Dear Members of the Great Russian February Adventure,
I can't tell you how excited I am about joining you for this opportunity of a lifetime! This is my third Project Harmony educational exchange and each one has been terrific. The trips are well planned and very safe. I've been well taken care of and have found the the educational opportunities to be exceptional. Miranda Lutyens, our dynamite leader, has arranged for us to do things we have not had the opportunity to do in the past. I think this is a measure of the evolution of the program and Miranda's creativity. As you can tell from the description of the project, we are going to have a chance to go high tech with our e-mail journaling and will also have many chances to exchange ideas with Russian teachers and students.

I can vouch for several of the members of our group. I am thrilled that four of my preservice teachers are traveling with us. They are really gifted young women and will have new classes of students back home in Raleigh. Their middle school students will want to know what their teachers are experiencing. The e-mail journaling will give the students a chance to develop their own global perspective just as we are developing ours.

I'm sure that Miranda will be in touch about the ins and outs of the trip. I have found that teaching a lesson on North Carolina helps the students know more about me and where I live. I always go down to the NC History Museum to get postcards to show and leave, as well as something eatible that everyone likes to sample. I start the class by having the Russian students introduce themselves and tell me a little about their families. They appreciate being able to ask their own questions. As for personal tips, don't drink the water, but I'd give the same advice to someone going to Paris, Rome or Athens.

Winter is the most wonderful time to see Russia. Onion domes and golden statues with a dusting of snow look really magical. It's such a beautiful country with a rich history and friendly, warm people. The practice of staying with Russian families gives us all a glimpse of the culture that most people never experience.
It's not long now! Happy new year and happy travels!

Candy Beal
Raleigh, North Carolina
January 2, 2001

At the outset of the 19th century, Russia was an agrarian society governed by a tsarist regime and reliant on a system of serfdom. Having undergone constant expansion -- across continents and cultures -- Russia remained in relative isolation from its neighbors. Its Orthodox religion, brought in from Byzantium at the end of the first millenium, remained a fundamental factor in the divide between Europe and the Slavic peoples. Peter the Great's brilliant but brutal quest to open Russia to the West, an effort embodied in the building of St. Petersburg, had produced mixed results, and by the early 1800s, Russia continued to cling to the ways it knew well, skeptical of the revolutions and radicalism sweeping through the West.

Throughout 1800s there was unequal education. Society was split between the peasants and the ruling class. Landowners and churches were responsible for education of the peasants. The ruling class sent the males to exclusive academies.

In 1897 the first all Russia census taken. It was found to be 100 years behind West, especially in rural areas.

Literacy rate - 25% of the population was literate. This was a poor educational foundation on which to build the 1900 - 1914 growing economic/military needs.

A 1913 Lenin study finds 4/5 of Russia's population deprived of a public education.

Even when things were hopeless: WWI slaughter of Russian soldiers, corruption in Tsar Nicholas' reign (Rasputin), wooden farm implements still being used for agrarian work - the people come to ask their father, the Tsar, for help. They assemble in Alexander Square in front of what is now the Hermitage and are fired upon. A provisional government takes over rule of the country, soon to be toppled by a small yet well organized revolutionary group, the Bolsheviks. These events of 1917 are collectively termed The Russian Revolution.


Two of the Bolshevik's most immediate goals were to liquidate illiteracy and establish universal public education.

John Dewey travels to Russia in the 1920s and observes a careful building of an educational infrastructure for children to learn in progressive stages. Vygotsky, the originator of cognitive socialization, has an educational plan that parallels the tenets of Marxism - mentoring by both teacher and students, scaffolding to get students from one level to another, cooperative learning, passing on society's expectations and values. In other words, everyone pulls together to get to the top.

Upbringing -- families involved in school as part of the team. After the revolution and as Stalin's power takes hold, the state considers upbringing the school's responsibility.

Conditions after WWII: Women to work, fathers killed in WWII -- breakdown of family. Stalin becomes collective father.

1957 successful launching of Sputnik shows how far Russia has come. Beginning in late 1950s, the "Thaw" (i.e. de-Stalinization) takes hold. Some educational reforms give teachers increased latitude. Literacy has gone from 25% to 95%.

1960-70s education's share was 10-14% of the national budget
The human development index is calculated by a formula that uses the country's standard of living, life expectancy and education level of the population. During this period Russia ranked 12th in the world.

Continued top down reforms for education, so stagnation remains.

Late 1970s constitution dictates free compulsory secondary education but hard to get blue collars to go along and stay in school since more can be earned without education through manual labor.


1980s education is 9% of the national budget. Educational reforms put 6 year olds in school.

Starting with Glasnost in the mid-1980s, some education content turned upside down; by late 80s, textbooks with anti-Western bent are on their way out, but no systematic approach to replace them

1992 education budget funded only 52% of actual needs. Teachers pay ½ of factory workers. Fifty-four percent of teachers not paid on time. Often 4 month lag. Textbook acquisition is a problem, especially as curricula change quickly due to changing society and shifting pedagogical approaches. Funding not there for pay as you go.