Abolition of Co-Education

A. Orlov, On the Education of Boys and Girls Apart in Separate Schools. August 10, 1943

 

The author was Director of the Moscow Municipal Department of National Education. He based his argument for the reform on the need of preparing the young for their share in defense, in particular the need to train the most efficient soldiers and nurses.

Original Source: Izvestiia, 10 August 1943

In the ensuing school year, our organs of national education and our schools are confronted with a task of great national importance: as from September 1, 1943, separate education for boys and girls in all forms from the first to the tenth will be introduced in the incomplete and complete secondary schools of the provinces, of district towns, of capitals of the Union and Autonomous Republics and of large industrial towns, as soon as separate schools for boys and girls have been organized in these towns.

Co-education in the schools was proclaimed and put into practice by the Soviet government in 1918, and has played a positive historical role in the development of Soviet schools. More than half of all scholars in the higher educational institutions are women. This is a great achievement of the Soviet government, of Soviet culture. But now we find that co-education in the schools has given rise to a number of inconveniences. In co-education, neither the peculiarities of the physical development of boys and girls, nor the different requirements of their vocational training, practical activities, preparation for leadership and military service can receive proper attention. In the schools of Moscow, where during the past school year separate education has already been partially introduced as from the fifth form, experience has proved that the collectives of pupils have become more organized and their interests more homogeneous. Discipline in the schools has improved considerably and the activities of the pupils have increased as well.

The syllabuses for boys and girls have been differentiated, and thus the necessary conditions have been created for the physical and military training-primary and pre-conscription-of both. In consequence, remarkable progress has been achieved by pupils in the schools. The significance of the primary and pre-conscription training of the pupils consists not only in imparting to them elementary facts and notions concerning the established order, the military organization, materials, weapons and so on, but also in providing a genuine military education for our youth. It will be possible to achieve this aim only when these elements of military education are inculcated in our youth from early childhood. Therefore separate education in all incomplete and complete secondary schools will be introduced, beginning in the first form, because the syllabus of physical training and military training, primary and pre-conscription, is different for boys and girls, and this program can be carried out properly only under conditions of separate education.

For the current year, the instruction in the schools for boys and girls must follow the existing program. But for the future, the program of education and the curriculum for boys’ schools and girls’ schools can be and must be differentiated. It is essential to introduce in girls’ schools such additional subjects as pedagogy, needlework, courses in domestic science, personal hygiene and the care of children. In boys’ schools, training in handicrafts must become a part of the curriculum. At the end of their school career, those who attend boys’ schools must have acquired practical habits, they must be able to cope with simple repairs to electrical installations and heating systems, and with the repair of household objects. The syllabus of boys’ schools must also be different for such subjects as geography. It is necessary that the future warrior and commander should be able to use a map and be absolutely reliable, to understand topography, to find his way by means of a map and to apply a map to the locality.

If separate education is to be established in practice, we must in the first place appreciate that this is an extremely complicated and difficult task calling for a thoughtful approach, much painstaking work, and not merely a mechanical separation of boys and girls. Experience in the Moscow schools proves that a great deal of preparatory work must precede the carrying out of separate education. The significance of this national reform and of the underlying pedagogical principles must be properly expounded to the teachers, explanations must be given to the pupils and their parents, and the work must be carried out jointly with the Party organs, the Soviets and other social organizations. A properly planned network of schools will be of the utmost importance. It must be built up with full regard to local conditions. We must be on our guard against letting the implementation of this school reform hinder in any way the fulfillment of the main and fundamental task of the school-the universal compulsory education of our children. It would be an unforgivable mistake if the planning of the school system should give rise to conditions where children had to walk three or four kilometers to go to school. This would be an obstacle to daily school attendance. It is quite possible in individual cases of necessity to arrange with the permission of the authorities two independent schools for boys and girls in one building, with different principals and separate teaching staffs.

It is not our objective to erect some ” Chinese wall ” between boys and girls-boys and girls walking on different pavements -what we aim at is only the separate education of boys and girls. This is the main thing. We must not imagine that once separate education has been introduced, there will be no association between boys and girls. They will come together in the 96 pioneer houses “, in institutions outside the school, in the theatres, at ” school evenings “, and so on. A danger exists, nevertheless, in an absurd misinterpretation of the essential meaning of separate education, such as found expression in various memoranda presented to the All-Russian Conference on National Education during the discussion of the problem of separate education.

There is a great deal of work to be done by the organs of national education in selecting the managing body-the principals and directors of studies and the teaching staff. It is clear that both kinds of school have their peculiarities and that the selection of the teachers for boys and girls must take these peculiarities into account. In boys’ schools, the principal should as a rule be a man, and in girls’ schools a woman. Where in any instance this rule is not observed, it should be regarded as a temporary expedient.

The choice of buildings for boys’ and girls’ schools should also take these peculiarities into account. Boys’ schools should have proper grounds for military training and for carrying out technical maneuvers. They must have a gymnasium and a specially organized military department in accordance with the program of military education. In girls’ schools, the military department should serve the purposes of training for sanitary work, intelligence, and so on. There should also be a differentiation by the national educational bodies in their management of the schools for boys and girls. It will also be necessary, as a practical measure, to conduct separate headmasters’ and headmistresses’ conferences. There is a great deal of work to be done in forming pupils’ collectives. The schools of Moscow are at an advantage in this task, as they have already had some small experience of separate education, and at present a great deal of preparatory work is being carried on with a view to school reform. A network of schools for boys and girls has been established, principals and directors of studies have been selected. The body of teachers has been built up, a register of pupils has been compiled and new forms arranged, the personal files of the pupils have been sorted out and the syllabus has been formulated in detail. Military departments have been created in the schools and great care has been taken in the choice of their equipment and of the school grounds for military pursuits.

Not much time remains before the beginning of the next school year, but there is a very great deal for us to do. Our work of implementing these highly important national measures must be widely and most energetically pursued, to ensure for every boys’ and for every girls’ school a properly organized start for its school activities. The introduction of separate education for boys and girls in the incomplete and complete secondary schools marks the achievement of a definite stage in the development of our Soviet schools and will raise the school system to an even higher stage of development.

Source: Rudolf Schlesinger, ed., Changing Attitudes in Soviet Russia; the nationalities problem and Soviet administration (London: Routledge & K. Paul, 1956).

 

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