Topic 4 - Social Changes - Education

Question 1

Education pre 1917 - Tradition, literacy rates, inequalities?

Answer 1

• Traditionally associated with privilege and status
• Low literacy rates – 32% of the pop could read and write in 1914
• Lots of inequalities – Russians better educated than non-Russians, urban better than rural

Question 2

What was Lenin’s views on education?

Answer 2

• Saw eradication of illiteracy as the foundation of freedom
• Wanted to enforce Communist principles of equality by providing equal standard of education for all
• Progressive learning to replace traditional rote learning (learning things off by heart)

Question 3

Improvements in education under Lenin - Civil war 1918-21 - What was the 1919 Decree on Literacy

Answer 3

• 1919 Decree on literacy – required all illiterate people between ages 8-50 to learn to read and write and gave gov right to conscript literate people into the education system to teach

Question 4

Improvements in education under Lenin - Civil War 1918-21 - How many textbooks published and what did this lead to?

Answer 4

During CW gov published 6.5 million textbooks – increase in a number of people who could identify the letters and numbers but no genuine literacy

Question 5

Improvements in education under Lenin - Unified labour schools Oct 1918 - What did the Oct 1918 Decree introduce and what was used to encourage people to attend?

Answer 5

• Oct 1918 Decree – introduced Unified Labour Schools to provide free polytechnic education to all children aged 8-17
• Free breakfasts to encourage people to attend

Question 6

Improvements in education under Lenin - What happened with education in the Red Army/what did Red Army literacy rates rise to from 1918-25?

Answer 6

Trotsky introduced education for soldiers of the Red Army – literacy rates WITHIN THE RED ARMY rose from 50% in 1918 to 100% in 1925

Question 7

Improvements in education under Lenin - What were youth groups?

Answer 7

Youth groups set up in the early days of the revolution to provide a way for young people to express loyalty to the party, learn about politics and enjoy recreation

Question 8

Improvements in education under Lenin - post NEP - What happened from 1927?

Answer 8

From 1927 fees abolished in primary schools and from then on most children had 4 years primary school education

Question 9

Improvements in education under Lenin - What was the rise in primary school education from 1917-28?

Answer 9

• By 1928 60% of Soviet primary school age children in education
• Up from 50% in 1917

Question 10

Failures in education under Lenin - Civil war 1918-21 - What happened with schooling resources?

Answer 10

Insufficient resources as gov prioritised military victory over education – no resources for free meals and teachers continued to use traditional methods

Question 11

Failures in education under Lenin - Civil war 1918-21 - What happened with fees and educational material?

Answer 11

• Fees introduced despite Oct 1918 Decree promising free schooling
• War economy didn’t provide educational materials – 1 pencil per 60 students

Question 12

Failures in education under Lenin - NEP - What happened to the number of children in schools for the first 18 months of NEP?

Answer 12

First 18 months of NEP – number of children in schools halved as children were used for agriculture

Question 13

Failures in education under Lenin - NEP - Average primary school education for urban and rural children?

Answer 13

Inequalities in the 1920s persisted – urban children average 4 years primary school education – rural children average 3 years primary education

Question 14

Failures in education under Lenin - What % of people paid school fees?

Answer 14

97% of people paid fees to attend schools so education became paid for again

Question 15

Education under Stalin - Successes - Campaign against illiteracy - When launched and how many adults attended literacy courses during 1st 5YP

Answer 15

• Campaign against illiteracy relaunched in 1930
• During 1st 5YP 90% of adults attended literacy courses

Question 16

Education under Stalin - Successes - Literacy stats by the end of 1st 5YP (1932) and 1933

Answer 16

• 68% of people were literate by the end of 1st 5YP
• By 1933 94% of people were literate

Question 17

Education under Stalin - Successes - What did Stalin want to create and how did teaching feed into this?

Answer 17

• Stalin wanted to create educated students to feed into his command economy
• Teaching was very nationalistic stressing the history of the revolution
• Teachers encouraged to set examples by emulating workers

Question 18

Education under Stalin - Successes - Education stats for 8-12 primary, 12-18 some secondary and 15-17 full secondary?

Answer 18

• 100% of 8-12 year olds gained four full years of primary education
• 65% of 12-18 gained some secondary education
• 20% of 15-17 years olds completed secondary education

Question 19

Education under Stalin - Successes - Number of unis and uni students stats?

Answer 19

• Number of unis increased by 800% from 1914-1939
• Number of uni students increased from 127,000 in 1914 to 811,000 in 1939

Question 20

Education under Stalin - Successes - How many children completed secondary education in 1939 compared to under NEP?

Answer 20

By 1939 around 1.5 million children completed secondary education compared to 216,000 during NEP

Question 21

Stalin education failures - How many teachers attacked during 1st 5YP?

Answer 21

40% of teachers attacked during 1st year of campaign because they were associated with gov policy of collectivisation

Question 22

Stalin education failures - How did literacy reflect inequalities in society?

