The discovered fragment of Pan Misza’s typescript offers a brilliant and rare insight into how the practical, "Korczakian" formation of young educators and bursars looked at the Orphans’ Home on Krochmalna Street.
The discovered fragment of Pan Misza’s typescript offers a brilliant and rare insight into how the practical, "Korczakian" formation of young educators and bursars looked at the Orphans’ Home on 92 Krochmalna Street:
The Topography of the Orphans’ Home (“The Bar Under the Stairs”): The detail about the “second supper for the bursars” and the unique name of that corner—“the bar under the stairs”—is a priceless factographic gem. It reveals the internal, intimate life of the boarding home, which cannot be found in official pedagogical textbooks. It proves that the bursars created their own autonomous peer community within the building.
The Key Quality of an Educator – The Memory of One’s Own Childhood: Korczak’s response constitutes a powerful foundation of his pedagogy. The Old Doctor did not want rigid, authoritarian educators who mechanically separate fighting children. He valued much more in my Father the fact that he had preserved a vivid memory of the mechanics of the boyhood world (“From my own boyhood years, I remember...”). Korczak’s sentence: “When you are young, you feel just as children do” is direct proof of how the Old Doctor built Pan Misza’s self-confidence as a future educator.
The Parallel with "The Academy of Patience" from 1909: This text from the 1930s rhymes perfectly with the article by Korczak from 1909 analyzed on my blog, which detailed the school for backward children in the institution on Oboźna Street. There, Korczak wrote about the necessity of passing through an "academy of patience" so that a young schoolmistress could gain indulgence and reverence for the child's intellect. In this typescript, we see how Pan Misza undergoes exactly the same kind of personal "academy" under the guidance of the Doctor himself.
W h e n Y o u A r e Y o u n g . . .
One of my very first conversations with the Doctor was quite an unforgettable experience. In the evening, during the second supper /intended only for the bursars/, in a small corner we called "the bar under the stairs," the Doctor suddenly turned directly to me and said: "I am curious to know why you stood aside and did not react when the boys were fighting." Caught off guard, I remained silent for a long moment. Finally—even though I felt his words as a bit of an accusation—I managed a candid response: "From my own boyhood years, I remember that interfering in a fight only agitates the opponents further. The combat between those fierce roosters—as I observed it—was not dangerous. Therefore, it seemed to me that any intervention in this particular case simply made no sense."
It was only the Doctor's conclusion that rescued me—a complete novice—from my uncertainty, bringing me an immense sense of satisfaction. "Rightly so, rightly so," he repeated thoughtfully. "When you are young, you feel just as children do. That is important. It is a major asset in the work of an educator."
Such was my immeasurable educational success. Those initial "pedagogical" conversations with Dr. Korczak truly lifted my spirits.
