The record-union., 1893-07-29
STUDENT LIFE IN RUSSIA
Rigorous Discipline is the Rule ut Mos
COW and st. Peters burg.

COW and st. PETERSBURG
Nowhere in the world is the student
subject to such strict, searching and
rigorous discipline as is the student in
russian university. From his entrance
into school the boy of 10 or ii years of
age has to go through long and tedious
process OF training, the nature of which,
according to the New York World, tends
more to fit him for army service than to
I'LL the professors chair. In the prepara-
tory class the boy is taught the names of
the royal family in order, and the names
OF the entire dynasty in their rank and
order. heSe he must know by heart
Next comes the way to render honor and
salute ali military officers should be meet
or speak about them. Here also he must
learn by heart the Russian national
anthem, ''God Save the Gar" Next
come marching and the various military
commands. An account is kept of the
physical developments of eacn boy, so
that when he is Is years old it can be seen
by his physical progress if he is tit for
the army service. AT this time the
scholar receives passport OF "identifica-
ton" and book containing the rules and
regulations which are to govern his life
in the institution. The discipline the
RUSSIAN student has to undergo may pro-
duce one of two results. The student
may be made obedlent or abjectly slaVish
or the rules and laws by which he is gov
erned may give him food for reflection
and create natural aversion to the au-
thorities.
Here are some of the requirements:
Each student must wear uniform with
brass and nickel-plated buttons, which
have to be polished every day; each stu
dent must also clean his own shoes: mus
tache and beard are not allowed; hair
must be clipped close; smoking and car
rying cane are forbidden, as well as the
use Of any lntoxicants whatsoever. While
walking to and from school the student
must carry on his back his knapsack
hIIed with books, weighing in all about
twenty-five or thirty pounds. This he
must do in all kinds OF weather. The
student cannot attend any social or pub
Ilc gathering or entertainment; neither
can he go to the theater or concert hall.
he must not be on the street after 7 p. 3I.
lie must not read any newspaper what
soever, or any books but those written
by Russian authors and approved of by
the censor. Anyone observing the viola
ton OF any of these rules may demand
the Students passport, for which the in
former receives reward, while the stu
dent IS punished by being locked up for
twelve hours i'll dark room.
Secret societies or organizations among
the students are not to be dreamed of;
neither are students permitted to gather
IN groups. Two may converse or speak
with one another, but three together are
not allowed. A young Russian who
says he attended one of these institutions
is authority for the statement that there
is always among the students one spy in
ten. The same person declares that when
spy makes an unfayorable report the
student reported against suddenly disap-
pears. In the year 1885, he atfirms, there
were twenty-one disappearances in the
st. Petersburg University and double
that number in Moscow. If inquiry is
made for the missing student, the in
quirer will be told that the young man
was considered dangerous subject to
the community and was therefore re-
moved out of harms way. The teachers,
professors and directors of universities
are appointed by body selected for that
purpose by the Gar himself Many
parents, knowing the risks and the dan
gers their boys are subject to while in a
Russian university, educate them
abroad. The young man sent abroad for
education is looked upon by the authori-
ties as dangerous subject, full of liberal
ideas and opinions concerning public
problems.