ABSTRACT
In elementary schools, where children stayed with the same teacher all day, some teachers were considered particularly prestigious, and parents used their influence to have their sons and daughters placed in those classes. Teaching at the boarding school was considered a desirable job because there were only twenty students per classroom, whereas in the ordinary secondary schools in Odessa there were as many as forty. Upon graduating from the eight-year Children's Music School, students would enter the Music Academy. In contrast to the music and theater schools, both of which were relatively prestigious, those of the Labor Reserve System were definitely "lower class". The curriculum in the school for cooks consisted of a subject called aesthetic education, which comprised literature, theater, and cinema; cooking; raw materials; military training; physical education; and accounting. Foreign-language instruction in the public schools was effective in promoting reading ability but paid little attention to speaking or aural comprehension.
