I don't know if any reference to USSR is considered offensive or peculiar in Russia, but as far as I'm concerned, my allusion to it was with respect.
I have this notion that at the time of the USSR government, the education system was very hard and it hoped to make every iron into gold. I had some conversation with a German, and he was of the view that during the USSR period, Soviets focused more on problem solving while the West Germany's focus was on research, and I feel this is true seeing the books like that of I.E. Irodov, Filipov's, etc. But this statement cannot be overstretched as USSR was the first country to go outside the Earth. So far so good.
I feel like USSR students were very hard working, and they had discovered some technique of harnessing the extreme capacity of mind. And I think there was a reason for that, the universities of the USSR had tough exam procedures, not in the way the present USA, UK or Indian system works, where it is very hard to fail in University (but the entry into the University is itself very tough). As most of the users here are of that period, I would like to present my question as below.
The General Studies Paper IV in UPSC CSE exam is titled
Ethics, Integrity and Aptitude. The paper will be of 3 hours, around 20 questions with 10 questions to be written in 150 words and 10 in 250 words (although this pattern may change). The syllabus for this paper is as follows (as given in the Notification of the exam):
Цитата:
Ethics and human interface: essence, determinants, consequences, dimensions of ethics in human activities, ethics in public and private relations, family society, and education institutions in developing values.
Aptitude: content, structure, its influence in thought conduct, moral-political attitudes & social influence and persuasion.
Emotional Intelligence: its concepts and usage in administration.
Moral thinkers and philosophers of India and the world.
Aptitude and Fundamental values for civil service: integrity, impartiality and non-partisanship, dedication to service, compassion for weaker sections. Civil service values and ethics in public administration, ethical concerns, and dilemmas in government and private institutions, responsibilities, international relations and ethical issues of funding arrangements.
Probity in governance, the concept of public service, right to information, ethical code of ethics, transparency, quality of work culture, public fund, corruption.
Now, my question is: How to go for completing such a syllabus? You may normally answer "Follow your professor and read the assigned text". No. This is not a University exam, it is a competitive exam conducted by the Union Public Service Commission in which anyone over 21 years of age can attempt (although the upper limit for age is different for different castes). As of current, I'm reading Immanuel Kant's Lectures on Ethics, but I feel that is not a correct way to go for this paper, as the syllabus is diverse and the questions asked are not so deep. Here is the paper of this year:
https://forumias.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/UPSC-MAINS-2024-GS-Paper-4-QP.pdf. What strategy do you propose for me? The syllabus is indeed vast, and they are free to ask almost anything in the paper.
