The system of education in Russia evolved for centuries under the influence of Christianity, and since the end of the Seventeenth Century, under the influence of the Enlightenment. In the Twentieth Century, when general and professional education came more than ever to be considered as a factor of social and economic change and as an inherent individual right, illiteracy was eliminated, access to higher education was extended, and an educational system for adults was created. Many persons, however, came to feel that the educational system, that had been built up by the beginning of the 1980's, was not sufficiently flexible and not entirely capable of meeting the demands of individuals.