This article describes the history and fierce controversy that has flared up in Russia regarding the composition of the school canon (SC), which is a list of literary works that students are required to study in literature classes, as well as the very need for such a list in the first place. The history, which goes back to the time of the first scholastic readers from the middle of the nineteenth century. One of the most acute issues that has been raised during these debates relates to what degree the instructor and possibly the students themselves should participate in the creation of such lists, and how the interests and developmental characteristics of children and adolescents should be reflected in the academic curricula. [This article was translated by Kenneth Cargill.]