Why Erisman's desk was uncomfortable, expert opinion. Research work "school desk". Changes in posture in students when using different types of school furniture

Erisman's desk

These desks existed unchanged until the second half of the twentieth century; our great-great-grandmothers and great-great-grandfathers and all those living today who were born at least before the year 50 sat on them! A rare example of a successful product design, comparable in distribution to a Kalashnikov assault rifle! But most of today’s young furniture makers simply don’t remember this desk. It didn't happen.

It was a powerful structure made entirely of solid oak, individual parts of which had a thickness of up to 40, and even up to 60 mm. This two-seater desk included two longitudinal runners, on which a seat with a backrest and an inclined tabletop with two folding flaps-lids were attached, under which there was a shelf for briefcases and a thick timber footrest. The edge of the tabletop farthest from the person sitting at the desk was made in the form of a narrow horizontal surface, on which there were two holes where porcelain inkwells were inserted, and two grooves for a pen or pencil. The entire bottom of the desk was painted with natural and harmless oil paint in a light brown color, and the tabletop was painted black, which changed to light green only in the early 60s of the last century. All the parts from which the desk was glued together did not have any sharp edges or corners. It is also interesting that the hinges of the hinged lids broke quite often, but were not sold anywhere, and their manufacture served as a wonderful activity for boys in labor lessons!

At such a desk, a student could sit in only one, only in the most comfortable position for him, like today’s astronaut in an individual seat. This was facilitated by the required height of the backrest, which supported the lower back, the correctly calculated level of the height of the footrest, the exact distance to it from the front edge of the seat, the correct angle of inclination of the tabletop, etc. And in order for the desks, as they now say, to grow with the student, they were produced in four standard sizes.

That is, already a century and a half ago, the safety of the child was put at the forefront! Everything was thought out and tested, and fully complied with the requirements of those sciences that were born much later than this desk itself - anthropometry and ergonomics. This happened almost a century before the developments of the Swedish hygienist B. Akerblom, who in the forties of the twentieth century conducted research comparing the shapes of various chairs, armchairs and seats with the anthropological characteristics of a person and created, half a century before the very concept of “design,” the so-called "The Akerblom Line", now known to every designer!

So, why are these items, so safe and preserving the health of children and adolescents, suddenly no longer available in our schools? Why are they preserved only in single copies, and only in museums? There is only one single class fully equipped with these desks - in the building of the Simbirsk gymnasium, where Lenin and Kerensky also studied! The fact is that such a desk has several significant disadvantages. One of them was that you could only get up from behind it by opening the lid, like the hatch of a tank turret. And every time, on the first of September, the teachers again and again trained the classes to get up from their desks without creating a deafening roar. If a student called to the blackboard stood up, then the textbook or its large notebook was moved with the raised lid forward, caught the inkwell, and all its contents were poured onto the back of the person sitting in front. Moreover, purple ink was then usually reduced with ammonia or ammonia-anise cough drops.

But the main difficulty was cleaning the premises. After all, the desks, connected in one longitudinal row and interlocked with each other by the protruding ends of their runners, are an impregnable structure, almost inaccessible to a broom and a rag. After all, when after the revolution the position of cleaners was abolished, and Chekhov’s slogan came into effect: “it’s not clean where they sweep...”, the cleaning was entrusted to the schoolchildren themselves. As a result, real cleaning of the floor began to be done only in the summer - when it was repainted... This very miracle desk was developed not by anyone, but by Erisman himself, the famous Russian hygienist of the nineteenth century, whose name is given to several institutes. Such desks with an inclined work surface, a backrest and a footrest help maintain correct posture. And the eyes strain less.

In his work “The Influence of Schools on the Origin of Myopia” (1870), he pointed out the increase in the number of myopic children and the increasing degree of myopia among students as they neared graduation. Having revealed the reasons for this phenomenon, F.F. Erisman developed measures to prevent myopia and hygienic requirements for classroom lighting. It was he who proposed the design of the desk, which later received the name “Erisman’s desk,” and determined the basic requirements for the design of the desk and its dimensions. F.F. Erisman summarized the results of these studies in the project of the so-called model classroom.

Rice. 3. The main elements of the desk and their dimensions: A - horizontal board of the desk lid; B, C - inclined board; B - fixed part; B - rising part; G - back of the bench; E - side racks; F - runners-bars; CG - center of gravity; TO is the fulcrum.

The height of the bench seat should correspond to the length of the shin from the popliteal fossa to the sole plus 2 cm for the thickness of the heel. When seated correctly, the leg at the knee joint should be bent at a right angle. The depth of the seat should be such that most of the thigh (2/3-3/4) rests on the seat. The back of the desk is made of one or two bars, preferably two, which provide lumbosacral and subscapular support. Differentiation - the vertical distance from the edge of the table to the plane of the seat - should be equal to the distance from the elbow (with the arm lowered and bent at the elbow joint) to the seat plus 2 cm. Normally, this is 1/7-1/8 of the height. Bench distance - the horizontal distance between the back edge of the desk table and the front edge of the seat - reflects the relationship between the edge of the table and the edge of the bench. There are positive, zero, negative distances. The bench distance must be negative, i.e. the edge of the bench should extend under the edge of the table by 3-4 cm (Fig. 4).

