On the way back to the bus from our busy day of seeing The Hermitage and Catherine's Palace, the guide asked if we had any questions. One was about toll roads and she said yes they have a few and Russians aren't happy about them-- their use costs the equivalent of $1.
N asked about the Education system in Russia. Being really frank our guide said that her education "in Soviet times" was very good, very strict and quite complete. She feels with the new "freedom and openness" that Russian children today are not getting as good an education as she did. She says that when she entered public school at age 6 she was expected to be able to read Elementary and secondary - first 8 years of school are free, then about 9th grade students are put on a track. Really smart students go one way, average and below average students are given a technical school training. University used to be free to everyone who qualified, not it is free for only those having the absolutely top scores. Others must pay for university.
When she was in school, her university was free, BUT, she said NOTHING IS FREE! She was assigned to work for 3 years to pay the state back for her education She was sent to a very unpopular place and she had no choice, but to go put in her 3 yrs. Not a bad plan for the U.S students to pay back loans. They could have a choice, pay back the $$ or do X number of years at minimum wage to repay.
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