ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the basic trends in school issues. It provides the reader with an understanding of why many people in the USSR see their educational system as being in a state of crisis, and of the enormous difficulties faced by those who are trying to bring about changes in the Soviet schools. The reform was based on a misconception of the relationship between the career and work orientation of young people and their experience in school. Since Egor Ligachev's speech, another wave of reforms has been proposed and a wide array of new tasks assigned to the school system. The basic goal of the innovators is to give both teachers and pupils "as much freedom as possible in the organization of the learning process, in the choice of methods and textbooks, and in their relations with higher school bodies.
