R

4.8. A) Edward Everett said once that “Education is a better safeguard of

liberty than a standing army”. What do you think about it?

b) Scan the text and make up a chart showing the structure of the Russian

educational system.

ussia inherited a well-developed, comprehensive system of education from the Soviet period, with an extensive network ofpreschool, elementary, secondary, and higher educational institutions. Enrollment in preschools, which is optional, has dropped since the Soviet period, as tuition became more expensive after 1991. Free, compulsory education begins at the age of 6, when children enter primary school for an intensive course of study from grades one to four. Intermediate education begins with grade five and continues through grade nine. Children can then enter upper-level schools or vocational-technical programs, which include on-the-job training. The majority of students are instructed in the Russian language, and General Certificates of Secondary Education as well as diplomas are granted only in Russian, Bashkir, and Tatar. Other non-Russian languages are taught to various degrees, usually only for the first few years of instruction.

Undergraduate training in higher educational institutions generally involves a four- or five-year course of study, after which students may enroll in a one- to three-year program of graduate training. In the mid-1990s about 4.5 million students were enrolled in Russian institutions of higher education. Graduate students who successfully complete their courses of study, comprehensive examinations, and the defense of their dissertations receive candidate of science degrees, which are roughly equivalent to doctoral degrees in the United States. A higher degree, the doctor of sciences, is awarded to established scholars who have made outstanding contributions to their disciplines.

Since 1991 the system of higher education has undergone considerable changes. Private schools, some operated by religious organizations, have opened in large numbers. Public institutions of higher education, once heavily supported by the state, have had to cover a much larger share of their operating costs. In order to attract support from potential sponsors, regional authorities upgraded more than 100 teacher-training colleges to universities or academies, which are more prestigious. As a result, new teacher-training institutes were created to ensure that Russia trains an adequate number of future educators.

The most prominent Russian universities are Moscow State University, Saint Petersburg State University, Kazan’ State University, and Novosibirsk State University. Other important universities are located in Rostov-na-Donu (Rostov-on-Don), Nizhniy Novgorod, Tomsk, Vladivostok, and Voronezh. In addition to universities and institutes, Russia has one of the world’s foremost organizations devoted to scholarly research, the Russian Academy of Sciences.

s

4.9. Put each of the following words of phrases in its correct space in the

passage below.

tate terms seminar degree co-educational academic

private primary tutorial graduate nursery school fees

grant secondary lecture break up compulsory

When children are two or three years old, they sometimes go to a (a) ______, where they learn simple songs and games. Their first real school is called a (b) ____ school. In Britain children start this school at the age of five. The (c) ____ year in Britain begins in September and is divided into three (d) _____. Schools (e) _____ for the summer holiday in July. (f) ____ education begins at the age of about eleven, and most schools at this level are (g) _____, which means boys and girls study together in the same classes. In Britain education is (h) ____ from five to sixteen years of age, but many children remain at school for another two or three years after 16 to take higher exams. Most children go to (i) ____ schools, which are maintained by the government or local education authorities, but some children go to (j) ____ schools , which can be very expensive. University courses normally last three years and then students (k) _____, which means they receive their (l) ____. At university, teaching is by (m) _____ (= an individual lesson between a teacher and one or two students), (n) ____ (= a class of students discussing a subject with a teacher), (o) ____ (= when a teacher gives a prepared talk to a number of students) and of course private study. Most people who receive a university place are given a (p) ____ by the government to help pay their (q) ___ and living expenses.