Rice. 4. Desk seat distance: A - negative; B - zero; B - positive

school desk erisman myopia

The optimal table length for different desk numbers ranges from 120 to 140 cm. The desk table cover should have a slope of 15°. With such an inclination, the axis of vision is perpendicular to the plane of the book, which creates good visibility with less strain on the organ of vision. Currently, new models of desks (light, light-colored) have been developed and are being developed. By comparing the size of individual parts of the table and chair with the corresponding dimensions of the student’s body, it is determined whether the table and chair correspond to the person sitting behind it. The desk or table and chair of each room are intended for a specific height group. Student tables and chairs are made in five groups: A for students with a height of up to 130 cm; B " " " " from 131 to 145 cm; B " " " " " 146 " 160 "; G " " " " " 161 " 175 "; D "" "" more than 176 cm. Each desk or student table with a chair must be marked: on the outer side surface of the desk or table there is a raised marking indicating the table number in the numerator and the student's position in the denominator. For example, G/161-175. In addition, an additional color marking in the form of a circle with a diameter of 25 mm or a horizontal strip (ring) with a width of 20 mm must be applied on both outer sides of the student desk. On student chairs, relief markings are applied to the back surface of the back, and color markings are applied to the legs on both sides of the chair. The following color markings have been established for student tables and chairs: for group A - yellow " B - red " C - blue " D - green " D - white According to the new GOST for school furniture, student tables and chairs are made of two types: Type I - c with constant parameters and II - with adjustable parameters, and student tables can be single or double. The working surface of tables must be finished with transparent varnishes or emulsions and other materials that meet hygienic requirements, have a light color, even tone and color, and can be washed with warm water (60°) using detergents. Blackboards 3-3.5 m long and 1.2 m wide are usually located in the middle of the front wall of the classroom. The bottom edge of the board should rise slightly above the desks. In elementary schools, the board is strengthened at a level of 80-85 cm from the floor, and in middle and high schools - 90-95 cm. A tray is made along the lower edge of the board to prevent contamination of the floor with chalk dust. Hooks are attached to the top edge of the board for hanging tables. There should be additional local lighting above the boards. The surface of the board should be flat, smooth, matte. Linoleum, plastic, and rubber are used to cover chalkboards. The color of the board for drawing rooms is recommended to be black, and in other cases - dark green or brown.

How many children today know what she looked like? We think that they are most likely familiar with the modern one, and its history of its appearance is hidden behind the veil of time. However, each generation had its own.
Now let's talk about everything in order...
IN ancient Greece, Rome or Egypt, the desk served as an ordinary wooden or clay tablet lying on his lap.

Students humbly sat on the steps of the enfilade or staircase of the temple dedicated to the ancient Gods of Olympus and listened for hours, and sometimes simply crammed tedious postulates, sophisticated theorems and axioms, obediently and carefully repeating them after the philosophers. Public lectures in small coliseums were also popular. By the way, this is where streaming audiences originate.

Already in the Middle Ages, the teacher had significantly fewer students (both due to wars and epidemics, and due to the general decline in interest in education) and they began to sit next to him.
In Rus', at the same time, children were seated on benches along the walls of the hut, leaving space in the middle for the lecturer to work.

A little later, a supplier appeared in Europe - a cabinet or desk with a folding shelf for the convenience of writing and storing writing instruments.

Only in the 19th century did doctors think about the influence of a teenager’s workplace on his health?
And the first to show the world a real, specially designed student desk was the Russian scientist Fyodor Fedorovich Erisman. Initially, only one person could handle it.

However, due to the high cost of furniture, double products from the same designer gained popularity in the 20th century.

For more than a hundred years, the invention of the Russian scientist was popular.
Pay attention to the photo from the 1950s.
Can anyone recognize their grandfather or grandmother?

However, in the 1970s, it was decided to seat the kids back at regular tables.

Today, teachers and parents who care about their children understand how useful Erisman’s model was and are gradually returning to similar designs.
Today, the best option and modern prototype of such models is, or in other words, which ensures the correct anatomical fit of the child while learning at school or at home, helping to successfully fight against scoliosis or deterioration of the child’s vision.

Introduction.

School furniture in all its diversity did not appear in history right away. The history of school furniture began with the most necessary item for classes -school desk . Although many, out of habit, call the tables in the classroom desks. But for more than 100 years, the desk was the companion of any schoolchild from the first grade to the receipt of a matriculation certificate!

In ancient schools, students were not provided with any special desks or tables. Schoolchildren from the times of Ancient Hellas or Rome wrote on a wax-covered tablet, placing it on their laps.

In the Middle Ages and later times, all students under the supervision of a teacher sat at one table. In some countries they sat on chairs, and in Rus', as a rule, on wooden benches. Then the schoolchildren began studying on the so-called stand - a table with a folding, inclined board, at which they worked while standing. These supplies did not take root at school, but over time they turned into a stationery “office” (it can be seen in drawings and paintingsXIXcentury) and the secretary you know well (which, however, is used while sitting on a chair).

