ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the complexity and possible confusion of public attitudes to ethical issues in education. The characteristics of the "Soviet person" as once instilled in school children are explained. Under Soviet Communism the values promoted by teachers were not established by exploring a conceptual "maze" but were formulated and endorsed officially; they were thus endowed with a strong degree of certainty. The mass media, business, and the Russian Orthodox Church put forward conflicting values, while a large majority of the population believes that the State should intervene in moral education by setting out fundamental principles to be observed in teaching and curriculum. Unmistakably though, the dominant view was that if children were well informed, they would accept standard Soviet morality. In the face of all this, it is perhaps refreshing to see that the public, at least partially, rejects the "spirit of enterprise"; they still respect the "collective," "collegial" community-spirit ethos of traditional Russian life.
