ABSTRACT
Soviet schools are once again on the threshold of radical reforms. The value of these changes and the extent to which they can be implemented cannot be forecast without taking another look at the entire situation of schools. The postulate adopted under Khrushchev, that all young people in the USSR should be enrolled in some form of secondary education (day, evening, extension-correspondence schools, etc.) remains in force in the school reform of 1984. In 1983 the Lenin Kolkhoz in Gissar District sold the state 5,398 tons of raw cotton. Of this, only 34 tons were picked by machine. The kolkhozes and sovkhozes of the republic have 35 thousand cotton-picking machines and much other productive machinery. With their help virtually the entire harvest can be picked quite quickly. According to data of Soviet demographers, Soviet industry employed 20 million new workers in the 1970s. The expediency of sending six-year-olds to school is very debatable.
