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You have a long way to go to understand the Soviet Union grasshopper.
I can confirm in post Soviet eastern Ukrainian cities of regional significance it was this way as well. The schools are the same building for all grades. Usually elementary and High school was the morning shift, "middle" school was the afternoon shift.
A typical arrangement in these planned cities was one block had the school and another had the "nursery" school. Or if its a bigger block, they can be across from each other separated by a yard. This really depends on the layout of the microraion.
As far as I know, this practice ended in the 2000's with the construction of new schools. My niece goes to a brand new elementary school and this seems to be the thing to build new (put the middle back to morning and take the elementary school kids prior space). This is happening usually next door to the old school, or if there isn't room, sometimes next to the nursery school. Most districts are fairly stable in their population, but new developments have begun to attract people with new schools (sort of the same as the USA in a way). I assume this is the same situation in Russia.
I understand that as the righteous frog, you'd like to devour them all by now, but to no avail)))
btw, in general, I was very lucky . I went to school in 1992, it was not the Soviet Union, but the education system was still Soviet.
Even my first school on outskirts of a town had good teachers. Some of them were very good, despite the fact that 30% of students there were from dysfunctional families. This school was next to the house (10 minutes walk).
The quality of education was not very high (largely due to the composition of schoolchildren from rural areas), but it was high enough to move to another school after 9 classes of study (all studied for 8 years, but we studied 9 because of the rural population).
The next 2 years I studied at the city municipal gymnasium (30 minutes walk). We studied 6 days a week for 7-8 academic hours (1 academic hour is 45 minutes).
We had 7 hour of physics (chemistry, astronomy, biology and other subjects had their own hours, 7 hours of physics only) and 11 hour of mathematics per week with very good teachers, which allowed us to get a good regional education. Several people from my class entered Moscow universities, 3 people went to study in France and Germany.
I had Silver medal (Good Student Achievement Award) and victories in regional olympiads and entered Ivanovo Energy University without entrance exams (I chose between nuclear physics and IT, and chose IT ).
The Soviet education system sifted through all children and allowed them to get a good free education for talented children even in the Russian regions.
It was a very good and powerful education system.
I don’t know what state education is in Russia right now (my children are still too small), but I’m afraid that they will already study in private paid schools.
I've already figured that you were one of those damn overachievers, one of those "math wizes."
And yes, I've heard it too, that they were still using Soviet system of education for some time after the S.U. was already gone.
As far as multiple shifts go - as I've said in your case there were few factors - smaller place, plus you were in school even at later period that Zimogor, so after Gaidar said the construction of schools and other social projects would be frozen ( since it was all about "free market" from that point on) - it was a tough spot to be at that point.
And I wonder what years your mother was attending school then;
I checked a wiki article on Soviet education, and when it comes specifically to the 70ies (the time that I remember,) and sure enough - that's the period of biggest spending on education/ number of schools universities built and so on.
P.S. Americans don't believe in "sifting children" in their system of education from the young age on, because it would deal a severe blow to their whole political structure and ideology.
Sort of like they don't do it any longer in modern Russia as well, so it wouldn't hurt anyone's feelings - parents with money in particular. So they just buy the diplomas for their children now.
Soviet gov. was much more brutal in this respect, making everyone to compete (with notable exception of two-three Universities.)
You are missing a period in there, the 1st decade or so of the 2000's. That was the glory period of Russia with increasing investment, some policy changes, high energy prices and more. There were a lot of changes inside Russia in the past 4 decades, each with their own unique set of circumstances. Government control of the economy is now greater than it has been since the USSR collapsed.
It's also becoming more like the 80s in other ways including openness. The vast majority of Russians will never see the west as they have to go through some difficult processes (both internal and external) to visit and outbound tourism has dropped in the past six years. State run TV is back with similar depictions as the 80s (showing how good it is in Russia and how bad it is in western countries) and updated for the internet we have state sponsored video blogs for example. A compliant press dutifully reports increasing grain harvests. They are always just about to launch a game changing technological achievement that gets shown off but never really turns out the way they said.
Are Russians really that stupid to believe State TV? Especially post-Soviet Russians? Surely, they can get other sources of news.
Putin will get old. His mental faculties will deteriorate. Then what? Another Brezhnev stagnation. Seeing that Russia doesn't export anything but guns and oil, stagnation has been there for a while
Are Russians really that stupid to believe State TV? Especially post-Soviet Russians? Surely, they can get other sources of news.
