Many opponents of the exam and other innovations of the 21st century often quote John Kennedy, who allegedly recognized the championship of the USSR in the field of education. We checked whether the former US president really said this.

Many critics of the exam, the Bologna system and modernization of education in Russia Reason About the superiority of the Soviet system. In support of their opinion, they bring The words allegedly said by the 35th US President John Kennedy: “Soviet education is the best in the world. We must take a lot of it. The USSR won the spacecraft at the school desk. ” This phrase is quoted Media, authors books, textbooks on pedagogy and scientific works. Rector of Moscow State University Viktor Sadovnichy He mentioned Kennedy’s words in the proof that the level of school education, in his opinion, fell not only in Russia, but throughout the world, including the United States. Also, quote Kennedy is popular among bloggers And users social networks, which are often bring Its in contrast to the statement of the chairman of the board of Sberbank and the former Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation Herman Gref, called The Soviet educational system is "absolutely worthless."

When finding keywords of the phrase in Runet, the search engine gives out many variations of the phrase. Most authors do not indicate the source, but some still describe the circumstances in which John Kennedy allegedly said such a phrase. One of the earliest references that Kennedy allegedly recognized the championship of Soviet education, we managed to find in material On the resource "Censor.net", published in 2008. According to the version set there, Kennedy allegedly recognized the victory of Soviet education in 1961, after a successful flight to space, Yuri Gagarin. Although the meaning of the given statement is similar, the literal quote is still different from the phrase we are considering. “The Soviet education won. Guys, we need to learn physics, otherwise we will have to learn the Russian language ”and“ as the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 was won by the Prussian teacher, the Russian wins the race in space, ”the author of the article quotes President Kennedy.

IN publications 2012 on the portal "Renaissance. The Golden Age ”also claims that Kennedy said the phrase in 1961:“ When Yuri Gagarin flew to outer space in the world in 1961, US President Kennedy said that "... we lost to Russians in space at a school desk." And in 2013, the Laureate of the Nobel Prize in Physics Academician Zhores Alfierov claimed that Kennedy uttered the words about the “space race won at the school desk” back in 1957 - after the launch of the first artificial satellite. At the same time, Alfierov mentioned that Eisenhower (34th President of the United States) and Kennedy said this at the same time: “When we launched the satellite, Eisenhower and Kennedy said that the Russians won the space race not at the Rocket training ground, but behind the school desk.”

The earliest mention of the full version of the quote we managed to find in Lectures Russian historian Vardan Baghdasaryan for November 2016. After this speech, Baghdasaryan often began to mention this statement in his publications. And it is in this formulation that the quote is most often found on the Internet for various authors.

The scatter of the formulations and circumstances in which Kennedy allegedly pronounced this phrase is doubtful of its credibility. In the most complete Collections We could not find a literal quote we could not find the speeches, publications and decrees of this American leader available on the website of the presidential library and museum John F. Kennedy. Nevertheless, Kennedy really spoke about the role of Soviet education in the successes of the USSR in the space region. For example, in September 1960, then Senator John Kennedy said: “For the most part of the 20th century, the world admired the American science and education, which had no equal. Now it’s hard to say how the future will turn out. The first spacecraft was the "satellite", not Vanguard. The first country, which placed its national symbol on the moon*, was the Soviet Union, not the United States. The first dogs, safely returning from the cosmos, were a squirrel and an arrow, and not a rover or a fido and not even a check **. ”

*September 12, 1959 USSR Launched The automatic interplanetary station "Luna-2", which reached the surface of the moon and landed in the area of ​​the sea of ​​rains. The station delivered a metal hollow ball to the moon, consisting of pypygranov-overpols depicting the coat of arms of the USSR and the inscription "USSR September 1959". Inside the ball was explosives, which exploded when hitting the moon, and metal pennants scattered over the surface.

** nickname Chekers - reference to the famous Speech Richard Nixon 1952. Then Nixon was accused of accepting illegal donations to his election campaign. Nixon made an excuse with a television appeal to voters, saying that he did not use a cent for personal purposes, and the only personal gift was a cocker display, nicknamed Chekers, donated to him by one of the voters: “My children adore this dog, and I want to say right now: regardless of who will say, we will leave the checking for ourselves.” So it came to history as “We are talking about Checkers”.

In October 1960, Richard Nixon’s rival, in the presidential election, criticized him for a similar assessment: “Now that we have a presidential candidate - for example, Senator Kennedy,” the United States again and again occupy the second place in space ... In fact, the space score was 28 to 8: we had 28 successful launches, they have - they have - they have - they have - they have - they have eight. When he claims that we are losing the USSR Championship in education ... I saw a Soviet education, and I saw ours. And no, we do not lose. That we are the latter in science, because they may go ahead in a particular area. But in the whole, in science, we are far ahead of the Soviet Union and all other countries of the world. ” Responding to Nixon's criticism, Kennedy explainedWhy, in his opinion, American education is inferior to the Soviet one: “Ten years ago, we produced twice as many scientists and engineers than the Soviet Union, and today they produce twice as much as we.”

Also in 1958, Kennedy, speaking of the Cold War, saidthat "the struggle in which we are now participating will be won or lost in the classes of America." Further, Kennedy gave examples of differences in the Soviet and American systems, emphasizing the strengths of Soviet education: “Who has the best education system in the USA or in the USSR today? Who will achieve victory? Why are the Russians win now? <...> American schoolchildren undergo 12-year training, while Russian schoolchildren have been studying for only ten years. But over these ten years, they have been getting more hours of training than American in 12. They attend classes six days a week, ten months a year. They do not like the long summer holidays originated in our system in response to the needs of the agricultural society. They have about 17 students per teacher, we have 27. In addition to some choice in the study of foreign languages, they do not have optional objects. A ten -year curriculum includes without fail five years of physics, five years of biology, four years of chemistry, one year of astronomy and ten years of mathematics up to trigonometry and elementary matanalysis. Few 12-year curricula in America cover the same amount of material. <...> Russians produce ten times more engineers than several decades ago, and two and a half times more than they release in the USA. They teach and release more scientists. According to some estimates, for five years in the USSR there will be three times more scientists and engineers than ours. ” In conclusion, Kennedy summed up the disappointing result: “In short, as Edward Teleler solemnly noted, America has already lost the Cold War in science. If we begin to catch up now, we will be able to regain a leading position in the 1980s or even the 1970s. But the 1960s have already been lost. ” And in 1963, in a special message to Congress on the topic of education, he again brought Examples where the USSR was ahead of not only the United States, but also the rest of the countries of the world, and at the end added: "The devotion of this nation is enough to surpass the achievements of any other nation or system."

Thus, Kennedy really admitted that it was precisely the education in science and the space region of the USSR. Nevertheless, Kennedy did not speak the most precise phrase that many Runet users most often use.

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What do our verdicts mean?

The image on the cover: John Kennedy at graduation from Harvard University, 1940. Source: Presidential Library and Museum of John F. Kennedy

Read on the topic:

1. "New Gazeta." "There is a great chance to win with the Soviets ..." On the 50th anniversary of the landing of a person on the moon
2. "Present." Lunar race. How superpower competed with each other in space
3. "Amateur". John Kennedy - president with a mysterious death
4. Video: Kennedy -Kinnedi -Knojson television. USA, 1960
5. Museum of Cosmotnavtika: Lunar pennants of the USSR
6. "Amateur". Earth, goodbye: little -known pages of the history of the study of the moon