Post-Soviet young people are said to be "scornful of ordinary, diligent labor, greedy for easy wealth, and massively antipatriotic." Social scientist A. S. Panarin observes that the demoralization and disorientation of the younger generation are not subject to doubt. Proceeding on the assumption that having a trusting and frank dialogue with post-Soviet college students can help to gain a better understanding of the mentality of the heirs and future masters of the national culture of Russia, this author initiated and carried out a sociological survey in the higher educational institutions of St. Petersburg from 2000 to 2004. A variety of sociological methods were used: from mass and group surveys to written interviews, daily journals, thought experiments, and brainstorming. The survey included students enrolled in the University of Culture and Art (a state-run institution) and the Trade Unions University of the Humanities (a nonstate institution of higher learning). More than 1,500 people were surveyed. The findings of the survey reveals that some of the reproaches against the young Russian people such as "having primitive consumerist mentality," "tendency to worship foreign idols," and "massively unpatriotic" are valid but not to the intellectual elite of college students. This study confirms that the sinking of the Russian youth into degradation is far from happening as there was an increase of intellectually and intelligenty, two differently oriented ethical elite groups, among college students.