Page:Education and Art in Soviet Russia (1919).djvu/25

 It has become customary to accuse the new Government of indifference toward the cultural values of the past, and, particularly, of disrupting the schools. Such an accusation is obviously wrong. In so far as the school stands for wrong principles, breeding privileges and a spirit of utilitarianism, and is a servant of the ruling classes, it has been destroyed. Such a school system was an instrument to befog the consciousness of the masses and crippled the children physically and spiritually. The destruction of the old school system, as an integral part of the whole social structure of the past was brought about not by a group of individuals, but by the elemental force of life itself. History had paved the way for such a destruction, and it had become a pressing necessity of the present revolutionary period.

It is, however, not sufficient to take notice of this spontaneous destruction alone. The revolutionary classes of society, particularly their more advanced upper strata, their leading elements, must introduce into these elemental processes a maximum of intelligence and system. First, a surgical application is needed to remove all useless remnants of the past; yet, creative activity is also needed, although it perhaps will, of necessity, be slow and cautious to begin with. The school has ceased to be an instrument in the hands of the exploiting classes; with the people's victory it has in reality become a people's school. And now the Commissariat of Education is busily engaged in transferring it into the hands of the people's government—the Soviet organs.

The school no longer needs teachers who simply are office holders, teachers appointed from above, teachers detached from the people. Our Commissariat emphasizes this circumstance and suggests the principle of electing teachers by local organs created by the population itself.

The school has ceased to be a source of privileges based on other values than intellect and knowledge. The Commissariat, therefore, is taking prompt action to abolish diplomas and certificates conferring all sorts of privileges on persons graduated from various branches of academic training.

The old school system was not a channel of education but an instrument for obscuring the mind of the people. The revolution has swept away this school system. Governmental