In the country of patriotic lessons – Newspaper Kommersant No. 2 (7447) dated 01/10/2023

The coming year 2023 may surprise with changes in the education system, however, not conceptual, but rather ideological. These changes, however, logically follow from the decisions made in 2022: before it, the patriotic education of schoolchildren remained mostly on paper, but now the authorities have moved to action.

On the very first Sunday after the start of the Russian special military operation (SVO) in Ukraine, teachers received manuals for a special lesson. They were supposed to “form” among high school students an “adequate position on the issue of conducting a military defense by the armed forces.” The Ministry of Education admitted that they began to prepare these lessons the day after the introduction of troops.

Further, in the spring, teachers periodically received ready-made materials for special lessons, lists of possible questions that children could ask, and answers that adults should give them. First, the schoolchildren were told about the closeness of the cultures of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, then they were explained how to properly assess the impact of anti-Russian sanctions and recognize “fakes” about the number of dead Russian soldiers.

In March, there seemed to be pre-Covid fears that schoolchildren and students would rally against the fighting. But large-scale protests never happened, and the Ministry of Education takes credit for this, although this is hardly the only reason for the lack of protests. The proportion of loyalists remained high, and for those who disagreed, by that time, laws had been passed on administrative and criminal penalties for spreading fakes and discrediting the army. In schools, the old “tradition” of denunciations has revived: for example, a teacher from Penza, Irina Gen, received five years probation “for fakes about the Russian army,” after two eighth-graders asked her why they would not go to competitions abroad, and wrote down the answers to the voice recorder. Several of these public stories made it clear to other teachers that it is more expensive to discuss such topics outside the formal framework.

In the meantime, officials decided to create such a framework for permanent use: this is how the “Conversations about the Important” appeared, which take place every Monday as part of the so-called classroom hours. What the state considers important, it became clear after the very first lessons: teachers should lead schoolchildren to the idea that “it’s not scary to die for their homeland”, and cite as an example the hero of the NWO who lured the enemy into minefields. The military theme was slightly diluted with the anniversary of Tsiolkovsky, the days of mother, father and the elderly. After the indignation of some parents, the calls not to be afraid of death became smaller, but the outline did not change.

In the meantime, they decided to fix the military conflict in Ukraine in school textbooks. Some teachers believe that so far this is more reminiscent of Soviet political information – historical events require several decades for their academic understanding, and hastily prepared textbooks can distort reality.

They try to instill love for the motherland by other methods. Now every school week in schools begins with the singing of the anthem and the raising of the flag. Created at the initiative of the presidential administration, the all-Russian movement of schoolchildren is compared by many to pioneers, despite a deliberate attempt to avoid this association with the Soviet past when choosing a name. Military training is also returning: if earlier on the ground they formally approached this part of the life safety course, now children will really be taught how to handle a Kalashnikov assault rifle and hand grenades. A course on the basics of military training may also appear in universities. Its program directly states: “In modern conditions, the preparation of citizens of the Russian Federation for military service is a priority direction of state policy.” In addition, a separate subject “Fundamentals and principles of Russian statehood” may appear in higher education. Within its framework, the presidential administration, together with the Ministry of Education and Science, plans to instill in students values ​​that, according to officials, correspond to the national interests of the country.

For many years, government officials have been saying that education should be out of politics. But last year, the same people seemed to have discovered an empty niche and rushed to fill it with what the state considers right. Often, the language and methods that existed in the USSR are used for this, they are familiar to the initiators and many performers, but the question is whether young people understand this language.

Education is unthinkable without access to alternative sources of information – schoolchildren will find it even under conditions of restrictions and will be able to draw their own conclusions. Yes, and love for the motherland can hardly be built only on pre-written correct answers to questions invented by adults, forcing them not to ask others and look strictly where they are supposed to. This method has a name – propaganda. And even if there are as many letters in this word as there are in the word “patriotism”, and it also begins with “p”, in fact it is a completely different story.

Anna Vasilyeva, Kommersant correspondent