Soviet Education

ISSN: 0038-5360 (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/mres19

Productive Labor in the Boarding-schools

A. I. Kochetov

To cite this article: A. I. Kochetov (1959) Productive Labor in the Boarding-schools, Soviet
Education, 1:3, 27-31

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.2753/RES1060-9393010327

Published online: 08 Dec 2014.

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VOL. I, NO. 3
A . I. Kochetov:*
Productive Labor in the Boarding-schools
The decisions of the 13th Congress of the ALYCL (All-
Union Lenin Young Communist League) set before the school
the critical task of giving labor training to the rising gener-
ation. “I think,” said N. S. Khrushchev in his address to the
congress, W a t the time has come for decisive reform of
the system of educating our rising generation in the schools.
Such defects in our school as laxity in training the
children to respect physical labor cannot possibly be toler-
ated., .”
The principal decisions of the 13th Congress of ALYCL
rest on that new element which has appeared in the every-
day life of many foremost schools in our country. Widely
prevalent in the schools of late has become a form of pupils’
productiire labor such as child industrial enterprises (school
factories or shops, child construction agencies, child
machine-tractor stations). The teachers troup of the Lenin-
grad boarding school No. 2 decided to utilize this new form
of productive labor for educational purposes. At the
+
boarding school in April, 1967, regular operation began at
the school factory ‘Ma1 Skorokhod” (Small Fast-Pace)
established with the assistance o e patron, the well-
known “Skorokhod” shoe factory. The children were en-
gaged, it eeemed, in quite primitive work - they glued
cardboard boxes for shoes. If machine production is in it-
self attractive for the children, then work like this could not
have an emotional appeal. The collective body of teachers
therefore stressed the social value this labor had for the
group of pupils and for the “Skorokhod” workers as the
primary stimulus for the active participation of the school
children in the productive labor.
The productive labor in the boarding school is done by
detachments of varied age, to which belong children from
classes I to MI. How to organize them so that each pupil
found a place in the common work, and that labor produc-
tivity did not suffer? In the mass school this problem is
solved simply: pupils of primary classes do not work at
the enterprises and it is easier to organize senior classes
for labor. But at boarding school No. 2, all pupils beginning
from class I participate according to capacity in all kinds of
socially useful and household labor. Everyone enrolled in
the school muet firmly master the primary rule of life:
only he ha8 the right to an interesting and full-value lFfe
who work6 together with all, doesn’t need a nurse, takes
care of himself and labors for society.
The tutor works together with the pupils at the factory
and this makes it possible for him to utilize the productive
labor better for educational purposes. From the moment
the factory wae founded, the teachers’ collective body
eearched for such a form of labor organization a s would se-
cure the participation in it of all pupils according to capac-
ity. At first they worked by brigades. A brigade consisted
of eix perrons: the pupil of class V or VI began to break
the eides of the half-finished stamped cardboard, the pupil
of class LII to IV glued the corners, and the pupil of class I
to II clamped them with clamps; the pupil of class VI to V I I
* The author is associated with the A. I. Hertzen
Pedagogical Institute, Leningrad.
27
(and class VLZI also this year) framed the box. The smearer
of the framing strips and the assistant framer (pupils of
class V to VI) helped him. The juniors frequently assisted
the seniors, put finished lids on the boxes and stacked them
in a place set aside. Such labor organization made it pos-
sible to find work for all pupils; whereupon the detachment,
which consists of 34 persons, produced up to 90 boxes in
one-and-a-half hours.
At the end of 1957 the brigade system of work had ceased
already to satisfy the pupils. A s a result a new form of
labor organization, the conveyor, arose. This was really a
conveyor method: one pupil (of class 111to IV) smeared glue
on a rubber square, another (pupil of class 111to IV) took a
paper strip, put it on the glue, then gave it to the framer
(pupil of class M to VIII); he performed one operation,
passed the work-piece on to another pupil, and he to a third
(pupil of class V to VII) and each one did one operation in
framing. After that, the bottom or lid of the box was glued
with a paper strip (pupils of class IV to V). The lid and
bottom of the box passed along two parallel conveyor lines
and at the end of the conveyor, the juniors (class I and 11)
put the finished lid on the framed bottom of the box and
carried the finished box to the technical council member
on duty. Under such a system, a labor productivity unseen
-
before was attained 304 boxes per detachment (34persons).
