Russian Pupils to Spend Less Time Studying Foreign Languages and More Learning about Traditional Values, Ministry of Enlightenment Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Aug. 22 -- In order for pupils in the middle grades of Russian schools to devote more time to learning about traditional values, the Russian Ministry of Enlightenment is preparing an order that will reduce the amount of class time they will have to study English or other foreign languages.

            The ministry plan, available at edu.gov.ru/press/10251/minprosvescheniya-rossii-vvodit-predmet-duhovno-nravstvennaya-kultura-rossii/, reduces the amount of class time for the study of foreign languages to two hours a week while more than doubling the hours devoted to the study of Russia’s traditional culture as defined by the Kremlin.

            This will make it more difficult for Russian school children to acquire the skills they would need to pursue higher educations while making them more ready to subordinate themselves to the Putin regime and more isolated from the rest of the world, all three of which appear to be important to the Kremlin.