The Moral Curriculum in the Soviet School

Abstract

To understand the nature and purpose of moral education in Soviet schools, one needs to consider Marxist-Leninist reconstructionist ideology (the notion of social change in an elaborate sense-economic, political, technological, scientific and cultural), and the methods used to justify the construction of the socially desired value-system of a newly created Homo Sovieticus-a new brand of Soviet 'high-tech' humanism. To begin with, the Marxist-Leninist ideology of reconstructionism, based on the proposition that educational reforms can promote desired reforms, is essentially functionaliststructuralist. Schooling is viewed as having to fulfil specific normative roles and functions. The methodology and methods of moral education in Soviet schools could be Durkheimian in the sense that morality must be taught rather than caught. Thus, Marxist-Leninist ethics and moral codes are passed on from one generation to the next and presumably shared by the individuals who make up Soviet society. Durkheimian notions of 'consensus' and 'collective conscience', consisting of common beliefs and sentiments, form an integral part of the methodology of moral education in Soviet schools. Likewise, the idea that 'society has to be present in the individual' is crucial to Marxist-Leninist ideology. In this perspective, the social order (in this case Soviet society) requires that individuals experience socialist society and the communist attitude towards labor within themselves. Thus Marxist-Leninist ideology makes social life possible by expressing maintaining and reinforcing the sentiments and values which form the collective conscience.