A rationalization movement was begun in all detachments
for improvement of old methods of work and creation of new
ones. Observing the work of the detachments on ALYCL com-
mittee assignment, in connection with preparation for a
young Communist meeting, Victor 0. for several days
closely analyzed both the brigade and the conveyor methods
of labor organization. He noted that a poor fold of the semi-
finished cardboard units was a major cause of scrap and a
brake on further growth of labor productivity.
In h i s detachment, where Victor 0. was a brigade leader,
he decided, following the example of the third detachment,
to make the fold of the boxes beforehand. This operation
was performed by a group of preparers one-and-a-half
hours before the detachment work began.
But how to make the box stable during framing? And
Victor decided to make a fixed block for the boxes. It was
a simple wooden block, a reproduction of a box in size
and shape, and fastened to a stand. The box bottom or lid
was put on the block; then the semi-finished piece was
glued with paper strips and removed, while the paper strips
were folded inside. The work-piece was clamped to the
block, a paper strip firmly glued to the cardboard; the cor-
rect box form was retained. The product quality rose
sharply, which the factory director noted. Victor’s proposal
attracted the attention of all detachments. A group of Young
Communists made six stand-blocks, and in this way applica-
tion of the new labor method was greatly expanded to other
detachments. Each detachment organized the work in its
own way; about two score methods of framing arose; the
most expedient organization of labor was developed daily.
In the work by the new method, the speed of box making
depended exclusively on the manual speed of each brigade
member.. After 3 to 4 shifts, labor productivity was already
28
very high, since each brigade member did his operation
almost automatically. Besides, the time required for each
operation was identical, which excluded any kind of idle
time waiting until a box reached you, as had been the case
under previous methods of work.
h accordance with this situation, Victor organized a
brigade of 8 pupils of varied age - class III to M pupils -
and arranged them in such a system: two persons prepare
paper strips and smear glue on them, four persons on 2
blocks frame box bottoms and lids, the last two persons
fold inside the s t r i p s which cannot be folded on the stand,
and after that hand in the finished boxes. The framing of
the bottom and making of the box lid a r e done in parallel
lines and by quite identical operations. The s t r i p folders
fit the finished lid on the box bottom. Meanwhile, the work
stands were opposite each other, and if the output of the box
lids or bottoms was lagging, this was visible at once; those
who were behind tried to catch up, and the work became
still more intensive. The most complex work was found to
be that of the f r a m e r (but he was brigadier).
In consequence of such a labor organization method, the
brigade in one-and-a-half hours made 100 boxes, i.e. 12
boxes per man. The members of a detachment working by
the old method (they numbered more than 20) made during
Lhis same time 50 boxes, i.e. an average of 2 boxes per
man. Same days later, the record of the brigade of Victor
0. w a s eclipsed by that of the brigade of Anatolia Sh., which
with a four-man brigade made 117 boxes. After work
Anatolia Sh. said to friends: ’I never thought it was s o
interesting to work, Clueing boxes is usually such tedious
work that without desire you force yourself to go to the
factory. But now it’sdifferent. 1 don’t know why but it’s
very interesting to work fast.” Victor 0. and Anatolia Sh.
helped other detachments, showing them methods of work
on the stand.
With the transition of a whole detachment to the new
method of work, a r e a l record figure was set - 300 boxes
per detachment. The practice in the old labor system
hampered this transition, during which the g i r l s were
especially stubborn. It seemed to them inconvenient and un-
usual to glue the s t r i p s sideways a s i t was done on the
stand where the block was fixed. Many who worked on the
stand did not, therefore, produce evenly glued box sides.
Then a plywood sheet was attached to the stand from be-
low. Now, during box glueing, the strip slid along the ply-
wood and was laid evenly on the work-piece. The working
experience of Victor O.’s brigade was publicized by the
“Shkol’naya Pravda”. By order of the school director, ap-
preciation was expressed to Victor 0. for the invention of
the stand and the development of a new working method. A l l
this heightened still more the interest of the boys in the
rationalization movement. Friends of Victor 0. made their
proposals f o r improvement of the stand. And then, in con-
sequence of the collective innovation, the brigade of Victor
0. made a completely new stand. In April, it was seen in
action for the first time and aroused immediately immense
interest in all detachments. The stand consisted of two
paired blocks: one for the box lids, the other for the bottom,
which were fixed horizontally to a single axis. And what is
most important, the blocks were rotated freely on the axis,
which made it possible to glue the side s t r i p s as the young-
s t e r s were accustomed to do. The end of the framing strip
is placed in the middle of the side surface of the box s e t on
the block, and then with a swift and accurate turn of the
block, the whole s t r i p is wrapped f i r m on the cardboard
work-piece.
