Her Schooling

[dianoshka]

How much was she missing?

I remember reading somewhere that she was only missing a few years. How true is that?

[Lanie]

What do you mean?

[Abby]

Actually, I think Olga was the only one to actually finish her schooling, and was probably the most educated of the children.

[Ortino]

^That is most likely true. Olga was the only one excused from her studies during their imprisonment, which leads me to the general conclusion that she had reached the end of her necessary studies. Being the oldest, her studies were the ones least interrupted by the revolution, as compared to Anastasia, who had just about "come out" at the time. She was undoubtedly the most educated of the children.

[Lanie]

Olga to Petrov, 19 June 1917:

"Studies are taking their own course. Maria and I study English together. She reads to me aloud and, if it's not too hot, takes dictation. She and I study history two times a week. Russian history according to Nechvolodov's book. He describes everything really well and in detail. Right now, we've stopped on the folk heroes (epics). Two times a week, Anastasia and I read about the history of the Middle Ages according to Konst. Amn.'s texbook. Though that's a lot harder, since my memory for all these events is atrocious, but hers is no better. I divided up my own hours (the free ones) for reading (boring things): history of art, French hist., general hist., and Russian lit. according to Galakhov."

So it looks like although she might have been done with her 'general education' (since she was 21 at the time) she probably had nothing else to do so went about educating herself anyway!

[dianoshka]

Olga to Petrov, 19 June 1917:

"Studies are taking their own course. Maria and I study English together. She reads to me aloud and, if it's not too hot, takes dictation. She and I study history two times a week. Russian history according to Nechvolodov's book. He describes everything really well and in detail. Right now, we've stopped on the folk heroes (epics). Two times a week, Anastasia and I read about the history of the Middle Ages according to Konst. Amn.'s texbook. Though that's a lot harder, since my memory for all these events is atrocious, but hers is no better. I divided up my own hours (the free ones) for reading (boring things): history of art, French hist., general hist., and Russian lit. according to Galakhov."

So it looks like although she might have been done with her 'general education' (since she was 21 at the time) she probably had nothing else to do so went about educating herself anyway!

Yeah, that's what I meant. I was referring to her general studies.

[Romanov_fan]

I think Olga was the most conventionally educated of the children, the most thoughful the one to read and process it in a intellectual way. She finished all her schooling and was known to be a good student, not merely studious, or trying, and certainly not lazy. She seemed to learn as much from books as life, and they probably interested her more. She was  a deep person, one who was as well educated as she was ever going to get by the time of her death, but her schooling was pretty good. She probably would have read, and self educated  herself all her life though.

[Elisabeth]

I thought Olga finished her formal studies when she turned sixteen, around the time of her coming out ball. Gilliard - or perhaps it was Gibbes? - writes about this in his memoirs. At any rate, the tutor, whichever one it was, gave Olga a final dictation and they both laughed over it.

This obviously doesn't mean, of course, that Olga didn't continue to study certain subjects on her own, especially during the period of captivity at the AP in 1917 (when she seems also to have acted as a sort of informal tutor for her younger sisters Maria and Anastasia). But remember, Gilliard also wrote that in his opinion Olga never fulfilled her intellectual potential because of the milieu in which she lived.

[Colleen]

I have also heard that Olga was the most educated of the girls, and she had an aptitude for learning.  Of course, all of the reading she did probably did much to speed her intellectual development.

[Romanov_fan]

Yes, Olga was likely the most educated of the girls, and defintely the one most interested in education, and anything intellectual. She was the most thoughtful of the romanov daughters, and thoughtf of things in the most intellectual terms.

[Yelena Aleksandrovna]

Do you know at what age she started her studies? What kind of subjects she took?

[Olga Maria]

10 years old according to Pierre Gilliard's memoirs.

[Grand Duchess Jennifer]

What kind of subjects she took?

According to http://www.alexanderpalace.org/palace/mexpenses.html, Maria had religion, arithmetic, Russian, German, French, History, music, drawing, dancing and English. So I suppose OTA had the same. Of course, Anastasia would start in a year, according to Shamaine's information, but still.

[Yelena Aleksandrovna]

Thank you very much Jen!! I think that all of them had similar subjects

[Clemence]

did they ever take exams?