(CZ) Za všeobecnovzdelávaciu polytechnickú pracovnú školu
(EN) Reshaping General Polytechnical Working School

The scientific technological revolution represents a deep revolutionary process. It influences the society’s entire way of life. Above all, it alters the position of man in production, which then affects the standard of qualification and the manner of education. It requires the modernization of the entire school system. At the time of industrialization the bourgeoisie felt the need for a worker able to read and write. That is why elementary schools were developed for the working people. In the preparation of workers the main weight of school development bore on the first grade school (i. e. elementary school for the 6 to 11 age group). For its own children, the bourgeoisie built a special school system comprising secondary and university level schools. This kind of dual education system is still to be found in some capitalist countries. It is, however, a system which is socially unjust. At the time of the scientific technological revolution the main weight of school development is transferred from the first and second grade to the third and fourth (i. e. to the upper forms of the secondary school and university level schools). A fast developing world did with the static character of education and brought a dynamic feature into it. Efforts are being made to replace a closed system of encyclopaedic learning by an open type of learning which passes on to self-teaching, and by an education that goes on in the form of self education. Long vertical antidemocratic school systems change into more democratic horizontal systems. At the time of the scientific technological revolution the position of the elementary school is being altered too. At the time of industrialization it was a school intended for the common people, while at the time of the scientific technological revolution it is becoming the fundamental element in the entire school system. The third and the fourth grade of the school system are linked to it. General polytechnical education is being integrated in a vertical sense. Elementary education is not being altered however, only under the influence of the needs of society at the time of the scientific technological revolution: it is also being changed as a result of the acceleration of child development. The greatest changes, however, are being undergone by the secondary general school. It is becoming the key for the entire development of the school system to come. The secondary general polytechnical school is no longer only a preparation for university studies; it takes over other social roles. Under this influence the role of this school is being altered as well as the length of duration of the period of study. It. is not being lengthened upwards but rather downwards, on the plan of the elementary school. The systematic course is being lengthened at the expense of the episodic course. Although the outward organization of schools is being democratized in both socialist and capitalist countries, two antagonistic school systems are being formed: one socialist and the other bourgeois. The bourgeoisie is no longer content with building a so-called politically neutral school, it builds an anti-communist militant school. So we too must ensure, within the internal organization of schools, sufficient scope for communist education.