Theme 4 - Education and Youth

Question 1

What were conditions like in Russia before the russian revolution?

Answer 1

• Low levels of literacy. - Lenin believed that good literacy was a key step to establishing socialism. -There were large disparities between rural areas and urban areas in terms of quality and provision of education.
• Non-Russian minorities were often less educated.
• Schools often run by the church

Question 2

When was Narkompros established?

Answer 2

1917

Question 3

What was Narkompros?

Answer 3

Commissariat of Education.Lead by Anatoly Lunachevsky, provided:
> Unified labour schools for children 8 – 17.
> Banned religious schools
> Abolished corporal punishment, homework and exams.
> Education became compulsory.
> Made universities open to all

Question 4

What were the problems with Narkompros?

Answer 4

• Not enough provisions. 1/60 students had access to a pencil.
• High drop out rates in education
• Teachers were paid poorly

Question 5

What was the effect of the NEP on education?

Answer 5

State spending declined and school attendance fell. Schools closed over winter due to lack of heating.

Question 6

How did the Red Army influence edcuation?

Answer 6

Trotsky introduced schools for basic literacy during the civil war. This taught soldiers to read and write.

Question 7

What was the liquidating illiteracy campaigns?

Answer 7

Required all illiterate people between 8 to 50 to learn to read and write.
Lenin saw it as a crucial part of building socialism.

Question 8

Did the liquidating illiteracy campaign work?

Answer 8

It only had moderate sucess.
Spreading education in rural areas was a lot harder.

Question 9

How was the liquidation of illiteracy campaign carried out?

Answer 9

Liquidation points set up in towns and cities for literacy courses. 5 million people completed these courses.

Question 10

What were rabfaks?

Answer 10

Schools for workers education that were set up after the revolution to teach basic literacy and numeracy to those who had dropped out of education.

Question 11

When was Komsomol created?

Answer 11

1918

Question 12

What was komsomol?

Answer 12

A communist youth group for ages between 16-28.
They were intended to be the most discplined and keen supporters of communist party.
Wore uniform and took part in activities such as hikes and meetings.

Question 13

What were the young pioneers?

Answer 13

A youth group created in 1922 for ages 10-15.

Question 14

When was the liquidating illiteracy campaign?

Answer 14

1919-27

Question 15

When did the state take over church schools?

Answer 15

1918

Question 16

What was the impact of state-owned schools?

Answer 16

Education was now based on a comprehensive model, children of all levels were introduced.

Question 17

What was the impact of russification in schools?

Answer 17

Schools now taught Russian, even if other languages taught in those regions. Teachers were often Russian. Russian ideas were imposed, even on non-Russian students.

Question 18

When was the quota system introduced?

Answer 18

1929

Question 19

What was the quota system?

Answer 19

Replacing entre fees for higher education, the quota system hlped to widen participation by dropping entry requirements. 70% of uni places were now allocated to working class.

Question 20

What were the downsides to the quota system?

Answer 20

The target for uni places was only reached once and many students dropped out later.
Students were ill prepared for higher education which resulted in the scheme getting dropped in 1935.

Question 21

What was the ultimate effect of the quota system?

Answer 21

After the failure of the quota system, the focus of education as placed back on quality rather than quantity.
It DID somewhat improve access to higher education for the working class.

Question 22

When was the basic pattern of schooling established?

Answer 22

1934

Question 23

What were the basic pattern of schooling in Russia from 1934?

Answer 23

4 years of primary level education with a class teacher.
3 “incomplete secondary education” with subject teachers
students could opt for 2/3 more years for “complete secondary education” or move to vocational programmes or work.

Question 24

How did Stalin’s great retreat effect education?

Answer 24

Stalin returned to traditional measures in schooling such as;
- traditional discipline
- textbooks given out
-traditional subjects returned such as Russian literature, HIstory, Maths, Science. This continued pretty much the same throughout the rest of USSR.

Question 25

How were subjects in schools effected by communism?

Answer 25

Science and History were heavily influenced by Lysenko and politcs. Books published only Stalin’s great achievements to be taught in schools.
Lysenkoism was accepted as the truth.

