Housing
Prior to the dissolution of the Soviet Union, nearly all the housing stock of urban areas was owned by the state. Indeed, private property was prohibited in urban areas, and in rural areas the size of private homes was strictly limited. High-rise apartment buildings with a very unpretentious architecture made up the bulk of the stock. Local authorities had charge of renting arrangements, and in "company towns" the management of state enterprises was given this responsibility. Rental payments were kept extremely low and, in most cases, were not enough to pay maintenance costs. Deterioration of housing was rapid and vandalism widespread. In addition, many apartments were shared by tenants, with joint-access kitchens and bathrooms, and the space of the average apartment in
Russia was about one-third to one-half the size of those found in western Europe.
The housing sector underwent vigorous privatization in the 1990s, and there was a decline in state-supported construction. Many renters were offered free title to their units, though many older Russians decided to forgo the necessary paperwork and continued to rent. Nevertheless, by the mid-1990s more than half of Russia's housing was privately owned, with the remainder administered by municipal authorities. Conditions improved considerably in owner-occupied housing, as the owners in apartment buildings were able to ensure the enforcement of maintenance rules, but public housing, owing to a lack of funds from local authorities, continued to deteriorate.
In the 1990s many of the housing shortages characteristic of the Soviet period disappeared, and the floor space of homes per person steadily increased, largely as the result of a construction boom for private homes. For example, the construction of private housing tripled in urban areas and nearly doubled in the rural areas. However, there were sharp declines in the construction of public housing, particularly in rural areas.
Education
Education in the Soviet Union was highly centralized, writh the state owning and operating nearly every school. The curriculum was rigid, and the system aimed to indoctrinate students in the communist system. As with many aspects of the Soviet system, schools were often forced to operate in crowded facilities and with limited resources. With democratization there was widespread support for educational reforms. In 1992 the federal government passed legislation enabling regions where non-Russians predominated to exercise some degree of autonomy in education, but diplomas can still be conferred only in the Russian, Bashkir, and Tatar languages, and the federal government has responsibility for designing and distributing textbooks, licensing teachers, and setting the requirements for instruction in the Russian language, sciences, and mathematics. School finance and the humanities, history, and social science curricula are entrusted to regional authorities.
Pre-school education in Russia is very well developed; some four-fifths of children aged three to six attend creches or kindergartens. Schooling is compulsory for nine years. It starts from the age of seven (in some areas from six) and leads to a basic general education certificate. An additional two or three years of schooling are required for the secondary-level certificate, and some seven-eighths of Russian students continue their education past this level. Non-Russian schoolchildren are taught in their own language, but Russian is a compulsory subject at the secondary level.
Admission to an institute of higher education is selective and highly competitive. First-degree courses usually take five years. Higher education is conducted almost entirely in Russian, although there are a few institutions, mainly in the minority republics, where the local language is also used.
Russia's oldest university is Moscow State University, which was founded in 1755. Throughout the nineteenth century and into the twentieth, Russian universities in Moscow, St Petersburg, and Kazan produced world-class scholars, notably the mathematician Nikolay Lobachevsky and the chemist Dmitry Mendeleyev. Although universities suffered severely during the purges of the Stalinist regime, a number have continued to provide high-quality education, particularly in the sciences. In addition to Moscow State University, the most important institutions include St Petersburg State University (founded 1819) and Novosibirsk State University (1959).
Since the demise of the Soviet Union, the quantity and diversity of universities and institutes have undergone unprecedented expansion. In 1991 the country had some 500 institutions of higher education, all of which were controlled by the state. By the beginning of the twenty-first century, the number of state schools had increased by nearly one-fifth, though many suffered from inadequate state funding, dated equipment, and overcrowding. The state schools were joined by more than 300 private colleges and universities, which were all established after 1994. Licensed by the state, these schools have generally enjoyed better funding than the state schools; however, they have been very costly and have served mainly Russia's new middle class.
PART 5
PLACES
Moscow
12
THE MAJOR SITES TO VISIT
Moscow
The capital of the Russian Federation, Moscow today is not Only the country's industrial, cultural, scientific, and educational capita] and political centre, but the most populous city in Russia, with over 10 million inhabitants. For more than 600 years the city has also been the spiritual centre of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Moscow is an upbeat, vibrant, and sometimes wearisome city. Much of Moscow was reconstructed after it was occupied by the French under Napoleon I in 1812 and almost entirely destroyed by fire. Since then, Moscow has frequently been refurbished and modernized, and continues to experience rapid social change. Russia's Soviet past collides with its capitalist present everywhere in the country, but nowhere is this contrast more visible than in Moscow. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin's Mausoleum remains intact, as do many dreary five-storey apartment buildings from the era of Nikita
Khrushchev's rule (the mid- i 950s to the mid-1960s); yet glitzy cars and western-style supermarkets, casinos, and nightclubs are equally visible. Many Orthodox churches, as well as some synagogues and mosques, have been restored, Moscow's novel theatres have reclaimed leadership in the dramatic arts, and traditional markets have been revived and expanded. These markets, which under the Soviets were known as kolkhoz (collective-farm) markets and sold mainly crafts and produce, are now more sophisticated retail establishments.
Unlike St Petersburg, Moscow is viewed as a traditional Russian city and has a well-defined city centre, marked by the Kremlin. Other characteristics of Moscow are its physical layout in radial spokes and rings that have been extended over time, its hodgepodge of architectural styles, and its historical buildings that were mainly built by Russian architects. Moscow's buildings were predominantly wooden until the 1920s, when brick and stone came into use.
Climate
Moscow's climate is dominated by westerly winds from the Atlantic. Winters are long, yet significantly milder than in similar climatic regions of North America. Snow is common, beginning usually about mid-November and lasting generally until mid-March, but the city is well equipped to keep the streets clear. 1'he average January temperature is 14 F (-10 C), though there can be considerable variation; temperatures have dropped to near -45 F (—43 C). Spring is relatively brief, and the temperature rises rapidly during late April. Summers are warm, and July, the warmest month, has an average temperature in the mid-60s F (about 18 C). Rainy days are not uncommon, but the summer rainfall often comes in brief, heavy downpours and thunderstorms. Autumn, like spring, is short, with rapidly falling temperatures.