The new method of labor organization made i t possible to
reduce the number of brigade members. Now, two f r a m e r s
SOVIET EDUCATION
(one glues the box bottom, the other the lid) began to do the
principal work. They are helped by four persons, who
prepare paper s t r i p s and do the finishing work on the boxes.
It is especially important to nurture in children a creative
attitude to labor. This proved to be within the powers of the
boarding school’s pedagogical staff. Each new day of the
life of ‘Malyy Skorokhod” was full of new searchings, new
creative work, new upsurge of labor productivity. It was
precisely in the work a t the “Malyy Skorokhod” that the wide
educational possibilities of the detachment of varied age-
level were revealed. More effective development of senior
pupils is possible in the conditions of the vari-aged detach-
ment. Being the brigade leaders, f r a m e r s , members of the
technical council, they acquire organizing abilities and skills;
a feeling of responsibility for themselves and their com-
r a d e s is nurtured in them. Therefore, they watch closely
each member of their brigade, teach the juniors how to
work and care for their well-being and disposition.
During the work of the second detachment, we had occasion
to observe the following inzident. Class II pupil Galya P. ap -
proached her chief and said: “You promised long ago to help me
make a box, but don’t even give me a work-piece in my hands.
“Yes, but I’m always working, Galya, and have no time.
Well, all right, here is a lid for you. Look at what I do and
do the same.”
In 20 minutes, having finished the work and all aglow, the
g i r l took the lid to the teacher.
‘Look, did I do the lid well, it is good, y e s ? ”
The teacher advised her to go, together with the chief, to
the technical council member on duty, since he gives the
rating on the finished box. When the two g i r l s reached the
attending member of the technical council, he turned the
box around in his hands and said: ‘Poorly done. The paper Is all
creased in glueing. The lid is crooked. And how this label’s pasted
on1 Who did this? Oh, it’s you? Well, never mind, don’t be put
out. It’s not bad for a beginning, and there you will learn. ”
Galya was very distressed, but the senior g i r l reassured
her. ‘The first pancakes are always lumps. But you have
golden hands, you are painstaking, you will learn.”
The junior shook her head and affirmed: ‘All the same I
will learn, no matter what 1’11 learn.”
The senior class members understand that they are r e -
sponsible for training the juniors. Once in a talk about the
responsibility of the seniors in the boarding school, Rita S.,
class VTII member, said: ‘Of course, in our school we must
be responsible for everything, because we a r e not only
pupils but tutors also.”
The productive labor thus made possible the induction of
the pupils themselves into educational work. A s far a s
juniors a r e concerned, they always have the example of the
seniors. The joint productive labor of senior and junior
pupils is a source of creative development of their capacities.
The Young Communist Victor O., inventor of the stand, has
now become one of the beat detachment commanders and
enjoys great authority in the child collective body. A year
ago, he was one of the very weak pupils, and now he has pre-
dominantlv Rood marks. It was namelv his achievements in
work a t the’Malyy Skorokhod” which -had positive effect
also in his studies.
The factory director Galya L., c l a s s VIII g i r l pupil,
proved to be an excellent organizer and instructor of the
child collective body. The pedagogical staff records the
huge positive influence that productive labor has on the
pupils. The very intricate working and patronage relation-
ships in the conditions of diverse-aged collectives provide
maximally favorable conditions for development not only of
personality but of the groups as well. A fact such as the
following is interesting. At the regular line-up, it became
VOL. I. NO. 3 ~~
known that detachment 8 is not fulfilling the quota. When the
detachment went out to work, the pupils of other detach-
ments which had finished the shift attempted to assist it
inconspicuously. The pupils of detachment 8 took this inci-
dent very seriously. On that day detachment 8 fulfilled the
quota. Productive labor thus helps in establishing proper
relations between detachments, brings about consolidation
of the whole all-school collective body.
The diverse-aged system of organizing productive labor
has a number of additional advantages. Effective use of
competition a s a stimulus for development of the collective
body and personality becomes possible. Diverse-aged de-
tachments and brigades a r e of equivalent strength, have
equal grounds for victory; the example of one detachment,
its achievements a r e a striking proof that others can also
achieve a like success. Such organization of productive
labor secures the succession and transfer of labor tradi-
tions and experience from the seniors to the juniors.
