages of the self-education movement among the youth is connected with the activity that was inspired and organised by the magazine which was devoted to the problems of the young people from secondary schools and was entitled Teka. The magazine, being intluenced by the National Democracy, was issued in the years 1899-1912. Apart from the suggested self-education solutions, such as founding scholarly circles at schools, reading rooms or libraries, the magazine tried to supply some general knowledge to its readers. By publishing historical articles it popularised the knowledge that was not spread through the school education, for example information about national resurrections, about social and economic situation in other partitions. The conquerors’ decisions concerning the Polish education were widely commented in Teka. History was promoted even by way of putting historical novel extracts in the magazine. Various kinds of activities were conducted in order to help Polish education in the partitioned country. The magazine lost its original character due to the inflaming of political agitation in Galicia in the beginning of the 20th century. Especially, a stronger competition with „Promieniści”, who were close to socialists, and mutual vilifications of both groups contributed to the fact that political matters were foregrounded in Teka, and the popularisation of nationalists’ arguments began to be the primary objective. The changes that took place in Galician education as a result of the events in 1905 deprived Teka of its purpose. Relaxation of school regulations, official permission to start scholarly circles, reading rooms and libraries; all of which meant a change in the school authorities’ attitude towards pupils’ self-education caused that Teka was not able to find itself a proper niche or the right field of activity in the new situation. The change of those conditions also influenced pupils' attitude towards their self-education. Legalisation of the academic movement was the reason why its attractiveness disappeared. There were scout or shooting organisations that gained more popularity with the secondary schools youth now. As a result, the magazine was published less frequently, and then it was suspended.