Development of National System of Education in Russia

Influenced by the disintegration[3] of the serf[4] system, the trend toward industrialization and modernization, and the democratic ideas of the French Revolution, Tsar Alexander I at the beginning of the 19^th century tried to institute new educational reforms. The statutes[5] of 1803 and 1804 followed the pattern[6] set by Peter I the Great and Catherine II the Great in the 18^th century for utilitarian[7], scientific, and secular[8] education. The old Catherinian schools were remodeled and new schools founded. Schools were to be free and under state control. Rural[9] peasants[10] were to be taught reading, writing, arithmetic, and elements of agriculture at the parochial[11] schools (prikhodskiye uchilishcha); pupils in the district schools of urban areas (uyezdnye uchilishcha) and the provincial schools (gimnazii) were to be prepared for careers as civil servants or for other white-collar[12] occupations (law, political economy, technology, and commerce). The elementary and secondary schools were integrated with the universities.

Nicholas I, coming to the throne in 1825, considered this democratic trend harmful[13] and decreed[14] that:

It is necessary that in every school the subjects of instruction[15] and the very methods of teaching should be in accordance with the future destination[16] of pupils, that nobody should aim to rise above that position in which it is his lot[17] to remain.

A new statute of 1828 decreed that parochial schools were intended for the peasants, the district schools for merchants and other townspeople[18], and gimnazii for children of the gentry[19] and civil servants. Instruction in the gimnazii in Latin and Greek was increased. Although the legislation of Nicholas I established a class system, the utilitarian character of the whole system remained.

The Russian radical intelligentsia was fiercely opposed to the privileged schools for the gentry and demanded the reestablishment of a democratic system with a more modern curriculum in secondary schools. This was coupled with the demand for the emancipation[20] of the serfs and the equality of women in education. The new tsar in 1855, Alexander II, inaugurated[21] a period of liberal reforms. The serfs were emancipated in 1861, and thus all social restrictions[22] were removed. A new system of local government in rural areas (zemstvo) was enacted with a right to found schools for the peasantry[23], now free. Combined efforts of the government, zemstva, and peasant communities produced a growth[24] of schools in the rural areas. The utilitarian trend was evident in the establishment of technical schools with vocational[25] differentiation. The education of women was promoted, and the first higher courses for women were founded in main cities.

The reign[26] of Alexander II, which was later marked by reactionary measures and political oppression, ended in his assassination[27] in 1881 by the terrorist branch of the Narodniki revolutionary organization. A period of reaction followed under his successor[28], Alexander III. All reforms were suspended[29], and the growth of educational institutions was interrupted[30]. The chief procurator of the Holy Synod[31] attempted to build up[32] a rival[33] system of parochial schools under the control of the orthodox clergy[34]; and the minister of public instruction tried to return to the class system of Nicholas I. These reactionary[35] measures set back[36] the growth of education. Four-fifths of all children were deprived[37] of education. The result was that at the turn of the century nearly 70 percent of Russia's male population and 90 percent of its female population were illiterate (1897 census). The aboriginal[38] dwellers of Russia's national outskirts (more than one-half of the country's population) were almost totally illiterate.

   b) Now, looking at your Russian plan, retell the text in English.

XII. a) Read the article from the newspaper “The Moscow Times” (№4, July 30, 1997), written by Valeria Korchagina, a staff writer. Study the vocabulary first.

Vocabulary:

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