Russian Public Schools

By DESMOND DONNELLY, MP

MR. KIIRUSHCHEV has announced that he aims to have two and a half million pupils at Soviet boarding schools by 1965.

This news, in itself, will dazzle the Head- masters' Conference and stun the Left-wing critics of the British public schools system— not for the first time, the Kremlin has let them down. But Mr. Khrushchev has now gone further. At a second stage, in his en- thusiasm, he has spoken of making the board- ing school system 'in the long term, the basic educational institute in Soviet Russia'. And yet more recently, since his visit to Albania, he has stated that it is his intention that every Soviet child will go to boarding school, as soon as possible.

Whether Mr. Khrushchev will be able to accomplish such a staggering educational change in a country as vast as the Soviet Union Is our immediate questionmark. But behind ihis latest and bizarre development in the Communist system lies an interesting story— and therein is the significance.

In theory, since 1934, the basic Soviet system has been universal education for ten Years, from the age of seven, through to seventeen. After that, there are the universities, technical schools; and the technikumy—a f(Irm of practical finishing school that mostly lytakes its pupils at fifteen and, after a four ears' course, awards a sub-professional diploma. Before the war, the application of the basic system was patchy. During the war, the upheavals made the position much worse. By the war's end, the Soviet educational system had deteriorated to the point where much of the system existed only on paper. It was only With defeat of Germany that the great Soviet educational drive started, of which the concept of the universal boarding school is the latest example.

At this point, I must enter a note of quali- fication. The idea of boarding schools is not entirely new in the Soviet Union. The idea stems directly from the system of children's homes that grew up in the inter-war years and which were designed to deal with the problem of children whose parents were divorced, dead—or imprisoned. The really important point is that Mr. Khrushchev has now announced that he intends to make the concept universal.

Mr. Khrushchev's reason for taking this dramatic step is that he has at last come face to face with the problem of the diminishing zeal for the communist revolution amongst the latest generation of young Soviet citizens. Being the man that he is, he has had the perception to realise that he must take rapid action to consolidate Soviet society in its current mould; or it will gradually disinte- grate, probably within a generation or two.

In producing his answer, Mr. Khrushchev now borrows his ideas from Plato, in order to bolster up those of Marx and Lenin.

At the back of Mr. Khrushchev's thinking, there is clearly the realisation that the present ten-year system provides a good academic foundation for further education. Its fault is that the home influences and the diversions outside school, in a fast developing country, have tended recently to turn out more young men and women with questioning or even undisciplined minds. Hence the recent arguments amongst Russian students about unnecessary Marxist-Leninism at university level, like the debate on unnecessary Latin in Britain. But the difference between the positions in Russia and Britain is that whereas the British argument is about a relatively minor issue, the Russian debate has become a

challenge to the foundations of society7- something which no Communist leader can accept.

Significantly, Mr. Khrushchev has started his drive for boarding schools with a parallel attack on the influence of the barbushka. This is the traditional term for grandmother but, in reality, she is often the elderly relative who looks after the children, whilst the parents go out to work or enjoy the fruits of the rising standard of life in Russia. In the past few weeks, the pages of Krokodil have been filled suddenly with satirical comment on the role of the barbushka ; her dangerous and out- dated influence upon the young and the way in which she is helping to sabotage the revolution.

Therefore, it is not surprising that Mr. Khrushchev's next logical step is to increase the provision of boarding schools—where the child will be removed from the subversive barbushka; and where a proper code of communist ethics will be taught instead.

The inculcation of a communist code in this fashion has its obvious parallels with the British public schools system. This is shown clearly by Wolfgang Leonhard in his book, Child of the Revolution. In one passage in it, Leonhard describes vividly how he was forced to recognise the error of his nonconforming ways by the pressure of his fellow pupils at a special boarding school for cadres; and how it was indicated to him that he had 'let down the school'. In another passage, a fellow pupil, not Leonhard, was hauled up before the school for kissing ' a girl—obviously another 'let down'.

Already there are nearly two hundred thousand children at the new Soviet boarding schools; and the building of more schools has commenced. According to Mr. Khrush- chev, these schools are being 'situated in the suburbs of great cities and in healthy areas.' He says also, They are to have the necessary facilities for the all round physical and spiritual development of the young Soviet citizen.'

Admission to the boarding schools is at the request of parents or guardians. So far, to my knowledge, there are no signs of a specially privileged entry for the children of party officials.

The schools are not intended to be free: fees being charged on a sliding scale according to income and varying from 80 roubles to 420 roubles monthly. At present, there are some complaints that the fees are too high; and also, that the sliding scale is not being operated properly. But, quite possibly, these are mere teething pains.

It is far too early to assess the progress—or the full significance—of new development. However, two things are clear. First, the experiment could have a decisive influence in checking the evaporation of the revolutionary religion. Secondly, it is further proof of the capacity of the extraordinary, pragmatic—at times visionary—character in the Kremlin.