The public boy’s gymnasium, located in ManEzhnaya street, was opened in 1871. Originally, it had only five classes together with the preparatory class. The well-preserved two-story building was built in 1875 at the expense of the well-known Russian merchant SamuIl PolyakOv, who received a concession for the construction of the railway from YelEts to GrYAzi. Ivan Bunin entered this gymnasium in 1881. He entered the gymnasium by the decision of his parents and was enrolled right in the first class, after passing a minor exam, without studying at the preparatory class.

‘For three years I had been prepared for this significant day: and I was only asked to multiply fifty-five by thirty, tell who the Amalekites were, asked to write “clearly and beautifully”: “the snow is white, but not tasty” and read by heart: “Ruddy dawn covered the East…”

Bunin I.A. “Arseniev”s life”

I will remember my first days of studies for all my life. “The morning when we first went to school with GlEbocka, was sunny… We were dressed so well! … polished boots, light gray trousers, blue uniforms with silver buttons, shiny caps… and then — sharp and festive novelty of the gymnasium: clean stony courtyard, gleaming glass of windows and brass knobs on the entrance doors, cleanliness, spaciousness and sonority of freshly painted corridors, bright classrooms, a hall and stairs, shouting of countless young students… the solemnity of the first prayer before the lessons in the class room, the first marching “in pairs and in step”… first struggle to occupy the seats on the benches and finally, when the teacher first appeared in the classroom…’

Bunin I.A. ‘Arseniev’s life’

According to Bunin, he studied easily, although he “was doing well only in those subjects which he more or less liked, while with the rest subject he had only satisfactory progress, supported by his ability to quickly learn and remember everything.” “In the third grade, I once said something impertinent to the director of the gymnasium, for which I was almost expelled from the gymnasium. In Greek class, while the teacher was explaining something to us, writing on the blackboard… instead of listening to him, I was reading one of my favorite pages in the Odyssey. … Suddenly the director came in - he was in the habit of walking down the hallways and looking through the door panes, he came straight to me, snatched the book out of my hands, and shouted furiously: - Go and stand in the corner till the end of the lesson! I got up and, turning pale, replied — Don”t yell at me and don”t speak with me like this. I”m not a boy…”

Bunin I.A. “Arseniev”s life”

They called my father to come to the gymnasium from the village. He managed to mitigate the incident, but by the decision of the Teaching Council of March 7, 1884, the gymnasium student Ivan Bunin received a lower score for his behavior with a wording “for rudeness and waywardness”.

However, his gymnasium education did not last long, only four years. After the Christmas holidays, Ivan did not return to the gymnasium from the village, and his parents did not pay the fee…