Conversational topic: Education in Russia

As long as we live we continue to learn, and the education we receive when we are young helps us to continue to learning. We are taught to read and write, and are taught many of essential facts about the world and shown how to sort them out so that later in life, we shall be able to find out things ourselves and not to ask other people.

Its common knowledge, that Ancient Rus was one of the early feudal states and held a leading place in the world history. The Slavonic written language came to Rus from Bulgaria in the 9th century. Towards the end of this century the replacement of religious books in Greek for those in Slavonic language began. Between the 10th and 13th centuries Russians developed a high civilization, which formed the foundation of the Russian culture in the following centuries. During this period numerous cultural treasures were accumulated. The written works of this time show that the level of knowledge on the most natural phenomena was as high as that of Ancient Greece. Monasteries were cultural and educational centers. They had large libraries and well-equipped book-making shops, in which not only church manuscripts were copied and translated, but original books were written.

In pre-revolutionary Russia there was a network of primary schools for common people. Nevertheless illiteracy among common people was very high. Well-off people taught their children in grammar schools, commercial schools or secondary schools teaching on classics. There were also schools for nobles only. Entrance to those schools was limited. Only boys at the age of 10 or 12 from noble families of high rank were admitted and studied there for 6 years. The aim of this school was to bring up intelligent people in the broad sense of the word. Those who graduated from such educational institutions usually entered the service of their country to realize their abilities and knowledge to the benefit of their state.

The history of higher education in Russia goes back to 1775 when the first University was founded in Moscow on the initiative of M.V. Lomonosov and in accordance with his plan. Later, universities were opened in many big cities of the country.

After the revolution in 1917, education was guaranteed to the citizens of the country by the Constitution and was free of charge, including higher education. Teaching at schools was carried out almost in all national languages. The system of education was the same throughout the country.

Today there are a lot of higher schools in Russia where young people can get higher education. Every year a lot of students enter Universities and Institutes. Universities train specialists in the natural and exact sciences and also the humanities. Specialized Institutes and Universities train specialists for one of the fields of culture or national economy: engineers, doctors, teachers and others. The complete course of studies lasts 5 years. At every Institute or University there is a reading hall and a library where students can take the necessary books as well as books for reading.

The contemporary student must obtain a large amount of new information. Study rooms are now equipped with computers, TV sets, etc. Students have lectures and practical hours. They attend lectures on different subjects: Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Foreign Languages and others. They have hours of practical training in the well-equipped laboratories of the University. So lectures and seminars alternate with laboratory work, discussions, consultations, research work and their self-training.

A large part of the study time is devoted to basic subjects. This enables future specialists to get good professional knowledge and to apply it to practice, to use modern methods of scientific research, advanced production technology, its organization and management. This provides a basis for the study of special subjects and the organization of practice. The aim of higher education is not only to provide the students with the necessary knowledge, but also to develop them creatively. Training highly-skilled specialists with a wide theoretical outlook is the main task of higher education. Thousands of specialists graduate from universities and institutes every year. They get diplomas. Some of them work in various branches of industry, while others carry on research work in different research universities and institutes.