The Pupil of the People: Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy's Peasant Schools at Yasnaya Polyana

In the late 1850s, Tolstoy began investigating popular education, as well as contemplating the establishment of his own peasant schools on his Yasnaya Polyana estate. At the turn of the decade, Tolstoy founded his school.[6] While this venture lasted only about three years, it represented the concerted effort of one of the world's most famous literary figures to alter the state of Russia's educational system. Furthermore, this event illustrates the multifaceted nature of Tolstoy himself; even in this early stage of Tolstoy's literary career, he shows signs of radical dissent from the established order in the desire to improve Russian society.