But by the middleXIX

The first to come up with the idea of new school furniture was the famous Russian scientist, professor at Moscow University, specializing in human hygiene, Fedor Fedorovich Erisman...The first attempt to somehow solve the problem of the correct seating of the student in the classroom was crowned with success approximately at the beginning of the second halfXIXcentury, when the Supreme Decree ordered that all schools use desks of the same type.

Target: to investigate and compare the degree of effect of the shape and type of school desk on the health of the student.

Tasks :

Study the literature on this topic;

Get acquainted with the history of the origin of the school desk and its improvement;

Introduce the history of the emergence of a school desk in Russia;

Identify the advantages and disadvantages of a school desk;

Consider the types of school desks in different countries peace;

To analyze the nature of the impact of school desks on the health of students;

Show the change in the school desk over time and its modern improvement.

Research methods : analysis of literature on the research problem, sociological survey, statistical data, use of Internet resources, adjustments in the design of desks.

Hypothesis : the impact of school desk design on student health.

Object of study : students of MBOU "Lyantorskaya Secondary School No. 3".

Subject of research: school desk.

Practical significance of the project : this project helps to find out the importance of proper school furniture in the formation of a healthy child’s body, the influence of a school desk on the prevention of childhood scoliosis and the development of early myopia in schoolchildren, the formation of correct posture; shows how the convenience of a school desk affects a child’s perseverance and his ability to better assimilate educational material.

Chapter 1. History of the school desk.

Towards the middleXIXcenturies, both teachers and doctors began to wonder - how does sitting for several hours in a row at a table that is not suitable for long studies affect the health of a schoolchild? After all, such an uncomfortable position is very harmful to the spine! Yes, and this deteriorates your eyesight...

The first to come up with the idea of new school furniture was the famous Russian scientist, professor at Moscow University, specializing in human hygiene, Fedor Fedorovich Erisman.

But Erisman’s desks were initially made single-seater. On the one hand, this is good: no one could copy from anyone, no one interfered with anyone. But such desks were quite expensive and took up a lot of space in the classroom. Therefore, most schools of the 20th century used desks for two.

The first attempt to somehow solve the problem of the correct seating of a student in the classroom was crowned with success approximately at the beginning of the second half of the 19th century, when the Supreme Decree ordered that all schools use desks of the same type.
These desks existed unchanged until the second half of the 20th century; our great-great-grandmothers and great-great-grandfathers and all those living today who were born at least before the 50th year sat on them! A rare example of a successful product design, comparable in distribution to a Kalashnikov assault rifle! But most of today’s young furniture makers simply don’t remember this desk. It didn't happen.
It was a powerful structure made entirely of solid oak, individual parts of which had a thickness of up to 40, and even up to 60 mm.

This two-seater desk included two longitudinal runners, on which a seat with a backrest and an inclined tabletop with two folding flaps-lids were attached, under which there was a shelf for briefcases and a thick timber footrest. The edge of the tabletop farthest from the person sitting at the desk was made in the form of a narrow horizontal surface, on which there were two holes where porcelain inkwells were inserted, and two grooves for a pen or pencil.

The entire bottom of the desk was painted with natural and harmless oil paint in a light brown color, and the tabletop was painted black, which changed to light green only in the early 60s of the last century. All the parts from which the desk was glued together did not have any sharp edges or corners. It is also interesting that the hinges of the hinged lids broke quite often, but were not sold anywhere, and their manufacture served as a wonderful activity for boys in labor lessons!

At such a desk, a student could sit in only one, only in the most comfortable position for him, like today’s astronaut in an individual cradle. This was facilitated by the required height of the backrest, which supported the lower back, the correctly calculated level of the height of the footrest, the exact distance to it from the front edge of the seat, the correct angle of inclination of the tabletop, etc. And in order for the desks, as they now say, to grow with the student, they were produced in four standard sizes.
That is, already a century and a half ago, the safety of the child was put at the forefront!
Everything was thought out and tested, and fully met the requirements. So, why are these items, so safe and preserving the health of children and adolescents, suddenly no longer available in our schools? Why are they preserved only in single copies, and only in museums? There is only one single class fully equipped with these desks - in the building of the Simbirsk gymnasium, where Lenin and Kerensky also studied!

1.2 Disadvantage of Erisman's desk
The fact is that such a desk has several significant disadvantages. One of them was that you could only get up from behind it by opening the lid, like the hatch of a tank turret. And every time, on the first of September, the teachers again and again trained the classes to get up from their desks without creating a deafening roar. If a student called to the blackboard stood up, then the textbook or its large notebook was moved with the raised lid forward, caught the inkwell, and all its contents were poured onto the back of the person sitting in front. Moreover, purple ink was then usually reduced with ammonia or ammonia-anise cough drops. But the main difficulty was cleaning the premises. After all, desks connected in one longitudinal row and interlocked with each other by the protruding ends of their runners are an impregnable structure, almost inaccessible to a broom and a rag. After all, when after the revolution the position of cleaners was abolished, and Chekhov’s slogan came into effect: “it’s not clean where it’s dirty...”, - The cleaning was entrusted to the schoolchildren themselves. As a result, real cleaning of the floor began only in the summer - when it was repainted... Such desks with an inclined work surface, a backrest and a footrest help maintain correct posture. And the eyes strain less.Since the students grew older year by year, desks were made for four age groups. Over time, such desks acquired holes for books, book holders and other devices, and began to be produced in a more diverse range of sizes...

