Evening star., 1959-06-22

SIALlNIItAD.- II
after the l60-day battle which
the war, all that was left Of thI
dancing around q fountain.
Today 1t is an entirely M
broad avenues, imposing parks
Below the city, which
stretches IS miles along the
Volga. where the Volga-Don
Canal flows into the river. a
p0-foot statue of Stain rises on
a granite pedestal twice as
high. The dancing children
have been taken away because,
I was told, they did not suit
the city's monumental neo-
classic style.
The remarkable speed Of the
reconstruction is reflected In
the workmanship which is often
shoddy. One suspects. too, that
the standardized apartments
chiefly two rooms plus kitchen
and bath-will soon prove in
adequate for larger families
whose living scales are steadily
rising.
In contrast, little wooden or |
brick houses are being built
in the suburbs by private in
dividuals on Government loans.
Their distinctive designs. the
carved and gaily painted wood
work and the fences around |
them seem to reflect the yearn-
ing Of the owners for individ-
ual self-expression, and above
all, privacy.
Also in contrast to the arch
itectural style Of Stalingrad's |
which withstood a 900 day
public buildings, Leningrad. |
seige. has been rebuilt with me-
ticulous care to preserve its |
ancient flavor. In the central
districts. every facade has been |
either repaired or rebuilt ex-
actly as it had been when the
Cars ruled Russia. AS a result, |
Leningrad is today one Of the |
handsomest cities in all Eu-
rope.
Kiev Is Restored
Kiev, which also suffered |
severly during the war. has
in part been restored in its
old style. in part embellished |
with extravagantly decorated
neo-classic buildings whic h
provoked an outburst from Mr..
Khrushchev in 1855 against |
wasteful and often tasteless |
embroidery. Since then new |
buildings have been designed |
with greater restraint but con- |
siderable monotony.
One reconstructed building I
visited in Kiev was a hundred
year-old school. in the Cars
days a technical high school
and now a secondary school
specializing in teaching French.
The headmistress, a vigorous
little grey-haired lady who was
educated under the Cars and
who runs her school in what she
describes as a guards officer
manner" told me that classes
are strictly limited to 30 pupils
and in French studies to ten.
AS she showed me the class
rooms, manual training shops
and laboratories she asked
many questions about Ameri-
can schools. How big were the
classes? How long did they
last? How long were the inter-
missions?
Despite her pre-revolutionary
upbringing and strict disciplin-
ary standards. Nina Burichenko
shares with other Soviet educa-
tors misgivings about Soviet
school curricula. While Ameri-
can educators worry about the
over-emphasis of "life-adjust-
ment" courses, Soviet educators
are fearful that their pupils
are not being sufficiently ad-
justed to the main purpose Of
Soviet life-hard work.
Mr.. Khrushchev has stated
bluntly that too many grad
yates of Soviet high schools are
afraid of soiling their hands
with physical work. Also, as
American educators discovered
with CT. students, Soviet
teachers have found, accord
ing to Soviet Minister Of Edu-
cation v. P. Elutin, that young
people who interrupt their
schooling with two years at
work or in the army, make
better scholars.
Parents Oppose Plan
On the other hand. some
leading academicians believe
that interrupted education is
detrimental to students in the
natural sciences. Also opposed
to Mr.. Khrushchev's ideas, as
he himself has pointed out, are
the parents who would like to !
see their children get q col
lege education and then a good |
Office job without the hard
physical labor they have known.
The recently promulgated
educational reforms have only |
partly resolved these differ
ences. When / last left the
Soviet Union in 1946, all chill
dren were supposed to go to
school from the age of seven
to IA. (RuSsian authorities con-
slider six-year-olds too young
for school.) Later the seven
year system was changed to
ten, but this never became uni
versal, particularly in rural
areas. The new system spon-