Russian Schools for the Mathematically and Scientifically Talented: Can the Vision Survive Unchanged?

Political and economic changes in the former Soviet Union have affected literally every aspect of Russian life including education. The purpose of this article is to describe the effects of these changes upon the internationally recognized Russian schools for mathematically and scientifically talented students. Although famous schools such as that founded by mathematician A. N. Kolmogorov have served as models for schools in other nations including the United States, the shifting sands of modern Russia may threaten their future. Previous works that described the education of the mathematically and scientifically talented in Russian such as Grigorenko and Clinkenbeard (1994), Dunstan (1990), Shtokola (1978), and Vogeli (1968) have not anticipated the impact of changes in Russia's political and economic systems. This article should serve to supplement these more inclusive works.

Scientifically as well as politically, the world was quite different in the late 1950 s when a group of distinguished Russian mathematicians and scientists signed an open letter advocating special educational opportunities for gifted high school students. The letter itself was an unheard of "intrusion" into government policy; however, the scientists who "built the Motherland's nuclear shield" could not be ignored by politicians. As a result, several special day schools and four boarding schools attached to leading universities opened their doors in the early 1960's with the stated mission of preparing the world's future scientific leaders. A.N. Kolmogorov's special school attached to Moscow State University, M.A. Lavrentiev's in the science city of Novosibirsk and St. Petersburg School #45 quickly gained reputations for excellence that have continued to the present. As an illustration of the preeminence of special schools, of the 58 winners of the St. Petersburg Mathematical Olympiad in 1998, 52 were students at special schools. The curricula of the special boarding schools and the mode of instruction with two to three teachers in every classroom were remarkable innovations given the formal instructional traditions in regular Soviet schools. Participation by outstanding university professors in special seminars and courses was commonplace in both special day schools and boarding schools.

The selection of students for admission to special schools was undertaken with great care to ensure that only the best and brightest of Soviet youth were enrolled. Often admission interviews and examinations were offered only to winners of the prestigious Mathematical Olympiads conducted in every region of the Soviet Union. Students who completed the entrance examination successfully and whose interview was judged satisfactory were invited to special summer schools that served as final screening devices. Only applicants who survived this three-step application process were admitted to the schools.

The history of special boarding and day schools has been influenced by changing priorities and attitudes within the Soviet Union. In the new Russia, the status of special schools is not yet clear. The vision of Kolmogorov and of Lavrentiev of Russian supremacy in mathematics and science brought about by the identification and training of young prodigies may be difficult to realize in the new Russia. Some indication of what the future holds is evident in the pendulum-like history of special schools during the last decades of the Soviet Union, Perestroika, and the establishment of the now Independent States.

Special schools thrived in the Soviet Union during the first years of their existence. All concerns and dissenting opinions by politicians, psychologists and educators in the 1960s were countered by the distinguished scientists and mathematicians who were responsible for creation of special schools. Soviet educational psychologists had long held that achievement was environmentally rather than genetically conditioned. Students who demonstrated limited success in science and mathematics were accused of dereliction or lack of interest while high achievement was attributed to diligence. Kolmogorov and others did not confront this politically-inspired psychological dogma directly, but rather insisted that students in special boarding schools worked hard indeed! Kolmogorov made few friends among Russian politicians when he denied entry to his prestigious school in a Moscow suburb to students who resided in Moscow. He did not wish his school with its innovative curriculum to be subject to pressures brought about by the "politically facilitated" enrollment of children of important politicians.

The promise of a generation of Soviet mathematicians and scientists educated in special schools was largely fulfilled. By some estimates, three-fourths of Russian mathematicians of age 50 or less are graduates of special schools, either boarding schools or day schools. As an example of the impact of these special mathematics high schools upon Russian scholarship in mathematics, of the 32 professors working in the Department of Mathematics at the prestigious St. Petersburg University last year, 23 attended special mathematics schools while only 9 were graduates of regular schools.

Government support for special schools began to decline in the 1970 s as a result of criticism by Brezhney-era conservatives. According to academician S.P. Novikov (1996), "it is no secret that ... the powers that be, often not without reason, found a spirit of dissent within the student population of special schools" which they attributed to "international imperialism and Zionism" (p. 34). The bureaucrats' position was self-contradictory. On one hand, the nation needed highly qualified mathematicians and scientists in the defense industry and special schools served that purpose admirably. But it was impossible for special schools to train creative thinkers without also tolerating the often dissident opinions expressed by creative special school students. Kolmogorov defended his gifted students' liberalism by saying, "We must learn to forgive them for being talented."

As a result of government sanctions, the number of special schools declined in the 1980s. Rumor and innuendo portrayed special schools as elitist bastions. One prominent author asserted that schools for young mathematicians and physicists did not come up to expectations (Granin, 1987). According to Granin, special schools became places where youngsters with potential were turned into thoroughly arrogant adults. Even during this period of official repudiation, the academic reputations of the best special schools remained high. It became more difficult to be admitted to the Kolmogorov or Novosibirsk schools than to Russia's leading universities.

During the final years of the Soviet Union, recognition grew that the nation was lagging behind the West in the competition for economic and technological supremacy. At the 1988 plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, Secretary E. K. Ligachev, second in power to Gorbachev, stunned party members by announcing that the special schools network was now to be extended. The Kolmogorov School attached to Moscow State University was singled out for special praise when Ligachev urged the establishment of "similar schools in the future." As a result of this decision, many new special schools were opened and many schools in which special programs had been curtailed during the Brezhnev era were revitalized. This policy encouraging the proliferation of special schools was continued in post-Soviet Russia.

