The Structure of Power and Disciplinary Techniques in the Pre-War Soviet School

Abstract

The article studies the barely researched area of moral education in pre-war Soviet school, i. e. the correction of defects in the behavior and discipline of students that became highly relevant due to the school reform of the 1930s and the impending war. The main thesis of the article is that the normalizing practice of the school did not result in repressive and punitive pressure on students shown deviant behavior or unwanted character accentuations. Restrictions established by higher authorities to regulate teacher’s use of negative sanctions against recalcitrant teenagers and the noticeable influence of the student collective on school policy determined generally favorable for students direction of the correctional work. The universal strategy of the Soviet school was the integration of adolescents into the system of additional education and social work, taking into account their personal inclinations. Even if it did not result in noticeable change in school discipline, it contributed to the assimilation of social norms and gaining achievements in the chosen extracurricular activities for each individual student. And most importantly, it worked on the overall balance of positive impressions about the school and the authorities that stood behind it, which determined the position and mood of the younger generation during the war.