Putin will get old. His mental faculties will deteriorate. Then what? Another Brezhnev stagnation. Seeing that Russia doesn't export anything but guns and oil, stagnation has been there for a while
I just checked and he is only 67. We(US) might soon elect 77 year old soon to be 78 year old.
Are Russians really that stupid to believe State TV? Especially post-Soviet Russians? Surely, they can get other sources of news.
Putin will get old. His mental faculties will deteriorate. Then what? Another Brezhnev stagnation. Seeing that Russia doesn't export anything but guns and oil, stagnation has been there for a while
It’s a form of conditioning that’s being going on for decades. Claiming that things are bad in the West is a great way for Putin to boost local morale.
There’s also a lot of propaganda in western countries, but it doesn’t come close to what you’d find in Russia, let alone a place like China.
Are Russians really that stupid to believe State TV? Especially post-Soviet Russians? Surely, they can get other sources of news.
Under 30, no. Between 30-50 it depends. 50+ yes.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dangerous-Boy
Putin will get old. His mental faculties will deteriorate. Then what? Another Brezhnev stagnation. Seeing that Russia doesn't export anything but guns and oil, stagnation has been there for a while
Its already Brezhnev stagnation since 2013. They don't know any better and stable stagnation is preferable to the traumatic times they lived through. It was as true then as it is now. There is a certain human comfort to believing sweet sounding lies. One guy in Moscow I knew said it best " I know Putin's system steals half the money but its better than all the money"
Speaking of, I heard a new fake opposition party was created in Russia this week. Something called the People's Anti Corruption Party (or close to that) run by no less than a cousin once removed of Putin and also a former KGB officer. He's co-opting Russian political demands again. Mad about corruption in the state? vote for this fake party! He's not even hiding it any more.
If I wrote this on facebook over there, I'd be probably be getting a visit from Police if enough people read my posts.
It’s a form of conditioning that’s being going on for decades. Claiming that things are bad in the West is a great way for Putin to boost local morale.
There’s also a lot of propaganda in western countries, but it doesn’t come close to what you’d find in Russia, let alone a place like China.
Look MWR - Putin's propaganda machine is DEFINITELY annoying, but it all depends how much one is affected by it or is willing to tune it out.
I am getting an impression that you all think that if it were only not for "Putin and his propaganda," then Russians would have inevitably "embraced the West"?
Sorry if I'll disappoint you, but it's absolutely not the case.
Russian culture is really "frozen in time" - I was already trying to explain before, on some other thread that it's basically 19th century Europe, with all its thinkers, poets, "traditional values" and on and on.
So when that Belgian girl was musing about Russian men carrying her luggage or opening the doors for her, without any particular interest to hit on her afterwards - it's stemming from that "old school," of being a "manly man."
And when these "manly men" ( women too actually, but that's a somewhat different story) are looking at all these LGBT parades, at same-gender families, at some "feminists groups" and so on, they are genuinely alarmed.
YOU most likely simply tune them all out, (and so do I,) thinking only about the benefits of the Western society ( I am not going to talk about them now,) but THEY tune out Putin and his propaganda in the same manner, thinking about the positive sides of their own culture, including the benefits that Putin's governing brings vs the minuses of it.
Which brings me to another point, that DKM ( and many other Americans can't comprehend it seems.)
In THEIR mind - 90ies? what 90ies? We already changed couple of Democratic and Republican presidents in our office since then, so who can remember what one of them did or didn't do while in the office?
Once the president is gone, whatever bad/good happened during his presidency is scratched out, and we start with the next one everything anew. And obviously, should you ( meaning Russians.)
But it's not how it works with people frozen in the 19th century. Russians have a VERY LONG MEMORY.
(I can't stress it enough.) Collectively, as a nation. And this defines their attitudes/actions probably for next 100 years to come.
Plus, the Westerners that settle in Russia and give the interviews on Youtube, are only reinforcing their fears ( of the Russians that is,) as I discover now, because they sound more like the refugees from all this "LGBT" and "political correctness" thing overall.
Look MWR - Putin's propaganda machine is DEFINITELY annoying, but it all depends how much one is affected by it or is willing to tune it out.
I am getting an impression that you all think that if it were only not for "Putin and his propaganda," then Russians would have inevitably "embraced the West"?
Sorry if I'll disappoint you, but it's absolutely not the case.
Russian culture is really "frozen in time" - I was already trying to explain before, on some other thread that it's basically 19th century Europe, with all its thinkers, poets, "traditional values" and on and on.
