Russian Revolution
Classroom Time Cut In Favor Of Jobs
By IIEINHOLD ENSZ
MOSCOW (**)—'The Soviet edu
cation system, which some western
educators have hailed as a superior
one, is undergoing a comprehens
ive re-organization.
First, there is a drive to establish
schools similar to the vocational
high schools in the United States,
where a student can get training in
the latest farming and factory tech
niques.
But the Soviet system differs in
one important respect—the Soviet
vocational student must spend a
fixed number of hours actually
working on a farm or in a factory.
Soviet educators say the purpose
of this system is to produce a well
rounded person, but it also pro
vides a cheap and ready source of
labor.
“Every person in our Soviet so
ciety must have a labor specialty,”
says Vladimir Strezikozin, chief of
the Soviet education ministry’s pro
gress and methods department.
women work at some sort of job, be
it street sweeping, railroad build
ing or brick laying.
3. They give Soviet educators a
full-time check on what the chil
dren are doing.
Despite the theoretical benefits
which a communist system could
derive from a boarding school, Sov
iet officials do not appear overly
satisfied with results. There have
been articles in the Moscow press
sharply critical of the schools. The
main complaint has been that the
schools are overcrowded and noisy.
The Ministry of Education says
about 15 per cent of Moscow’s ele
mentary school children are now in
boarding schools.
Another development, stepped
up since the end of the Stalin era,
has 'been the emphasis on foreign
languages. Vyachaslav Yelyutin,
Soviet Minister of Higher Educa
tion, recently announced that
everyone — “without exception” -
must pass a foreign language test
lieve in a centralized system of ed
ucation. Every one of your states
has a different system.”
* * *
Utah has the highest percentage
of adults who have completed high
school.
♦ • •
Wisconsin ranked first in public
school holding power (lowest per
centage of drop -outs before high
school graduation) this year.
Girl Scouts Need
New Adult Leader
Volunteer leaders are being
sought in Girl Scout work here,
according to an announcement by
Scouting officials.
A vacancy exists due to the de
parture of Mrs. John Howard, who
has been active in Girl Scout work
here for many years.
Anyone interested is asked to
contact Mrs. Acheson at 486—2647.
KEEN CONCENTRATION is written on th e face of this little girl in a Soviet elementary
school. Studying is serious business in Russian c lassrooms. y
Take Premier Khrushchev for ex
ample — he was a shepherd and a
miner.”
Establishment of the vocational
high schools, which are not to be
confused with trade schools, was
begun in the Soviet union in 1959.
Strezikozin estimated, during an
interview, that 35 per cent of this
country’s high school students are
now in “work-study” schools, as
they are called.
According to present planning,
all students who go on to high
school will be in such schools by
1963-64.
All that is, except those who are
“gifted” in a special field, such as
music. These will be sent to special
schools, provided of course that
they are members of communist
youth organizations.
It is almost impossible for a Sov
iet youth to enter an institution of
higher learning unless he visibily
demonstrates he is a young com
munist. And — as in western socie
ties — it helps to have a father in a
high position if one wants to enter
a Soviet university.
In addition to work-study ’
schools, Soviet educators are es
tablishing boarding schools for pu
pils in the elementary bracket.
These schools have three main pur
poses:
1. They take children out of
over-crowded apartments (most
lower and middle class families in
Moscow, for example, still have
only one room to themselves, even
though there are children or per
haps even a grandmother in the
family).
2. They solve the problem of
child care in a society where most
before entering a daytime institu
tion of higher learning this year.
And all students in the “work
study” high schools must take a
foreign language, even if the stu
dent wants to be nothing more
than a “tractorist” (tractor driver).
“We are not only training him to
be a tractorist,” said Strezikozin.
“We also want him to be a well
rounded person who can go on to
* he university at any time he wants
to.”
In keeping with this doctrine,
work-study students tackle the fol
lowing subjects, in addition to their
technical specialties: naftive lan
guage, literature, mathematics, as
tronomy and history.
The work-study schools cover the
ninth, tenth and eleventh year in
school. During the ninth year, the
student is not expected to work
part-time in a factory or on a
farm. Instead he gets his technical
training in a shop attached to the
school.
But during the tenth and elev
enth years the students actually do
productive work. Asked how many
hours the students spend in fac
tories, Strezikozin’s answer was
somewhat vague.
under present rules, a Soviet
youth is required to attend only
seven years of school. By 1963, it
is planned to add another compul
sory year. The education ministry
claims 70 percent of this counrty’s
students contiue school after the
7-year period. The remaining 30
per cent “go to work or enter trade
schools.”
Asked if he had criticism of the
educational system in the United
States. Str.ezikozin replied: “We be
Members of a church in Bart
lettsvUle, Oklahoma, spent several
months preparing for the arrival
of their first minister. The new
parsonage even was equipped with
play equipment for children. The
new minister—he’s a young bache
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