Impresions of Soviet Education: a Second Look
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DOCUMENT RESUME ED 084 957 HE 004 835 AUTHOR Lane,'George B., Ed. TITLE Impresions of Soviet Education: A Second Look. A Report of the Educational Staff Seminar Study Tour, Novem4er 16-30, 1972. INSTITUTION George Washington Univ., Washington, D.C. Inst. for Educational Leadership. PUB DATE Nov 72 NOTE 108p. EDRS PRICE MF-$0.65 HC-$6.58 DESCRIPTORS *Adult Education; *Cultural Awareness; *Early Childhood Education; Elementary Education; English Education; *Higher Education; *International Education; Secondary Education IDENTIFIERS *Soviet Union ABSTRACT This document presents the impressions of the edudational Staff Seminar Study tour of the Soviet Union. After the introduction and itinerary, the first chapter deals with the soviet scere including sections on religion, ideology, the social system and the soviet woman. The second chapter concerns the early childhood and preschool education of soviet youngsters, including daycare, student discipline, and early childhood education research. The third chapter concerns elementary and secondary education including specialized English language schools, pioneer palaces, the exceptional student and the slow learner, educational technology, and vocational-technical schools. The fourth chapter deals with higher education, adult eduCation and research, with sections on leadership goals, foreign literature, the Moscow State University, and the Institute of Adult Education Research. Teacher training, scientific and educational information dissemination, and perspectives on soviet health concern the next three chapters. The eighth chapter is a summing up of soviet lessons for American education. Appendices include a roster of tour participants and a description of the Educational Staff Seminar. (Author/PG) Impressions of SovietEducation: 1 P A SECONDLOOK AIL N .00 al U.S DEPARTMINT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, &WELFARE NATIONAL INSTITUTE EDUCATION OF THIS DOCUMENT DUCED EXACTLYHAS BEEN REPRO AS RECEIVED THE PERSONOR ORGANIZATION FROM ACING IT POINTS ORIGIN OF VIEW OR OPINIONS STATED DONOT NECESSARILY SENT OFFICIALNATIONAL REPRE EDUCATION POSITION INSTITUTE OP ORPOLICY INSTITUTE FOR EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP THE GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY EDUCATIONAL STAFFSEMINAR / WASHINGTON, D. C. 20036 / (202)293-3166 SUITE 620 / 2000 1 STREET, NORTHWEST FILMED FROM BEST AVAILABLE COPY THE GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE FOR EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP EDUCATIONAL STAFF SEMINAR SUITE 620 / 2000 L STREET. NORTHWES1 / WASHINGTON, D, C, 20036 I (202) 2934166 IMPRESSIONS OF SOVIET EDUCATION: A SECOND LOOK A Report of the Educational Staff Seminar Study Tour November 16-30, 1972 Edited by. George B. Lane THE GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE FOR EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP. NORMAN DRACHLER, Director &Neonatal Staff Seminar, SAMUEL HALPERIN, Director Washington Internships in Education, Vacant Health Staff Seminsr, JUDITH K. MILLER, Director Associates 'Program,JAMES BROWNE , Coordinator IMPRESSIONS OF SOVIET EDUCATION: A SECOND LOOK Report of the Educational Staff Seminar Study Tour, November 16-30, 1972 Edited by George B. Lane PAGE Introduction -- George B. Lane 1 Itinerary 7 Frontispiece: "Pressures in Russia" (from the Washington Post) 9 Chapter I: The Soviet Scene Highlights of the Soviet Union -- Delano Lewis 10 Soviet Life and Times -- Terry Margerum 12 A Note on Religion -- Robert L. Klassen 15 Political Economics and Ideology -- Harold Wolman 15 Observations on a Social System -- Edith Grotberg 17 The Soviet Woman -- Eleanor Dolan 20 Chapter II: Early Childhood and Preschool Education Daycare Theory and Practice -- Harvey Yampolsky 24 Moscow Nursery Schools -- Alice Scates 25 A Detski Sad (kindergarten) in Kiev -- Monica Blum 27 Notes on Early Childhood Programs -- Martha Phillips 28 Student Discipline -- Barbara Downey 29 Early Childhood Education Research -- Barbara Downey 30 Chapter III: Elementary and Secondary Education U.S.S.R. Ministry of Education -- Cora Beebe 32 Individual Differences and Recognition of Talent -- Stafford Smiley 33 The Exceptional Student and Slow Learner -- Philip Rosenfelt 36 Aspects of Excellence in Soviet Education -- Richard Siegel 38 Specialized English Language School -- Keith Hartwell 40 Pioneer Palaces: Diverse Viewpoints - - John Jennings 41 -- Martha Phillips 43 - - Carol Egermeier 44 - - Sherrill McMillen 44 - - Alice Scates 45 The Moscow English Language School -- Alice Scates 47 Libraries and Educational Technology -- Carol Egermeier 49 A Vocational-Technical School -- Philip Rosenfelt 50 A National Ukrainian School -- Keith Hartwell 51 A Ministry of Culture Music School -- Richard Siegel 52 Chapter IV: Higher