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Romania Education and Legitimacy of the Regime
Along with the aim of political socialization, a chief
goal of
the communists from when they first held power was the
"democratization" of education, which meant compulsory
primary
education for all members of society and implied greater
access to
higher education for peasants and workers. Democratization
of
education was to serve as the wellspring of upward social
mobility
and an important source of legitimacy for the regime.
Large
investments were made in education, and illiteracy was all
but
eradicated by 1966, an important achievement considering
that in
1945 some 27 percent of the population was unable to read
or write.
At the same time there was a massive expansion of
enrollment in
elementary education, and universal ten-year basic
schooling was
achieved by 1975. In that year 100 percent of those
eligible to
attend elementary school were enrolled; the corresponding
figure
for secondary education was 49 percent, and for higher
education 10
percent. By 1970 the number of teachers at the primary and
secondary level was three times the pre-1945 figure, and
by 1975
the student-to-teacher ratio fell to 20 to 1. The
university
teaching staff also expanded dramatically--from
approximately 2,000
teachers in the 1938-39 academic year to more than 13,000
by 1969.
Teaching, especially at the university level, had long
been a
prestigious profession. Teachers were required to be
qualified in
two specialties and were trained in guidance and
counseling.
Throughout the 1970s, efforts were made to link more
closely
the education system to the requirements of the economy
and the
industrial development of the nation. This had a dramatic
impact at
all levels of the educational structure, as the desire for
close
ties between the school and real-life situations meant
greater
emphasis on technical and vocational education, whereas
the
humanities and liberal arts suffered. This polytechnic
approach
favored basic education with more courses in mathematics
and
natural and physical sciences, factory and farm work
during school
hours, and special courses aimed at instilling love and
respect for
manual labor and eliminating bias in favor of academic
work. As a
result, the education system of the 1980s openly
discouraged higher
academic education and favored training that would produce
workers
and managers as quickly as possible.
Data as of July 1989
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