Education: Cathedral of Know-How

Had he seen it rising above squat Moscow, Napoleon might have paused. For the 32-story Palace of Science, showpiece of Moscow State University, catches the visitor's eye* as the Eiffel Tower does in Paris. A relic of Stalin's appetite for Victorian skyscrapers, it comes off as just what he intended: the biggest wedding cake in the store window of Soviet education. Next year five U.S. professors will discover what such education means. Last week Columbia University began looking for volunteers to teach at Moscow University in the first formal professorial exchange between the two countries. What are they in for?

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