3-GORBACHEV+Stribling,+Masden

What was the situation for that group/institution before Gorbachev became Premier? During the Stalinist and Pre-Gorbachev era, education in the Soviet Union was under the complete control of the State. This caused problems for many reasons. Firstly, the State did not allow citizens to relocate without express permission, so if an area had little educational opportunities (which was the case in much of the USSR) no one could move in search of better schools. This made college education incredibly hard to come by, especially in rural areas. It also points out the fact that Soviets' access to education was not equal for everyone like it should have been, according to Communist ideology. All schools were poorly funded and maintained, but ones in rural areas were sometimes completely neglected. Teachers went without salaries, buildings fell apart because universities did not own the land and could not make repairs.

There was also much in the Soviet curriculum that set it behind the rest of the world. These two characteristics, which Gorbachev called "blank" and "black", were the most pressing issues with education in the USSR at the time. "Blank" refers to the vast amount of subject material students were prohibited form learning in Soviet schools. These subjects included business management, market economics, sociology, political science, and psychology. Due to Soviet's lack of opportunity in these fields and many other advanced subjects, Soviet colleges (when they managed to get students) turned out menial workers or people with degrees useless outside the Soviet Union. The latter is what Gorbachev referred to as the "black" in Soviet education. "Black" means those degrees which did not apply outside the USSR like Marxism/Leninism and Communist History. Unfortunately, these were some of the most popular majors at Soviet universities as they were on the small handful of approved fields of study.

As previously mentioned educational facilities in the USSR suffered from a severe lack of resources. There were hardly any libraries and most that still existed contained only books approved by the Soviet government like the works of Lenin, Stalin, etc. Also, there was little to no innovative teaching. Teaching was based on students memorizing verbatim the lectures of their professors, most of whom wrote the textbook the class was using. However, the most shocking condition was the lack of textbooks. Many universities, secondary schools, and primary schools had severe textbook shortages. This was mainly because there was no private or international printing of textbooks and the government did not consider the expense worthwhile.

The other significant characteristic of Soviet education was the disturbing amount of corruption within the system. With no standardized entrance exams for universities, students often bribed their way in if they could afford it. There was also a lot of paying for grades, waste of government-allotted resources, and unfair salary inequality for teachers.

All in all, education in the USSR before Gorbachev was severely lacking in both resources and curriculum. It failed to provide benefits to the Soviet population and did little to ameliorate their ignorance of the world around them, especially outside the Soviet Union.



How did that group/institution interpret the application of those policies to it? Most of the reform was seen as a genuine attempt by Gorbachev and the government to modernize and liberate the field of education in the USSR. Many of the changes were received with appreciation, especially the attempt to provide soviet educators with more modern facilities and equipment because it was a something they had been wanting for a long time. Inversely, there was also worry that Gorbachev's reforms would amount to little more then bureaucratic jargon and would fail to apply to the real hardships faced by Soviet students and educators. As seen in the second cartoon there was also some suspicion that Gorbachev was trying to turn the USSR into a capitalist nation under pressure from Westerners. However, this attitude was mainly assuaged when Gorbachev's reforms began to yield positive benefits.



How did the Soviet state apply those policies to that group/institution, and what were the effects? On March 11, 1985, Gorbachev took power in the USSR and began instituting his reforms to get the Soviet Union up to part with the rest of the developed world. In the field of education, Gorbachev sought to remove the flaws of "blank" and "black" which he saw in the Soviet education system. This made the Soviet college education specifically much more substantive and produced workers with skills in areas previously restricted that were useful to the Soviet economy.

Gorbachev also gave universities and school's private ownership of their land and facilities so they were able to make repairs and purchase better equipment. This also meant that private schools could collect profit from fees and tuition with which to maintain their facilities. In addition to this, Gorbachev invested a lot in getting Soviet schools modern technology such as computers. this greatly increased the technological advancement of much of the population.

Citizens were now allowed to change residence, this meant they could move to areas with better schools, optimizing their chance at a good education. [|Heyneman, Stephan. "Entering a Higher Grade – Proposals to Reform Russia’s Education System." //Transition// 6.1-2 (1995): 1-5. //Entering a Higher Grade – Proposals to Reform Russia’s Education System//. Web. 2 Mar. 2014.]

What was the significance of Gorbachev’s reforms as it pertained to that group/institution? All in all, Gorbachev's reform improved the quality of Soviet education by removing the limitations on curriculum imposed by former Soviet leaders to keep their citizens ignorant. They also increased the amount of people who were able to receive education and benefit from it later in life by getting better jobs and contributing to the economy. After Gorbachev, education ceased to function solely as a tool of brainwashing the youth with Communist propaganda. Instead, it now focused on imparting valuable knowledge that held context both within and outside the USSR.

However, the changes in Soviet education also led to the system becoming fundamentally less Communist, as students used their new liberty to explore areas and ideas outside the USSR. The exposure to Western ideas, technology, and teaching techniques especially contributed to a change in the atmosphere of Soviet educators and educated youth than would have existed under Stalin.

Works Cited [|Heyneman, Stephan. "Entering a Higher Grade – Proposals to Reform Russia’s Education System." //Transition// 6.1-2 (1995): 1-5. //Entering a Higher Grade – Proposals to Reform Russia’s Education System//. Web. 2 Mar. 2014.] [|Puffer, Sheila M., and Mikhail Gorbachev. "Global Statesman: Mikhail Gorbachev on Globalization." //The Academy of Management Executive// 13.1 (1999): 8-14. //JSTOR//. Web. 2 Mar. 2014.]