Horrors in the Russian classroom!
We all have mentors growing up, people who inspire us to do great things in life or those who instill a sense of profound knowledge and insight. They make us better and more intelligent humans, and can turn an otherwise directionless life and place it back on course. Growing up, I had several teachers who were mentors, and especially during university when I met a young professor who encouraged me to continue writing poetry and other creative works. So you can imagine my horror when I received an email from a beautiful young girl I met during my visit to Ples. She lives in the town of Volgorechensk, and is very studious, speaking almost perfect English, with a dream to study or visit abroad. Completely interested and open to the world outside of Russia. She began to tell me about the things her teacher tells her and other students in the classroom...
First, she informed me that her music teacher told the class that "Americans want to put chips under our skin and make us bio-robots." Another teacher told the students that "America is degrading...American students can't write properly or even hold a pen." Just recently, the kids wanted to celebrate Halloween but their teacher prohibited it on the ground that "Halloween is a foreign and American holiday." There were other stories about teachers discussing American, Russian and Ukrainian policy issues.
I also had a discussion with popados on this topic. He told me tales about his Soviet English teacher, who opened every lesson with stories about the powerful Jewish mafia in the USA and Israel.
What the hell is going on in Russian schools? Are teachers paid to promote anti-Western propaganda in the classroom? To continue to bring up a generation of zombies, who can't think for themselves or have any perception of reality about the West, or other surrounding nations? I don't remember any discussions about Russia during my school days, with the exception of our history lessons about the Cold War. And my nephew who is now in second grade tells me his teachers have never discussed Russia. From an early age, most U.S. school systems try to promote tolerance and appreciation for diversity. I once wrote a post about it here, where I showed a photo from my friend's classroom, where students from different nations and cultural backgrounds were celebrated. Yes, the Russian flag is upside down, but I don't think this was intentional.
No education system is perfect. In America, we have high school teachers who f*ck students and are jailed for it. But, I can hardly recall any time during my school years where such ridiculous lies about Russia, or any other country, were told to students. My young friend informed me that her fellow classmates believe almost everything the teacher tells them. Horror! Another generation of xenophobes!! I hope these teachers are the exception, not the norm in Russian classrooms! Otherwise, there is no hope for your country...
Please ask your children what their teacher says about the USA, and report back to me. I'm very curious about the answers.