Education: The Dark Side of the Moon

Is Soviet education as alarmingly successful as their artificial moons make it appear? In a carefully documented new book, Soviet Education for Science and Technology (Technology Press of M.I.T. and John Wiley & Sons; $8.50), Russian-born Engineer Alexander Korol, who left Russia in 1920 and is now a senior researcher at M.I.T.'s Center for International Studies, answers no. While paying just tribute to the Russian system's virtues, Korol also presents a picture of its defects, culled from official papers and statistics, stories in the Soviet press, the observations of foreign travelers and students, and statements by the Russians themselves. Examples:

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