Describes, evaluates, and suggests possible improvements in Russian language and literature instruction in Soviet elementary and secondary schools. Recommends combining curriculum materials developed by the Ministry of Education in Moscow with materials of local origin in order to increase student interest. (Author/DB)

Evaluates contributions to Russian pedagogical thought of a pioneering essay on the history of childhood and the family in Russia ("Dva Vospitaniia" by Kliuchevskii, written in 1893). Characterizes the Betskoi schools which were based upon the philosophy described by Kliuchevskii as humanistic, but beset by pedagogical problems and…

The two chapters translated here from the book "Public Education in Developed Socialist Society" discuss (1) the teaching of the Russian language in the republic of Kirgizia (USSR) and (2) the role that education must play in incorporating non-Russian nationalities such as the Kirgiz people into a common, Soviet national culture. (RM)