History will become the queen of sciences

From September 1, all Russian students will have to study an updated course in the history of Russia. Its concept was finally approved by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation on Thursday. The course covers the period from Ancient Rus’ to modern Russia and ends with the entry of Russian troops into the territory of Ukraine. The ministry hopes with its help “to educate a citizen who is aware of his involvement in the history of Russia.”

On Thursday, the expert council of the Ministry of Education and Science approved the concept of teaching Russian history in universities for non-historical specialties. As reported by Kommersant, it was prepared by a team of experts from the Russian Historical Society (RIO) under the leadership of Yuri Petrov, Director of the Institute of Russian History of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The course will be taught from September 1, Minister Valery Falkov said: “We have a big goal – to educate a citizen who is aware of his involvement in the history of Russia, who feels his responsibility for its present and future.” Earlier, the Ministry of Education and Science significantly increased the volume of classes in this subject: at least 144 compulsory academic hours for all students. RIO then explained that only 0.4% of Russian students receive a professional history education, and 99.6% study the subject “not enough”.

The concept is chronologically defined by six “main stages in the development of Russian statehood.” These are Rus’ of the 9th – the first third of the 13th century, Russian lands from the middle of the 13th to the end of the 15th century, the Russian (Moscow) state of the 16th-17th centuries, the Russian Empire, the Soviet era and the modern Russian Federation. In the main content of the course, it is necessary to pay “special attention to the historical experience of building the Russian statehood at all its stages.”

It is also necessary to convey to students that “throughout Russian history, a strong central government has been of paramount importance for the preservation of national statehood.”

The latest history of Russia is defined in the concept, including through foreign policy events. Students will learn about the expansion of NATO and its military infrastructure to the east, as well as the withdrawal of “the United States and its allies … from the basic agreements with Russia on the limitation and reduction of weapons that have kept the world from global conflict for decades.” The last block of the concept begins with “the refusal of the US, NATO and the EU to discuss threats to Russia’s national security.” Further, according to the authors, “armed provocations and preparations by the Ukrainian regime for the forcible seizure of the republics of Donbass” followed. Finally, students will be told about the recognition of the independence of the Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics, the reasons for declaring a special military operation, sanctions pressure from Western countries and “attempts to isolate Russia from the rest of the world.” The last part, as Kommersant previously reported, raised doubts among teachers – they called it more political information, since “it is difficult to assess modernity from the point of view of a historical view.”

The authors of the concept recommend that teachers “avoid negative bias and slander” when talking about the problems and contradictions of national history.

The course will also include material on world history, Yuri Petrov said at the meeting. According to him, the concept outlines “the most pressing topics of the world historical process”, including revolutions, the development of new territories, the causes and prerequisites for global international conflicts and world wars. “A lot of attention is being paid to the countries of Europe,” continued Mr. Petrov. “But this does not mean a certain tilt towards Eurocentrism. Many of the leading processes in world history in one way or another unfold or originate precisely in Europe. And Russia in its history was most closely connected with European countries. But the concept pays sufficient attention to the countries of Asia, Africa, as well as Russia’s contacts in this direction, he assured.

Mr. Petrov noted that when finalizing the concept, clarifications were made to the sections on regional and sectoral history. The exact amount of study time that will be devoted to the regional component will be left to the discretion of the universities. “It was recommended to study sectoral history, taking into account the exceptional diversity, as part of the special training of students,” he added.

Academician Alexander Chubaryan, co-chair of the RIO, scientific director of the Institute of General History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, pointed out at the council that it would not be easy for universities: “The fact is that the preparation and reading of courses require knowledge of both domestic and world history from teachers. In universities, these are usually different specialties. Valery Falkov, in response, noted that it is necessary to provide for the advanced training of teachers. To do this, we need “platforms where teachers need to be gathered, I think, more than once a year.” Also, universities need to revise the staffing and methodological support, time and schedule of classes.

Deputy Head of the Ministry of Education and Science Konstantin Mogilevsky (formerly chairman of the board of RIO) said that he and his colleagues would prepare methodological recommendations for universities on approaches to implementing the concept “as soon as possible”. According to him, specialists will also prepare “standard textbooks on major areas of knowledge”: “Obviously, for philologists and doctors, given that they must pay attention to industry history, textbooks should be different. But they should be united by a common core, including approaches to Russian and world history, interpretations of key events.”

Associate Professor of the Department of History of Russia and Foreign Countries of the Chelyabinsk State University Vyacheslav Kuznetsov welcomes the increased attention to regional and sectoral history. In his opinion, this will allow “bringing” the content of the course closer to the interests of students and avoiding its excessive theoreticality. It is also important that the history course at the university does not repeat the school one, he points out: “Periods and events, of course, are the same. But the concept says that attention should be paid to the study of not facts, but cause-and-effect relationships. And it’s impossible to repeat in terms of the number of hours – at school from the 5th to the 11th grade, the total amount of time is four times more. Therefore, at the university, it is necessary to discuss development trends, key events and persons, the significance of historical processes for the present, the West-Russia-East comparison.

Candidate of Historical Sciences, lecturer at Tyumen State University Alexander Fokin asks the question – how exactly will regional history be taught against the backdrop of the general history of Russia? “A simple example – what will they tell in Kazan about its accession to the Muscovite kingdom? – he argues. – From the point of view of the federal component, it is natural that these tsarist campaigns of Ivan IV are good. The Muscovite kingdom defended its eastern borders, expanded its territory, and strengthened its international prestige. And from the point of view of Kazan? How to talk about it at the same time? In one lecture it is necessary to tell both that point of view and the opposite one.

Anna Vasilyeva