Education in Soviet Ukraine
Katherine Rybiy
Anth 160
Jonna Yarrington
Katherine Rybiy
ANTH 160
Jonna Yarrington
7 April 2016
The Effect of Soviet Education on Students In Ukraine From the 1940’s to 1980’s
From the 1920’s to the early 1990’s the entire world lived in fear of a powerful confederacy uniting 15 republics. As the successor of the Russian Empire, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was an authoritative group of countries combined and led by numerous totalitarian leaders over the years, namely Joseph Stalin and Vladimir Lenin. The Union was highly centralized in its government and economy. As Winston Churchill once called the boundary the “iron curtain”, metaphorically the Soviet Union truly did put up a front “to seal off itself and its dependent eastern and central European allies from open contact with the West and other noncommunist areas” (Brittanica) . Citizens of the USSR were blocked off from any outside relations in Europe, America and many other parts of the world by demand of other country world leaders. It was an isolated republic that repelled all outside countries because of its strength and aggression. One of the largest ethnicities present at the time in the USSR was Ukraine, around 52 million populated the region throughout Ukraine, Russia, and many other border countries throughout the 72 year ruling. For years Ukraine has had border issues with Russia and they still continue on today. Propaganda, torture, and strict laws and regulations of the Soviet Union were evident in the history of the republic. However, the most overlooked fact about the treatment of citizens in the USSR was the education system. Of the 15 members of the Soviet Union, education in Ukraine specifically included appalling teaching methods. Russification, indoctrination, communistic ideologies, worship of Marxism and Leninism, and teaching incorrect world history were the many methods of teaching during the Soviet Union. How did these educational strategies affect Ukrainians during this period of immense censorship? This research paper will review the effects of Soviet education specifically on Ukrainians from the 1940’s to the late 1980’s. I argue the effect on Ukrainians from irregular teaching methods impacted their learning and social skills from others due to the isolation from the outside world for so many years.
In addition to absolute brain washing by the soviet government, Ukraine specifically underwent Russification in education. Russification is the cultural assimilation process where a country or region gives up their culture and language involuntarily because of Russian aggression and is transformed to Russian ideals and language. Books were changed to only be written and instructed in Russian, and the government language was changed to be Russian for some period of time. In 1953 after Stalin’s death, Soviet politician Lavrentiy Beria composed a memorandum which condemned Russification in Ukraine and called for immediate action for the return of Lenin’s language policies. As stated in a Kiev party organ, “It is necessary to end decisively the underprivileged position of the Ukrainian language in the higher educational institutions and to organize instruction in the native language all over the country” (Kolasky, 142). All higher educational institutions such as polytechnical, industrial, medical, agricultural, and economic were Russianized all throughout the Soviet Era (Kolasky, 136). In addition to the discrimination of Ukrainian language, students that were interested in pursuing a higher education had to pass an entrance exam which entailed testing the pupil their knowledge and fluency of the Russian language and culture, in addition to knowing all Lenin and Stalin ideologies. Not only was the Russian language was so dominant, but chauvinism was so prevalent in the country that many Ukrainians were afraid to speak their own native language at higher educational institutions and refrained from doing so. Author of “Education in Soviet Ukraine”, John Kolasky reflects on how even as a foreign student at the time, he was interrogated by officials for not speaking Russian, “Even I, a foreign student, was asked by a prorector why I did not use Russian instead of Ukrainian. In my second year in Kiev I was assigned to a class in the history of the party which was given in Russian. As a matter of principle I refused to attend and was transferred to a class given in Ukrainian; a native would have no choice” (Kolasky, 142). Many higher education institutes in Ukraine were directly under the jurisdiction of ministries or committees of the USSR. Students feared speaking Ukrainian or resisting to learn in Russian because of the consequences that would follow up with these rules were expulsion from the university or grade deduction. Russian spies were everywhere and knew if someone was disagreeing with the educational policies. In the “Statute on the Higher Schools of the USSR” approved by the Council of Ministers in 1961, one objective listed for universities was “To train highly qualified specialists educated in the spirit of Marxism-Leninism, well-versed in both the latest achievements of science and technology, at home and abroad,” (Grant, 110). The great emphasis on training specialists goes to show how far Soviet authorities will go to propagate the political ideals of the regime in order to develop a stronger Soviet society. Even primary and secondary schools had been required to be taught in Russian. Ukraine used to have over 30,000 schools taught in Ukrainian. After the new passing of law requiring all schools to be taught in Russian, almost all of these schools had to switch their curriculum and another 6,000 schools were built under the Russian curricula. Children’s songs and games and films were all changed to be in Russian only. Because of this sudden change in educational policies, young children developed a Russian-Ukrainian jargon. Those that spoke the jargon in school were punished by classic shunning methods such as apologizing in front of the entire class or sitting in a designated punishment seat for the rest of the day. In the cities of Luhansk and Donetsk in Eastern Ukraine there were no longer any Ukrainian schools by 1964 (Kolasky, 57). The Russian influence on primary, secondary, and higher education institutes led to learning vulnerabilities by pupils because they no longer had control over what the government was teaching them.
