At six years old, Russian children will have to start weekly classes on traditional values and the geopolitical situation. The Russian government has tried and failed to impart state ideology to schoolchildren in the past, but Putin has made it clear that he wants that to change.
With the war in Ukraine dragging on, the government needs the general population’s support. However, to achieve such a goal, they need to end the support for the western world. In this case, they are seeking to paint the west as the enemy in their citizens’ minds. With the prosecution of activists, bloggers, and anyone who opposes the war, it’s clear that Russia will try to control the public by any means.
These new classes only further the fact that Russia is trying to mold the public’s views. The young, impressionable children are already being affected—take Irina, a ninth grader, as an example. She says, formerly scared or confused friends “suddenly started repeating everything after the television. They suddenly started saying that this is all deserved, that this had to happen. They couldn’t even attempt to explain this to me.” In this way, the media is wiping the children of independent thoughts and opinions about the Russian regime.
Children near the border, once disagreeing on whether the invasion was deserved, now openly show support for the Russian military. To call someone Ukrainian even became a derogatory insult. In school, children are told the news from sources such as BBC are “fakes.”
They are told that the war crimes that Russia committed are fake. Irina Milyutina, an English teacher, says, “The propaganda did its job here.” This information not only creates strong supporters, but it also misinforms the young, which can be detrimental to any democracy.
Not much can be done to stop the situation. As stated before, the government has arrested those who speak against the situation. With such radical propaganda being taught in schools, no one knows how the new generation will fare. To combat such misinformation would be a challenge, yet if no one will fight this problem, then we have a major threat to democracy on our hands.
Article: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/16/world/europe/russia-putin-schools-propaganda-indoctrination.html
With the war in Ukraine dragging on, the government needs the general population’s support. However, to achieve such a goal, they need to end the support for the western world. In this case, they are seeking to paint the west as the enemy in their citizens’ minds. With the prosecution of activists, bloggers, and anyone who opposes the war, it’s clear that Russia will try to control the public by any means.
These new classes only further the fact that Russia is trying to mold the public’s views. The young, impressionable children are already being affected—take Irina, a ninth grader, as an example. She says, formerly scared or confused friends “suddenly started repeating everything after the television. They suddenly started saying that this is all deserved, that this had to happen. They couldn’t even attempt to explain this to me.” In this way, the media is wiping the children of independent thoughts and opinions about the Russian regime.
Children near the border, once disagreeing on whether the invasion was deserved, now openly show support for the Russian military. To call someone Ukrainian even became a derogatory insult. In school, children are told the news from sources such as BBC are “fakes.”
They are told that the war crimes that Russia committed are fake. Irina Milyutina, an English teacher, says, “The propaganda did its job here.” This information not only creates strong supporters, but it also misinforms the young, which can be detrimental to any democracy.
Not much can be done to stop the situation. As stated before, the government has arrested those who speak against the situation. With such radical propaganda being taught in schools, no one knows how the new generation will fare. To combat such misinformation would be a challenge, yet if no one will fight this problem, then we have a major threat to democracy on our hands.
Article: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/16/world/europe/russia-putin-schools-propaganda-indoctrination.html