Regular schools were permitted for the first time to offer special classes. In 1996, the Ministry of Education published a revised version of the plan for an enriched mathematics curriculum for special schools. Many new programs were not comparable to the special classes that had characterized the Kolmogorov, Novosibirsk and other schools. G.D. Glejzer (1989), a prominent Russian educator, commented:

   Classes [in new special schools] are made up not of mathematical prodigies
   but of ordinary children who show a higher than average interest and
   ability in mathematics and have a sound knowledge of the mathematics
   courses of the 8- year school. Thus, the main task of teaching these
   "special" mathematics classes is to develop the pupils' ability and
   potential by stressing a thorough and solid approach to the standard
   curriculum. (p. 63)

One outcome of both the praise lavished upon special schools by policy makers and the liberalization of school regulation in the new Russia has been to encourage many administrators to label their schools special mathematics and physics schools. If the Kolmogorov School achieved international fame by being called special, why can our school not be called special also? Frequently schools that seek this enhanced status adopt other European designations such as Gymnasium or Lycee to indicate their demanding programs. Regulations for the payment of teachers encourage this self-elevation by allowing gymnasia-lycees to pay above-scale rates to their teachers.

Although this policy could be a formula for disaster, not all new schools with enhanced curricula are specious. Several new special schools have been established in Russia and the now-independent states that are worthy of notice, including Ekaterinburg School, Kirov Physics and Mathematics Lycee, Beloretsk Computer Science School and Rishel'e Lycee (Ukraine). Whether these schools will survive and offset the proliferation of "unspecial" special schools remains to be seen.

A more serious threat to special programs for the mathematically and scientifically talented than the proliferation of questionable schools is the rapid depletion of Russian mathematical and scientific talent through emigration. When one visitor asked for a list of recent graduates of a prominent St. Petersburg special school the response was, "Do you wish the names of those who have left Russia, which would be quite long, or the few who have remained?" Whether Russian officials will be as willing to support special schools for the talented if graduates become immediate "export commodities" is not yet clear.

It is certainly true that the cost of special schools, especially boarding schools, has become a burden. A February visitor to the Kolmogorov School was told that the food budget for the year had been expended and they were surviving on the benevolence of a former graduate who had used his mathematical skills to succeed as an entrepreneur. Charitable foundations have been established by the graduates of the Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kiev and Novosibirsk special schools to aid students financially. Although the annual donations are small by Western standards--the equivalent of $2000-3000 for each school--even these small subsidies are important for the continuation of the schools' traditions.

Perhaps the greatest threat to special schools is the Russian people's growing disillusionment with science as a vehicle for economic and social improvement. A faith once near absolute has been shaken. Scientists no longer enjoy the privileges and relatively high social status they had during the Soviet era. Russia's best and brightest students turn increasingly to career fields other than science and mathematics.

The vision of Kolmogorov, Lavrentiev and others of a network of special schools for the mathematically and scientifically talented that would place Russia among the world's economic and scientific leaders is at risk. The expense, the continuing charge of elitism and arrogance, the dispersion of talented students among a proliferation of special schools, the flight of Russian scientists and mathematicians abroad and the changed attitude toward science and scientists all contribute to the risks special schools face in the new Russia. It would be a tragedy indeed if these schools--the wellsprings of a generation of mathematicians and scientists--were to be compromised.

One legacy of the special schools founded by Kolmogorov, Lavrentiev and others surely will survive The Soviet special school model has found its way beyond the borders of the Russian Motherland. More than ten nations, including the United States, now operate special schools similar to those of Russia. Countries that have adapted the Russian model to their needs include those of Eastern Europe, Cuba, Vietnam, Costa Rica, the People's Republic of China and Korea. These nations share with Russia and the United States the belief that scientific and technological leadership in the century ahead will depend upon recognition of talented students as an irreplaceable national resource.

REFERENCES

Dunstan, J. (Ed.) (1990). Soviet Education Under Perestroika. Papers from the Fourth World Congress for Soviet and East European Studies, Harrowgate, UK. London: Routledge.

Glejzer, G.D. (1989). Zametchania k pis'mu A. M. Goldmana. Matematika v shkole, 1, 62-64.

Granin, D.A. (1987). Zubr. Novyi mir. 1-2.

Grigorenko, E.L., Clinkenbeard, P.R. (1994). An Inside View of Gifted Education in Russia. Roeper Review, 167-171.

Novikov, S.P. (1996). Matematika v Rossii. Bol'she, Chem Nauka, ili Matematicheskoye Obrazovanie v Rossii--est'li Perspektivy? Znanie-sila, 5, 29-37.

Shtokalo, I.Z. (1978). Istoriya Matematicheskogo obrazovaniya v SSSR. Kiev: Naukova Dumka.

Vogeli, B.R. (1968). Soviet Secondary Schools for the Mathematically Talented. Washington, DC: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

Vogeli, B.R. (1997). Special Schools for the Mathematically and Scientifically Talented.

Eileen Donoghue is Assistant Professor of Mathematics Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her professional interests include the history of mathematics and its teaching, the education of the gifted, and international programs and practices. Alexander Karp is on the faculty of the University of Pedagogical Mastery in St. Petersburg, Russia. His interests include the history of mathematical education and evaluation of students' achievement. Among his numerous publications are books widely used in Russian schools for the mathematically gifted. Bruce Vogeli is Clifford Brewster Upton Professor of Mathematical Education in the Program in Mathematics at teachers College, Columbia University. He has been a visiting professor on six continents and has a lifelong interest in the education of the gifted. He has written numerous books on mathematically gifted and in recent articles explored the education of the mathematically gifted in Viet Nam, the People's Republic of China, and post-Soviet Russia.