So when that Belgian girl was musing about Russian men carrying her luggage or opening the doors for her, without any particular interest to hit on her afterwards - it's stemming from that "old school," of being a "manly man."
And when these "manly men" ( women too actually, but that's a somewhat different story) are looking at all these LGBT parades, at same-gender families, at some "feminists groups" and so on, they are genuinely alarmed.
YOU most likely simply tune them all out, (and so do I,) thinking only about the benefits of the Western society ( I am not going to talk about them now,) but THEY tune out Putin and his propaganda in the same manner, thinking about the positive sides of their own culture, including the benefits that Putin's governing brings vs the minuses of it.
Which brings me to another point, that DKM ( and many other Americans can't comprehend it seems.)
In THEIR mind - 90ies? what 90ies? We already changed couple of Democratic and Republican presidents in our office since then, so who can remember what one of them did or didn't do while in the office? Once the president is gone, whatever bad/good happened during his presidency is scratched out, and we start with the next one everything anew. And obviously, should you ( meaning Russians.)
But it's not how it works with people frozen in the 19th century. Russians have a VERY LONG MEMORY.
(I can't stress it enough.) Collectively, as a nation. And this defines their attitudes/actions probably for next 100 years to come.
Plus, the Westerners that settle in Russia and give the interviews on Youtube, are only reinforcing their fears ( of the Russians that is,) as I discover now, because they sound more like the refugees from all this "LGBT" and "political correctness" thing overall.
Since you brought it up, and in light of the recent proposal to ban gay marriage in the constitution (as I understand it), I've been wondering whether that is done as it means of distancing the country from western values, or is it purely on a traditional basis and would have remained regardless of the situation?
There are countries that have close ties to the West, yet are still strict on LGBT stuff.
Look MWR - Putin's propaganda machine is DEFINITELY annoying, but it all depends how much one is affected by it or is willing to tune it out.
I am getting an impression that you all think that if it were only not for "Putin and his propaganda," then Russians would have inevitably "embraced the West"?
Sorry if I'll disappoint you, but it's absolutely not the case.
Russian culture is really "frozen in time" - I was already trying to explain before, on some other thread that it's basically 19th century Europe, with all its thinkers, poets, "traditional values" and on and on.
So when that Belgian girl was musing about Russian men carrying her luggage or opening the doors for her, without any particular interest to hit on her afterwards - it's stemming from that "old school," of being a "manly man."
And when these "manly men" ( women too actually, but that's a somewhat different story) are looking at all these LGBT parades, at same-gender families, at some "feminists groups" and so on, they are genuinely alarmed.
YOU most likely simply tune them all out, (and so do I,) thinking only about the benefits of the Western society ( I am not going to talk about them now,) but THEY tune out Putin and his propaganda in the same manner, thinking about the positive sides of their own culture, including the benefits that Putin's governing brings vs the minuses of it.
Which brings me to another point, that DKM ( and many other Americans can't comprehend it seems.)
In THEIR mind - 90ies? what 90ies? We already changed couple of Democratic and Republican presidents in our office since then, so who can remember what one of them did or didn't do while in the office? Once the president is gone, whatever bad/good happened during his presidency is scratched out, and we start with the next one everything anew. And obviously, should you ( meaning Russians.)
But it's not how it works with people frozen in the 19th century. Russians have a VERY LONG MEMORY.
(I can't stress it enough.) Collectively, as a nation. And this defines their attitudes/actions probably for next 100 years to come.
Plus, the Westerners that settle in Russia and give the interviews on Youtube, are only reinforcing their fears ( of the Russians that is,) as I discover now, because they sound more like the refugees from all this "LGBT" and "political correctness" thing overall.
I been bored so done some reading on Russia and what I read horrifies me. I read that if you go to public hospital you need to bring your own medication, own bed sheets etc. Found an article with youtube video supposedly showing kids hospital with private room that was so dirty that mom requested it be cleaned and she was give floor rag(not even a mop?) bucket, gloves and told to do it herself. Seen pictures of road with no line marking, how does one stay in their own lane? Seen picture of hospital that looked so bad that i honestly would leave even if i was half dead etc.
Does Putin have such a strong hold on the country that he is not getting voted out or is there is so much election fraud that he wins regardless?
I also read that he took Ukraine city because he wants to bring back USSR, is that true ?
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. I went to school in 1992, it was not the Soviet Union, but the education system was still Soviet.
