The subjects of our today's article have long occupied a significant segment of the Russian conceptual pantheon, everyday life and the modern picture of the world in its Russian refraction. We propose to conduct an audit and put everything in its place, at the same time throwing outdated concepts from the steamer of modernity.
Classical literature lessons and the study of great novels in high school
Millions of Russian high school students burn with hatred of Dostoevsky, Tolstoy and Chernyshevsky, not to mention Herzen and Ostrovsky. Legislators and the pedagogical community do not pay attention to this fact, preferring to build ambitious plans against which the Barbarossa plan or Operation Overlord seem like children's toys.
There is more and more philosophical content and sense-seeking in the program, and there are less and less skills to learn how to learn. Meanwhile, Dostoevshchina and Lev Nikolaevich, in principle, are not intended for mass education, and forcing the average schoolboy to read this means killing a teenager's desire to ever read these books in the future.
The program of a secondary school is, in principle, overloaded, it is impossible in principle to master 20-30 literary works in a year and intelligently process in your head, and even to master the rest of the program in parallel.
Vodka
Mexicans rejoice with tequila, Germans - with beer, English - with whiskey and cider, the French are lucky: the list of what you can drink in France takes dozens of pages. And the Lord gave the Russians vodka. It is believed that we are shamelessly abusing his gift.
But statistics are stubborn things and say the exact opposite. Over the past 20 years, vodka consumption in the Russian Federation has fallen, and it is gradually moving towards marginalization. Even the CIS countries - such as Belarus or Ukraine, not to mention such drunkards as the Finns , Lithuanians or Swedes, we are now inferior.
Control bodies from year to year report on the decrease in the percentage of strong alcohol. And, although the quality of life of the population has significantly decreased since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the trend still remains unchanged. We drink less and drink better - cognacs, liqueurs and whiskey are taking the place of low-quality vodka.
Red Square and St. Basil's Cathedral
St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow is most often included in the mandatory tourist pool and is shown in nine out of ten Hollywood films about the Soviet Union and its remains. This is such a domestic Statue of Liberty, the Empire States Building and the Tower of London.
In fact, this is a cramped and not very high church, you cannot go inside without catching your elbow on one of the servants or visitors, and on the stairs, a person taller than 180 centimeters counts the steps not only with their feet, but also with a skull.
The most gifted critics consider the church to be a medieval cake with biscuit roses, a kitsch craft. By the way, this is not only about contemporaries - the German traveler of the past Blaseus believed the church to be a monster, a disorderly heap of rocks or even a plant that only vaguely resembles a building.
Palace in Gelendzhik
This is not about Putin's shack with a mud storage and other ambiguous premises. This is just a superconcentration of the general trend of post-Soviet design - gypsy, expensive and rich style.
Russian perestroika and post-Soviet nouveau riches have an inexplicable craving for gold, stucco and plump cupids in niches, ceilings and arches. This replaced the laconic gray insignificance of Soviet communal apartments and offices. Such an overcoming of Stalinism in architectural excesses.
Ballet
Originated on French and Italian soil, this graceful dance received well-deserved recognition in the Russian Empire. In the first ballet school in Russia, bearing the name of Her Imperial Majesty, there was a free set for peasant and bourgeois children, followed by full content. From the Empire, the ballet migrated to the USSR, enriching itself with a dozen great and high-profile names, which made it possible to bring the Soviet Union to the international cultural arena. But the age of the ballerina is short-lived - even shorter than that of figure skaters and gymnasts.
Many people strive to send children to ballet, and this is torture for a child of five or six years old, which does not benefit the body and psyche. Even non-professional ballerinas and ballet dancers receive injuries and chronic diseases, physical deformities, go through hardships, cruel drills, punishments, so that one in a thousand could “ride” the stage for five years for a modest fee and a penny pension.
