The question of classical education in Fyodor Dostoevsky's journalism

The article discusses the coverage of the dispute about classical and practice-oriented education in the magazines Time, Epoch and The Citizen during the period when F. M. Dostoevsky worked in them. Journalistic texts both written and edited by Dostoevsky are analyzed from this perspective for the first time. The relevance of the topic is determined by the need to clarify the literary and pub-licistic context in which Dostoevsky was immersed due to his personal interests and professional duties. The purpose of the study was to analyze the authors’ positions in relation to classical education expressed in the publications of Time, Epoch and The Citizen magazines and clarify Dostoevsky’s opinion on this issue in accordance with the revealed context. The comparative analysis of publications on the subject under study revealed the main ideological positions expressed by the authors of the articles. For all their external differences (statements in favor of practice-oriented education, criticism or praise of classical education), all these positions are united by the belief in the need to bring the content of education in line with the benefits and needs of modern society. While agreeing with this to a large extent, Dostoevsky puts forward his own idea: without totally rejecting classical education, the writer finds it necessary not to copy the European experience blindly, but to adjust it to Russian requirements and conditions, focusing primarily on the national culture and history. According to Dostoevsky, it is classical education that is able to resist utilitarianism and pragmatism spreading in the society, as it is directed towards an enduring value - the formation of a multifaceted and holistic personality. Thus, for Dostoevsky the journalistic themes become not just a reaction to the topics of the day, but an appeal to eternal philosophical questions that he is comprehending himself and offers his readers to comprehend.