seemed significant that on the final morning in Moscow, when the group was being taken to the airport by the head of the Education Department in the Ministry of Culture and the liaison officer with the United States (Mrs. Butrova, also from the Ministry of Culture), that Mrs. Ilyena, Head of the Education Department, said: “We have done our best to show you everything you asked to see. Now, what we need to know is your opinion of what we are trying to do in our arts in education program. This is why we would like to have you here longer. In lieu of this, however, we would like to suggest a reciprocal delegation to your country, if possible during the spring of 1961."

As in many countries of the world, and as contrasted with the United States, the system of education in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is highly centralized. While each of the fifteen Republics in the Soviet Union has a Ministry of Education and a Ministry of Culture, there is a standardized curriculum for general education, as well as for the arts in education program. Therefore, perhaps, some of the facts, statistics, and observations in the report will serve as a basis for understanding the total program of education in the arts throughout this very large country in the Eastern world and among the diversified ethnic groups in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

EDUCATION in all its aspects is of paramount interest in the Soviet Union. A word about recent developments in education might be helpful at this point. Up to 1940 only the four-year program of education was compulsory. In the period between 1940 and 1950 the seven-year program became mandatory. About four years ago there began the program of eight years of compulsory education. From the standpoint of the arts, it was learned that in general schools there is offered one forty-five minute period each per week for music and art. In addition, however, there are special lectures to which the students are obligated to go and questions pertaining to these lectures are given in the regular examinations. Another interest

ing fact which came out of a conversation with the director of a general secondary school (eleven-year school) is that approximately 35% of the 1,000 students in the school attend morning or afternoon classes in the special music schools about which information will be given later in this report.

It is not the opinion of the arts delegation that one particular phase of education is emphasized more than another in the Soviet Union. There is no current deemphasis on the arts in education, and there is considerable emphasis on music education. This emphasis on music education is being accelerated. Within the last three to four years the number of primary music schools has been increased by 500.

Specialized Schools in Arts

in Education

AT THIS POINT it is probably well to define some aspects of the arts in education program in the Soviet Union. There are several types of schools dealing with the arts. As stated previously, it should be remembered that, in the general school, the arts-music and painting and drawing—are offered one forty-five minute period each week. This is obviously an inadequate amount of time; the school authorities are aware of this inadequacy and are of a mind to work toward increasing the number of periods of instruction in the arts in the general school program. However, as will be reported on later, and again particularly in the field of music education, the general school program is supplemented to a very considerable extent by the music programs-and to some extent programs of the other arts, particularly the dance-in the Pioneer Houses, to which school children between the ages of 10 to 14 years belong, as well as in Houses of Culture where employees of industries and their children. participate in strongly-oriented arts programs. This is generally referred to as the amateur movement.

Referring to the various types of special schools (music, fine arts and other schools), there are the following categories: (1) music schools; (2) fine arts schools;

(3) ballet schools; (4) the circus school; (5) arts in education programs in Pioneer Houses as well as in Houses of Culture.

In addition, there are evening schools for adults. Due to the shortened working day (recently reduced to seven hours for employees in business institutions and industry) and the gradual improvement in the material conditions of the working people, there is more time and interest to pursue music education. The government is encouraging participation in these amateur movements, and, as reported to us, this is being done to provide intellectual advancement for the people as well as to insure intelligent and informed audiences.

An aside here would be a comment about the attendance at concerts, ballet, theater, the circus. If there were vacant seats for any of these presentations anywhere in the cities visited, it would be hard to believe. On the other hand, standees were always in substantial numbers. The same comment can be made concerning visitors to galleries and museums. On occasion, so great were the numbers of visitors, that waiting lines-and patient ones -were frequent.

RECENTLY there has been a new trend in evening courses in music which are being offered. Employees in industry and factories may apply to the Conservatory in their area or Republic for the purpose of enrolling in classes. This is called correspondence education. There are twenty-one Conservatories in twelve of the Republics, and most of the Conservatories offer these correspondence courses. A part of the correspondence courses includes sixty days of direct work with the teachers, during which time the students are given official leave from their work with transportation costs paid by the government to the city in which the Conservatory is located. Qualification for participation in the Conservatory correspondence courses is through the special technical schools of music.

At the present time there are 1800 primary music schools and one hundred primary art schools in the Union

of Soviet Socialist Republics. These are seven-year schools located throughout the Soviet Union in metropolitan areas and in rural areas. The schools are also established on some collective farms.

There are 160 professional schools in music and fortythree in art which accept students who have graduated from the seven-year music schools and the seven-year general schools. The professional schools of music offer a four-year course, and, in many of them, are included the general education courses. In any event, completion of a four-year general education course is a requirement for completion of the four-year course in a technical school in music.

Nineteen eleven-year schools of music prepare for the Conservatories. In these schools there is not only a systematic curriculum in music but also education in the other disciplines.

The Conservatory course is set up for a five-year period and in addition there is a post-graduate course of three years. Therefore, for the truly serious and gifted musician, there is involved a total of nineteen years of arduous preparation if he is accepted year after year through the final examinations of the post-graduate work at the Conservatory. Additional information will be given later in this report concerning some of the principal Conservatories visited in the Soviet Union.

The questions might very well be raised as to where teachers are trained; where performers are trained. Some general answers can be given to these questions. Teachers at the Conservatories are trained in the Conservatories. Teachers for the primary music schools and the general schools receive their training at the four-year technical music schools-although in one primary music school a teacher of violin is a graduate of the Conservatory and is a member of the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra. The matter of qualifying to teach at the various levels of music schools is very important. The teachers in the technical music schools (four-year) have frequently come from the technical music schools, the Institutes, or have also studied at the Conservatories.

.

Then, too, there are General Pedagogical Institutes which have training courses for music and art teachers for the general schools as well as for the general classroom teachers who also teach music in many of the general schools through the fourth year. Members of the orchestras and choruses and conductors of orchestras and choruses receive their education at the Conservatories— or, in Moscow, for instance, not only at the Conservatory but perhaps at the Gnessin Institute (Music School) which has a very highly developed professional curriculum. The Moscow Conservatory and Gnessin Institute prepare for teaching as well as for performance. The factor of qualifications is extremely important, and acceptance for enrollment and continuation of enrollment are based on rigorous examinations, both in theory and in performance.

Ballet Schools

ADDITIONAL information will be given later in the report regarding curriculum and activity in the specific music schools and Conservatories. At this point some interesting facts are appropriate concerning the other types of schools dedicated to the arts. It is difficult to say whether music or the dance is in the foremost position of prominence in the arts in education program-the two are so closely identified. Certainly the ballet and the music of the ballet are a part of the cultural life blood of the Soviet Union. The Bolshoi Ballet School in Moscow and the Vaganova School of Ballet in Leningrad provide memorable experiences for the visitor fortunate enough to visit these schools, to know their directors and to witness demonstrations of the work in the schools. The training in the ballet schools, in seriousness of purpose, objective, dedication, length of preparation, corresponds to that in the Conservatories. At the ballet schools are provisions for the general education courses which the students receive from the time they enter the schoolssome as early as age seven.

Students are trained at the ballet schools in classical ballet, national dances, and for participation in serious