A few weeks ago I was showing some photographs I had taken in Russia to a class of fifth and sixth graders in an American school. Most of the children came from middle class faculty and professional families. Among my pictures were a number of shots of roads lined with young trees.

A child’s hand went up: “Why do they have trees along the road?” A bit puzzled, I turned the question back to the class: “Why do you suppose they have trees?” Another child’s hand rose for eager answer: “So that people won’t be able to see what’s going on beyond the road.” A girl had a different idea: “It’s to make work for the prisoners.”

I asked why some of our roads have trees planted along the side. “For shade,” the children said. “To keep the dust down.” Where did the children get the idea that the Russians have different reasons than we have for planting trees?

From Harry G. Shaffer’s Preface to The Soviet System in Theory and Practice, New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1965, p. vii (from Urie Bronfenbrenner, Saturday Review, January 5, 1963).