Finally, it is in the diverse-aged detachments and bri-
gades namely that the Pioneers and Young Communists find
their place as leaders of the production process, as helpers
of teachers in the work of labor education. The Young
Communists and Pioneers a r e the innovators of their small
industry; by their example, they attract the whole child
collective, help the teacher to explain to the children the
social value of productive labor.
All thie creates a favorable situation for the teacher to
make concrete use of productive labor for pedagogical
purposes. The diverse-aged organization of productive
labor has justified itself also in other forms of the pupils’
labor activity: in jobs done in the school garden plot and in
fields of the collective farm, in putting the school camp
into good order, in mass volunteer work on the construc-
tion of dwellings. Thus, during one of the mass volunteer
jobs in conetruction, 200 pupils of classes XU to VIII did
more in one-and-a-half hours than had technical college
students who had worked the same length of time before
them at the construction site. Meanwhile, the whole job was
managed by just two pupils who watched out for observance
of safety regulations. The children were assigned to
diverse-aged detachments, given tasks and under the man-
agement of eenior pupils fulfilled them rapidly. The
seniors always felt personal responsibility for the work of
the whole detachment, for the work of the juniors. The
organization of diverse-aged brigades is now practiced in
many schools of the country for jobs in the school garden
plots, in poultry farms and in collective farm orchards.
All this indicates the expediency of using in school life
this system of organizing productive labor as that most ef-
fective in educational and economic respects.
After solving organizational problems, the pedagogical
collective body set before itself the actual tasks of educa-
tional work: to use productive labor for the formation of the
collective body and personality, to implant in the children
love and respect for labor.
“Yy y y o k h o d ” is a small but productive enterprise,
with yp ca eatures inherent to industry. The main point
is not that there a r e play elements here and the inclination
of children to imitate adults is utilized. What attracts the
children first of all is the industrial organization of labor,
‘inwhich is manifested the beauty of discipline, of collec-
tive labor. Moreover, the boarding school pupils are let -
-
it be not in full measure acquainted with varied sides of
industry: its organization and management, system of cost
accounting and wage payments, etc. The romance of fulfilling
social obligations, that is what attracts the children most
of all.
Without putting the sign of equality between the labor of
~
29
children and adults, the boarding school’s pedagogical staff
was nevertheless able to utilize for educational purposes
many sides of the industrial organization of labor. The life
and activity of ‘Ma1 Skorokhod” a r e determined by three
primary d o c u m e k e on the Work of the Tech-
nical Council,” “The Unified Requirements on Pupils” and
“The Statute on Competition.”
The technical council of “Malyy Skorokhod” consists of
18 members, deputies of all detachments. The chairman
of the technical council (he is also factory director) is a
permanent member of the council of commanders. The
members of the technical council exercise daily control of
the work of detachments (discipline, organization of labor,
quality of products) and inspect the working places after
working hours end. “The Statute on the Technical Council”
specifies precisely the obligations of its members. The
fault-finding and strictness which attendant members of
the technical council usually display does not provoke
dissatisfaction of the pupils. All understand that the mem-
bers on duty a r e fulfilling their obligations. The final
word belongs to the factory director in case of a disagree-
ment of shift foremen and detachment leaders with the
technical council member on duty.
Organization of labor at the “Malyy Skorokhod” does not,
of course, correspond exactly to the system generally adopt-
ed at industrial enterprises, but such a task is not even
set at the child enterprise. The production organization of
labor at the “Ma1 Skorokhod” consists in creating maxi-
mally favora6 ePcon a It -on8
n -or the productive work of de-
tachments. Problems of production discipline a r e clearly
defined in the work of the technical council, of shift fore-
men, brigadiers and rank-and-file workers of “Maiyy
Skorokhod”. Each one knows the circle of his o-ons
and requires observance of them by others, understanding
that this is essential for achievement of high productivity
of labor.
Such realization of the necessity of labor discipline did
not come of itself; it was the result of explanatory work
by the teachers, who together with the children work day
after day doing any work in the factory. The obligation to
work together with their pupils and not be simply observ-
e r s derives from the pedagogical logic of the detachment’s
working life: all work, and this means the tutor works also.
And this makes his word and example effective educational
means; in labor a r e established those close friendly rela-
tions which open the way to the child spirit and make pos-
sible practical use of labor for educational purposes. All
this creates conditions under which the requirements of
the tutors become the requirements of the child collective
body.
