Starting in September, Russian schools will have to add events full of war movies and tours of Crimea, topics like “the current geopolitical situation,” and celebrations of Russia’s “rebirth” under President Vladimir Putin into their curriculum.
The Russian government has so far been relatively unsuccessful in imparting its state ideology to schoolchildren. However, amid the invasion of Ukraine, Mr. Putin has implemented new changes. As senior Kremlin bureaucrat Sergei Novikov puts it, “We need to know how to infect them without ideology… Our ideological work is aimed at changing consciousness.”
Mr. Putin has ambitions to “reprogram” the Russian society into his militarized and anti-Western form of patriotism, and his efforts are very clearly seen. As the New York Times reports, “The Kremlin has already jailed or forced into exile just about all activists speaking out against the war; it has criminalized what remained of Russia’s independent journalism; it has cracked down on academics, bloggers, and even a hockey player with suspect loyalties.”
As the Russian government now turns towards the public school system, their propaganda is already affecting students before the school year has even started.
Studies have found that the more often people are exposed to ideas, the more likely they are to believe them. As a result, people are more likely to rate statements they have heard before as true than ones they have never heard before. If you saw a million posters, movies, and articles about how dolphins are evil, you would likely believe that dolphins were evil.
Ninth-grader Irina, in a phone interview, said that a computer class was replaced with a viewing of the state media report on Ukrainians surrendering. This was followed by a lecture on how only official Russian news sources are to be trusted.
Soon after, Irina noticed a change among her friends. Once scared or confused by the war, they began to repeat everything that was said on the television. “[T]hey suddenly started saying that this is all deserved, that this had to happen. They couldn’t even attempt to explain this to me.” When Irina challenged them about Russian war crimes, they simply replied that it was all propaganda.
A decree published last month by the education ministry shows Mr. Putin’s election and two decades in power are to be considered a turning point in history, while new topics such as the “reunification with Crimea” and the “special military operation in Ukraine” are to be added to history classes. The proposal also says students should learn to “defend historical truth” and “uncover falsifications in the Fatherland’s history.”
Of course, such actions are always met with resistance. The Alliance of Teachers, a union for teachers, has guided those who refuse to teach propaganda. In some schools, principals canceled those classes.
In a phone interview, Sergei Chernyshov, who runs a private high school in Novosibirsk, said, “You just need to find the moral strength not to facilitate evil… If you can’t protest against it, at least don’t help it.”
Though some experts believe the Kremlin’s actions won’t bear much fruit, propaganda is already shaping the minds of children and teenagers alike. Mr. Putin has taken a big step against the West’s so-called “information war.”
Original Article: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/16/world/europe/russia-putin-schools-propaganda-indoctrination.html
Supporting Articles:
https://sites.psu.edu/psych256sp18003/2018/03/04/h/#
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indoctrination
The Russian government has so far been relatively unsuccessful in imparting its state ideology to schoolchildren. However, amid the invasion of Ukraine, Mr. Putin has implemented new changes. As senior Kremlin bureaucrat Sergei Novikov puts it, “We need to know how to infect them without ideology… Our ideological work is aimed at changing consciousness.”
Mr. Putin has ambitions to “reprogram” the Russian society into his militarized and anti-Western form of patriotism, and his efforts are very clearly seen. As the New York Times reports, “The Kremlin has already jailed or forced into exile just about all activists speaking out against the war; it has criminalized what remained of Russia’s independent journalism; it has cracked down on academics, bloggers, and even a hockey player with suspect loyalties.”
As the Russian government now turns towards the public school system, their propaganda is already affecting students before the school year has even started.
Studies have found that the more often people are exposed to ideas, the more likely they are to believe them. As a result, people are more likely to rate statements they have heard before as true than ones they have never heard before. If you saw a million posters, movies, and articles about how dolphins are evil, you would likely believe that dolphins were evil.
Ninth-grader Irina, in a phone interview, said that a computer class was replaced with a viewing of the state media report on Ukrainians surrendering. This was followed by a lecture on how only official Russian news sources are to be trusted.
Soon after, Irina noticed a change among her friends. Once scared or confused by the war, they began to repeat everything that was said on the television. “[T]hey suddenly started saying that this is all deserved, that this had to happen. They couldn’t even attempt to explain this to me.” When Irina challenged them about Russian war crimes, they simply replied that it was all propaganda.
A decree published last month by the education ministry shows Mr. Putin’s election and two decades in power are to be considered a turning point in history, while new topics such as the “reunification with Crimea” and the “special military operation in Ukraine” are to be added to history classes. The proposal also says students should learn to “defend historical truth” and “uncover falsifications in the Fatherland’s history.”
Of course, such actions are always met with resistance. The Alliance of Teachers, a union for teachers, has guided those who refuse to teach propaganda. In some schools, principals canceled those classes.
In a phone interview, Sergei Chernyshov, who runs a private high school in Novosibirsk, said, “You just need to find the moral strength not to facilitate evil… If you can’t protest against it, at least don’t help it.”
Though some experts believe the Kremlin’s actions won’t bear much fruit, propaganda is already shaping the minds of children and teenagers alike. Mr. Putin has taken a big step against the West’s so-called “information war.”
Original Article: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/16/world/europe/russia-putin-schools-propaganda-indoctrination.html
Supporting Articles:
https://sites.psu.edu/psych256sp18003/2018/03/04/h/#
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indoctrination
