NATIONAL ASPECTS OF YOUTH EDUCATION IN THE IVAN FRANKO’S WORKS

Abstract

The question of studying the educational heritage of Ivan Franko today is particularly relevant, since it reflects not only the task of studying and upbringing provided by contemporary pedagogical science, but also reflects the goal of our time of education of the person who loves his or her nation not only by conviction, but also knows perfectly well everything about it. First and foremost, the words of Ukrainian Moses were said directly to the younger generation, because «of what kind our youth is, of that kind will be the future of our nation» («Students’ public rights»). The purpose of our article is not only to outline the character of Franko’s publicistic writing, but also to show its significance for today’s development of Ukraine. The problem of cultural environment in the Franko era also occupies a prominent place in our publication. In particular, one should pay attention to the problem of bilingualism, which, as in the time of the Franko, is still very important. An important goal of our research is to show Ivan Franko’s aspiration: «the creation of the Ukrainian nation from the enormous ethnic mass of the people». Franko’s criticism of then education systems was extremely sharp in the articles «The Student Library in Drohobych», «The great deeds of Mr. Bobzhinsky», «An empty talk in the Ruska Case», where the writer emphasizes on the gaining knowledge to young generation: «Gain the theoretical and practical knowledge, temper your will, develop yourself in serious, conscious and stable way, be full of love for your nation and able to discover that love, but not by the streams of noisy phrases, but by tireless quiet work. Such men are needed in every nation and every historical era, when for the first time in Ukrainian historical life we have at least a little of political freedom». Ivan Franko set out his dreams about good education in a speech on the Snyatyn people’s council, in which he emphasized: «Speaking of what our schools need, I would put such a desire in the first place: that there should not be many «bosses» to the teacher. The community must present the teacher; for the management of the school’s property and supervision over it should be a local school committee, and for the supervision over the science – the district inspector; and that’s enough». The logical conclusion of the above-mentioned thoughts can be that Ivan Franko, both in the fiction and in scientific researches, wanted teacher to be «a man in order to educate the younger generation as a public affair, with interference in educational process the parents». At the same time it is possible to bring products of Ukrainian Moses such as «Boris», «Schönschreiben», «Small Miron», «Pencil», and also the articles «What does the Galician workers’ community want?», «Our schools and their needs», «Educational ignorance». His research implies not only further scientific study of pedagogical works of Ivan Franko, but also comprehension of his postulates of the leader of the Ukrainian nation. At one time the writer emphasized the deep teacher’s all-round preparation: «when the teacher is not prepared, then the school is nothing». Further research will be based on the value of the pedagogical heritage of Ivan Franko for the modern national school, with particular emphasis on teaching minorities not only in the native language but also in the culture of the country where they live.