Commission of National Education

This article is about an 18th century Polish institution.For others, see Commission of National Education(disambiguation).The Commission of National Education (Polish:

Bishop of Vilnius, Ignacy Massalski, the first Chairman of theCommission of National Education, removed from this postin 1776 because of the, allegedly, financial misdemeanour inLithuanian schools; subsequently his eminence became one ofthe leading members of Targowica Confederation

Komisja Edukacji Narodowej, abbreviated KEN,Lithuanian: Edukacinė komisija) was the centraleducational authority in the Polish–Lithuanian Com-monwealth, created by the Sejm and the King StanisławAugust Poniatowski on October 14, 1773. Becauseof its vast authority and autonomy, it is considered thefirst Ministry of Education in European history and animportant achievement of the Polish Enlightenment.[1][2]

1 History

1.1 The Genesis

The chief reason behind its creation was that in Polandand Lithuania, the Jesuits ran an extensive system of ed-ucational institutions.[3] Although the Jesuit schools werefairly efficient and provided the Polish youth with a good

Hugo Kołłątaj reformed Cracow Academy during 1777–1780

education, they were also very conservative. In addition,in 1773 the Pope decided to close down the Jesuit order(Dominus ac Redemptor).[3] This threatened a completebreakdown of education in the Commonwealth.One of the first items on the parliamentary agenda of thePartition Sejm (1773–1775), which acceded to the FirstPartition of Poland, was the assessment in how to bestutilise the former Jesuit property and declaration of a firmintention to the continuity of the education system.[3]

The Commission was formally created on October 14,1773.[3] It was one of the newly set-up “Grand Com-missions"; organisations with the status of a ministry, al-beit with a collegiate structure.[3] Its main mastermindand chief figure was a Catholic priest, Hugo Kołłątaj;other notable supporters included Ignacy Potocki andAdam K. Czartoryski.[3] Initially, the governing bodyconsisted of 4 senators and 4 members of the Sejm, halfof them representing the eastern “counties”voivodships ofthe Commonwealth (from the Grand Duchy of Lithua-nia). The first head of the KEN was Prince BishopMichał Jerzy Poniatowski. Although the other mem-bers were mostly magnate politicians, the main foundersof the body were the prominent writers and scientists

1

2 1 HISTORY

Ignacy Potocki – chairman of the Society for Elementary Books

The Russian ambassador Otto Magnus von Stackelberg was per-suaded to accept (in the name of the Empress Catherine II) thelaw establishing the Commission of National Education

of the epoch: Franciszek Bieliński, Julian Ursyn Niem-cewicz, Feliks Oraczewski, Andrzej Gawroński, DawidPilchowski, Hieronim Stroynowski and Grzegorz Pi-ramowicz. They were joined by Pierre Samuel Du Pontde Nemours, the Secretary of the King of Poland (andfather of the founder of the DuPont company).

Despite the fact that, initially, the KEN had to face astrong opposition in the Sejm, it was supported by boththe monarch and the Familia party, which accorded it al-most complete independence in management of its af-fairs.

1.2 The Early (Formative) Period (1773–1780)

In 1773 the KEN was granted much of the former prop-erty of the Jesuit order, including all the schools, andmany palaces and Church-owned villages.[3] Due to thisfact, the Commission had not only benefited from the nec-essary infrastructure, but also had its own profit-yieldingfarms.The Commission supervised two universities (theJagiellonian University in Kraków and the VilniusUniversity in Vilnius), 74 secondary schools and about1600 parish schools.[3] The third Commonwealth’suniversity, the Lwów University, has been lost to theAustrian Partition.[3]

Soon afterwards Hugo Kołłątaj prepared a three-level-based education plan:

1. Parochial schools – for peasants and burghers;

2. Powiat schools – mostly for children of the szlachta(nobility); however, children of lower classes werealso admitted;

3. Universities – Academy of Warsaw, Academy ofVilnius and Academy of Kraków

Since all prior education in the Polish–Lithuanian Com-monwealth was conducted mostly in Latin, the KENfaced the problem of an almost complete lack ofbooks and manuals. To cope with the problem theSociety of Elementary Books (Towarzystwo Ksiąg Ele-mentarnych) was, therefore, established.[3] The Societysponsored competitions for creating the best textbooks.[3]The scientists—working on the new Polish languagetextbooks—had, at times, to come up with the necessaryvocabulary entries. Much of the vocabulary they invented(in relation to Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics or Gram-mar) is still in use up to this day.The Commission also devised several documents, outlin-ing the whole educational process. However, several ofthe new principles were considered too novel for that age,and were often ignored. These included, inter alia, theprinciple of 'equality of both sexes’ in education. In 1780,the Opposition refused to sign the Statute on ElementarySchools (which was drafted by Kołłątaj).In 1774 the Commission took over the Załuski Library.