1.3 School desk from the 60s.

In the early 60s of the last century, when housing construction finally began, another slogan was announced: “To a new apartment - with new furniture!” New desks were definitely needed! But the state could not bear the enormous costs of completely replacing them, and there simply is not enough oak growing in the country to produce millions of new desks at once.

That's when they came up with cheap tables on tubular metal legs, with an extension chair that could be placed with the legs up - with the seat on the tabletop - during cleaning. In addition, this design helped the teacher at the beginning of the school day to immediately see who was not at school that day. Then, during the “thaw” period, everyone really wanted to somehow move away from this sitting in the classroom in a strict pose, in a row, back to back. I dreamed of the American experience, when students seem to be engaged in a dialogue with the teacher, sitting at individual tables freely arranged in the classroom. But the harsh reality: the lack of teachers and school facilities soon again forced students to sit two at a time at newly designed tables, still lined up in three rows in the classroom.
Hygienists were immediately horrified by this furniture, back in the 60s, only once seeing how our student sat crookedly behind it.

1.4 Modern school desk.

Furniture for schools is not displayed in stores. It is ordered and purchased in bulk. Doing it is profitable. But to appreciate what our manufacturers offer today, just look through the pagesInternet.

The choice of school furniture is extremely poor. It is noticeable that its design was carried out by home craftsmen who not only did not read the current standards, but also did not even know how a desk differs from a table with a chair - a desk is now indiscriminately called everything that is intended for a student to study while sitting.

All school furniture is similar to what was made in the 60s, only it has become even worse - for some reason it has become unfashionable to comply with even the basic requirements of the standards. Instead of durable, multi-layer plastic, a laminated board is used, the furniture has sharp corners, there is no slope on the tabletops, their height is not adjustable, the height dimensions of children and adolescents are not taken into account, the chair is not adjustable in height, it is impossible to fix it at the required distance from table, no footrests, armrests. Schoolchildren inhale toxic emissions from chipboard throughout their ten years of study; I don’t even want to ask what kind of health our future generations will have. Just look at the statistics of military registration and enlistment offices when conscripting into the army...
It seems that those who develop these products are simply taking revenge on the younger ones for their past ten years of torment at school at an uncomfortable and dangerous table.

For more than 100 years, Erisman's desks stood in all classes of our schools, gradually improving, but without changing the basic idea. But in the 1970s they decided to “improve” school furniture: it’s a mess when modern children are forced to sit at desks invented in the time of Alexander the Second! However, creating something fundamentally new turned out to be more difficult than passing a government decree on this matter. Therefore, the good old desks were simply replaced with ordinary office tables and chairs. Such furniture does not contribute to the health of schoolchildren, and even more so to the growth of academic performance. There are, however, advanced schools that can afford to purchase new, practical and medically correct furniture.

But the design idea does not stand still. There are many projects (developments and even real samples) of the most modern school desks, which not only meet all the requirements of medical science, but also include many achievements of science and technology. Desks that grow with students, desks with computers built into them, and even interactive touch desks developed by Durham University scientists that combine keyboard and display functions. What a student “writes” at such a desk can immediately and easily “appear” on the blackboard or at the teacher’s desk. There is only one thing preventing the introduction of all new technology: such desks are still very expensive. And yet, let's hope that you still have to sit at such miracle desks. After all, time and scientists are working for you!

German school desk.

While busy with home comfort and interior design, we sometimes forget about our children. When getting them ready for school, we buy them a desk or desk, which we find in the nearest store or order from an online store. The main criterion in choosing drawers for storage is larger. Then the “child” sits down to do his homework, and we tell him: “sit up straight,” “you’ll break your eyes,” “you’ll get a hump,” well, and so on, depending on the parent’s imagination. All this is correct. It’s just that a child cannot sit at a table with a straight top without bending over.

Fortunately, times sometimes change. According to the new SanPiN, the table top of a school desk should have an inclination of 12 to 15 degrees. Sitting behind her, our children simply technically will not be able to “hunch over.” This is already anatomically laid down and invented a century ago .

Material: birch plywood. The intended coating is stain, polyurethane varnish. Height adjustment. Under the tabletop there is a drawer for storing notebooks and books. Will be supplemented with a stopper or gas lift.

A child working at such a desk gets less tired, and the natural material gives warmth and a feeling of comfort. At the moment, "field" tests have shown the full functionality of this desk.

Chapter 2. School desks in different countries of the world.

2.1 Peruvian school.

2.2 Nigeria School

2.3. German schoolchildren

2.4. School in Japan

Classical lesson Japanese language(Tokyo)

2.5 Schoolchildren in Brazil

2.6 English school

Chapter 3. The nature of the impact of school desks on the health of students.

