EDUCATION IN RUSSIA

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22086, 16 April 1935, Page 13

EDUCATION IN RUSSIA

Sir,—-In reply to Mr. Drummond, we a|£ree that Tsarist Russia was far behind any other European State in regard to educational facilities, and that although the Soviet Union is making heroic efforts to catch up on this difference, she has* still some distance to travel to reach her goal. We have never boggled at such an admission. Nor have we ever boggled at an admission that tlfie dictatorship of the proletariat is used in the interests of the proletariat. We have constantly insisted on that point. But we believe that Mr. Drummond will frankly recognise that, while very considerable education facilities are available fqj the citizens in capitalist countries, access to those facilities is governed by economic considerations, and those considerations dehar a very large proportion of workers' children firom making use of the facilities. We understand, for instance, that it costs a New Zealand parent anything from £IOOO to £I2OO to make a doctor of his son. Two of our members recently made friends with a fourth-year medical student in the U.S.S.R. He was the son of a poor peasant. His training had been entirely free and he was actually receiving such wages as enabled him to enjoy life. It would appear that democracy has some distaince to travel before it can be said to be really democratic. Friends ok the Soviet Union.