The content of these requirements for all members of
“Malyy Skorokhod” a r e a s follows:
1. Never be late at work. On arriving at work, occupy
your working place and start working to fulfill your labor
task.
2. Come to work only in working clothes.
3. Observe labor discipline strictly and demand its ful-
fillment by your comrade. In this way you will contribute
to successful completion of the labor task by the detach-
ment.
4. After finishing work, put your working place in order.
5. If a comrade at work is unable to do something, teach
him. Remember that help to the weak and lagging is the
duty of the strong and skillful.
The pupils understand the expediency of these require-
ments and endeavor to meet them punctually. The techni-
cal council also keeps strict watch over the fulfillment of
requirements; its members during attendant duty remove
30
labor discipline violators from the factory.
By the conditions of productive labor the diverse-aged
detachment i s put in a situation such that the general result
of detachment work depends on the labor of each of its mem-
bers, on his ability to work together with others. Such in-
terdependence gives birth to collective interests, collective
tendencies. The personal desires, interests and dispositions
are subordinate to the social, and where this law of life
for the working collective body is violated, the majority
of the pupils have a natural negative reaction to individual
antisocial actions.
In the school on definite days and hours the signal to
begin work FS given. The procedure of givingout semi-finished
work pieces, the receiving of finished products, the handing
over of the working place-all this disciplines and organizes
every pupil. In such a situation, the best qualities of the
collective body and personality a r e manifested; the self-
training and training of the pupils proceeds naturally and
simply.
In the detachment collectives many mistakes may be
forgiven a comrade or friend, but no one forgives a neglect-
ful attitude toward labor in the factory. Here is one of the
examples which characterize the educational influence of
the working environment on individual unscrupulous pupils.
The class VLI pupil, Valery P., frequently skipped work.
By order of the school director, he was twice given a rep-
rimand with notation in the personal record. The council
of commanders discussed h i s conduct and obligated him to
make 40 boxes. But Valery did not fulfill this decision
either. His conduct aroused the indignation of all, Even in
h i s own detachment, where he always had met support, they
did not talk with him. Valery did not withstand such collec-
tive censure and remained in the boarding school on Sunday
in order to fulfill the order of the council of commanders.
He worked all day and even overfulfilled the quota assigned
him. Valery, however, did not succeed quickly in reestab-
lishing h i s authority.
Contact with the patron enterprise, the “Skorokhod” shoe
factory, was begun from the moment “Malyy Skorokhod”
was organized, when the boarding school pupils were train-
ed in that factory’s shops how to frame boxes, and shoe
factory workers taught the children in the school workshop.
This contact grew stronger in the daily business relations
of ‘Malyy (Small) Skorokhod” with the big “Skorokhod’; it
became lasting after the admission of boarding school
pupils into the ‘Skorokhod” Young Communist organization
and especially dter class VIII began to work on the shoe
factory’s conveyors. The routine issue of the wide-circula-
tion newspaper USkorokhodskiy rabochiy” (Skorokhod Work-
e r ) is regularly read in the school. The “Skorokhod” work-
e r s a r e invited as dearest guests at any solemn event of
the school.
The pedagogical collective body makes skillful use of
this contact for educational purposes. Each pupil at the
boarding school understands that in calling his factory,
the “Ma1 Skorokhod,” he thereby assumes- the obligation
to m a k o f the ‘Skorokhod” label, that in
these very boxes which he is making, first-class Soviet
shoes will be placed. Crude, ugly boxes must not be made
for such shoes. In days when the “Skorokhod” factory as-
sumes high output obligations and daily overfulfills the
production plan, what can be more honorable than for the
detachment to overfulfill it s quota of high quality products.
The pedagogical staff is constantly fostering in the chil-
dren such a conscious attitude toward labor. In this direc-
tion, the newspapers “Maly Skorokhod and “Shkolnaya
pravda” do a great wor“* p otograp 8 , cartoons, news
items devoted to the work at the “Malyy Skorokhod,” the
SOVIET EDUCATION
labor of those foremost in production is highly appreciated
and the shortcomings in the work of detachments a r e con-
demned.
Social appraisal of the results of the children’s labor
has a most important place in the formation of a Commu-
nist attitude toward labor. It is given daily on the basis
of the situation in competition; the results of competition
a r e publicized on a special scoreboard in such a way that
each pupil knows the place that his detachment occupies.
