So, friends — today will be a great and interesting post about what is really happening in Soviet schools. Fans of the Soviet Union for some unknown reason I think the Soviet education ideal — say, otlichie school was in the USSR, and that now, now “generation exam” even 2+2 can not be folded, and in the USSR, all curricula were almost personally the great scientist and inventor , comrade Stalin!
But really this situation is very far from the truth. Soviet school was almost the most backward and archaic in the whole of Europe, and of the children there were trained independently thinking individuals for life in a free state, and the personnel to work within the Soviet system — stuffing Soviet myths and propaganda. Not least in “the crisis of the nineties” (which you so love to speculate, the fans of the USSR) played the role of the Soviet school — she taught children to worship Lenin, but have not learned to live in the real world.
So, in segdnyashnie post — the most complete and truthful story about what was a Soviet school. Come under kat, there interesting. Well, friends to add do not forget)
1. Violence against the person.
The main and basic principle of the Soviet school, which were subordinated to all other principles is a violence against the person. The main task of teachers was the preparation of the “raw material” (children) are ready “professionals-cogs” for the Soviet system. What is interesting — in the USSR this was not always in the 1920-ies there were some experiments in this area, but with the coming to power of a great agronomist and linguist all this came to naught, and the school has gained all of you well-known form — the dominant role of the teacher and clear rules and teaching methods.
If you think about it, the Soviet system of schooling is very reminiscent of the conscription army — child 6-7 years old were torn from their parents, thrown into a team of 30, dressed in uniforms, have secured for him a strong place in the classroom, taught to March and planted the idea that the lady in the black dress here a king, a God and the military chief. Exactly the same as in the army, the disciples lacked the right to fail and the right to privacy — “bad things” was considered necessary and useful to discuss and make fun of the whole team, and even to just to go to the bathroom, a student had to raise his hand and tell him why and where he was going to leave.
This partly explains why the school is perceived by many Soviet children as endlessly dull and unpleasant school — which, incidentally, is reflected in many Soviet films about school. See for yourself — all the students there just waiting for the moment to quickly get out of class (at recess or on vacation), and no one is talking about school how about some nice place.
2. School bullying and the bullies.
As in any closed environment where people were not on their own (like the army and prisons), in Soviet school there was a hierarchy and hazing. High school students could bully and harass them — taking away small money on the Breakfast buffet, handing out orders, etc. it is Officially condemned, but in fact the teacher had nothing to do with it.
In addition, due to the overcrowded classes with very heterogeneous student population often face a situation where 3-4 losers, quitter, and smoker are humiliated and slighted the entire class. As a rule, sat the gang “in the gallery” (at the back), preventing the teachers to conduct lessons, and at recess engaged in trolling people, bullying and taking away all the good stuff. (from money to food) those who are weaker.
Interestingly, this situation largely contributed to overcrowded classrooms — often they were 30 or more students, this was just enough to have formed a gang of bullies, humiliate layer (usually 2-3 honors and “demure,” on the role of “Scarecrow” whipping came also some “fatso” or “four-eyes”), and the silent majority who just watched everything happening.
3. Leveling.
Official Soviet doctrine declared “the equality of all people”, which in practice, however, resulted in normal leveling, when the strong and smart tried to equate with the weak and the fools. More or less well in the Soviet system of education felt like a “gray mouse” (not endowed with special talents, passive), all the rest suffer.
“Excellent” was good only in special schools, whereas in the ordinary schools they are often ridiculed and bullied by classmates — “are you the smartest?”, “because your knowledge of one you five, and all of us four.”, “you want everyone to know?”. Overall, a really smart and successful pupils often got from “average” classmates, and it was necessary to have a strong character to withstand these attacks and not to slip into a gray “b”.
On the other side of the convoy trailed losers — those who study could not and did not want doing instead of studying shooting slingshot lights and Smoking in the school toilet. Besides the fact that the losers have not learned themselves, they are also normally not allowed to learn class — tearing from time to time lessons and taking time away from talented kids — often this smoky (and sometimes drunken) Jones, who from one pocket sticks out a slingshot, and from another — a pack of “Prima”, “attributed” to any student, which is in the form of pioneer assignment (in addition to their classes, electives and clubs) had to do more with this Bob. Bob in the end still went to vocational school to the factory or the army, but the student could not enroll in the UNIVERSITY which I wanted, due to the lack of free time to prepare.
