English therapy #2 / A gentle touch of history
In Russian language there are a lot of proverbs, idiomatic phrases, we use them quite often. One of these says "The one in the field is not a warrior", which means that one single person can't withstand in front of lots of rivals.
There is also a strange parallel: you can't break the whole broom but you can separate it to pieces and then destoy them all.
The roots of this proverb probably hide in the period of 13-15 centuries, when Mongol invasion to Rus' had been taking place. Rus' was separated into a number of kind of independent parts (principalities) and the Mongols had managed to conquer them all. Only in 1480 year, after finding a common ground between all of separated parts of Rus' and their consolidation around Moscow principality, the Mongols were defeated. There goes the parallel for a broom.
From my point of view, events alike with the above-mentioned ones took place almost in every country in the world, and this fact shows to all of us that the unity is crucial.
By the way, I've been astonished the other day by my friend (who is a teacher of history). He said to me that they'd included a part of history of the world in the final exam on the history for high school graduates (before it contained only questions about events of Russian history, and let me note that there are tons of them, and the exam was quite tough). It gets the exams much harder, because the history of the U.K. and the U.S. and France, etc. is also rich in the significant events.
And then we were brainstorming if pupils in schools abroad study something about our history, but we can't say anything and be completely sure of it. There are only guesses. So I'd highly appreciate if you let me know anything that can shed some light on this topic ;)
Search from various English teachers...
Corrections · 3
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Ashley, thank you very much for the information, it was pretty sad, yet good to know!:)
Most of our pipuls are familiar with Boston Tea Party, MLK jr, Declaration of Independence, American civil war. Though this knowledge is also sketchy.
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And I like the broom proverb! That's what I've been doing.
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I went through the public U.S. educational system and to answer your question - No, we barely learned anything of Russian history. We only learned the parts that most related to the U.S. (i.e. The Cold War). And even that was probably painted in a distorted light.
In reality, there are many histories in various parts of the world. It would be hard for schools to find the time to teach them ALL, and still find time for other disciplines (ie. math, science, literature etc). But I do think schools could do a better job of painting more complete pictures.
However, I think the history lesson that would perhaps be the most beneficial is the history of how the major religions came to be... And the repeating myths/stories that can be found in many cultures throughout the world. It's astounding that most people don't know these things. But, given the historical context at the times of writing and the overlap of stories, such education would likely contribute to a more peaceful world.
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