A prominent Russian social figure and pedagogical publicist N. V. Shelgunov. To the 200th anniversary of his birth

The article shows the facts of the biography and reveals the progressive pedagogical ideas of a prominent Russian public figure, democrat, teacher-publicist of the second half of the XIX century Nikolai Vasilyevich Shelgunov (1824-1891). An assessment of his contribution to the national pedagogical thought is given, the content of some of his pedagogical articles is revealed, such as "The results of D. A. Tolstoy's 14-year activity in the Ministry of Public Education", "About the Zemstvo school", "Pedagogical confusion", "Letters on education", "What women do not know", etc. Shelgunov's works cover the issues of the history of the development of education in Russia over the last century, characterize modern phenomena in Russian education, and touch upon the main directions of pedagogical thought. The works of N.V. Shelgunov provide a scientifically based critical assessment of some of the works of such famous pedagogical authors as L. N. Tolstoy and M. B. Chistyakov. Shelgunov is characterized as a follower of the democratic traditions of K. D. Ushinsky, N. I. Pirogov, P. G. Redkin in Russian pedagogy of the second half of the XIX century. The article is dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the birth of N.V. Shelgunov.