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By Helen Kimmel

ODESSA, Ukraine, USSR

Odessa School #81 in Odessa, the
southern port city of the Ukraine, is a
square four-story brick and cement
building with large windows. Tulips
were blooming in front, and the soccer
field in back merged into a park with
apartment complexes in the distance
beyond. The open areas were still
muddy, with spring’s bright green start-
ing to appear. I was part of a group of 12
U.S. Americans, who visit the school as
part of the tour arranged by the local
Intourist office. This was particularly
interesting for me, since I am a teacher
in California’s public school sys-
tem.Tour groups are rotated pe the
city’s schools so that no schoo is dis-
ruptéd: This ‘was not a “‘médel school,”’
but just an ordinary part of the local
school system. The New Yorkers in the
group commented on the absence of
grafitti.

We learned that education in the
Soviet Union is valued very highly.
There are no budget cuts in education
there. We were told that after the 1917
socialist revolution, the new govern-
ment launched a massive campaign to
wipe out illiteracy. In the early years,
four years of schooling was compulsory.
In the 1950s, eight years was made com-
pulsory. At the 24th congress of the
Soviet Communist Party, compulsory
universal secondary education all over
the country was adopted, and at the 26th
congress in February it was projected
that 98% of all children should complete
high school.

USA CSR Lue, YOIBS SOS RIO fH

The first thing that struck me about
the school was the range in ages of the
students. The school includes all 10
grades, from first (for seven year olds)
through tenth (graduates are about 17).

First we visited a second grade
classroom, a bright room with one en-
tire wall of windows. There were plants
on the window sills, a tank of goldfish in
the back, and birds in a cage. The chil-
dren sat two to a desk, one boy and one
girl each, with about 30 students in the
class. They were bashful, and obviously
not used to foreign visitors. We were
asked to choose some at ~~ dom for a
demonstration of their reading abilities.
They all read well, at what I would calla
fourth or fifth grade level compared to
California schools.

Down the hallway there were sam-
Bigs the students’ art work displayed

ass Neaees. mostly bright, cheery
anions of flowers and dragons.

The next class we visited was a
fourth grade Russian. The primary lan-
guage of this school is Ukrainian. In the
second grade they begin learning Rus-
sian, which is the mandatory second
language in every republic where Rus-
sian is not the first language. This
makes it possible for students to study
at institutes of higher learning any-
where in the USSR. Later, when they
enter their teens, many students add a
third language, usually English, Ger-
man or Spanish.

These fourth-graders were more
outgoing, and liked to wink at us while
their teacher was talking to us. This

“Helen Kimmel is a teacher in California

FEATURE

Odessa
School 81

room, too, was filled with living
things--plants and a cage of hamsters.

We learned that in the Soviet Union
great attention is paid to teaching sci-
ence and technology. Children are edu-
cated with the view that they will be
participating in the scientific-
technological revolution, including au-
tomation, computerization, etc., in all
areas of life. .

After our tour we settled down to ask
and answer questions with the principal
and four of the teachers. The first ques-
tions related to student discipline. Was

~. smoking allowed? No, and the teachers

were not allowed to smoke around the
students. Was there a drug problem?
They had never had any cases of drug
use among their students, but from time
to time some students had problems
with alcohol, in which case they would
be sent to a special school for
help. There are student committees
in every school to help teach the stu-
dents a sense of responsibility and col-
lectivity, and to help them develop val-
ues, ethics, and character. The schools
are supplemented in this by the Com-
munist Party, which helps provide polit-
ical education, the Komsomol (Young
Communist League), the Young
Pioneers, the palaces of culture, camps,
clubs, and other organizations. The
parents also work: closely with the
schools. As aresult, there are virtually

no serious disciplinary problems in the-

schools.
One of the older men in our group,

_ who had been looking in vain throughout

our tour for evidence of ‘‘oppression,”’

,

asked the principal if the school’s ad-
ministrators were actually Ukrainian,
or if they were Russian. The principal
replied, ‘‘Iama Ukrainian, a Ukrainian
Jew.’’ Throughout our trip we found
many Jewish citizens in important jobs
and positions of authority.

I asked about textbook selection and
curriculum design. I was told that some
basic texts, like math books and gram-
mars, are the same throughout the
country. The basic curriculum is the
same throughout the Soviet Union, thus
ensuring that standards of education
are equal in every republic. Supple-
mentary curriculum is developed by the
education ministries in each republic,
and supplementary texts are the option
of the teachers. The basic texts are writ-
ten by teachers. Contests are held in
which teachers submit proposed texts,
and teachers with serious proposals get
paid time off to work on them. Not only
does no publishing house profit from
textbook production, but the stateprint-
ing house which produces school books
is heavily subsidized. The notion that
someone coyld profit from the produc-
tion of school books was shocking to the
teachers.

Administrative matters such as as-

signment of special duties to particular
teachers, expenditure of money on
equipment, disciplinary action regard-
ing students, are all handled by teacher
committees rather than by the princi-
pal. The teachers are given paid time off
to serve on the committees.

Every few years, teachers are re-
trained tobetter their qualifications and

- to ensure that they are aware of im-

provements in the curriculum, changes
in teaching methods, etc. Teachers are
accountable to special commissions set
up by the ministry of education. Parents”
are not on these commissions, but they
have the right to raise questions with the
commissions. There aré institutes for
parents to discuss the curriculum and
developments in the schools. Efforts are
made so that parents and teachers work
together in educating the children,
along with the Komsomol, the Young
Pioneers, the Communist Party, .
palaces of culture, clubs, etc.
One of the teachers asked about pay,
whether it was standard throughout the
country, as it is there, and whether it
was very different from the pay of prin-
cipals and other administrators. They
found our district-by-district pay-
setting methods very strange, and were |
astounded at the difference in pay be
tween a teacher and; say, a superinten:
dent in the United States. They wanted _
to know if there was any truth to the _
stories they had heard about students
attacking teachers in U.S. schools,

_ something unheard of in Ukrainian

schools.

School #81 has 800 or so students,
fairly evenly divided among the 10
grades, which I was told is the typical
size for a Soviet city school. The gym
had all the standard sports equipment,
with an apparent emphasis on gymnas-
tics, basketball and soccer. Some things
I expected to see in a school were not
there at all. I learned that woodworking,
metalworking, sewing, and a host of
other crafts are handled not in school,
but by the youth clubs to which almost
all the students belong.

As we finished our talk, faces began
peering in the window, and all at once:
the doors burst open and about 20 stu-
dents of all ages filed into the room, lin-
ing up in front and bursting into song. |
The medley included Oh My Darling,
Clementine, sungin English. There they
were, with pigtails in puffy white bows,
singing with a thick Ukrainian accent,
‘““You.are lost and gone forever...”’ Then
they rushed over to us, thrust tulips and -
some drawings into our hands, and
rushed off.

As we returned to our tour bus, aur.
ing the school’s lunch hour, a small
crowd followed us. As the bus drove to
ward the gate, about a dozen students
ran along, shouting, ‘‘Mir, mir—peace,
peace. be : A

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—AUG. 7, 1981—Page 6