When studying the history of a multinational state in school, it is necessary to rely on the history of the peoples that are living in it, though the local regional events must be organically included in the overall historical process taking place in the state in a certain period, the analyst of the new agency Vestnik Kavkaza, Marina Lagutina, said today during a live broadcast of the National Question program on Vesti.FM.
According to the expert, this process should run from particulars to generals, it is necessary to explain the state level events, relying on the regional events. "We need to weave the history of a particular ethnos into the general outline of the history of the country, showing the significance and worthy place of a particular people in the general historical events," the expert stressed.
At the same time, the analyst noted that it is especially important to use this method when studying complex, contradictory and ambiguous historical events. "For example, when studying the subjugation of Siberia or the annexation of the Caucasus, it is especially important for schoolchildren from the Siberian Federal District or from the North Caucasian republics. In my opinion, by no means one people should be opposed by another one: Russians did not attack Buryats or Chechens. Absolutely no. It is necessary to stress, that particular decisions were taken at the level of the state policy or by a particular ruler, explain the motivation of the state from different points of view, taking into account the conditions under which certain politicians adopted certain political decisions’’, Marina Lagutina said.
According to her, this kind of recourse to historical events will allow students to see positive results, in a varying degree affecting all citizens of a multinational country. "For example, it is necessary to tell about the contribution of the representatives of the specific ethnic groups to such great historical events as the victory in the Great Patriotic War, development of mineral deposits, construction of BAM and so on," she clarified.
In this case, children of different nationalities studying in one classroom may lead the educational process to a new level of the interethnic dialogue. "It is possible to unite students of different nationalities in pairs in order to prepare the joint reports on this or that historical event from different points of view. Russian, for example, can tell about the positive role and heroic deeds of the representatives of the Azerbaijani people, and Azerbaijani can tell about the contribution of the Russian people, and so on. The joint work, new knowledge about the neighbors will help to form the correct ideas about the multinationality and diversity of Russia for children, will lay the foundations for friendship of peoples in the future, and will also help to combat prejudices and xenophobia, " the analyst is convinced.
"And this applies not only to the national republics. I am from the Ulyanovsk region, where Russian, Tatars, Chuvash, Mari, Mordva, Azeris and other peoples live." When I was studying at school in the 1990's, we as children did not pay attention to someone’s nationality at all. But we had local history lessons, during which the teachers told us about the nationalities living in the region and their traditions. It seems to me that today it is even more important to explain schoolchildren that despite the historical difficulties due to the creation of our country in the past, our strength is in unity, and today the modern Russian state makes it possible to study the national history, native language, traditions and culture, " the expert of Vestnik Kavkaza concluded.
