School discipline inside and out: the limits of Soviet school’s disciplinary authorities

School discipline inside and out: the limits of Soviet school’s disciplinary authorities

Kirill Maslinsky (National Research University Higher School of Economics, St. Petersburg, Russia)
April 27, 2017  / 4:00 PM
Mosher Library

School punishments are commonly assumed to be school staff’s reaction to student misbehavior inside school, but close study of disciplinary records of a small town Soviet school in the 1960s reveals that many disciplinary cases in the school were related to misbehavior incidents outside school. Therefore, schools punished students for out-of-school misbehavior and sometimes atop reactions by other authorities (police arrest). Analysis of discourse used in transcripts of disciplinary meetings at school shows that school teachers’ rhetoric for meting out punishments employed the image of a worthy schoolchild as well as the idea of the school community’s reputation in town to instill shame in the student and to justify their disciplinary action. Teachers’ rhetoric and disciplinary actions are based on the premise that school is “accountable” to the local community for youth’s morals and behavior. Such evidence shows that school disciplinary action in relatively small rural and urban communities should be considered within a broader social structure.

Kirill Maslinsky is a researcher and lecturer at National Research University Higher School of Economics in St. Petersburg, Russia. This year he has been a Fulbright Scholar at Illinois Wesleyan University. He received a Ph.D from European University in St. Petersburg in 2012.

Sponsored by the Dept. of Germanic and Slavic Studies, Interdisciplinary Humanities Center, Education Department, and the Dept. of History Department.