Almost fifty years ago, in the Cossack town of Grigoropolisskaia, Stavropol Krai, the first student production brigade was formed, a successful model on which to develop similar rural agricultural production schools throughout Russia. The student brigade constitutes a multifaceted school in which youngsters can learn how to work, govern, become…

The headlong mass spread of education in this country, which has swept away all the old foundations, customs, and canons of this most important social sphere, has in the past few years brought about the formation of a number of patterns that, although they are only on the level of tendencies at the present time, are nonetheless quite palpable.

Numerous surveys by the Russian Center for Public-Opinion Research [VTsIOM] have shown that young people, in contrast to members of the middle and, especially, the older generations, typically have a high degree of satisfaction with their lives: more than three-fifths of young people (66 percent) are satisfied, just over one-quarter (27 percent)…