Education

Question 1

Goals Of Education

Answer 1

• Communists tended to believe that education was important.
• Lenin believed that a high level of education, with basic literacy, was an essential part
  of building socialism.
• Socialism required industrialisation which required a well-educated workforce who
  could understand the complex process of industry.
• Education served the long-term goals of the revolution by laying the foundations for
  industrialisation.

Question 2

Problems Of Education in 1917

Answer 2

• Only 32% of the population was literate

Question 3

When was the Commissariat of Education set up?

Answer 3

1917

Question 4

What did the Commissariat of education promise?

Answer 4

• free and compulsory education to all aged 7 - 17

Question 5

How was the Commissariat of Education pointless to those in the countryside?

Answer 5

• many children did not attend, especially at harvest time
• they themselves prioritised manual labour on farms

Question 6

What did the Decree on Literature require?

Answer 6

• all illiterate between the ages of 8 - 50 to learn to read and write

Question 7

How many could read and write by 1918 and then 1921?

Answer 7

1918 - 50%
1921 - 86%

Question 8

What was Stalins campaign against illiteracy?

Answer 8

• it was relaunched from lenin’s, focused on fixing attendance + under-staffing
• recruited 3 million volunteers from Komsomol to educate workers and peasants

Question 9

How did Stalin’s campaign against illiteracy fail?

Answer 9

• the 3 million volunteers called ‘cultural soldiers’ were poorly equipped + poorly supported
• 40% of teachers attacked

Question 10

How many were literate by 1939?

Answer 10

94%

Question 11

Gender divide in literacy in 1939?

Answer 11

97% of men literate and 90% of women

Question 12

Inequalities of Secondary education under Stalin?

Answer 12

• any education above primary required fees - created a wealth divide
• by 1937 only 7% of children completed secondary school

Question 13

How many teachers did Khrushchev have employee in 1953 and then 1964?

Answer 13

1953 - 1.5 million
1964 - 2.2 million

Question 14

What percent of teachers had a uni education in 1953 and then 1964?

Answer 14

1953 - 19%
1964 - 40%

Question 15

How were schools not improved under Khrushchev?

Answer 15

• schools were small and lacked resources
• any benefits were only beneficial to towns and cities - divide remained

Question 16

When was Khrushchev’s educational reform?

Answer 16

1956

Question 17

What did Khrushchevs 1956 educational reform do?

Answer 17

• abolished fees for secondary schools
• funds established in 1959 to support poor secondary students to go

Question 18

number of 17 year olds attending secondary in 1953 and then 1959?

Answer 18

1953 - 20%
1959 - 75%

Question 19

How many attended secondary in 1976 under Brezhnev?

Answer 19

60%

Question 20

How many teachers had a uni education by 1978?

Answer 20

70%