On my way to work in the morning, my eye caught on a book stall. I was disappointed to find it had nothing but fiction. But today the seller got lucky: I noticed a book by Anton Semyonovich Makarenko titled “Pedagogical Poem.” Anton Makarenko is our countryman, an outstanding educator who, in the 1920s, founded a labor colony for troubled teenagers in the Poltava region. And the book is about exactly that.

The book did not disappoint. Already on page sixteen, there’s a scene describing the colony’s director beating one of its wards. With genuine interest, I continue reading. I think I need to start taking notes.

I love the pedagogy of the old Soviet school!