Answer 22

Literacy reflected inequalities in society – 97% of men were literate while 90% of women were literate

Question 23

Stalin education failures - What did the education system become focused on?

Answer 23

Education system became focussed on reaching targets set (a bit like industry) so while literacy rates rose the genuine development of students didn’t

Question 24

Stalin education failures - What was the gov unwilling to do?

Answer 24

Gov unwilling to spend masses amount of money on education as their focus was industrialisation

Question 25

Education under Khrushchev - What was the problem in the countryside and what did K do to combat this?

Answer 25

• Despite improvements under Stalin, schools were still often small and lacked resources
• Teachers often unwilling to work in the countryside
• K ordered the merging of smaller country schools and the establishment of new schools that would offer ten year courses
• Doubled amount of schools in towns and cities

Question 26

Education under K - What happened to the amount of teachers under K?

Answer 26

1.5 million teachers in 1953 to 2.2 million teachers in 1964

Question 27

Education under K - What was K’s most important education reform?

Answer 27

Most important reforms of improving access to education was the abolition of fees for students attending secondary and university in 1956

Question 28

Education under K what happened in 1959 and what did this result in?

Answer 28

• 1959 saw the establishment of special funds to help poor students go to school – paid for footwear, clothes, textbooks, etc
• As a result of these, proportion of 17 year olds who completed school rose from 20% in 1953 to 75% in 1959

Question 29

Education under K - How did K reform education in 1956 and what did these reforms reflect?

Answer 29

• K reformed Soviet school system to introduce polytechnic education in 1956
• Reflected needs of K’s agricultural policy as Stalin needed disciplined workers whereas K needed new light industry workers with sophisticated skills
• Reforms also reflected the impact of the war – high mortality rates in young men led to a shortage of skilled labour in the 1950s
• These reforms saw education become more practical

Question 30

Education under K - What did K’s education law do? (5)

Answer 30

• Made education compulsory from 7-15
• Required schools to offer 11 year programmes rather than 10 year programmes
• Restructured education for 16-19 year olds so education would be more vocational in farms and factories
• Ensured the most academically gifted students would be given places at special schools that focused on academic education
• Introduced a new course “the fundamentals of political knowledge” for all 15 year olds to understand the beliefs of the Soviet system

Question 31

Education under K - What were K’s final reforms? (4)

Answer 31

• Final reforms part of de-Stalinisation
• Stalinist discipline relaxed in Nov 1960 – abolished correct sitting and standing rules
• Continuous assessment replaced final exams
• In 1962 teachers lost the right to expel underachieving students

Question 32

Education under K - What was the impact of K’s reforms - Were they popular?

Answer 32

• No, unpopular and considered a failure
• Most parents wanted an academic education rather than vocational training

Question 33

Education under K - Impact of K’s reforms - How many schools offered courses to students up to age 19 and how many didn’t implement the curriculum?

Answer 33

• By 1962 all schools were supposed to offer courses to students up to age 19 – only 65% of schools did
• Curriculum reforms were not implemented in 47% of schools

Question 34

Education under K - Impact of K’s reforms - What was the most successful aspect of K’s reforms?

Answer 34

Most successful aspect of K’s reforms was that they improved education for the academic elite

Question 35

Education under Brezhnev - What was the priority?

Answer 35

Education priority post K and under B was to repeal K’s reforms

Question 36

Education under B - What did the council of ministers do between 1964 and 1966?

Answer 36

• Ended 11 year schooling policy in favour of a shift to 10 year schooling
• Restored curriculum focus to academic study
• Ended vocational training
• Target that 100% of children would complete secondary education by 1970

Question 37

Education under B - How many students finished secondary school education by 1976?

Answer 37

By 1976 only 60% of students finished secondary school education

Question 38

Education under B - What happened to the number of teachers and their qualifications under B?

Answer 38

Number of teachers remained stable but their qualification level increased – by 1978 almost 70% of teachers had a university education

Question 39

Education under B - What did the School Statute of Sep 1970 do and what did the Fundamental Law on Soviet Education 1973 do?

Answer 39

• School Statute Sep 1970 required updated textbooks to reflect latest scientific info
• Fundamental Law on Soviet Education 1973 consolidated the existing approach to education in a single document

Question 40

Education under B - What other changes were made under B?

Answer 40

• Increased attempts to increase peasant participation in schools
• Free meals available to poorer students
• Textbooks made free
• Curriculum remained largely unchanged

Question 41

Education under B - What happened to uni student stats from 1950-1980?

Answer 41

• University education a real success under Communist education system
• Between 1953-80 higher education students rose from 1.5 million to over 5 million (19% of pop)

Question 42

Education under B - What happened to the curriculum and what attempts were made to serve diverse regions?

Answer 42

• Curriculum expanded to reflect the diverse needs of Soviet light industry
• Attempts to serve diverse regions of the USSR – 5 unis to serve non-Russians built under K– 18 unis in Kazakhstan built under B