Teodor Janković-Mirijevski

Teodor Janković Mirijevski (also written F. I. Mirievskii, Fedor Ivanovich Iankovich de Mirievo; Sremska Kamenica, 1740-Saint Petersburg, 22 May 1814) was a Serbian, Romanian and Russian educational reformer, academic, scholar and pedagogical writer. For his accomplishments in educational reforms he was twice ennobled, by Maria Theresa in 1774 and by Catherine the Great in 1791. Among the great 18th century education reformers of Europe and Russia, Teodor Janković stands alone in that limelight. He became a member of the Russian Academy in 1783.

Teodor was the son of Jovan (Ivan) Janković, a high ranking Serbian military officer in the service of the Austrian crown. His ancestors had been living in their country estate in the Banat since the 15th century when they were forced to leave Mirijevo, near Belgrade, with the encroachment of the Ottoman invaders. Born in Sremska Kamenica, Janković received his early education at the Gymnasium of his native town, then he went to the Slavo-Latin school in Karlovci (Karlowitz), and then studied law, science, philosophy and political science at the University of Vienna. As a cameralism student his professor was Johann von Sonnenfels. After entering the university of Vienna, he began to read widely in the fields of general knowledge, mathematics and science.

After reading the manuals of Hecker and Zwecke, Janković decided to visit Johann Julius Hecker. In his travels, Janković journeyed to Berlin to see if the manuals work. It was not highly irregular for an Orthodox layman to visit a Protestant school in Protestant Berlin. There he spent the next month visiting Hecker, observing classes, and studying Pietist educational writings. Since parish education was his main concern, Janković spent most of his time in Hecker's school for the poor. It was there that he saw pupils divided according to ability and receiving instruction collectively. He decided there and then against corporal punishment, if one wanted to instill love of learning in the child. He opted to talk and discuss with the pupil to prove that abiding discipline can resolve ignorance. Janković was particularly impressed by the discipline and order he found and also the tabular-literal method by Johann Friedrich Hahn (1710-1789), the mnemonic device that organized each lesson into outline form. He insisted that there be no gender differences in the school system.

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