Here also should be added that the parents had almost no chance (with rare exceptions) to transfer your child to another class or school, all children were forced to learn here in this egalitarianism.
4. Soviet propaganda.
From the first day at school, the child was started to prepare for life in the Soviet system, there were many rites of initsiatsii (like religious), only after which the child could become a productive member of society. First, the little man took in October. It was thought that this should definitely be good to listen to mom and respect grandpa Lenin. Then the baby joined the pioneers, where the children are given “pioneer oath”, but for the individual charged already higher requirements:
“He’s not ruining nests,
Does not smoke and is not lying,
Do not hang up on the bandwagon
Another takes.
He wears a red tie,
The guys as an example.
It – girl, it – boy,
He is a young pioneer!”
Then it was supposed to be the young Communist League and Communist party membership — the education system in the USSR did not allow even the thought that there may be some other party, some other authorities and some other course of development.
Soviet propaganda accompanied the student throughout the ten years of studying is numerous “pioneer house”, flags, slogans, songs and dances, stories and fairy tales. Also the kid with childhood accustomed to the idea that he might have to work for free — these “pioneer instructions” for wasting my time on losers, charges of scrap metal, waste paper and other useless activity.
In addition, children were constantly involved in all sorts of dirty political games Soveskogo Union, making out with posters in support of “children of Angola”, against “creeping NATO intervention in our Soviet Afghanistan” and a demonstration on 1 may 1986.
5. The degradation of the teaching profession, bribes and “gifts”.
One of the distinguishing features of the Soviet school of long standing and gradual degradation of the teaching profession. In contrast to pre-revolutionary times, when to teach in high school was an honorable and well paid job, in the USSR all rolled down to the fact that teachers were not the most ambitious and smart, but well-managed people. As in other professional spheres — in the sphere of education were absent independent unions, and often the Director or the Director of studies-tyrant staged in the school prison rules, forcing teachers to “toe the line”.
The salary of a teacher in the USSR was extremely low, teachers were mostly women, “covered” by the salary of her husband. This partly explains why in the Soviet school began to flourish the system of “gifts” and small bribes — parents often “skid” teachers sweets, cognacs, scarce tights or simply the money to Bob or Tanya drew a good mark for the quarter. Sowatsky octal in most cases, the person with double standards — talked about how we need to be good and correct, but he easily took bribes and lived in the system of “cronyism”.
By the way, this handling, no own opinion (different from the views of the authorities) and in part poverty and had led to the current situation, when a school teacher, running for election involved ballot box stuffing and fraud. All of this area is degraded to such a state it was in Soviet times.
6. Low quality of school education.
The last and most important point. Okay — can I say fans of the USSR — there really was a school drill, leveling, propaganda and not the initiative of the teacher. But education-that was good! Knowledge gave — hoo! No, friends, it does not happen. Some knowledge of algebra, geometry and physics still doesn’t make you an educated person, as education is a complex of measures, which aims to help the person become an independent person and realized in life. The Soviet system of education prepares man to existence within the Soviet system, and was, in fact, completely unusable in other areas.
Even if you analyze the teaching of particular subjects — and here the thesis of “a good education system in the Soviet Union” fiasco. See for yourself:
Mathematics, physics, chemistry. More or less the average level is not always sufficient for admission to a good UNIVERSITY (I had to take tutoring and electives). In the United States and Europe, the level was no worse, where graduates of schools and colleges successfully built spaceships, cars and did research octate.
Literature, art. Teaching in the Soviet context, the glorification of socialist realism, ignoring the world trends. In fact, zero. Soviet children he studied “the Small Earth” and never heard of Camus, Sartre and Bertrand Russell. In fact, the entire twentieth century, with its Nobel laureates passed, the Soviet children read dead trash.
History. Complete unscientific crap that started during the great astronomer and farmer. The true causation of events eroded, and everywhere imposed upon the Marxist vision of history.
Foreign languages. The teaching level is zero. Show me one Soviet student, who for 10 years taught French, German or English and can fluently say it at least 4-5 sentences, different from school on the topic “What I know about Paris”. These do not exist in nature.
Social science, science on the structure of society. The same unscientific nonsense, like in the story. A bunch of pseudoscience, which with the collapse of the Soviet Union is gone.
In General, as you can see, no “highest quality” Soviet schooling was not, and all this egalitarianism and the other negative things were going only to the detriment.
Here’s a review of Soviet schools I did. I would be glad if you share this post with your friends)
Do you remember how you studied in the Soviet school? What can be part of the story?
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