Russian Catechism

Soviet Russia spends a larger percentage of its national income on public education than any other nation. What sort of education is it? In a new book, out last week, the Russians answer for themselves. I Want to Be Like Stalin (John Day; $2) is a translation by George S. Counts and Nucia P. Lodge from an official Soviet text on teacher training--a sort of catechism of Communist right & wrong for Soviet teachers. It is as soggily written as books on pedagogy are apt to be under any form of government, but behind the dull words is a horrifying picture of what young Russians are being brought up to believe.

Education in the U.S.S.R., as the text defines it, "is a weapon for strengthening the Soviet State and the building of a classless society. . . . Communist morality presupposes action and makes struggle obligatory. . . . The pupils of the Soviet school must realize that the feeling of Soviet patriotism is saturated with irreconcilable hatred toward the enemies of socialist society. . . ."

Ordered Obedience. The pupils must have "no personal interests opposed to the collective interests," and teachers are advised that "Soviet pedagogy does not repudiate methods of coercion." When a pupil is "unable ... to understand a given moral requirement. . . the rule may simply be given categorically and obedience ordered without specific explanations and proofs, with the warning that failure to conform will bring unpleasant consequences."

Like a Vishinsky speech, I Want to Be Like Stalin attempts to build one myth about Russia and another about the world outside. To accomplish this, history is arbitrarily distorted (in 1934, a three-man committee of Stalin, Kirov, and Zhdanov saw to the revision of all history textbooks). Thus, Soviet schoolchildren are taught: during "the Great Patriotic War [World War II] . . . we proved to be the only power capable, not only of halting the dark surge of fascism, but also of inflicting on it a decisive and fatal defeat."

Geography Is Maps. Today's schoolkids are obviously, to their Russian educators, tomorrow's soldiers. "Already in the primary school work is conducted for the purpose of equipping the pupils with those elements of general knowledge which are closely related to the military preparation of future warriors. ... In the course in geography attention should be given to the development of the ability to define the cardinal points ... to read a map, to grasp the relations of the various elements of relief. This is an essential part of military study. Mathematics should provide training in the use of the scale, the divider, the caliper. . . . Knowledge of mathematics is extremely important for the mastery of military technique. Various forms of out-of-class work designed to prepare children for the defense of their country may be utilized: evenings of reminiscences about the Red Army, excursions to military museums. . . ."

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