  This reform was a part of a transnational movement as 'the New Math' in the
United States or the activity of the Lichnerowicz commission in France. The
Russian version of these events involved the whole secondary and high school
(4-10 grades). The leaders of the reformation were Alexey Markushevich and
Andrey Kolmogorov. Their team consisted of best educationalists and best
specialists in supplementary education. The project offered unqualified support
of the Academy of Sciences and of the Ministry of education. However, the
program of the reform was too optimistic, apparently some strategical ideas
were unrealizable (and certainly there were no sufficient preliminary
experiments for their verification). Starting September 1972 Soviet school was
depressed, enormous efforts of participants of the reformation and
simplification of the new school curriculum could not improve the situation.
The reform was stopped by Lev Pontryagin in autumn 1980. The counterreformation
required quick not-prepared steps and was not well-ordered. In 1981-1985 the
heavy crisis was overcome but the mathematical education did not return to the
pre-reform level.
