The Diaries of a Smolyanka

The Smolny Institute, established by the order of Catherine II, is the first women's educational institution in Russia, aimed at "providing the state with educated women, good mothers, and useful members of family and society." Over time, the nature of the institution changed, becoming a closed privileged establishment, behind whose beautiful facade lay a barracks regime, and studying consisted of mindless rote learning. In her memoir essay, Elizabeth Vodovozova candidly describes the institute's morals: the strictness of the teachers, the traditional game of adoration, meager meals, and superficial study of subjects. She describes the educational reform of K. D. Ushinsky, which awakened in the young Smolyanka an interest in gaining new knowledge and completely transformed her understanding of what education is.