3

1.3 The Second Phase (1781–1788)

After the formative period, during which the prerogativesof the Commission were established, the KEN started toconvert schools to the new model. The three universitiesin Warsaw, Vilnius and Kraków were granted the right ofcuratorship over schools of lower degree. This includedthe schools which remained under the influence of theRoman Church. Gradually, the teachers, who were fre-quently former Jesuit priests, were exchanged for younglay teachers - graduates of the three academies. Thanksto this move, the opposition inside the local schools wasfinally broken.

1.4 The Third Phase (1788–1794)

After 1789 the supporters of reforms in the Polish Sejmgradually started to lose their influence. Similarly, theKEN was deprived of many of its former privileges.During the Sejm Wielki the Reformers had to sacrificemany of those privileges in order to gain support for theConstitution of May the 3rd. Ultimately, after the victoryof the Confederation of Targowica, in 1794, the KEN lostcontrol over most of the schools in the Commonwealthand many of its members were banished or had to defectabroad. This included Hugo Kołłątaj himself, who had toescape to Dresden.

2 The Legacy

Although the Commission had only functioned for around20 years, it managed to completely change the shape ofeducation in Poland. The Enlightenment-based schoolprogrammes and books influenced the whole generationof Poles. Also, although education was still far from be-ing universal, it became accessible to a much wider groupof people, including peasants. Thousands of teachers—trained in lay teachers’ seminaries—became the back-bone of Polish science during the Partitions and the gen-eration, educated in the schools created and supervisedby the KEN, gave rise to the most prominent personali-ties of the Polish Uprisings and of politics in Central Eu-rope in the 19th century. In addition, the 27 elementarytextbooks and manuals, published by the Commission,laid the foundations for the Polish language terminologyin Chemistry, Physics, Logics, Grammar and Mathemat-ics. They were used by all prominent Polish scientists andauthors of the 19th century, from Adam Mickiewicz toBolesław Prus and from the Lwów School of Mathemat-ics to the Lwów–Warsaw School of History. The Guide-book to Chemistry, by Jędrzej Śniadecki, remained in usein the Polish schools well beyond the 1930s.It is often argued, with quite some force, that because ofthe efforts of the Commission of National Education, thePolish language and culture did not disappear into obliv-

ion, during the Partitions of Poland - heavy Russificationand Germanisation notwithstanding.

3 Notes[1] Ted Tapper; David Palfreyman (2005). Understanding

Mass Higer Education: Comparative Perspectives On Ac-cess. RoutledgeFalmer. p. 140. ISBN 978-0-415-35491-2. Retrieved 17 March 2013.

[2] Norman Davies (28 February 2005). God’s Playground:1795 to the present. Columbia University Press. p. 167.ISBN 978-0-231-12819-3. Retrieved 17 March 2013.

[3] Jacek Jędruch (1998). Constitutions, elections, and legisla-tures of Poland, 1493–1977: a guide to their history. EJJBooks. p. 163. ISBN 978-0-7818-0637-4. Retrieved 13August 2011.

4 External links• KEN in Polish State Archives

• Polish Ministry of Education

4 5 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

5 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

5.1 Text• Commission of National Education Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commission_of_National_Education?oldid=660446345Con-tributors: Choster, Owen, Halibutt, Andycjp, Piotrus, Emax, Sam Hocevar, LeeHunter, RJHall, Pearle, Logologist, Woohookitty, Lokyz,Tabletop, Eubot, Sonitus, SylwiaS, CambridgeBayWeather, Howcheng, Renata3, Gadget850, TheMadBaron, Whobot, Curpsbot-unicodify,Listowy, Appleseed, SmackBot, Greenshed, Escottf, Mathiasrex, Bonás, Umedard, Thijs!bot, Biruitorul, Bot-maru, Iulius, XRiffRaffx,Thaurisil, M0RD00R, Jotel, Lightmouse, Hadrianheugh, Jacurek, Niceguyedc, Addbot, J04n, GrouchoBot, Omnipaedista, FrescoBot,D'ohBot, Jauhienij, Orenburg1, Paclaw, Lotje, Mirek12, John of Reading, ZéroBot, Piast93, Helpful Pixie Bot, Hmainsbot1 and Anony-mous: 12

5.2 Images• File:Hugon_Kołłątaj.PNG Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/Hugon_Ko%C5%82%C5%82%C4%85taj.PNG License: Public domain Contributors: web (similar: [1]) Original artist: Józef Peszka

• File:Ignacy_Massalski.PNG Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/Ignacy_Massalski.PNG License: CC BY3.0 Contributors: Image taken by User:Mathiasrex Maciej Szczepańczyk Original artist: Marcello Bacciarelli

• File:Ignacy_Potocki.PNG Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/Ignacy_Potocki.PNG License: Public domainContributors: Original author unknown. Image source: scanned or photographed from albumWilanów Collection. Published by theWilanówPalace Museum, Warsaw 2005 Original artist: Anna Rajecka

• File:Otto_Magnus_von_Stackelberg.JPG Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/Otto_Magnus_von_Stackelberg.JPG License: Public domain Contributors: http://www.bildarchivaustria.at/Bildarchiv//719/B7936901T7936906.jpg Originalartist: Anonymous

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