The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-12-07
New Type of Education; Proletarian Theater
and Literature

country 100000 schools; now there
are 10000. But our success lies
not so much in the number of the
schools as in the number of children
frequenting them. In this respect
we can record an increase of as per
cent, for in the current year 10,500,
COO children are being taught as
against 100000 before the war.
The percentage of children taught
iii the elementary schools has in
creased by at least 20 or 25 per
cent.
The government has worked out
plan for general compulsory edu-
cation in the four-grade elementary
schools, which will affect the first
grade, i. e. the children of eight
years of age, in the course of the
school-year 1928. At Moscow,
Leningrad, Ivano-Vosnessensk, in
the Crimea, in Georgia, and in the
Kama district, almost 100 per cent
of all children are comprised in the
educational system. In other regions
, Tie situation is less favorable; in
the Republic of Dagestan, e. g., only
rs per cent of the children are in
cluded. 1t must be pointe dout that
no effort is being spared to widen
the educational system and to COM
prise the children of such republics
as are inhabited by undeveloped ma
tionalities.
Secondary Schools.
With regard to the secondary
schools we may witness the same
development. Before the war there
were 1880 such higher schools for
general education thigh schools ana
academies. We now haze 1911 sue,
schools, no very great number, espc-
c ally if it is remembered that un er
the influence of the frs goat rev.
olutionary enthusiasm in 1920 we
increased tie numb ,r of these schools
to 1853, figure which exec eded or
capabilities, as regards both the
financial means required and the
qualified teachers. If we transfer
our attention to such figures as
reflect the Increase in the number
o. pupils, we can record a more
satisfactory result. Before tn wal
these higher schools compris ed
$4,000 pupils. At the time of the
great enthusiasm just af-er the rev.
G ution the number rose only t.
100000. Now we have a total of
S6o, 900, that is to say, an increase
of more than so per cent.
1t must be added that very great
progress has been made in The d.
rection of vocational schools. In pre-
war Russia there W.. re some 5000
such establishments. In the current
year the R. S. F. S. R. alone COM
prises almost 5000 schools of this
type, so that the total may be said
to have doubled. With regard to the
number of pupils the result is still
better. In the ten years since the
revolution the number of pupils in
the vocational schools has advanced
from 100000 to 63S 600.
Less satisfactory conditions obtain
as regards the remuneration of the
teachers and the available funds for
the requirements Of the schools. Our
budget is still poor, but we expect
it to increase rapidly during the
next few years.
New Type of Education.
Mere figures, however, do not give
proper conception of the actual
irowth of our schools, whether pri-
mary, secondary, or vocational. The
aims and objects Of our schools are
directly opposed to those of the
schools under the czarist regime. A
great deal has been done in the d.
rection of the complete methodical,
pedagogic Transformation of the
schools, their social composition has
been changed, the former material
has been replaced by altogether diff