3.1 Statistics

The issue of schoolchildren’s health worried both teachers and doctors back in the 19th century. According to sociological research We found that an uncomfortable position is very harmful to the spine (children's scoliosis develops).

And this causes vision to deteriorate and develop (myopia)…

The data is presented in a chart.

Currently, 3% of children in the first years of school already have visual impairments. By grades 3-4 this figure increases to 10%. In grades 7-8 it is 16%, and among high school students almost 20% suffer from myopia.

Today, myopia can rightfully be considered a “aging” disease. This disease is most often found in children aged 8 to 12 years, and in adolescence it intensifies.

Myopia in adolescents recent years has acquired truly frightening proportions - according to statistics, every third child aged 14-15 years suffers from myopia. Visual acuity stabilizes, as a rule, between the ages of 18 and 25 years.Among students in grades 1-2, myopia occurs in 3-6%, in grades 3-4 - in 6%, in grades 7-8 - in 16%, and in grades 9-10 - in more than 20% . Severe (high, advanced) myopia causes over 30% of low vision and blindness from all eye diseases; it is an obstacle to the choice of many professions.

According to medical examination data, the number of spinal diseases among schoolchildren has almost doubled in recent years. As a result, in four out of five cases this leads to “adult” osteochondrosis, which turns into intervertebral hernias, radiculitis, etc., and makes others disabled. According to in-depth pediatric examinations of children in preschool institutions, in the last decade, disorders of the musculoskeletal system are in first place among all encountered morphofunctional abnormalities. In senior preschool age(5-7 years old) the number of children with asymmetrical posture, with deformities of the chest and lower extremities is growing.

- What are the symptoms of the most common childhood orthopedic disease, scoliosis?

- The Greek word “scoliosis” (in Latin scoliosis) means “crooked”. The main symptom is lateral curvature of the spine and its twisting around its axis (torsion). But this disease should be considered not only as an orthopedic deformity, but as a complex disease of the skeletal and neuromuscular system of a growing organism. This progressive pathology, as it develops, causes severe, often irreversible deformations of the child’s skeleton. In patients with scoliosis, not only the figure is disfigured, but functional impairments occur internal organs, primarily the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. Short stature, stooping, and in severe cases, a hump, change the psyche of adolescents, especially girls - they become unsociable and irritable. By the way. Girls develop scoliosis 4-6 times more often than boys. The disease begins with poor posture. Parents should be the first to notice the anomaly. Incorrect posture in sitting, standing, and strange gait should not go unnoticed by teachers.

According to research, almost 70% of boys and girls acquire these terrible diseases at school, which means they can be prevented? What preventative measures would you recommend, a specialist who has been working with children for more than 30 years? - If outpatient care is provided in a timely manner, in children with poor posture and scoliosis, it is possible to stop the further increase in deformities and stabilize the spine. However, due to the lack of a unified state program and a poorly developed network of special medical institutions for the treatment of children with posture disorders and initial forms scoliosis, the vast majority of them are left without qualified assistance or fall into the hands of non-professionals. The problem is not only medical, but also socio-economic, requiring government intervention.

3.2 Changes in the school desk over time and its modern improvement. For more than 100 years, Erisman's desks stood in all classes of our schools, gradually improving, but without changing the basic idea. But in the 1970s they decided to “improve” school furniture: the good old desks were simply replaced with ordinary office tables and chairs. Such furniture does not contribute to the health of schoolchildren, and even more so to the growth of academic performance. There are, however, advanced schools that can afford to purchase new, practical and medically correct furniture.

Types of school desks:

School desk with adjustable height
1-seater or 2-seater (separate school table, and separate school chairs). A school desk without a tilting tabletop, suitable for first to senior grades. You can adjust the height of the table and chair to suit the changing growth of the child.

Anti-scoliosis school desk with adjustable height
1-seater or 2-seater (separate student table and separate student chairs).
A student or school desk is recommended for younger students, because... it has special grooves on the student’s side, which make it possible to sit as close to the table as possible and the student’s elbows will not sag, and accordingly the spine will be in the correct position. This student's school desk has a standard tabletop tilt of 7 degrees. The student can adjust the height of the school table and school chair to suit his height.

At the beginning academic year The exhibition “Country of Buccaneers” opened in Kirov. In the regional museum, children can find out what pre-revolutionary and Soviet schools were like, see archival photographs, primers and textbooks, and stationery. “Russian Planet” decided to support an interesting project and tell how things that have been integral attributes of school life have changed over two centuries.

School desk

Until the mid-19th century, children in schools sat on uncomfortable benches or chairs at the most ordinary tables. Due to constant stress, their posture and vision deteriorated over the years. Doctors started talking about this, and in 1870, ophthalmologist, founder of the Russian science of hygiene, Fyodor Erisman, created the world's first school desk - a combination of a chair connected to a table with an inclined table top and a footrest. This desk was designed so that the text in a textbook or notebook could only be read at a right angle and from an optimal distance of 30–40 centimeters, and slouching became simply impossible. Emperor Alexander II, by his highest decree, decided to equip all Russian schools without exception with the new product. It is still on display at the exhibition of achievements in Brussels as an unrivaled example of student furniture.

