Evening star., 1931-12-20
ALEXANDER NAZAROFF,

Author Of "Tolstoy, the Inconstant Genius"
TN the educational policy of the So
Wet regime there is striking con-
tradiction which runs through all
/ Of its ramifcations and which
cannot help arresting the atten-
ton of a student. On the one hand the
Soviet government attaches colossal
importance to education: on the other
it itself often Injuries education with
the brutality of Caliban.
Its efforts to combat the ignorance
of the Russian masses are undeniable.
In 1925. when the worst of its financial
difficulties were over. the Soviet passed
decree calling for the gradual intro
duction of universal primary education
in Russia This decree has not been
fully carried out vet but great deal
has been done toward it.
Thus, in the Moscow region alone. 443
new schools have been built in the
course of the last year. and few thou
sand of them have arisen during the
same period in the rest Of the country.
According to the Soviet statistics, up
to 100000 children from 8 to II
years old-which is about "a or 95 per
cent of the total number of children be-
tween the ages entioned-attended
this year This is an increase Of more
than 20 per cent over the 1880 figure
and at least so per cent over that Of
1925.
Yet one will fully understand the
significance of these gains only when
one thinks of 1918 and 1919 For in
the chaos of the revolution. civil war.
terror end famine of these years edu-
cation in Russia was crushed almost
entirely 1t was only seldom that starv-
ing teachers (the bankrupt Soviet gov
eminent could not paw them more than
two or three dollars month"; could
gather in a crumbling. unrepaired and
unheated school few tattered pupils
and make them write the A B C's with
charcoal on the floor for there was
neither paper nor pencils nor books.
Others Are Opened.
Moreover. a large number Of new
secondary and lower technical schools,
as we'll as universities and polytechnic
Institutions, have been opened. To these
are to be added the "Rabfacs" or
"Workmens Faculties is to say,
special courses for workmen who. not
having received sufficient general edu-
cation, want to learn some science or
profession. The campaign for the
liquidation of illiteracy" is being ener-
getically pushed on; in special evening
schools illiterate groWnupS. chiefly
peasants, are taught the three RS.
True, at closer examination these
achievements prove to be not as flaw
less as the Soviet leaders, loudly adver-
Using their colossal educational victo-
ries," wish us to think. One gathers
from the Soviet press that the educa-
tional statistics for 1891 are a bit too
optimistic. Moreover there are cases
when some of the schools recorded as
opened proved to exist on paper only.
Perhaps if we place the actual attend
ance of primary schools at somewhere
around 80 and not 95 per cent of tn,
children we will be nearer to the truth
However, one must admit that the
Soviet government works zealouSly and
sincerely and that, at least quantita-
lively speaking. its "educational victo-
ries" are by no means an empty
sound.
Such, then, is one side of the picture.
Its other side, unfortunately, is en-
tirely different.
In its educational activities the
Soviet government is reckless, i.conse-
quential and terriflcally wasteful.
Worse still, it Is addicted to the most
daring experimentation, which often
costs the country too dearly. DEGREES
pour from the commissariat of educa-
ton IN torrent, their authors some
times giving little thought to whether
they can or cannot be carried out.
Such procedures began in the very
first days of Bo'shevism. One day
tthat was in 1919>. prompted by the
Communist idea that it is better to
have children educated in governmental
"chil6ren's homes" than in families
where they are "demoralized by ego
tistic, snt:-social tendencies" the
Soviet government proclaimed the
campaign Of naturalization of chill
dren" Such homes were hastily or
ganized, and mothers requested to sur
render their babies. Soon about 500,-
900 of them were thus taken over by
the state. Ths Soviet government,