Quite recently a session of Chuvash National Congress activists took place in which the transportation of the sculpture of the monument to famous Chuvash teacher Gennady Volkov from Belarus was discusses.

The members of a committee involved in the mission announced that additional 200000 roubles ($3000) was necessary to complete installation. The Congress President Nikolai Ugaslov is to give $1500, the rest is still to be collected.

There's hardly anyone who doesn't know the name of Gennady Volkov in Chuvashia. He is most famous for his leading role in the field of Ethnopedagogics, a science of educating children based on wits and mind of ancestors aggregated over centuries. Parents and children in Chuvashia can easily relate to the methods of making children aware of their behavior and resulting consequences not by physically punishing or using the power of conviction or condescending, but directing with kind wisdom.

I remember, how I would feel shame and start behaving just after my grandmother kindly saying: 'Oh, a sledge turned over on the slope of Wolfvalley' when she saw us become naughty. I don't remember her ever raising voice or calling names. It is this simple yet effective tricks that Gennady Volkov collected and tested for further use in educational practice. His example inspired many people in Eastern Europe to look for simple answers for very important educational dilemmas in the collective memory of their respective societies.

Author: Taisia Tashney