A highly centralized educational system enabled Russian leaders to exercise almost complete control over the content and quality of education. It was no surprise that throughout the Soviet Era and Cold War the USSR had been indoctrinating their people to believe things that they wanted to believe but were not necessarily true. During the Cold War there were a variety of propaganda posters, those of which promoted how bad America was and how they must be the stronger opposer and beat them in the space race, economy and education. Founded in 1918, Komsomol played a large role in early education as a tool for brainwashing young children. The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League was a political youth organization in the USSR that promoted “universal enrollment” and aid to poor children and teachers (Matthew, 287). The reality of this youth political organization was the promoting of Leninist ideals. All children had to join the Komsomol. At the time families were easily manipulated into believing that such organization would benefit the education of a child as it was considered “better” than U.S. education in response to propaganda posters put up around villages and school bulletins.. The United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics had a constant competition on who had a better curriculum during the Cold Wars, everyone wanted to be the better country so they listened to the posters and announcements (S. Rybiy). Those that resisted membership of the Komsomol or weren't well behaved were expelled from school. Each school morning started off with singing the State Anthem of the Soviet Union. My mother and father were both former members of the Komsomol, at the time they didn’t believe that what was happening in their classroom was considered incorrect. When a student came to school wearing clothes that clearly looked like it was imported from the western world, the whole school would mock the pupil and the principal would send them home to change. If the child didn’t follow school dress code they would be put under crime related investigation for suspicion of helping American spies or living under an anti-Communist roof. No one could express their differing opinions from communist ideologies. One time my mother wore jeans to school that her aunt gave her as a gift. At the time, no one knew what jeans were or had them selling in markets and stores. My mom thought she was so hip and thought it was so cool she was the only one who knew about this fashion trend, until she got a call from the principal’s office and had been forced to go home and change because her clothing was considered as “hooliganism” and not the image of the ideal Komsomol (N. Rybiy). The whole republic was constantly under suspicion that the United States was watching and kept everything censored to the public. TV shows and movies were all made “ideologically pure” as an attempt to turn viewers away from Western culture. The radio reported false news, history books had incorrect facts published. Eventually people started suspecting something was off with what the country had been telling them.
Marxism-Leninism was the most powerful ideology in the USSR and is still dominant in some countries today (Russiapedia). It is an ideology combining the two ideas from German co-author of The Communist Manifesto Karl Marx and USSR leader Vladimir Lenin. Marxism-Leninism was taught in all schools, with anyone questioning its beliefs was punished or sent to the KGB for investigation. The government used this idea as the ultimate tool for mind control on millions of students. The goal of this ideology was to establish an all communist regime. The two men were worshipped as gods, literally. The ideology rejected religion so many cathedrals and churches were taken down after the communist revolution. A portrait of Lenin was hung up in every classroom and hall, and students had to sing to the portrait next to the Soviet flag each morning. It wasn’t until the final Soviet reign of Mikhail Gorbachev that citizens realized that everything they had been taught in world history was false, the news about outside countries were made up, and the preaching of Marxism-Leninism was not for the good of the people. Perestroika was the movement created by Gorbachev to restructure and reform all policies in the USSR. School curricula was decentralized and rethought, revealing the truth to all citizens.
The educational system in Soviet Ukraine affected students in so many ways. The punishments that were given to students that didn’t agree or cooperate with Russification and Marxism-Leninism were dismissed from school or had to meet with the KGB to reconsider their behavior and beliefs. Public humiliation by apologizing to the class or sitting in a designated area away from everyone was another consequence of resisting to the educational policies. After the fall of the Soviet Union, all of these students had to face the real world with a different learning process than other countries. The acceptance of Soviet education in outside countries was unlikely, for example the United States. When my father finished medical school in Ukraine, he moved to the United States to get away from the struggling aftermath of Ukraine in the Soviet Union. The United States was seen as the “land of opportunity”, he thought that his degree would be accepted. Unfortunately when he was applying for jobs as a physician all the hospitals rejected his credentials because they were from the Soviet Union. He had to repeat medical school and residency in the United States for another six years until he could finally get a job as a doctor. The same occurred to my mother when she tried to work at a chemistry research lab and they denied her degree because it was from a Soviet institute. The effect of Soviet education on former students was not beneficial for their future if leaving the country. Anyone who immigrated out of the USSR had to face a culture shock as well as understanding the different thought process of others. In conclusion, the Soviet teaching methods including Marxism-Leninism, Russification, and indoctrination caused a great impact on those who went through it. To this day some may be traumatized by the isolation the country was under when living in a new place or learning different countries’ ideologies.