“Erisman’s desks had only one drawback - they were very expensive,” Galina Loscheva, a teacher of age-related anatomy and physiology, tells a RP correspondent. - Firstly, they were single - so the children, of course, did not cheat or distract each other, but large classes were required to seat all the students. Secondly, all the parts of the desks for structural strength were no thinner than 40 cm; they were made from solid oak, and this is an expensive tree. Thirdly, according to the standards developed by Erisman, each school was supposed to have seven modifications of desks so that children could change to ones that suited their height as they grew older. After their installation, the work of the cleaners was more expensive - the heavy desks could not be moved, and cleaning took a lot of time.”

IN late XIX century, exiled student Pyotr Korotkov, who worked as a teacher in the Ural village of Brusnyatsky, figured out how to almost halve expenses. He decided to make the desks double - so they took up less space in cramped classrooms - and to make it more convenient for children to get up from the table, make part of the tabletop folding. Since the students in the village classrooms did not have their own lockers, Korotkov at the same time decided to screw side hooks for briefcases to the desk, attach shelves for textbooks under the table, and make recesses on the tabletop for an inkwell. In the capital's schools, they used expensive non-spill inkwells - their edges were bent inward with a cone in the shape of a deep funnel, and the ink did not flow out if it was knocked over or turned over. And village schools couldn’t afford sippy cups, so any carelessness ended with a stain on textbooks or clothes. The recess in the countertop helped prevent this. Next to him, Korotkov also made two grooves for a pen and pencil - the village children did not have their own writing instruments, as well as pencil cases for carrying them.

Desk of Pyotr Korotkov. Photo: sgpress.ru

It was in this cheaper form that Erisman’s desks successfully migrated from tsarist schools to Soviet ones. And for years, educators continued to pressure children not to slam table tops as they stood up and sat down to greet the teacher at the beginning of class. True, over time, the problem resolved itself - the knocking became quieter, since desks began to be made not from expensive wood, but from cheap chipboards and metal pipes. At the same time, to save money, the chairs and table, which were previously rigidly fastened with runners, were separated, after which students were able to sit too far from the table or too close to it, and not at the optimal distance for vision. And then, when producing desks, they decided to limit themselves to just two modifications instead of seven - for younger schoolchildren and for other students, and as a result, the desks often did not suit their height.

“By the 70s of the last century, it became clear that the cheaper option did not work - children’s posture deteriorated and their vision deteriorated. Teachers attributed these deteriorations to the fact that children still sit at desks invented under Alexander II, continues Galina Loscheva. - And then they were replaced with office tables and chairs on metal legs made of hollow tubes. They were hard to break and could easily be lifted and placed on a table to clean the floor. They had no other advantages. The circle is closed - Russian schools have returned to furniture that is absolutely inconvenient for children, from which Erisman cleared them a century earlier.”

School board

Until the mid-19th century, there were no large blackboards that would hang on the wall in front of all children in Russian schools. But each student had his own small board, called slate or slate. In appearance, it resembled modern tablets and was made of a thin but durable layer of black slate, framed by a wooden frame. They wrote on slate boards with a stylus or an aluminum stick, and then erased what they had written with an ordinary rag. It was cheaper than writing with ink on paper.

“I first thought of connecting several small slate boards into one large one and fixing them on the wall in early XIX century James Pillans, the director of one of the Scottish schools, historian Roman Biryukov tells a RP correspondent. - As a geography teacher, he was the first to come up with the idea of using different colored crayons for drawings on the blackboard: blue for water, green for mountains, red to indicate battle sites. Moreover, he created his own recipe for making colored crayons, starting to color white chalk using a mixture of coloring pigment and oatmeal.

The rest of the school teachers quickly appreciated the Scotsman's invention. It made it possible to accompany an oral story with visual illustrations, and most importantly, to call students to the board to answer in front of the whole class. The fashion for school boards spread like an epidemic and reached Russia by the middle of the 19th century. True, the boards were made not from expensive slate, but from wood and then painted with matte paint in the usual black color - chalk inscriptions are clearly visible on it. By the way, if a gymnasium student, called to the blackboard, walked towards it too quickly or too slowly, he could be flogged for this.”

“In Soviet times, wooden school boards were replaced by cheap boards made of fiberboard or chipboard, framed with an aluminum corner,” continues Roman Biryukov. - Since the middle of the last century, three-section models have become popular - made from boards on hinges that open like window sashes. In the 80s, the most advanced teachers invited parents into their classrooms in the summer so that they could build a newfangled version on their own - a “sandwich” of several boards that moved apart like wardrobe doors. Then the fashion for green color spread as it was more gentle on eyesight.” Only one thing remained unchanged - they wrote on all these boards with chalk. And every time I had to wash it with a rag, getting my hands dirty. To ensure that there was no dust in the classroom, a specially appointed attendant had to ensure that the rag was always wet and clean.

Only in the 90s were rags finally replaced with special erasers for erasing, and the boards themselves began to be made on a metal base so that visual aids on magnets could be attached to them. Paint and plastic have been replaced by special enamels that do not glare in the sun. The discovery of the 21st century was ceramic coating and the use of rough porcelain, designed to last for decades. However, even such high-tech boards are now gradually being replaced by interactive ones.

