They themselves will understand that they have nothing here, no future

Chief editor of the newspaper "News" Mikhail Kozhokin noted that there is not a single Muscovite or Petersburger among the winners of the competition. It was, I must confess, strange: do both of them really love neither their home, nor their city, nor their country? Or do they love, but are not able to express this love in words? It is not yet known which is worse. Then the finalists were brought to the porch. I talked to one of them, Alexander Degotkov, a student at the Yelabuga Pedagogical Institute. “This is my first time in Moscow,” he said shyly, “and I’m glad and happy that I got here. I want to say that the culture that we had is disappearing into oblivion. Together with the language, by the way. Declensions, conjugations – everything goes away … And we speak New Russian slang. – And what language is Marina’s native speaker? “I love Marinina and read her,” he warned. – But not Dostoevsky. – Well, it’s hard to compare! I like her language … Not so much even the language, – corrected, however, Alexander, – as her images. More precisely, not her images, but her subjects … Do you understand me? I didn’t bother to upset him. – How did you get to the final? – We talked a lot with the jury members. And I realized that the younger generation has no more problems than they do. We are the generation of the 80s. Half of our life was spent in the USSR (up to ten years), and another half in Russia. – What is your difference from the previous generation? I asked the young man these questions, as it seemed to me that he really wanted to answer them. And I don’t seem to be wrong. “Oligarchs really don’t like it,” he said honestly. – What is it? – We will fight them. — How? I didn’t even ask why. – They themselves will understand that they have nothing here, no future. – What’s not to like about oligarchs? — All. – So you wrote that they are a cancerous tumor on the body of the country? We’ve just been told about this. — No, not me. This is another girl, also a finalist of the competition. But we all think so. – And who exactly does not like the most? – Well, I won’t tell! I also want to finish my studies at my institute. Alexander Degotkov thought, probably, that he blurted out too much anyway: “I’m actually not against them as people. I am against them as oligarchs. Then another person drove up, who is also not a big fan of oligarchs. He arrived already without Alexander Voloshin and the Labrador Koni, shook hands with the finalists and invited them to the second floor of the residence. However, he was almost not late. People from the President’s inner circle asked the students to behave as relaxed as possible and not hesitate to ask any questions. But try to behave more relaxed when you came to Moscow for the first time in your life, saw the president, and you hate the oligarchs. Plus, they seem to have pre-assigned the questions to be asked. Vladimir Putin, however, at first showed great looseness himself. He told how he was told that there were no finalists from Moscow and St. Petersburg. – You are being deceived, – one student replied uninhibitedly, – I, for example, from St. Petersburg. The President said that he should think about how to organize good internships for students, both abroad and within the country, and began to ask in detail how the students found out that such a competition was going on and decided to take part in it. Another student said that she accidentally walked into the department and found out, and that’s what came of it. – So you rarely go to the pulpit? Putin asked. In this spirit, he continued for ten minutes. But the students could not help themselves. They had to ask their questions. Therefore, they asked if the president was not discounting our past, and if not, then at what time and in what event he would like to be. And can he be interested in any battles and coups. Vladimir Putin replied that he would not like to take part in the coup. (And why, really: he is already a president. Other people should be thinking about the coup now.) But then he added that of the historical events of the transitional periods, he was most interested in the February Revolution. Here in it he would like to participate. But he didn’t say which side. – Would you like to participate in the battle on the Kulikovo field? “I’ll think about your proposal,” he replied. Vladimir Putin gave a detailed answer to the question of how he is fighting the information blockade in which he has been living for several years. He fights the blockade by imposing different sources of information on each other. If you overlap, there will always be something in common. This, in the president’s opinion, is the truth. When asked if he was satisfied with the team, the president replied that he was dissatisfied with himself, and not just with the team, but, realizing himself, added that the team members present here were quite happy with him. I will not say, just in case, who of the team was present at that moment in the hall. The President said that his children do not want to study abroad yet, although he believes that this would be logical, since now they are studying according to the German program in a German school with German language. But in general, a person, in his opinion, should be free: – I worked there today, returned tomorrow. We also talked about generations. The President generously said that each next is better than the last. The students did not argue. Gradually it became clear that the certain enthusiasm with which the president came to this meeting is less and less. The students asked such questions that it seemed as if they had never heard their president in several years. However, perhaps it was so. He revived only a couple of times. We started talking about the demographic problem. Ways and ways of solving it are of great interest to students. One forcefully said that everything here depends on his generation. “I really hope for you,” Vladimir Putin perked up, “Well, not for you personally …” he corrected. “But for everyone who has gathered here. One girl responded by saying that she was scared to give birth, as the risk of birth trauma and unsanitary conditions in maternity hospitals was increased. – And what is the point of suffering with a child if he has a birth injury? – asked this unfortunate woman. The president answered her rather mildly that earlier in the villages they gave birth to five or six children, and everyone was in terrible unsanitary conditions, and then he said that one should simply not be afraid. He recalled how brilliantly Ulyana Lopatkina danced during the St. Petersburg celebrations, and when he approached her and said that he was delighted, she replied that this was her first dance in the last two years: she was giving birth and feeding a child. – I was not afraid … – the president shrugged his shoulders. Then he again had to talk on eternal topics: about mortgages, about reforming the army (he unexpectedly praised the Union of Right Forces for participating in the preparation of the concept of its reform) and, in the end, about budgetary underfunding. He revived only two more times: when one student proposed that the president be elected for three terms ("When a person is in power for a long time, – Putin replied, – courage disappears … A person becomes overgrown with all sorts of near-creative collectives, which in common people are called camarillas"), and then, when asked what he could not afford, but would very much like, he said: – I can not go beyond the Constitution of the Russian Federation. Sometimes I really want to. It’s good that he overpowers himself.

(review prepared by GNII ITT "Informa")Date: 07.06.2003 Title: What’s in the envelopes and where from ?. Author: ELENA ZININA, SPECIALIST OF THE DEPARTMENT OF GENERAL EDUCATION OF THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION, TEACHER OF LITERATURE IN THE 11th GRADE, ASKED QUESTIONS LYUDMILA PRINT Issue: FIRST SEPTEMBER – The Ministry appeals to experienced teachers, methodologists with a request to suggest interesting topics of essays. From these proposals, a kind of "theme bank", with whom a group of specialists works, whose names are kept secret for obvious reasons. But there are also many experienced teachers among them, people who are well acquainted with the school. Over the course of several months, they form a list of topics for a given year in accordance with the terms of reference. This task is contained in a special letter coordinated with the ministry and heads of departments and sent to the regions since the fall. Now it is the turn of the experts. They once again work through the list of topics and form sets of them, one of which will go to graduates in the exam. These kits characteristics of a hero essay are approved by the Department of General Education, acquire an official status, and it is no longer possible to change anything in them. Therefore, despite some remarks about the list of topics for this year, we did not redo anything. And, to be honest, the ministry received not many comments. L. Aizerman’s speech at the Pedagogical Marathon (in principle, he is against open topics) and a letter from St. Petersburg teachers – that’s all. However, we will certainly consider these remarks when we sit down to discuss the results of the current exams. Having analyzed all the shortcomings, we will formulate principles that will be described in a new letter, and this letter will be sent to the regions … – What are the criteria for selecting topics? – First of all, compliance with the requirements for this academic year to the very letter, which indicates the basic principles of composing essay topics. For example, this year, out of five themes in the set, one is free, devoted to the philosophical and moral problems of the work, three themes are from the 19th century. One topic is text analysis, etc. The second criterion is compliance with the requirements of the program, the minimum list of works that must be read.