In the pedagogical tradition of our nation, there is one individual whose fate was to be called upon to connect Russia with the world, east with west, pedagogy with philosophy, psychology, study of cultures, ethics, sociology, and political science. This scholar brought together the past, present, and future of Russian education. Who was this giant? He was Sergei Iosifovich Gessen and he lived from 1887-1950. It is certainly rare that any book on education, or any subject for that matter, which was written one hundred and ten years ago is finally able to be opened and turns out to be more significant and current than contemporary works. This is exactly what happened with S.I. Gessen’s Principles of Pedagogics. Its publication in 1995 in Russia shocked educators and the entire pedagogical culture of that time. The situation was like this: the Soviet “principles of pedagogics” based on Marxist-Leninist ideology utilized throughout the entire country had been discredited only a few years before and no substitute had yet been found. Then, Gessen’s book made its appearance and was received as an authentic, and Russian, basis for pedagogical research. Let us remember that we are talking of the republication of the book, written and published in 1923 in Berlin, Germany, and kept in special “closed for public” storages of the Soviet libraries for many decades. No wonder, hardly any researcher and practically no teacher would know the name of Gessen in Russia, when at the same time the West witnessed many volumes of his books published and republished; numerous Western researchers wrote articles and manuscripts on his contributions to philosophy, sociology, political sciences, ethics, and pedagogy. There is even a Society of the researchers of Gessen’s works.

The end of the 19th - early 20th century is characterized by the formation of national Tatar education system, national mass media, literature and theatre, together with a new type of intellectuals striving for the unity of traditional cultural values and Tatar national development. The innovative approach that is known in history as “Jadidism” gradually evolved in the Tatar education system. The origin of this term comes from the name of a new method of teaching "Usul Jadid," and the latter became possible due to the reform of the traditional confessional education and the development of a sound method of teaching [1; 4]. Especially influential in this movement was an outstanding Tatar educator, researcher and writer Kayum Nasyri (1825 - 1902), well known to anyone who is familiar with the history and culture of the Tatar people. Kayum Nasyri was born on February 14th, 1825, in the village of Upper Shirdany of Sviyazhsky district in Kazan province (now Zelenodolski region of Tatarstan) in the family of an influential local theologian and master of calligraphy Gabdenasyr bin Hussein. The founder of this dynasty was a respected Birash Baba who settled on the right bank of the Volga River in the time of the Kazan Khanate. For several centuries, the descendants of the dynasty were recognized Muslim leaders, serving as village mullahs. Kayum’s grandfather, Hussein bin Al'mukhamed, was not only an imam (a Muslim leader) in the Upper Shirdany but also a teacher and a researcher. He wrote several books on Arabic grammar and syntax, used and enjoyed by numerous students from Muslim schools, called "mektebe." His son Gabdenasir took after the father, had fundamental knowledge in different fields and a brilliant mind, and was also known as a researcher of Islam. He studied the theory of the Arabic language and was heavily engaged in making professional copies of different Oriental books. However, Gabdenasir did not become a religious leader, spending all his time and energy in the work to benefit his native village and fellow villagers. No wonder, they called him Gabdenasyr Khazret, which means "merciful."