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Another proposal recommended by the new school authorities is the establishment of technical departments in connection with universities. The advocates of this measure are of opinion that this arrangement will eliminate waste in the equipment of laboratories which may be used in common by students pursuing technical and purely scientific studies, and in avoiding duplication of professors. The newly projected universities, Irkutsk and Tashkent, which the Provisional Government was planning to open, were to have technical divisions. Had this proposition been adopted Russia would have entered upon a scheme materially different from the one now in existence, by which university courses are divided into four groups-law, medicine, physico-mathematical sciences, history and philology.

ADULT EDUCATION.

Press reports from Russia show that the need of education has at no time been so poignantly felt by the masses as at present, when the old order of things has crumbled, when the whole nation has been drawn into the vortex of politics, and when the call for a new organization of life has been sounded from every street corner and public platform. The people, anxious for the printed and spoken word, crowd the auditoriums and lecture halls and demand pamphlets and books from libraries, unfortunately poorly equipped with the very kind of literature that could throw light on the burning questions of the day. The dearth of popular literature, coupled with the lack of properly organized lectures, makes the ignorant masses an easy prey of agitators, who in their zeal to convert the people to their own political views sow doctrines that bring only chaos to the already muddled head of the Russian muzhik. Soon after the revolution in March, 1917, the school authorities, fully aware of the need of training facilities for the adult population, took immediate steps toward its realization.

One of the fruits of this decision was the calling of a conference in September, 1917, with the view of devising a program for the most advantageous expenditures of the State subsidies. This conference, presided over by the assistant minister, Countess Panin, long known for her activities among the working classes in Russia, recommended, among other things, the following course of action:

The opening of primary schools (shkoly gramoty), where adults could learn to read and write, the opening of elementary schools with a general program, and the establishment of schools suited particularly to the needs of the rural population.

In addition, the conference advised the organization of courses for social workers in the various fields of adult education, as well as for the zemstvo leaders. It also emphasized the need of numerous special courses, such as agronomy, industrial and economic cooperation,

bookkeeping, etc. Finally, the conference made a strong plea for the extension of the system of the public libraries, which it recommended should be supplied with proper literature suitable for the understanding of the masses.1

How far these proposed measures were accepted and to what extent they were put into practice by the proper school authorities is impossible to state because of the scarcity of news that could throw light on the situation. One thing is certain, however. The provisional authorities, as well as the succeeding Lenin-Trotzky régime, emphasized the vital need of schools for adults in the general scheme of education.

A. V. Lunacharski, the People's Commissary of Public Instruction, thus pictures the situation in an address directed to the Russian people:

Everywhere in Russia, not only among the city workingmen, but also among the peasants, there has arisen a strong desire for education. Innumerable are the workers' and soldiers' organizations of that nature. To meet the demands of the mass of the people, to uplift them, and to clear the way for them are the first duties of a revolutionary and people's government.2

Apart from the Provisional Government's intention to establish facilities for the education of the adults, it is interesting to note that the more intelligent circles of society tendered their help and took up the matter of providing special schools for that very purpose. So, for instance, in March, 1917, the municipality of Nizhni-Novgorod, one of the important cities of the Volga region with a large working population, assigned for a people's university the sum of $50,000, while private contributions for the same purpose amounted to $400,000. Many other cities show a similar record in adult education.

REFERENCES.
Periodicals.

Gazeta Vremennavo Rabochavo i Krestyanskavo Pravitelstva. (The Gazette of the Frovisional Workers' and Peasants' Government.) Petrograd, 1917. Nos. 2-31. Izvyestiya Tzentralnavo Ispolnitelnavo Komiteta Sovietov Krestyanskikh, Rabochikh, Soldatskikh i Kazachikh Deputatov. (News of the Central Executive Committee of the Soviets of Peasants' Workers', Soldiers', and Cossacks' Deputies.) Moscow, 1918. Nos. 32-102.

Pravitelstvenny Vyestnik. (Government Messenger.) Petrograd, 1917. Nos.

1-16.

Vyestnik Vospitaniya. (Messenger of Education.) Moscow, 1917.

Vyestnik Vremennavo Pravitelstva. (Messenger of the Provisional Government.) Petrograd, 1917. Nos. 68-186.

1 Vyestnik Vrem. Pr., 1917, No. 168.

Gazeta Vrem. Rabochavo i Kr. Prav., 1917, No. 20.
'Incomplete files.

Books.

Medynski, E. N. Vnyeshkolnoye Obrazovaniye. (Out of School Education. Moscow, 1918.

Musin-Pushkin, A. Sredneobrazovatelnaya Shkola v Rossii. (Middle School in Russia.) Petrograd, 1915.

Trudy Pervavo Vserossiskavo Syezda po Semeinomu Vospitaniyu. (Report of th First All-Russian Congress on Home Education.) St. Petersburg, 1914. 2 vols.

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