KONARSKI, STANISLAW. - Polish pedagogue, Piarist, b. at Żarów on 30 June 1700, d. at Warsaw on 3 Aug. 1773. He devoted his activity as a writer and priest to the moral uplifting of his fatherland.
Author of political works including: *O skutecznym rad sposobie* (On the Effective Means of Deliberation in the Diet), against the liberum veto, he sought to prepare the youth of the nobility for the fulfillment of national duties and founded the Collegium Nobilium, where he implemented the educational reform outlined in his work: *Ordinationes*. At a time when
instruction was purely verbalistic, K. aimed at the harmonious formation of the spirit. He replaced the study of the classics with that of the national language, literary culture with scientific culture, hitherto banned from schools; he completed education with physical exercises and also laid down excellent norms for female education. The Collegium produced the finest of the generation that prepared the democratic constitution of 1791; the educational reforms of K. were later to inspire the Commission of Education, which became Europe’s first Ministry of Education. K. also wrote a tragedy: *Epaminonda*, and some poems.