Two Golden Opportunities Lost in the 1990s?
Dear Diane,
Reading Stephen Cohen's essay "The Soviet Union's Afterlife" in the latest issue of The Nation gave me the chills. I've occasionally pointed to the Soviet focus on centralized five-year plans in decrying contemporary politics here in the USA. Like No Child Left Behind, the Soviet state set goals for everyone to meet—or else. Since they were unmeetable goals, it produced a culture of lies and cover-ups and a climate of fear. Does that sound familiar?
Cohen, a Russian studies professor at New York University, brought my attention to how his narrative of the "revolution" that occurred in the USSR in the 1980s and 1990s fit closely to one I know first-hand even better: the revolution under way in the American educational system, and possibly way beyond that. Definitely read his piece, and tell me if you think I'm being ridiculous,
Cohen's narrative starts in 1991, after a period of gradual steps toward détente, democratization, and