School bag

The first school bags appeared only at the end of the 19th century. Before this, city schoolchildren went to the gymnasium with their textbooks and notebooks stacked and strapped with a special leather strap, while in villages children went to school with canvas bags over their shoulders. Briefcases were the prerogative of big lawyers and officials - they carried them under their arms, because there were no handles. When someone first thought of attaching a handle to them, schoolchildren immediately mastered the briefcases - so the textbooks no longer got wet in the rain. For schoolchildren, they were made of black genuine leather, with a lid covered with seal fur. And they served for so long that for decades they passed from older children to younger ones.

At the turn of the 20th century, the first briefcases with shoulder straps, or, as they said then, “helps,” appeared, which allowed them to free their hands. By analogy with the German army bags - Ranzen - they began to be called satchels. We went with them junior schoolchildren. As a rule, they were dark brown in color, and the straps were detachable so that the backpack could be turned into a regular briefcase when the child grew up.

“In the Soviet years, school bags began to be made not from genuine leather, but from cheap calico,” historian Georgy Ilyin tells a RP correspondent. - Fabric soaked in a special starch-kaolin solution was glued onto thick cardboard. Now you can see what calico is on the bindings of books published in those years. Such briefcases did not last long - they quickly cracked and the paper base became visible. And after the end of the Great Patriotic War many children went to school with field bags brought by their fathers from the front.

All students primary school in Soviet times, they were divided into October "stars", each of which had five people - according to the number of rays on the red star. The “star” on duty checked weekly the order in which classmates’ backpacks were kept, and whether all textbooks and notebooks were available. If they found something unnecessary - for example, rotten sandwiches, then they could easily get a bad mark for behavior and a reprimand in front of the whole class. It didn’t help much: both backpacks and briefcases were filled with textbooks, breakfasts, physical education uniforms, replacement shoes, skates and all sorts of little things, so much so that the film magazine “Yeralash” even made a special issue about it. According to the story, the world champion was unable to lift the briefcase that an ordinary Soviet schoolboy carried every day.”

In the 70s, when life in the country began to gradually improve, briefcases began to be made from leatherette - inexpensive artificial leather. It lasted a little longer than calico and cracked just as quickly. It was enough to drive such a briefcase down a hill a couple of times or hit a classmate on the head with it - and that’s it, you had to buy a new one. At the same time, briefcases for the first time began to be made in bright colors and decorated with printed designs.

“In the 80s, fashion changed: if previously all briefcases were strictly horizontal, now the first vertical models appeared, which were carried not by the handle, but on the shoulder. But they almost never appeared on the open market and there was a terrible shortage,” continues Georgy Ilyin. - And in the second half of the decade, the main source of pride for high school students were “diplomats” - suitcases covered in artificial leather or vinyl that could only be carried by the handle. Simpler models were made of plastic with a metal base. Most of all, they resembled cases in which mafiosi now transfer money to each other in Hollywood action films.”

Guys were especially eager to acquire diplomats - it was believed that they made them irresistible in the eyes of their peers. For high school girls, the highest chic was to come to school with a plastic bag, in which, between layers of plastic, a portrait of Alla Pugacheva printed on paper was inserted on one side, and Mikhail Boyarsky on the other. If you managed to get such a package, then the envy of your girlfriends knew no bounds. Such a package was treasured like the apple of one's eye - buy new chance nothing more could have been imagined. Teachers fought as best they could against the “indecent” fashion that arose as a result of the pernicious influence of the West. But no analysis of the behavior of violators on parent meetings, not even bad marks for behavior helped. In the 90s, diplomats and bags became obsolete, and it became possible to go to school with sports bags and the first school backpacks.

School diary

Although the word “diary” itself came into the Russian language back in the era of Peter the Great, special notebooks, which were called that, reached schools only in the 30s of the 20th century, after the educational reform. Then a five-point grading system was introduced, and they began to be listed in a document obligatory for each student - a diary. It was decided that each assessment would be certified by the teacher's signature, and parents would sign once a week, confirming that they had read them.

“The first Soviet diaries were published with a thick cardboard cover in white or gray and cost 95 pre-reform kopecks,” says Roman Biryukov. - Those who tried to sell them at a higher price faced up to 10 years in prison, as warned by the inscription printed on the diary: “Sale at a price higher than indicated is punishable by law.” There were no colored pages or drawings in the diaries; everything was very strict and official. On the first pages, the student had to independently write a complete list of school subjects and the names of teachers for each of them. At the end there were printed instructions on how to correctly fill out this document. The pages were numbered so that none of them could be snatched out or destroyed. There were no sheets listing student rights, which are often found in modern diaries. But a blotter was always included - a special piece of paper that had to be applied each time to the inscriptions made in ink so that they would not smudge or be imprinted on the opposite page when the diary was closed.”

In the second half of the 20th century, school diaries changed. At the end they appeared additional pages- “Remarks class teacher”, “Socially useful work”, “Practice”, “Accounting for passing the GTO standards”, “Information about the student’s progress and behavior”. Words of the USSR anthem or patriotic poems began to be printed on the back cover Soviet poets. At the same time, special covers made of red artificial leather appeared on sale, which could be put on top of cardboard ones.

