Stasys Matjošaitis-Esmaitis - lietuviškos mokyklos kūrėjas

LTStasys Matjošaitis-Esmaitis – pedagogas, žurnalistas, literatas, vadovėlių mokykloms autorius, kultūros ir politikos veikėjas. Besibaigiant 2012 m., Lietuvos švietimo istorijos muziejuje pristatyta virtuali paroda „Atminties spalvų retrospektyva. Stasys Matjošaitis-Esmaitis – „Sakalėlio“ autorius“, skirta garsaus pedagogo 135-osioms gimimo metinėms paminėti. Pernai minėjome žinomos Lietuvos pedagogės Meilutės Matjošaitytės-Lukšienės 100-ąsias gimimo metines. Iškilios mokslininkės gyvenimui ir pedagoginei karjerai neabejotinai didžiausią įtaką turėjo jos tėvas. Būtent apie M. Lukšienės tėvą – tarpukario lietuvių inteligentą S. Matjošaitį – straipsnyje ir bus rašoma.

ENIn 2013, a 100th birth anniversary of a well known Lithuanian educator Meile Matjošaitytė- Lukšienė was celebrated. The prominent scientist’s life and career was undoubtedly influenced by her father. This article is about Mrs. Lukšienė’s father, the interwar Lithuanian intellectual, S. Matjošaitis. S. Matjošaitis-Esmaitis (1877–1949) was an educator, a journalist, a writer, a translator and the author of textbooks for schools, also a cultural and political activist. S. Matjošaitis lived and worked at the end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th century which was a rather complex and full of historical events period. Throughout all his life he took care of Lithuanian schools, cultural, scientific and educational matters. In 1917, in Voronezh he became involved in the activity of the Society of Lithuania to support war victims, supervised the publishing of Lithuanian books. In 1918, he returned to Vilnius and was disseminating the Lithuanian word in the occupied Vilnius region. He actively participated in the activities of the Lithuanian Scientific Society (LMD), Lithuanian Teachers Union (LMS) and the cultural life of the Lithuanians of Vilnius region. In 1922, he founded the company “Kultūra”, in 1924 he became the Board member of LMD, in 1925 became the board member of Vilnius Lithuanian club, in 1926 organized the congress of Lithuanian farmers in Vilnius. In 1927–1929, he collaborated in the publication of “Vilnius šviesa”.Until 1933, S. Matjošaitis was a teacher in Vilnius girls gymnasium and Vilnius Vytautas Magnus gymnasium, he taught the Lithuanian language and literature, Lithuanian history and drawing. In 1933, after he was exiled from Vilnius by Polish government, S. Matjošaitis moved to Kaunas and continued educational activities. One of the largest S. Matjošaitis-Esmaitis’ merits for Lithuanian education is the eight parts of “Sakalėlis” book (1918–1942) for a six-year primary school. There were as many as 32 editions of the elementary part of “Sakalėlis”, other parts had less editions: there were 20. The author of “Sakalėlis“ wanted the teaching to be picturesque, attractive, practical, rousing pupils’ creativity. S. Matjošaitis-Esmaitis inculcated respect for the writer’s creativity and personality and Lithuanian folklore into the primary school pupils. “Sakalėlis” was illustrated by well-known artists of the time Vytautas Kazimieras Jonynas, Jonas Juozas Burba, Liudas Truikys. The textbook was very popular and widely used in the inter-war Lithuanian schools, several our nation’s generations grew up learning from it. S. Matjošaitis-Esmaitis was a universal writer as he could write textbooks for more than one subject. He published the drawing textbook “Veidrodėlis” (1921), the history textbook “Lietuvos istorijėlė” (1931), translated several science and history textbooks, wrote “History of Pedagogy” (1930).