According to a recent poll by Levada, residents of Russia deem history and the Russian language the most important of the school subjects.

This is quite ironic, since history books in Russia are rewritten more often than the wind changes. OK, that was a joke. But in reality, historical accounts in Russia along with the angles change every few years.

Russia: History is the most important of all the school subjects for citizens

• Not long ago communism was good and capitalism was bad, if we were to read historical Russian books.
• Then the roles switched and the capitalism was in vogue, while communism blamed for all the problems.
• The next turn had the times of the USSR idolized, and the changes of Perestroika widely condemned.
• Now many people in Russia think that Stalin was a good guy. And this dictator actually signed a treaty with Hitler to divide Europe (and took over Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia under the agreement), killed over 10 million of its own citizens in GULAG to keep them in fear, and sent all prisoners of WWII to GULAG after they were liberated from the Nazi concentration camps in Europe as “traitors”.

Indeed, history is the most important subject in schools! It can possibly assist in remembering who were the good and bad guys previously before the last rewrite.

Is it ironic or just purely practical that locals now believe youngsters should be learning more about the country’s past? It’s hard to keep up with the changes.

Related:

• Russians are rewriting history, again

Russian language is on par with history in 2019

Back to Levada’s results.

To be factual, we should have made the point that history used to be the #1 subject for residents of Russia, but it has changed in 2019.

• In May 2018 history had 49% and the Russian language scored 43%.
• In May 2019 both the native language and history scored 43%.

Math scored 39%, while ‘Native language and literature’ got 32%.

Don’t be confused: Russia has plenty of autonomous republics with their own languages. The large and well-known ones are Tatar and Bashkir, and you have probably heard about Chechnya.

• The next are foreign languages with 29% of votes.
• Computer literacy comes with 21%. It could be the sign that computers are simply part of the daily life and no longer viewed as important. In 1997 computers scored 33% and then the numbers started to drop.
• Science (physics, chemistry, biology) scored also 21%.
• The subject of “labour” that includes skills of cooking and sewing for girls and woodwork and other handiwork for boys (taught separately to boys and girls) scored 19%.
• Physical education (sport) got 16%.

If we compare the data with 1992 when Levada ran the survey for the first time, views have changed a lot. Learning about the past was favoured only by 15% of the respondents in 1992.

Read also:

• What Russians Think of Marriage, Family, and Housekeeping (Research)
• 41% of young Russians want to emigrate
• Do you think Russian brides only seek foreign husbands to get a passport?
• Which classic Russian authors are worth reading? Survey results