Rhetoric in the system of teaching subjects at the Kiev-Mohyla Academy of the 18th century

Abstract

The Kyiv-Mohyla Academy was created on the model of Western European Jesuit schools, so the formalized nature of teaching subjects, in particular, rhetoric, is explained by following the system of Latin-Polish schools. The full course of the Academy, which combined the functions of a gymnasium and a higher school, consisted of eight classes. The rhetoric class followed the poetics class. When studying the teaching of rhetoric at the Kiev-Mohyla Academy it is important to consider the subjects of rhetoric and poetics together, without separating them from each other, because already in the poetics class the pupils were given the initial knowledge of rhetoric. The large number of preserved Latin-language manuscript rhetorics written by teachers of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in the 18th century is explained by the system of teacher's transition with their students to the next class, which implied that teachers wrote their own manual for teaching a new subject every year. The rhetoric class represented an intermediate stage in education, but already provided an opportunity to receive a certificate of completed education.