SCHOOL IN THE BIOGRAPHICAL EXPERIENCE OF THE GRADUATES OF H. MIKLASZEWSKA^ PRIVATE JUNIOR AND SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL IN ŁÓDŹ

Abstract

The paper is a part of a PhD dissertation on the memories of H. Miklaszewskas Private Junior and Secondary School in Łódź. While reminiscing of people’s lives it is possible to distinguish its stages, identify particular facts or events. Most of them do refer to the memories of the school which shapes one’s futurę and constitutes the major source of knowledge at the elementary phase of education. The memory of the school is a concept which has its roots in the biographical research and functions as an element of the biographical memory of ones childhood and youth. This memory is described as affective, vivid, freąuently referred to by French gerontologists as the ‘memory ff om the depth of one’s heart’ or long-term memory. This is memory of the past. Freąuently it is photographic in naturę, full of colors, stimulating various senses like those of taste, smell or visual perception. The application of the biographical method in research allows for exposing the reality and presenting it in the way it is perceived by the persons analyzed.
The analysis of the materiał resulted in the collection of materiał on the memories about H. Miklaszewskas School in which the Mother Superior - Helena Miklaszewska played a primary role. Thanks to her involvement and initiative the school madę a significant impact on the lives of the respondents and determined the aims they were determined to achieve throughout their lives. These individual biographies functioned also as a background for the History, the respondents witnessed and created.