Development of National System of Education in Russia

Influenced by the disintegration¹ of the serf² 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 statutes³ of 1803 and 1804 followed the pattern⁴ set by Peter I the Great and Catherine II the Great in the 18^th century for utilitarian⁵, scientific, and secular⁶ education. The old Catherinian schools were remodeled and new schools founded. Schools were to be free and under state control. Rural⁷ peasants⁸ were to be taught reading, writing, arithmetic, and elements of agriculture at the parochial⁹ 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-collar¹⁰ 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 harmful¹¹ and decreed¹² that:

It is necessary that in every school the subjects of instruction¹³ and the very methods of teaching should be in accordance with the future destination¹⁴ of pupils, that nobody should aim to rise above that position in which it is his lot¹⁵ to remain.

A new statute of 1828 decreed that parochial schools were intended for the peasants, the district schools for merchants and other townspeople¹⁶, and gimnazii for children of the gentry¹⁷ 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 emancipation¹ of the serfs and the equality of women in education. The new tsar in 1855, Alexander II, inaugurated² a period of liberal reforms. The serfs were emancipated in 1861, and thus all social restrictions³ were removed. A new system of local government in rural areas (zemstvo) was enacted with a right to found schools for the peasantry⁴, now free. Combined efforts of the government, zemstva, and peasant communities produced a growth⁵ of schools in the rural areas. The utilitarian trend was evident in the establishment of technical schools with vocational⁶ differentiation. The education of women was promoted, and the first higher courses for women were founded in main cities.

The reign⁷ of Alexander II, which was later marked by reactionary measures and political oppression, ended in his assassination⁸ in 1881 by the terrorist branch of the Narodniki revolutionary organization. A period of reaction followed under his successor⁹, Alexander III. All reforms were suspended¹⁰, and the growth of educational institutions was interrupted¹¹. The chief procurator of the Holy Synod¹² attempted to build up¹³ a rival¹⁴ system of parochial schools under the control of the orthodox clergy¹⁵; and the minister of public instruction tried to return to the class system of Nicholas I. These reactionary¹⁶ measures set back¹⁷ the growth of education. Four-fifths of all children were deprived¹⁸ 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 aboriginal¹⁹ 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.