Dynastic class

The Kaptsov School has always maintained its reputation as an “intellectual school”

The post-Soviet leapfrog with changing numbers in the names of secondary schools could not destroy educational traditions that had accumulated over decades. The best schools in Moscow were not known by their numbers, and this was once again confirmed by the anniversary of gymnasium No. 1520, which was celebrated last weekend, which even in Soviet times everyone knew by the name of its founders as the Kaptsov school. Founded at the end of the 19th century by the merchant and hereditary honorary citizen of Moscow Alexander Kaptsov, this school became a stepping stone in life for many cultural figures known throughout Russia. And she gave Moscow more than one honorary citizen.

The anniversary of the gymnasium was celebrated at the Mayakovsky Theater on October 19, emphasizing the historical and spiritual kinship of the school with the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, glorified by Alexander Pushkin, which opened in 1811 and laid the foundations for the tradition of educating the Russian intelligentsia. The current gymnasium in Leontyevsky Lane grew out of an elementary school for boys, to which buildings for educating young ladies were later added. And she kept and maintained her reputation as an “intellectual” no matter what number the education bureaucrats assigned her. Today, the gymnasium is proud not only of its eminent graduates, including, for example, actresses Yulia Rutberg and Natalya Selezneva, composer Maxim Dunaevsky, but also of entire dynasties who received their education here.

“At this school we have always raised intellectuals with active citizenship. The country has recently been practically deprived of its intelligentsia, and I believe that in gymnasiums like ours they are being revived,” Leonid Milgram, a graduate of the Kaptsov school and people’s teacher of the USSR, who devoted more than 60 years to education, told Vremya Novostey. Last year, gymnasium No. 1520 was a leader in the ranking of secondary educational institutions in Russia.

Recent graduates of the gymnasium are now studying at leading universities in the capital and note that in higher education, especially when studying the humanities, they lack a special approach on the part of teachers who deviate from didactic truths and allow students to independently draw conclusions about certain facts. “We need to go beyond textbooks: not repeat what has already been said, but say something new. There is a partnership between me and my students. And one more thing: lessons cannot go on completely without humor,” Tatyana Cherkashina, history teacher of the 1520th gymnasium, tried to explain her popularity among schoolchildren and graduates.

“Building a school is difficult. Many people have worked on this for many years. We must say a huge thank you to all of them,” noted the current director of the gymnasium, Olga Ovseychik, who accepted flowers from former students at the entrance to the Mayakovsky Theater at a rate of three bouquets per minute. “It’s nice that our holiday brought together different generations of Muscovites: the high quality of education attracts entire dynasties.”

Dynasties, in the understanding of teachers from the Kaptsov school, are families in which representatives of several generations at once received certificates of secondary education here. For example, fourth-grader Stepan Nikolaev, in his own words, didn’t have much of a choice - his mother and older brother studied at the gymnasium. Konstantin Kaptsov, a descendant of the founder of the gymnasium, had no choice either. “It was especially difficult for me to study, because I had such responsibility for my family name. In addition, some teachers also didn’t like me,” says freshman Kaptsov. “But I’m proud of my relatives and what they did, so I tried to keep the brand of my family.”

Vasily Timiryazev