Final results a r e summarized on Saturday and reported
at the all-school line-up in the form of the school collec-
tive body’s orders. These orders, announced in a solemn
ceremony before a formation of all the pupils, highly ap-
praise the labor achievements of detachments and indi-
vidual pupils. Each negative fact is received with undis-
guised distress and censure, and everyone is genuinely
joyful at the achievements and successes of any detach-
ment, any pupil. The non-fulflllment of the quota by a de-
tachment is an extraordinary event. It signifies first of
all that the detachment commander and senior pupils must
report about what happened to the council of commanders
and to the school director.
The social appraisal of productive labor by the pedagog-
ical staff, the school director, the pupil organizations, the
council of commanders, is directed toward fostering the
responsibility of each separate pupil for the whole detach-
ment. However well the individual pupil may work, he
nevertheless works badly, if the majority of his comrades
in the detachment are doing poor work. Such an appraisal
leads to the detachment’s best pupils exercising an active
influence on all the others and stimulates a tendency to
organize the detachment’s work in such a way that general
success is achieved in labor.
The boarding school’s Young Communist organization,
founded by the ‘Skorokhod” Young Communist organization,
naturally considered from the first day of its existence
that securing the successful work of “Malyy Skorokhod”
was one of its most important tasks. AtYoung Communist
meetings much attention was devoted to problems of the
organization of productive labor. The production sector
of the ALYCL committee organizes the practical transfer
of new labor methods to detachments. In studying the ex-
perience of the work of detachments, it was for example
revealed that individual Young Communists were remiss
in their obligations, that glue was short when quotas a r e
overfulfilled by detachments, that each detachment leaves
spoiled paper strips which would be sufficient for framing
3 to 4 boxes. After discussing the work of the technical
council, the Young Communist meeting adopted the follow-
ing decision:
‘1. To demand excellent work from Sveta K., a technical
council member.
‘2. To obligate Young Communists B., P. and S. to im-
prove their work at the ‘Malyy Skorokhod’ and be exam-
ples for all youngsters in the detachment.
“3. To suggest to the technical council that obligations
be reassigned.
“4. To delegate Young Communist Irina Sh. for issuance
of the bulletin.
“5. That the technical council beautifully mount the score-
board of the competition of detachments in making boxes.
‘6. To request that the administration of our school
purchase a second tank of glue.”
This decision served as an impetus to activization of
the work of Young Communists at the factory. Evidence
of this is the constant growth in labor productivity. In
April-May, 1967, all detachments framed up to 300 boxes
a week, in November, 1957, up to 600 boxes, and in April,
VOL. I, NO. 3
1968, up to 2000 boxes. But concern about high productivity
of labor is only one side of the social activity of Young Com-
munists. The main work of the Young Communists is con-
nected with the formation in pupils of social motives of pro-
ductive labor. It is done daily by means of the social ap-
praisal of the labor of pupils through the school wall press
and the organizing of mass measures. Let us tell about the
celebration of the anniversary of the founding of ‘Malyy
Skorokhod.” On the basis of collected s u g g e s t i o n s w p i l s ,
the production sector of the Komsomol committee drew up
a draft enactment of the council of commanders. Projected
in the draft were such measures: to organize a competition
among detachments in honor of the factory anniversary; to
make a graphic display of the results of the year’s work of
detachments at the factory; shop foremen to present for
awards the best workers of ‘Ma1 Skorokhod ; factory di-
rector Galya L. to prepare a ”+ report on e actory’s work;
to publieh a holiday number of the newspaper; to appoint a
commission for inviting guests and for contact with the
YSkorokhodnfactory management to request that the ‘Skoro-
h o d ” management arrange by April 15, 1958, an e x h i m
ehoes produced by the factory; to organize a photo-exhibit
y-4
on the work of “Ma1 Skorokhod and an exhibit of the best
boxes and etands o organ ze an honor list board of the
most advanced producers.
The council of commanders approved this decision. Other
propoeals were also introduced: in particular, to request
that the ‘Skorokhod” factory management award prizes to
the best production workers, and also aid the school in ex-
panding the factory shop space.
When the commission elected by the council of command-
e r s came to the ‘Skorokhod” factory, it was warmly greeted
in the ALYCL committee and factory management. The
director of .Skorokhod” listened attentively to the boarding
school pupils and questioned them in detail about the work
Skorokhod , its needs and the pupils’ requests;
he sen a comm 88 on which examined on the spot what kind
Of
of stand Victor 0. had invented, and what is most important,
ascertained the possibility of enlarging the shop space for
‘Malyy Skorokhod”.