Question 26

How were teachers effected by the Great Retreat in 1936?

Answer 26

Teachers trained by government taught lectures on textbooks allocated by the government. Creativy and free-thinking was not encouraged.

Question 27

What level of literacy was achieved in 1939?

Answer 27

94%

Question 28

What was the literacy league?

Answer 28

It was established to promote literacy with slogan “Down with illiteracy!”. It pushed for women to learn. Zhenotdel provided women’s education courses.
Literacy levels remained lower in the countryside.

Question 29

When were tuition fees established for schools?

Answer 29

1940

Question 30

What was the effect of tuition fees in 1940?

Answer 30

Tuition fees for the later years of secondary education deterred some from entering, despite being low. Even when the fees were dropped in 1956, parents were still expected to pay for uniform, textbooks and equipment.

Question 31

How did tuition fees effect the countryside’s education?

Answer 31

Some rural families struggled to pay the cost and forced their children to leave school before their final years.

Question 32

How did WW2 impact education?

Answer 32

82000 schools were destroyed
- Resources were severely impacted by the war.
Large numbers of teachers were killed in action.
Post war recovery was difficult and many schools worked only 2 or 3 days to cope with lack of classrooms.

Question 33

How did the 5th 5YP influence education?

Answer 33

Government expanded education by implementing 10 year compulsory education for schools by 1955 (urban) or 1960 (rural)
- This was ultimately overoptimistic and eventually only 8 year compulsory education was implemented in 1958

Question 34

What were Khrushchev’s educational reforms?

Answer 34

Khrushchev pushed for vocational and technical education. All schools now provided vocational training to help with the economy. One of his main aims was to make students more in touch with reality.

Question 35

Why was Khrushchev’s reforms opposed?

Answer 35

Traditional attitudes to education persisted and, particularly in the countryside, hard to overcome.
Many students did want to continue with more academic studies. They were later scrapped by Brezhnev.

Question 36

What were specialist schools?

Answer 36

General academic schools turned into specialist schools that taught specific subjects such as maths, science of languages.
There was high demand for these schools, however, only those of higher class or bribery would guarantee students places.

Question 37

How was higher education effected in the later years of the USSR?

Answer 37

Participation in higher education increased under Khrushchev due to specialist schools. It allowed for a wider range of students to engage with longer education.
Khrushchev required all graduates to work under government to help the economy with experience.

Question 38

What were the benefits for higher educations under Khrushchev?

Answer 38

Grant systems helped with living costs for students.
By 1980, 1/3 of Soviet people were involved in education.

Question 39

How did Khrushchev improve adult education?

Answer 39

Adult education was expanded beyond rabfaks and allowed adults to return to educations as part-time students.
By 1964, over 2 million were signed to these courses.

Question 40

How could adults continue education under Brezhnev?

Answer 40

By the 1970s, adults could continue their studies through vocational colleges to get degrees or diplomas.
These courses were supported by TV and media, often occuring in the evening.

Question 41

How did education change under Lenin?

Answer 41

Used ideology to influence schooling, focused on getting more literacy and education among the people and soldiers. However, as the movement was still early, it had little traction among the whole public and created large disparities between rural and urban people. Also, there were often lack of resources to aid education.

Question 42

How did Education change under Stalin?

Answer 42

Wanted to increase participation in education for all ages to aid with the evolving economy and country. Schooling system set up and literacy was heavily pushed. However, there was still major hindrances such as war and fees, despite the many ideas forward. Also, Stalin himself turned his policies much more traditional in the Great Retreat which effected education levels.

Question 43

How did education change under Khrushchev?

Answer 43

Wanted to reform schooling to be equally available for all people. Brought in more vocational and technical studies as well as specialist schools. However, this was shut down by Brezhnev who saw it as a return to old ideas.

Question 44

How did education change under Brezhnev?

Answer 44

Brezhnev’s main goal was to undo all of Khrushchev’s reforms. More traditional curriculums were brought back and vocational studies stopped. Despite the modernisations in the USSR, the curriculum remained mainly the same.