RUSSIA AND EDUCATION

Waipa Post, Volume 44, Issue 3195, 25 June 1932, Page 2 (Supplement)

RUSSIA AND EDUCATION

"A TWENTY-FOUR HOUR JOB."

NEW ZEALAND EDUCATIONIST'S IMPRESSIONS. i —— That the education of the people is a 24 hour job with the Russian authorities is the opinion of Dr J. Salmond,. director of youth work of the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand. Some months ago Dr Salmond visited Russia, and whilst there made a special study of Soviet educational methods.

"There is a very real and earnest campaign in Russia to abolish illiteracy," he said. "In 1920 47 per cent of the people between the ages of 15 and 20 could not read or write. Now, every possible means is being used 'to educate the masses. The cinema, posters and the radio are being used to a tremendous extent in this campaign. Only about 5 per cent of the cinemas in Russia are privately owned. The educational authorities control about 35 per cent and the trades unions about 40 per cent. Most of the films are of an educational character, telling the story of the Communist state, illustrating collectivism on farms and factories, and other phases of Soviet propaganda. There is a serious educational purpose behind these films. Striking posters having a similar purpose are plastered everywhere, and school text books are published in about sixty dialects."

A feature of the educational work which appealed to Dr Salmond was the relation of theory to practice. In the industrial districts schools were built next to factories. The children were taught theory for part of the day and spent the rest of the day in the factory. In the rural areas peasant children spent part of the day in school and the rest on the farm learning modern agricultural methods. For in no country in the world to-day was the power of education realised more than in Russia. While the basis of education was the teaching of communism and the Marxian doctrine,, the authorities did not neglect the most modern thought on education, drawing freely on America and England for inspiration. They were trying to create a completely new cultural atmosphere, radically different from the cultural atmosphere existing in other parts of the world. The guiding principle of combining the theoretical with the practical was so that the pupils might imbibe the principles and spirit of the new Communist State. The higher schools were directing their energies towards training a new staff of! teachers, and the creation of a new intelligentzia, and the Institute of Red Professors at Moscow had set itself specifically to prepare new Marxist teachers for the universities. Physical education received a great I deal of attention. Sport was not encouraged for record breaking, but its purpose was declared to be for the training of young people in the spirit of co-operation.

"I was much, impressed by the enthusiasm of the people for the work that is being attempted," said Dr Salmond. "The young people especially seem to be impressed by the uniqueness of the experiments. There is also a desire in all their work to get rid of artificial class distinctions, and to give economic security to the common man. On the other hand, I consider the attitude of the Soviet toward the church and religion unscientific and persecuting. People are allowed to worship in church, but when the church conflicts with the political programmes of the Soviet, the church has to suffer. They claim that this persecution is on political and not religious grounds, but whatever the grounds, it is something opposed to all Anglo-Saxon ideas. Another objection is the Soviet's contempt for progress by evolutionary education. Their idea is that progress comes only by revolution, and then, too, there is the attempt to regiment thought on the basis of Marxism, which sweeps away all consideration of individualism."

Dr Salmond added that it was difficult to generalise about the .Soviet system and the Russian. He was a mystic who "lived in Suture." There was no doubt, though, that a great work was being attempted there in many ways. What its results would be it was difficult to prophesy.