The emphasis on regulation was not accidental. The intention was to create a disciplined generation of young people ready to join the workforce which was engaged through the Five-Year Plans in constructing the new communist society. The last feature, regarding the payment of fees, may appear to challenge the notion of an egalitarian education system. The official justification for it was that the Soviet Union needed a specially trained section of the community to serve the people in expert ways; doctors and scientists were obvious examples. Those who stayed on at school after the age of fifteen were obviously young people of marked ability who would eventually enter university to become the specialists of the future. This was undeniably a selection process, but the argument was that it was selection by ability, not by class.
That was the official line. However, although there was an undoubted rise in overall standards, the system also created an educated elite. Those who continued their education after the age of fifteen were mainly the children of government officials and Party members who could afford the fees. Private tuition and private education became normal for them. As a consequence, as university education expanded, it was Party members or their children who had the first claim on the best places. As graduates, they then had access to the three key areas of Soviet administration - industry, the civil service and the armed services.
World History