Competition in honor of the anniversary of the factory’s
founding was developed between all detachments. Not only
Young Communists but all the pupils a s well stood in a
holiday watch. On that day, the attendant detachment, which
by statute did not take part in factory work, requested per-
mission to work along with all the others. The pupils of
detachment I appealed to the attendant tutor: ‘All are work-
ing. We a r e the only ones doing nothing.” ‘But now you
have to be on attendant duty,” objected the tutor. ‘We will
stand duty also. But nobody will dare to violate discipline
and order today I” Useless also was the tutor’s final objec-
tion that there is no place for the detachment to work, there
are no glue, tables, brushes. The children themselves
boiled glue, fashioned home-made brushes, brought in tables.
On that evening all detachments overfulfilled the quota. The
third detachment fulfilled double the quota, producing 217
boxes during the shift, and the first detachment also, which
produced 210 boxes. But the most important action was
begun after the work ended. When the third detachment
learned that the first detachment had also produced more
than 200 boxes, the youngsters were jubilant. They rushed
to congratulate their comrades with the victory; joyful and
happy, both detachments together cleaned up the working
place8 and delivered the boxes.
The efforts of the pupils directed to holiday preparatory
actions make these very actions themselves a real collec-
tive celebration. The boarding school solemnly marked
the April 16 anniversary of the founding of ‘Malyy Skorokhod.
This day became a genuine holiday of labor. Every mo-
ment here had great educational value. High social ap-
praisal of the productive labor of detachments and indi-
vidual pupils undoubtedly contributes to the formation in
them of social motives for labor activity. The high level
of the children’s socially useful work is a result of the
self-denying work of the teachers who gave skillful guidance
to the activity of the whole collective body. Even such an
event as, for example, the drawing and paying out of money
by the detachments, is an interesting educational process.
The youngsters carefully think over and fervently discuss
the question of how to use the money they earn, knowing
the value of it very well. They adopt a decision: to purchase
games for the juniors and lottery coupons, etc.
The pedagogues devoted two scientific-practical confer-
ences to problems of the work of ‘Ma1 Skorokhod
pedagogical staff is now thinking about
+
n ur e r improve- The
ment in its work. The level of labor training that the chil-
dren have reached requires that their productive labor
have higher technical equipment. “We have squeezed out
of the production of boxes all that we could. Now we need
our own machine production, our own FED* factory,” says
A. A. Ganzen, the school director,
The experience of boarding school No. 2’s collective
body of teachers shows that the productive labor of children
becomes a powerful educational means under the following
conditions, It is important first and foremost to bring the
school children’s productive labor into contact with the
life and labor of the Soviet people.
In order that the pupils actually understand the social
significance of their labor, that they feel their own contact
with the people, it is necessary to provide for the unity of
the actions of the school, the public and the family. The
good traditional ties between the public ‘Skorokhod” spon-
sorship, the parents committee and the pedagogical collec -
tive body determined to a considerable extent the achieve-
ments of the educational work in the boarding school.
The experience shows that the participation of the Young
Communist and Pioneer organizations in the labor training
of children is an essential condition for proper utilization
of the productive labor for educational purposes. Besides,
the main thing in the work of the pedagogical staff with
the Pioneers and Young Communists consists in linking
the productive work of the pupils with the social work of
the Young Communist and Pioneer organizations.
The social work of the Young Communists and Pioneers
directed toward better organization of productive labor,
toward formation of social motives for this labor, has an
exceptional educational value. Traditions of the revolution
and of labor, a s the WI Congress of ALYCL pointed out,
occupy the most important place in Communist education.
The creation in the school of permanent labor traditions
and a distinct labor regime helps to foster in the children
a Communist attitude to labor.
Naturally, pedagogical guidance of the school children’s
productive labor has first-rate importance. Its essence is
to give direction to the relationships of the pupils, which
arise in the process of productive labor. Not only the
content of labor educates the children, but also those com-
plex mutual relations into which they enter. These rela-
tionships a r e of three kinds: the relations of the pupils
within the primary collective body, the relations of the
primary collective body to the school as a whole and,
finally, the relations of the all-school collective body to
(Continued on Page 35)
* Name of a famous Russian factory producing photo-
graphic cameras-Translator ’s note,