September 07, 2023

Protection From Propaganda: a Back-to-School Essential


Protection From Propaganda: a Back-to-School Essential
Empty chemistry classroom in Russia. Acmii54, Wikimedia Commons.

On September 1, children returned to school in Russia, but not everything was the same.

A recent draft of the 2024 state exam for children had no questions about classic authors like Pushkin, Lermontov, or Gogol. Instead, there were prompts about Alexander Fadeyev's "The Young Guard," a factually inaccurate book about anti-fascist resistance in Ukraine during the Nazi German occupation.

How are parents protecting their children from propaganda? Independent Russian outlet Meduza gathered testimonies from mothers and fathers across Russia.

Parents said they are concerned about "Conversations About Important Issues," a mandatory extracurricular activity conducted in all public schools each Monday after the raising of the Russian flag. There, children are taught about the "special military operation" in Ukraine. Multiple parents have opted out of sending their kids to these activities, which is legal, though frowned upon.

Evgenya from Krasnoyarsk said her sixteen-year-old son "became perpetually ill" to avoid "patriotic activities." Alexandra from Petrozavodsk told her nine-year-old, "If you see a man in military uniform, run! If they try to ask you about Putin or the war, answer, 'I don't know anything. I don't understand what you are talking about.'"

Parents are also worried about history lessons and books in schools. Anastasia from Kolomna opted to teach history at home with YouTube videos. Yara from St. Petersburg began homeschooling her eleven-year-old after the start of the last school year. Alexei from Izhevsk told his seventeen-year-old daughter to focus on passing entry exams for university, giving the answers officials want to hear, but not to incorporate these ideas in her head.

Yet hopelessness seems to be widespread. As Daria from Kirov explained, "No matter how hard you try at home, children will absorb what they are told at school."

According to UNICEF, only a third of students in Ukraine can attend classes in person. On the first day of classes, a video of kids singing with their teachers in a bomb shelter in Kryviy Rih went viral. 

You Might Also Like

Leave or Die
  • August 15, 2023

Leave or Die

In which we visit a "typical" Siberian town and dig into the issues and people who live there.
To Stay and Survive
  • August 15, 2023

To Stay and Survive

A filmmaker Elizaveta spent months riding Russia’s rails and discussing the war with fellow travelers.
A Shortage of Drugs
  • August 23, 2023

A Shortage of Drugs

Nearly 200 medications could vanish from the Russian market due to sanctions and isolation.
  • August 15, 2023

"I Am Horrified"

The founder of Russian tech giant Yandex publicly condemns the War on Ukraine.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals
[INVALID]
[INVALID]

Some of our Books

Fish
February 01, 2010

Fish

This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.

White Magic
June 01, 2021

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.

A Taste of Chekhov
December 24, 2022

A Taste of Chekhov

This compact volume is an introduction to the works of Chekhov the master storyteller, via nine stories spanning the last twenty years of his life.

How Russia Got That Way
September 20, 2025

How Russia Got That Way

A fast-paced crash course in Russian history, from Norsemen to Navalny, that explores the ways the Kremlin uses history to achieve its ends.

The Moscow Eccentric
December 01, 2016

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.

Fearful Majesty
July 01, 2014

Fearful Majesty

This acclaimed biography of one of Russia’s most important and tyrannical rulers is not only a rich, readable biography, it is also surprisingly timely, revealing how many of the issues Russia faces today have their roots in Ivan’s reign.

Faith & Humor
December 01, 2011

Faith & Humor

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.

Moscow and Muscovites
November 26, 2013

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955