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Soviet Union [USSR] Institutions of Learning
To provide free, universal, and multilingual education to all
citizens, the government operated a vast network of learning
institutions, including preschools, general secondary schools,
specialized secondary schools, vocational-technical schools, trade
schools, and special education schools, as well as universities and
other institutions of higher learning
(see
fig. 11). Completion of
the secondary school program, roughly equivalent to American high
school, became compulsory in 1970. By 1987 more than 120 million
people, out of a population of nearly 282 million, had completed
secondary and higher education; another 43.7 million had finished
at least eight years of schooling.
The common threads linking all institutions of learning were
the central aims of rearing and educating youth; thus, political
indoctrination and the education and training of specialists and
skilled workers remained of pivotal concern at all levels of
schooling. Curricula, textbooks, and teaching methods were
standardized nationwide. Except for a low enrollment fee for
preschool, all tuition was free, and the majority of students in
specialized secondary schools and institutions of higher learning
received monthly stipends. Although the degree of standardization
and centralization was very great, the school system was not
totally monolithic, and it reflected the multiethnic diversity of
the country's fifteen republics as well as considerable
differences, particularly in quality, between urban and rural
schools.
About 600 schools specialized in teacher training. Many
university graduates also joined the ranks of secondary school
teachers. In general, although salaries were not always
commensurate with status, Soviet society had a great deal of
respect for the teaching profession.
Data as of May 1989
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