Small Comrades: Revolutionizing Childhood in Soviet Russia, 1917-1932 (Routledgefalmer Studies in the History of Education)

small Comrades Is A Fascinating Examination Of Soviet Conceptions Of Childhood And The Resulting Policies Directed Toward Children. Working On The Assumption That Cultural Representations And Self-representations Are Not Entirely Separable, This Book Probes How The Soviet Regime's Representations Structured Teachers' Observations Of Their Pupils And Often Adults' Recollections Of Their Childhood. The Book Draws On Work That Has Been Done On Soviet Schooling, And Focuses Specifically On The Development Of Curricula And Institutions, But It Also Examines The Wider Context Of The Relationship Between The Family And The State, And To The Bolshevik Vision Of The Children Of October booknews this Study Examines The Notion That Children In The New Soviet State Embodied Both Pressing Practical Problems And Revolutionary Dreams. Kirschenbaum (history, West Chester U., Pennsylvania), In An Elegantly Written Revision Of Her Dissertation, Details The Pre-1917 Roots Of Bolshevik Kindergartens And Their Role In Teaching Ideology; The Effect On Revolutionary Ideas For Women Of The Cost Of Socialized Childcare; The Links Of Anti-bolshevik Rhetoric Of Children's Liberation With Current Western Notions Of The Helplessness And Innocence Of Children; The Withering Away Of The Kindergarten Policy In The 1920's And The Concurrent Debates To Reeducate Parents; And The Construction Of The Emblematic Child In The Era Of Stalin. Annotation C. Book News, Inc., Portland, Or (booknews.com) Working on the assumption that cultural representations are not entirely separable, this study probes how the Soviet regime's representations structured teachers' observations of their pupils and often adults' recollections of their childhood. It offers some tentative answers to the questions, "What did children make of the Revolution?" and "What did the Revolution make of them?" This project emphasizes young children as the subjects of policies and politics in their own right. The book draws on work that has been done on Soviet schooling, and focuses specifically on the development of curricula and institutions, but it also examines the wider context of the relationship between the family and the state, and to Bolshevik vision of the "children of October." From the 1850s until well into the twentieth century, Russian radicals-educators and noneducators alike-often framed criticisms of authoritarian social structures, and articulated alternatives, in the language of education.