Editing Lev Vygotsky (section)

==Early life and education==
Lev Simkhovich Vygodsky (his patronymic was later changed to ''Semyonovich'' and his surname to ''Vygotsky'' for unclear reasons)<ref>{{cite book |last1=Valsiner |first1=Jaan |title=The Oxford Handbook of Culture and Psychology |date=15 December 2013 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-936622-4 |page=67 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N0OeAgAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Pickren |first1=Wade E. |last2=Dewsbury |first2=Donald A. |last3=Wertheimer |first3=Michael |title=Portraits of Pioneers in Developmental Psychology |date=2012 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-1-84872-896-7 |page=114 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q5rQY13asasC |language=en}}</ref> was born on November 17, 1896,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rieber |first1=Robert W. |last2=Robinson |first2=David K. |title=The Essential Vygotsky |date=20 March 2013 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-0-387-30600-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tmwgBAAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref> in the town of [[Orsha]] in [[Mogilev Governorate]] of the [[Russian Empire]] (now [[Belarus]]) into a non-religious middle-class family of [[Russian Jews|Russian Jewish]] extraction.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Pound|first=L.|title=How Children Learn|date=2019|publisher=Andrews UK Limited|isbn=978-1-909280-73-1|location=London|pages=51|language=en|edition=New}}</ref> His father Simkha Leibovich (also known as Semyon Lvovich) was a banker and his mother was Tsetsilia Moiseevna.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Thomas |first1=Margaret |title=Fifty Key Thinkers on Language and Linguistics |date=27 April 2012 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-70750-6 |page=185 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FDrgCgAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Yasnitsky |first1=Anton |title=Vygotsky: An Intellectual Biography |date=14 June 2018 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-61534-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d2JgDwAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref>

Vygotsky was raised in the city of [[Gomel]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Smet |first1=Brecht De |title=A Dialectical Pedagogy of Revolt: Gramsci, Vygotsky, and the Egyptian Revolution |date=27 January 2015 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-26266-9 |page=13 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OtYuBgAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref> where he was home-schooled until 1911 and then obtained a formal degree with distinction in a private Jewish gymnasium, which allowed him entrance to a university. In 1913, Vygotsky was admitted to the [[Moscow University]] by mere ballot through a "[[Jewish quota|Jewish Lottery]]"; at the time, a three percent Jewish student quota was administered for entry in Moscow and Saint Petersburg Universities. He had an interest in the humanities and social sciences, but at the insistence of his parents he applied to the medical school at Moscow University. During the first semester of study, he transferred to the law school. In parallel, he attended lectures at [[Shanyavsky Moscow City People's University]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pass |first1=Susan |title=Parallel Paths to Constructivism: Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky |date=1 November 2004 |publisher=IAP |isbn=978-1-60752-928-6 |pages=40–41 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R_wnDwAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref> Vygotsky's early interests were in the arts and, primarily, in the topics of the history of the Jewish people, the tradition, culture and Jewish identity.