Education

The process and result of the acquisition of systematized knowledge and skills. Associated with education are the transfer from one generation to the next of knowledge of all of mankind’s cultural riches; the mastery of sociohistorical knowledge, as reflected in the natural sciences, social sciences, technology, and art; and the acquisition of work habits and skills. Education is essential to preparing for life and work. It is the basic means by which people come to know and acquire culture, and it is the foundation of culture’s development.
Education is acquired primarily through study in various educational institutions. Self-education, cultural-enlightenment work, and participation in social labor also play an essential role in the acquisition of knowledge and in intellectual development.
The content and level of education are determined by the requirements of social production, social relations, the level of development of schooling and pedagogical science, and the state of science, technology, and culture. In a class society education reflects class history, as may be seen in the structure of public education systems, the content of education, and the methods of teaching. The class character of the bourgeois school system, which is marked by restrictions on the level of education provided for workers’ children, by racial discrimination (in some countries), and by a large proportion of private and parochial schools, is in contrast to the Soviet system of public education, which rests on a number of principles, including the equal availability of education to all citizens of the USSR, compulsory education for all children and adolescents, and the state and public character of educational institutions. The Soviet educational system is also distinguished from the bourgeois system by freedom of choice of the language of study, the absence of tuition for all types of education, full state support for some students and a system of stipends for others, the unification of the system of public education, and continuity among all types of educational institutions. In addition, the Soviet educational system rests on the principles of the unity of education and communist upbringing; cooperation among the school, the family, and the society in bringing up children and young people; and the linking of education and training to life and the practical experience of building communism. The underlying principles of the Soviet system of public education also include a scientific approach to and continual improvement of education on the basis of the latest achievements in science, technology, and culture; a humanistic and highly moral orientation in education and upbringing; and coeducation. Furthermore, Soviet education is secular—that is, it excludes the influence of religion.
A distinction is made between general and specialized education. General education provides the knowledge and skills needed by everyone, regardless of their future field and occupation. Specialized education provides the knowledge and skills needed by the worker in a specific field with specific qualifications. In socialist countries the goals of general education are to equip students with a totality of knowledge about the fundamental principles of various disciplines, as well as with the corresponding skills and habits needed for comprehensive personal development; to train active, conscious builders of socialism and communism; and to develop in them the communist world view and communist morality. In the USSR and other socialist countries, general education is inextricably linked with polytechnic education. The transition to universal secondary education in the USSR, under the conditions of a highly developed socialist society, has had great social and national economic significance. Universal secondary education is the foundation for the comprehensive personal development of every member of society, the guarantee of complete equality to all citizens in obtaining an education, and the prerequisite for the mastery of any profession at the level of contemporary achievements in science, technology, and culture.
General education provides the foundation essential to specialized education, which includes a number of fields (for example, mining, radio engineering, construction, mathematics, power engineering, agriculture, medicine, history, and pedagogy). In the training of specialists, the study of specialized information is combined with the acquisition of an understanding of the general scientific principles of modern production. There are several levels of specialized education: higher, secondary specialized, and vocational technical education. The last category includes a brief period of direct, on-the-job training for workers.
The organizational principles, basic goals, and plans for improvement in all the links in the Soviet system of public education are defined in the Basic Principles of Legislation on Public Education of the USSR and the Union Republics (1973). The Soviet educational system is responsible for providing the national economy with trained personnel capable of organically combining the achievements of the scientific and technological revolution with the achievements of socialism, in order to meet the tasks of communist construction. The secondary general-education schools, the vocational technical educational institutions, and the secondary specialized educational institutions have a number of tasks. They are responsible for providing the younger generation with a general secondary education that meets the modern requirements of social and scientific and technological progress. Furthermore, they are assigned the task of equipping students with a profound, solid knowledge of the fundamental principles of various disciplines, as well as inculcating in them a drive to continually improve their knowledge and an ability to supplement their knowledge independently and to apply it in practice.
The scientific and technological revolution has caused an increase in the rate of replacement of the means of production and its technology, as well as a decrease in the time required for putting new scientific discoveries into practice. Consequently, workers must be equipped with a broad range of general scientific and specialized information. Vocational-technical, secondary specialized, and higher educational institutions train personnel who can adjust quickly to the changing conditions of production and who combine broad polytechnic and cultural knowledge with an excellent mastery of a specific field and a creative attitude toward work.
In the USSR and other socialist countries the right to education is one of the most important manifestations of socialist democracy. Legislatively reinforced by the constitutions of these countries, the right to education is guaranteed in fact by the broad development of a network of various types of schools, including higher and secondary specialized educational institutions. The development of education in the USSR has created the prerequisites for eliminating the difference between mental and physical labor.
In an antagonistic class society, the ruling classes use the educational system to reinforce their domination, and the content of education is subordinated to this goal. The contradiction between capitalist production’s need for qualified, trained personnel and the drive of the ruling classes to restrict the educational level of the workers for political reasons becomes particularly acute in periods of crisis and reaction and emerges with particular force in the epoch of imperialism. In modern capitalist countries there is a substantial difference in the level of education offered in schools for the masses and in privileged secondary schools.
The class historical character of education is manifested not only in the principles on which systems of public education are constructed but also in the ideological orientation of programs, textbooks, and the entire practice of instruction. The socialist school equips students with genuinely scientific knowledge, because the content of education is built on the methodology of Marxism-Leninism, which leads students to a dialectical materialist understanding of the laws of development of nature, society, and thought.
Modern technological progress and the increasing cultural requirements of the members of Soviet society have made it necessary to improve the content of education. Scientific and technological progress and the growing volume of scientific information call for continuous education, with workers regularly supplementing their general, polytechnic, and specialized knowledge. Therefore, various forms of improving workers’ qualifications and self-education have become very popular in the USSR and other socialist countries.
Instruction, which realizes the goals of education, is closely related to the content of education. The goals and character of education greatly influence methods of instruction. The broad application of modern technological means and of methods of independent mental activity have resulted in more effective instruction. Among the school’s most important tasks is to inculcate in students an interest in self-education, to develop in them habits of independent work. Citizens engaged in self-education receive a great deal of assistance from state and public organizations, which publish popular science journals and books for mass readership; organize special, educational radio and television broadcasts; show films on science and technology; and strive to develop a network for party political education.
Education is closely related to upbringing, or the formation of personality traits. This objective interdependence is evident: education is a necessary and powerful factor in personality development. By providing a general education and equipping students with a knowledge of the laws of development of nature, society, and thought, as well as with work habits and skills, the Soviet school forms communist views, communist convictions, a communist world view, and communist moral and volitional qualities in young people. At the same time, correct training of the personality promotes the successful acquisition of knowledge. The unity of education, study, and upbringing is achieved by putting into practice the principle of study that disciplines the individual and by including the work of upbringing and personality development in the system of extracurricular activities provided by the Pioneer and Komsomol organizations. By combining study with socially useful work and by taking advantage of the influence of a socialist environment, the Soviet school can successfully fulfill the tasks in education and upbringing assigned to it by the Communist Party.
E. I. MONOSZON
Category:Education