In the USSR, they tried to make a public person out of a child, in the 90s prosperity and well-being came to the fore, and now we choose from a thousand options for educational methods. Together with experts from the Skysmart online school for children and teenagers, we understand how children were raised then and now.
What’s going on at home
From the 1920s to the 1960s. A child is first and foremost a part of society, and society is also involved in its upbringing. One of the main names of that time is the name of the legendary teacher Anton Makarenko. In his system of upbringing, the child is also primarily a social unit that needs to be raised in activity and work. The innovation was that, according to Makarenko, a child is still a person who needs to be respected.
At that time, the child has enough household chores. While the parents are at work, the children are cleaning and cooking, the elders are watching the younger ones. Children are taught to be independent and raised in strictness, do not regret and do not lisp.
From the 1960s to the collapse of the USSR. The principles of responsibility and common cause have not disappeared yet. But others have appeared: now parents pay more attention to the desires of the child – we are talking even about babies.
In the 1960s, articles by pediatrician Benjamin Spock and his book The Child and Care for Him (first published in 1946, translated into Russian only in 1956) gained popularity in the USSR.
The main attitudes are to respect the child as a person, show him your feelings, develop him more in a playful way. Parents who previously held back manifestations of love are changing their approach to education. Soviet music, films and cartoons also influence, which often bring to the fore a person with his character and problems.
90s and early zero. After the collapse of the USSR, the values in accordance with which children are raised changed to individualistic ones. Many lost their jobs and realized that their homeland would not help them now. Moreover, the parents themselves, who were brought up in other paradigms, are forced to literally change their strategies on the go.
Sociologist Lidia Okolskaya compared what qualities parents wanted to instill in their children in 1989, and which ones in 1999. And if at the end of the 80s many people still talk about love for the motherland, honesty and decency, then after ten years there are much fewer of them.
But the ability to advance in a career, think about one’s own well-being and not lose one’s own, on the contrary, seems to parents adequate for the time. At the same time, in the list of the most desirable professions for a child and in 1999, typical Soviet ones are in the lead – a doctor, a teacher, an engineer, a skilled worker, according to a study by the Soviet and Russian sociologist and political scientist Yuri Levada.
During this period, they began to think more about relationships within the family – they understood that society did not solve anything, and they were looking for support in a close circle. At the same time, parents worked hard, trying to feed the family, and the children were often left to themselves.
Modernity. The choice of theories and methods of education is huge. You can raise children according to the classic works of Janusz Korczak and Anton Makarenko. Or according to more modern books – by Julia Gippenreiter and Lyudmila Petranovskaya. Well, or just subscribe on Instagram to the parent blogger you like.
Often the information contradicts each other, and answering questions like: “Do I need to often take the child in my arms?”, “Cook separately or can I feed from the parent’s table?”, “Should the child sleep alone or with parents?” each family searches independently, and often based on scientifically proven information.
What’s going on outside the home
From the 1920s to the 1960s. In the USSR, the culture of the nursery appeared in 1937. There parents gave children from two months and older. A child in a nursery – a mother at work. Then – a kindergarten, the purpose of which is to forge an ideal member of a communist society. They taught them to work and instilled a strict regime so that children could observe it from an early age.
After that, a school appeared in the child’s life, and with it, collective responsibilities. Pupils became Octobrists, and then pioneers and Komsomol members.
From the 1960s to the collapse of the USSR. The cult of joint activity remained. Children went to school, sang in the choir at the house of culture, were engaged in scientific circles and sports sections. In the summer they went to a pioneer camp, and in their free time they played in the yard – “Cossack robbers”, “war”, “rubber band”.
90s and early zero. Parents realized that a gold medal does not give guarantees, and they stopped demanding outstanding academic success from their children. In the 90s, the state financed education less, teachers’ salaries fell, and new schools almost never opened.
Modernity. Kindergarten is no longer the only option for pre-school education. Alternatives are growing in the form of development centers where parents go with their child. The situation is similar with schools – many remained conservative, but at the same time there was a choice. If parents have time, they develop the child themselves, from home, including through online education.
And in 2020, online lessons have turned from an additional opportunity into a necessity. Schools are forced to move to a remote location due to the coronavirus. Teachers – even those who have never worked with a computer before – have to master the wisdom of distance learning. And parents – to do homework with children more often.
Of course, the approach to education has changed a lot, and for sure, it will change more than once. But no matter how we raise children, no matter what methods we rely on, we should not forget that a child is a person, that the main instrument of education is a personal example, and one cannot build relationships on fear.