Russian schools suffer, too, prof says
Martin Flshar
Oregon Om>y £marm1
Historians are not trusted by the Russian people
or politicians, but they could play an essential role
in the creation of n demot ratio Russia, a visiting
Russian professor said Thursday
"Many historians can help the situation in the
i ountv by their publications and their evaluation
of problems of national conflicts in Russia, rela
tions with other nations in Russian history and the
problems of imperial consciousness.” said Dr. Vik
tor Bortnevski, a professor and senior research
scholar from St. Petersburg University.
However, right now in Russia, “ordinary people
ere not satisfied with the work of historians." Bort
nevski said. They "don’t believe either the pro
Bolslutvik or anti-Bolshevik" historians, he said.
One of the greatest hurdles fai mg Russian histo
rians is their ability to he published. Bortnevski
said The cost of printing a book cannot be recnv
ered by sales, so printing is actually unprofitable,
he said
Because of this, few new textbooks are entering
Russian classrooms and even fewer are available to
the general public. The books that are published
are usually the result scholars paying printers to
produce their hooks, he said
One of the methods historians can use to
increase their credibility in Russia is to publish
documents that were made available after the col
lapse of the Soviet Union.
However, even this is a problem for many schol
ars. who often cannot afford to gain no ess to the
documents bv paying "fees" to archive staffs for
example, the Soviet Army Archives i barges S:t to
$5 per copied page.
Bortnevski said he believes historians will have
a difficult time sorting out the history of Russia in
the 20th century. It would be too easy, and wrong,
he said, to assume "anything published before
!<)<11 is wrong, and anything published after 1091
is right "
But history is not the only subject undergoing
change in Russian universities Bortnevski, who is
also the director for programs in history at the
Russian-American Center for International edu
cation, Inc. said he believes U.S. and Russian uni
versities will someday have "the same status
There isn't much money. And
what is more important, to
support the military people or
to support the chemical
scientistsT
Dr Viktor Bortnevski.
visiting Russian professor
when leaching multiculturoltsin.
Currently, there ar*> only about a dozen schol
ars in Russia t apablc of teaching a non Russian.
non-European class, Bortnevski said There is cur
rently nothing in Russia that resembles the Uni
versity’s multicultural offerings
We don't have so many experts." he said
Another class that may be added in the future
is U.S history. Currently. U S history is taught
only in a levs short i hapters hi high school tests
and focuses primarily on the Revolutionary War.
the ( i s i I War, the abolishment of slas cry and 20th
century America as it relates to Russia
The situation is similar at the university level,
w here there are virtually no spec ifii i nurses deal
mg with American history And in the past. Bort
nevski said, those i lasses were usually supporter!
by the KGB and the Central Committer? of the Com
niunist Party
"The ordinary Russian citizen doesn't know
anything about American history." he said
Russian university students are fat ing the same
problems w ith state funding of higher edut ution
that Oregon i ullege students are i urrunlly dealing
with.
Bortnevski said although Russian President
Boris Yeltsin has pledged his support for higher
education, he i anno! t ompletely back up that sup
port with money
"There isn't much money." Bortnevski said
"And what is more important, to support the mil
itary people or to support the i hemii al si ientists'’
'Mavfw? the military people will lie in a i oup."
he said "Or maybe there will l»? a coup of si hoi
ars."
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