How Much Does Ivan Really Know?
BRICKMAN, WILLIAM W.
How Much Does Ivan Really Know? WHAT IVAN KNOWS THAT JOHNNY DOESN'T By Arthur S. Trace Jr. Random House. 213 pp. $3.95. Reviewed by WILLIAM W. BRICKMAN Professor of Education, New York...
...Trace calls attention to the importance of Communist indoctrination in Soviet schools as a basic difference from American practice...
...and they read textbooks prepared by "competent scholars...
...Under these circumstances, how can history teaching in the USSR be superior to that in any other country...
...has analyzed both Soviet and American textbooks (the former on the basis of his own translations from the Russian) in the fields of reading, literature, foreign languages, history and geography...
...they possess reading ability in the lower grades, which helps them in all subjects...
...Unfortunately, this book will probably be cited as an authoritative comparison of education in the United States and the Soviet Union...
...Former U.S...
...What Ivan Knows clearly lacks scholarship and objectivity, though its author certainly possesses the proper qualifications...
...But he fails to indicate the impact such teaching has on subject matter...
...According to Trace, they spend more time studying...
...Their American counterparts, exposed to courses of study, textbooks and teaching methods of a comparatively inferior nature, "are deprived of a solid knowledge of literature, foreign languages, history and geography...
...Why do the Soviet pupils enjoy this "enormous advantage...
...not an a priori, but an a posteriori attitude...
...And he concludes: "The curriculum and the textbooks of the Soviet school system provide Soviet students with a vastly greater knowledge of literature, foreign languages, history, and geography than the American school system provides our students...
...What is more, Trace's references to selected passages and tables of contents in Soviet textbooks are insufficient, and therefore unreliable...
...Nor does he show that he is conscious of the dissatisfaction with and criticism of Soviet education from the inside...
...Here we have broad generalizing about two vast systems of education on the basis of a handful of evidence...
...Trace gives no indication that he is aware of the many criticisms leveled at American education by professional educators and scholars...
...Taking for granted that the Soviets are well ahead of us in the teaching of mathematics and the basic sciences, he tries to show that in the humanities, too, more is accomplished in the USSR...
...Reviewed by WILLIAM W. BRICKMAN Professor of Education, New York University One of the most popular indoor sports among publicists and pedagogues is taking pot shots at American schools while praising those of the Soviet Union...
...not random quotations, but analysis in terms of the complete educational scene...
...Yet the author's very limited study of an abundant literature does not inspire confidence in his conclusions...
...they pursue their subjects with less interruption...
...If Ivan knows more than Johnny, Trace has not proved it...
...He has apparently made no effort to understand the complexities of the problems involved, especially those relating to Soviet education...
...Accordingly, Trace offers tables of contents and selected paragraphs, plus a few quotations from one Soviet course of study in the secondary schools...
...The latest, the most competent and seemingly the most authoritative player is an associate professor of English at John Carroll University who specializes in Renaissance literature and literary criticism...
...At first glance it appears to be a work of authority, but it is merely an elaboration of a catchy, dramatic title...
...Trace is very serious about improving education in the United States—indeed, this is his book's raison d'être—and we would do well to heed his warnings...
...Comparative research in education demands not a fortuitous sampling, but a systematic study...
...Senator William Benton started the game a few years ago after returning from a visit behind the iron curtain...
...Nowhere does he mention the existence of specialized Soviet pedagogical journals, dealing with history, Russian, geography, foreign languages, etc., which bare the faults and the weak results of teaching in these areas...
...Thus, in his chapter on history teaching, he makes no mention of the fact that the zigzagging Party Une has radically changed the "facts" in the history textbooks...
...More recently, Vice Admiral Hyman G. Rickover and others have joined in...
...We are offered no citations from the various courses of study in the secondary schools (programmi srednei shkoli), and three paragraphs from one such program for teaching Russian in grades fiveseven...
...How he arrives at his judgment on the competence of the Soviet scholars, Trace does not tell his readers...
Vol. 45 • April 1962 • No. 9
