During the time of the Communist Regime, education played a very important role in the Soviet Union. Communist leaders embraced the fact that children were the key to the their goal of an ideal place. The idea of equality in Communism was applied to education. In order to help make education equal for all children, communist leaders abolished private and family education. Before the change in education policies, there was a huge difference between the privately educated wealthy children and the uneducated poor children. In addition, Soviet social structure encouraged teachers and communities to play an important role in the children's lives. Children grew up in an environment where their entire community brought them up.

In order to provide the most equal education, schools were changed to:

• Maintain a common school identity
• Have the same cirriculum
• Eliminate illiteracy
• Provide equal education even if it meant in different languages
• Require ten years of education by 1969

Just as education was crucial to the Soviet Regime, education is still important to the present government in Russia. Education is undergoing change in the areas of subject matter, teaching techniques, and management strategies. Schools now have the challenge of preparing students for a free market economy and individual freedoms. One of the most important goals in the new Russia is making education available to all children. Other goals include developing individuality among students, which will in turn help to develop a new culture.

More specific goals include:

• Providing useful and available kindergarten
• Maintaining high literacy levels
• Making textbooks free to all
• Making education free for all
• Maintaining strong performance in science programs
• Providing free meals for low-income children.

In the late 1950's the Russian government was forced to become creative when they were understaffed by requiring secondary students to supplement their education with work experience in factories and on farms. Russia's top mathematicians and physicists were afraid that they would loose young potential scientists. They felt that the loss would come when young students would be restricted and unable to perform at full capacity. To combat the problem, a group of mathematicians and scientists developed four special boarding schools where the best and the brightest students were educated. High school students took university classes while working on experiments alongside scientists. Acceptance into these schools was almost impossible. Students from across the country underwent a series of tests until only the best and the brightest were left. The intense, twelve hour long day prepared the students to become the most talented scientists and mathematicians in Russia.
Special Schools Today:
With the fall of the Soviet Union, the new free market economy had a great effect on special schools. New competition threatened the schools and diminishing funds made survival a great challenge. The schools were forced to change with the times by expanding their courses to attract greater diversity among students. For example, the Lavrentiev School, has been faced with a common problem of a lack of funding. Because of their decision to charge tuition to compensate for a lack of funding, the richest and not necessarily the brightest students are attending the school. Even when these schools succeed in developing some of the most talented mathematicians and scientists, the citizens of Russia do not often see the benefits because the mathematicians and scientists are often lost to foreign countries such as the United States that actively recruit the highly educated Russians.

This information came from The Reviews of National Policies For Education: Russian Federation for the year 1996. The current currency rate of 27.8700 Russia Roubles to the United States dollar came from CNN.com.

Zenzinov, Vladimir. 1931. Deserted: The Story of The Children Abandoned in Soviet Russia. Westport, Connecticut: Hyperion Press, INC.

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This web page was created in the Fall of 2000 by Tulane University students Blake DiMarco, Alex Isaacs, Jodie Lord, and Amanda Seruya, as part of our study on Childhood Around the World in Professor Brayfield's Children and Society course.

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Last updated December 16, 2000