Education, Adult Education, and Research Leadership Goals and Objectives -- Lee G. Burchinal 53 Books and Foreign Literature -- Keith Hartwell 58 Moscow State University -- George B. Lane 60 Kiev University: Faculty of Sciences -- Jacquelyn Hall 62 History and International Relations -- Keith Hartwell 64 Decisionmaking Process -- Martha Phillips 66 Pedagogical Research Institute of the Ukraine -- Robert L. Klasser 68 Institute of Adult Education Research -- Alice Scates 69 Chapter V: Teacher Training A Report by Donald K. Sharpes 73 Chapter VI: Scientific and Educational Information Dissemination A Report by Lee G. Burchinal 80 Chapter VII: Perspectives on Soviet Health The Soviet Health Services System -- Dianne Wolman 88 Mental Health Research -- Jacquelyn Hall 91 Chapter VIII: Summing Up--Soviet Lessons lor American Education -- Cora Beebe 96 Appendixes I - Roster of Participants in the ESS Study Tour of the Soviet Union, November 16-30, 1972 * II - Description of the Educational Staff Seminar "iv *A report of a first group of ESS visitors to the U.S.S.R. in 1971 is available from the ESS office, along with similar reports on education in Israel and Japan. 1 INTRODUCTION by George B. Lane Travel in the Soviet Union is a mind-blowing experience.Culture shock is an ever-present phenomenon, and no one returns,to the West unchanged. Yet, in many respects, the Soviet Union and the United States are much alike. They are both characterized by high machine technology in their corporate industrial systems. They both strive to create the good life for their citizens in an environment of increas- ing urbanization and rapid technological change. It should be expected that Soviet cities and public institutions resemble ours to some extent. And they do. But although the U.S.S.R. confronts many of the same problems we face in the U.S., it has resolved most of them in very different ways. It is the juxtaposition between the familiar urban environment and gentle humanity of the Soviet people on the one hand with the startling rigor of the Communist mindcast on the other which causes the jolt to so many non-Communist visitors. While the problems are familiar, the solutions decidedly are not. Indeed, the very perception of the problem is quite different from that of the American mind. The communication gap is therefore severe, requiring careful definition of terms and considerable goodwill to per- ceive the reality beneath surface contradictions. Stark primitivism pervaues the Soviet setting of what appears super- ficially to be a European culture. The American mind continually boggles at the course quality of virtually everything, only--to be staggered by the exquisite refinement displayed in Russian Czarist art, architecture, and music. The sharp contrast between Soviet achievements in scientific technology (notably in space, of course) and the raw, often slipshod construction of buildings, for example, seems disturbingly inconsistent. The generally low standard of living and the pride displayed by female Intourist guides in owning that mark of distinction, a mink pillbox hat, touches the foreign visitor deeply. Only after reflection on Russian history and development does a consistent rationale emerge from the welter of apparent contradiction. And nowhere is this more necessary than in the field of education, one of the major supports and achievements of the Soviet state. The fact is that the Soviet Union suffers the evil heritage of a society which has only in this century emerged from economic servitude. This nation of freed serfs and proletariat has come a very long way in a very short period of time. They have had to maintain a stringent list of priorities in order to do so. Luxuries and most consumer goods have had to wait. Although educa- tion has occupied a high place on the agenda, military preparedness has, unfortunately, come first. In 1917, we were told, only 15 percent of the Russian people were literate, and most of those fled the country after the Revolution because education had been largely restricted to the landed aristocracy. In the past 55 years, therefore, the Soviet Union has faced the necessity of creating an educational system from scratch, built upon the almost total illiteracy of the population. It has, at the same time, created systems of medicine, housing, industry, and science. Russia was one of the most backward major powers on earth at the time of the Revolution. Although its serfs had been freed about the same time as slaves in the United States, they had been kept in much the same condition of debt peonage as occurred in this country. Imperial Russia resembled the ante bellum South in the United States--a tinyaristocracy lived in great comfort with a highly sophisticated European culture, supported by a huge mass of rural and urban poor who were denied virtually every aspect of human dignity. 2 In one step, the Soviet Union vaulted into