The impact of Stalinism on young people: education

In the 1920s, education focused on ideology

• Education was seen as crucial in building a socialist society
• Free education was offered at all levels in co-educational schools 

Stalin felt strongly that education policy needed to change in Russia

• An industrialising USSR needed a better-educated and skilled workforce
• The new-style education was failing to produce the skilled workers, scientists and technicians the country needed
• The Central Committee decided on a significant change in policy in the 1930s, introducing a more organised school structure and reverting to traditional methods of teaching and discipline

The new policy was heavily influenced by economic policy

• Many schools became the responsibility of the collective farms or town enterprises
• Universities were seen as…