ABSTRACT
This chapter develops a new set of data on the trends in schooling in the non-Russian languages from 1934-1980. These data indicate whether or not non-Russian languages were used at various levels in Soviet primary and secondary schools. The chapter examines factors that can account for differences in the treatment of the non-Russian languages. Although the Soviet authorities have not described the actual decision rules that have guided central policy regarding native-language schooling, the chapter describes the Soviet literature with three principles that might have guided the provision of native-language schooling: equality, efficiency, and political status. It also describes hypotheses implied by each of the principles in order to determine how well each decision rule can account empirically for the treatment of the non-Russian languages over time. The chapter reviews two other sources of systematic information about native-language schooling, namely: curricula and bibliographies of school textbook publication.