“In the 80s, the attitude towards the diary became more liberal; it ceased to be such a strict official document as before,” continues Roman Biryukov. - It was no longer considered a crime to stick a bright “transfer” sticker or a picture cut out from a magazine on the cover, or to write the days of the week with colored felt-tip pens. Flowers drawn on pages were no longer expelled from school. At the same time, poor students for the first time began to keep two diaries - one for A's, which they proudly brought to their parents for signature, and the second for bad grades. Only teachers saw this diary. But people were still kicked out of class for not having a diary.”

The 90s put an end to uniformity, opening up full scope for creativity among school diary makers. And the 21st century may put an end to their very existence - in many schools, reporting on student performance is already carried out on the Internet, and not on paper.

While busy with home comfort and interior design, we sometimes forget about our children. When getting them ready for school, we buy them a desk or desk, which we find in the nearest store or order from an online store. The main criterion in choosing drawers for storage is larger. Then the “child” sits down to do his homework, and we repeat to him: “sit up straight,” “you’ll break your eyes,” “you’ll make a hump,” well, and so on, depending on the parent’s imagination. All this is correct. A child simply cannot sit at a table with a straight top without bending over.

A little history: The school desk was developed not by anyone, but by Erisman himself, the famous Russian hygienist of the nineteenth century, whose name is given to several institutes. Such desks with an inclined work surface, a backrest and a footrest help maintain correct posture. And the eyes strain less. In his work “The Influence of Schools on the Origin of Myopia” (1870), he pointed out the increase in the number of myopic children and the increasing degree of myopia among students as they neared graduation. Having revealed the causes of this phenomenon, F. F. Erisman developed measures to prevent myopia and hygienic requirements for lighting in classrooms. It was he who proposed the design of the desk, which later received the name “Erisman’s desk,” and determined the basic requirements for the design of the desk and its dimensions. F. F. Erisman summarized the results of these studies in the project of the so-called model classroom. She looked something like this:

It is well known to the older generation; it has some inconveniences, but the main thing is that it does not spoil the child’s posture. Then new desks came, but there was still the main thing is the angle of the tabletop .

Then time passed... These desks were gone... Osteochondrosis and myopia became occupational diseases among schoolchildren. Fortunately, times sometimes change. According to the new SANPIN, the tabletop of a school desk should have from 12 to 15 g. tilt Sitting behind her, our children simply technically will not be able to “hunch over.” This is already anatomically laid down and invented a century ago. All this was inspired by September 1st and the back of my child sitting at the cash register. After studying history and new school standards, I made a prototype.

While it does not have a mandatory coating (dark color + matte varnish), something may need to be added. The main thing is the working design, since completely different materials were used. Material: birch plywood. The intended coating is stain, polyurethane varnish. Height adjustment. Under the tabletop there is a drawer for storing notebooks and books. Will be supplemented with a stopper or gas lift.

A child working at such a desk gets less tired, and the natural material gives warmth and a feeling of comfort. At the moment, "field" tests have shown the full functionality of this desk.

These are already in-line options, finishing is walnut stain, primer, Sayerlak matte polyurethane varnish.

Andrey Gribkov , October 18, 2011

In addition, from the editors of the site.

The design of Erisman's desk is not only the angle of inclination of the tabletop, it is a whole complex of ergonomic solutions. Thus, Erisman’s real desk is inseparably combined with a bench, which is located strictly at a certain distance from the edge of the tabletop and strictly corresponds to the height of the tabletop. Therefore, desks according to their characteristics are divided into!!! 12 height groups . A real Erisman desk is also characterized by the presence of a footrest, placed according to the height group at a strictly defined distance and height.

The joint design of the desk and bench is a prerequisite that guarantees the correct position and condition of the child’s body. And self-made “hybrids” and “ersatz” Erisman desks, made without precise knowledge of ergonomics, if they do not bring further hidden or obvious harm, then in any case there is no benefit either.

Pay attention to the photo, which was posted in the public domain by the author above the article posted. The photo shows a child sitting at such an ersatz Erisman desk. The photo is most likely staged and therefore hardly corresponds to the actual position of the child during everyday use, but even in such a report-staged photo the condition of the child’s spine can be clearly seen. The author of the article, although he made a reference to the history of the design of Erisman’s desk, did not consider it necessary in his invention of the ersatz desk, or was unable to use this information in full.

Therefore, our advice is that if you take on something, then do it by studying the topic of the issue thoroughly, at least theoretically, and not by the method: “I heard a ringing, not knowing where it was, I stuck on something random”...

So wonderful and very accessible for mass use (at least according to the real costs of the plant, and not mark-ups of the distribution network) desks are produced in Belarus, for example, by Postavymebel OJSC, and in our opinion they are closer to the correct ones and, in any case, comply with modern GOST. The desk is made on a metal frame, which makes it repairable (elements of the table top and bench can be easily and cheaply replaced if, say, children draw and scratch it), reliable and even adjustable for several height groups.