: The regime was less successful. Fear of losing expertise led the Polish Party to keep potentially disloyal "pre-war" professors in their positions, hoping they would train a new, loyal intelligentsia.
: Underwent the most complete "Sovietization." Universities were purged of "bourgeois elements," and the student body was successfully shifted toward those from worker and peasant backgrounds. Captive University: The Sovietization of East G...
: Connelly emphasizes that a country's pre-war history and its specific experience during World War II heavily influenced how universities resisted or succumbed to Communist control. : The regime was less successful
: These early differences in educational control predicted later political movements. : Connelly emphasizes that a country's pre-war history
Scholars from Central European History and History of Education Quarterly have praised the book as a "pioneering" and "landmark" work for its use of newly opened archives and its complex, nuanced comparative method. Critics from ResearchGate note it provides a unique look at how "affirmative action" was used in Eastern Europe to reshape social classes through education.