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Portrait of a Soviet School under Glamost'. By James Muckle. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1990. ix, 205 pp. Illustrations. Bibliography. Index.

This narrative is the result of three months spent in Moscow School No. 1937 in fall 1988. The date is important for it was two years after the Peredelkino Manifesto, which proclaimed a "pedagogy of cooperation" in Russian education, but well before either the precipitous disintegration of the economy or the launching of systematic and radical reforms from above by the VNIK group and the new Minister of Education, Edward Dneprov. In an engaging, self-deprecating style, Muckle describes the daily routines of teachers and pupils, the premises ("unsuitable . . . inconvenient . . . inadequate"), the curriculum, the system into which School No. 1937 fits, the agenda of radical reform, political activity in the school, the "dominant teaching style" and activities outside the classroom. The school was a special English-language school which catered to a privileged clientele. The teachers were reasonably well trained and dedicated, and many displayed artistic or intellectual interests outside their area of specialization. In-service training, "compulsory, universal, thorough and regular," kept teachers on their toes. The children, ethnically homogeneous, displayed a high level of general culture, were well behaved (in the classroom) but not cowed. They had a moderate amount of homework (on the average, two hours a day), pursued sporting and cultural activities and tended to socialize primarily with children from the same block of apartments. Lack of space and proper equipment severely hampered instruction in crafts, art or music, and there was no computer room. Even chalk was of poor quality and projectors were antiquated. The cafeteria was a "disgrace" despite the conscientious efforts of its manageress. Muckle wonders, given the cramped quarters, where the influx of six-year olds would be housed as new laws came into effect bringing this age cohort into the elementary school (primarily because of the lack of space and poor education in preschool institutions).