Dissertations for the History of Education, vol. 52 (2015)

05.07.2016 | 11.12.2021

In memoriam

Leonard Grochowski, Professor Tadeusz Bieńkowski (1932–2015). A Historian of Education, Science and Culture, as Remembered by his Peers

Fr Edward Walewander, Professor Teresa Kukołowicz, a Renowned Scholar

Articles

Piotr Gołdyn, Scientific circles on the demise of Sławomir Czerwiński, Minister of Religious Denominations and Public Education

Summary: In August of 1931 suddenly died Minister of Religion and Public Education Sławomir Czerwiński (1885–1931). His death obviously caused, which is understandable in such circumstances, different reactions. For this death also reacted educational environment, and these reactions can be summarized in two main levels – the shorter and longer. In the first it’s all about the attendance of students and teachers at his funeral, as well as celebration of requiem services in schools in September, after the beginning of the school year. In the longer term they are the different ways to commemorate Sławomir Czerwiński, starting of the publication of his speeches, through giving naval ship named after him or making him the patron of several schools at the end.

Joanna Nikel, Selman Selmanagic as an Architect and the Head of the Department of Architecture at the Kunsthochschule Berlin Weissensee from 1950 to 1970

Summary: The intention behind this article was to trace the didactic and architectural activity of Selman Selmanagic, the head of the Department of Architecture at the Kunsthochschule Berlin Weissensee from 1950 to 1970. The school, founded in 1946, was one of three higher learning institutions, along with the Hochschule fuer Architektur und Bauwesen Weimar and Technische Universitaet Dresden, to offer an education in architecture in the German Democratic Republic. It is impossible to discuss the academic and professional career of Selmanagic without examining it in the context of the history of the school with which he was strongly connected for over twenty years, and without discussing the cultural circumstances of the German Democratic Republic which conditioned the practice of architects of that era. The chief questions which this paper attempts to answer revolved around defining the professional and academic standing of the architect, who enjoyed the favour of neither party nor school officials. Answers were sought in German archives (Bundesarchiv, Landesarchiv, BStU), literature on the subject, and through research into oral history.

Marina Kibalna, Book Reviews Published in the “Universitetskie izvestiya”: Academic Self-Evaluation Criteria in Kiev

Summary: The article analyses such scholarly certification procedure in Russian universities as evaluation of theses submitted for obtaining academic degrees at the Imperial St. Vladimir University in Kiev. Drawing on reviews published in the “Universitetskie izvestiya”, the evaluation criteria are reconstructed as well as the making of conventions regulating the requirements dissertations were to meet. These criteria varied depending on the disciplinary affiliation of the applicant. The evaluation results often depended on reviewers’ preferences and could be challenged.

Streszczenie: W artykule przeanalizowano naukową procedurę certyfikacyjną, jakiej na rosyjskich uczelniach poddawane były prace przedstawiane w celu uzyskania stopni naukowych na Cesarskim Uniwersytecie św. Włodzimierza w Kijowie. W oparciu o opinie publikowane w „Uniwersitetskich Izwiestiach” rekonstruowane są ówczesne kryteria oceny, jak również sposób tworzenia konwencji regulujących wymagania stawiane przedstawianym rozprawom. Kryteria te były zróżnicowane w zależności od przynależności ubiegającego się o przyznanie stopnia do konkretnej dyscypliny naukowej. Wyniki oceny często zależały od preferencji recenzentów i bywały kwestionowane.

Adam Tyszkiewicz, Marshal Józef Piłsudski and the University of Warsaw

Summary: The article deals with the connections of Marshal Joseph Piłsudski to the University of Warsaw. Piłsudski played a leading role in the regaining of Polish independence after a victory against Bolshevik Russia. Many students from the University of Warsaw fought in the Polish-Bolshevik war and formed the 36th regiment.
On the 2nd of May 1921 Piłsudski re-introduced the academic insignia to the University restoring its original nineteenth-century symbols and traditions. The university did not remain in debt to Piłsudski and awarded him, for the first time in the institution’s history, the title of doctor honoris causa. In the subsequent years Marshal Piłsudski’s connections to the university weakened, because of political divisions within Warsaw academic community and unfavorable Polish government policies towards the university’s autonomy. However, immediately after the Marshal’s death in 1935, the institution gained a new name – the University of Joseph Piłsudski in Warsaw. Achievements of this famous Polish hero were also commemorated at the University by many busts created by acknowledged Polish artists: Edward Wittig and Zofia Trzcińska-Kamińska. In the late thirties of the 20th century several university buildings and ventures were named after him and the cult of the Marshal at the University (propagated by the authorities) was highly noticeable.
The present year marks the 80th anniversary of the death of Marshal Joseph Piłsudski and at the same time, eight decades have passed since the University of Warsaw received its patron in the person of Piłsudski. It is worth therefore to remember this extraordinary figure of Warsaw’s higher education.

Sr Joanna Wiśniewska, Fr Dominik Zamiatała, Educational Rehabilitation Commissions in the Light of the Acts of the Ministry of Education in the Years 1956–1958

Summary: Postwar personnel policy in Polish People’s Republic schools led to elimination of teachers and employees at educational administration who did not agree on ideologisation of education and were acknowledged by the communist authorities as enemies of the socialist system. Personal cleansing, which was carried out for political reasons in the system of education, brought fatal consequences of a lack of qualified staff, and hence, deterioration of educational standards and the collapse of Polish education. The problem was officially exposed in the pages of press organ of the Ministry of Education in 1955. In the wake of the October thaw condemned the repression of teachers, demanding their rehabilitation and reintegration into workplace. Across the country emerged spontaneously educational rehabilitation committees whose activities straightened out ministerial decree dated. January 12, 1957 r. Evolved their central and local organizational structures. In total commissions issued 4464 final decisions, including positive – 3365, and negative – 899. As a result of rehabilitation returned to active service 307 retired teachers, 482 removed from their profession and 249 – for managerial positions. Many victims did not receive adequate compensation for their grievances. Educational activities of rehabilitation commissions, however, made possible the moral compensation for part of the victims, convicted to this moment for social and professional ostracism.

Materials

Witold Marcoń, The Teachers in Silesian Parliament

Summary: The problem of Polish political elites in Silesia in the interwar period was not been widely taken up. It seems, therefore, that selected from the interwar history of the Silesian province on the example of teachers who sit in the autonomous Silesian Parliament could be interesting topics at several points having its local characteristics. Who were the teachers who sit in the autonomous parliament. What were their internal dependencies, which decided about their fixation to changes in their composition, as far as their political position in the Parliament of Silesia was an inter-weave systems or nationality. Silesia was endowed with wide autonomy. Formal basis for these differences was the act of a constitutional rank organic statute. On the basis of work Silesian Parliament which worked 11 teachers. Teachers in the local parliament were the state in a highly responsible for the fate of the country in the interwar period. Teachers participated in various school issues. Involved in educational issues in the autonomous parliament.

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