Vital Education in the old Soviet Union
I was struggling in 1963 with the onerous task of starting a "free school" in the frozen wastes of New York's Delaware Valley, when into my hands fell Alexander Makarenko, a Soviet Hero. Well, at least his words came to me in a three volume work which still holds a place of honor on my bookshelf (indeed, 3 sets of the work are there in case I run into someone who wants to be a teacher and not just an educated robot).
While our world is enormously different from Russia in the 1920s, the emotional glory of facing children as HUMAN children and teaching from the gut will always be inspiring.
Makarenko is one of the great heroes of education.