Pedagogical Poem

The name A. S. Makarenko has become one of the symbols of the Soviet era, and his works were the most popular during those years in youth education. The world has changed, daily life has been dramatically transformed, one political regime has been replaced by another... Yet Makarenko's writings remain as in demand as ever.
“In September 1920, the head of the regional education department summoned me and said: ‘Here's the thing, brother...’” This is how the “Pedagogical Poem” (1935) begins. A school teacher was offered to head a colony for juvenile offenders. He agreed. Thus began the history of the children's colony named after Gorky. Makarenko constructs his book as a calm, slightly ironic narrative, hiding the secret of his educational system “between the lines.”