Education: What Ivan Reads

While conceding Russia's megatonic output of scientists and engineers, U.S. educators are fond of a theory that Soviet schools suppress the humanities—subjects that supposedly thrive in U.S. schools. To "shatter that illusion" is a goal of English Professor Arther S. Trace Jr., member of the Russian study center at Cleveland's John Carroll University.

This week Trace stated his case in What Ivan Knows That Johnny Doesn't (Random House; $3.95), a comparison between Russian and U.S. non-science textbooks. He argues that humanities are "dangerously neglected" in U.S. schools and that Russian children get "vastly...