Keeping an Open Mind

Generational gaps are nothing new and exist in every culture but the unique situation in Ukraine can be polarizing. That being said, young people can still learn something from their elders.

The tail end of Ukrainian Millennials, Generation Z and the emerging Generation Alphas are ones to watch because they have lived and been raised exclusively in an independent Ukraine. Some have only ever known the 21st Century. These generations are the products of their familial upbringing, as well as the Ukrainian educational system and sweeping educational reforms, which take time to settle. While so much is relying on these generations, there is always an inevitable variable of trial and error. 

One clear example of a generational gap in the educational system is when students in university are unable to answer the paradigms of their professors. We’re not talking of Marxism but rather the students have never been exposed to the writings of Alexander Pushkin. It is not because they were inattentive in grade school; for a long time now, educational reform has lessened the importance of studying Russian authors and subjects. However, Pushkin, along with Tolstoy, Gogol and Dostoyevsky arguably belong to a larger world cultural heritage available for the edification of all and to dispossess this literary lexicon for political reasons isolates the student from the larger world. While the students know more of Taras Shevchenko than previous generations, they are missing vital tools for  professors to work with.

The easy solution is continued learning, even through the gaps in the educational system and to constantly question  and evaluate how the educational system is preparing its future citizens.