I suppose I am getting old. Hopelessly, incurably old. I'm becoming unable to relate to things which are such an essential part of this globalised culture that I seem to be an alien.
I bought a DVD (mea culpa) for the kids to watch in English (oh the educational purposes).
It was 'The Pirates of the Carribean - 2', the film my children seemed to be very enthusiastic about - I had heard their happy laughter as they watched it in Russian some days before.
Yesterday I joined my big son , who is a 17-year-old university student, in watching it in English. I struggled through, half asleep, trying to look at the screen as little as possible, bewildered at how the film-makers can actually enjoy creating images like that. My husband, who is an icon-painter, is simply unable to face this kind of visual stuff. As an artist, I suppose, he has a more delicate sense of the beautiful, which he nurtures, in a way. I asked myself and my kids if the people who get used to this art don't completely lose the ability to perceive and create anything beautiful.
4 comments:
Hi! I have indeed started my University studies. They're quite interesting and I'm enjoying them very much.
Hi Elena,
"Pirates of the Caribbean" is not my all time favorite movie eithor.
I'm glad that you are on the virtual Utah tour.
You asked some interesting questions on your blog. Will you be blogging anymore? Too busy?
Your questions about American educational opportunities are interesting.
Through grade 12, the States (provinces?) pay for education from taxes levied on homes and the sale of goods.
Some families with more money elect to send their children to private schools in the hope of a better result.
Others "home school" their children to avoid bringing them into contact with ideas and influences that they consider undesirable.
Four year Univerities and garduate schhols may be partially funded and controlled by the States or may be entirely privately funded.
In some cases the federal government may operate a military University such as West Point (Army) or the Air Force Academy.
Access to higher education is virtually guaranteed for the wealthy, but much more questionable for the poor.
I was lucky. My father was a house painter. I joined the Air Force at 19 and took some tests. They had 100 slots a year to send enlisted men to a university. They picked me and paid for all my expenses at a State University.
There is a hodgepodge of scholarship programs, federal loans, private loans and other ways of funding higher education in America.
What is unquestionable is that access to higher education is not strictly based on merit. Wealth, unfortunately, is more important.
Elena,
When I read novels about Russia, I see the word аппара́тчик. We write this word apparatchik in English.
Do the children of the poor in Russia have exactly the same educational opprtunities as the children of the powerful?
Phred
Hi, Bob,
It's so good of you to write to me here. I'm sorry I missed your post by ten days - I don't often get to my blog...I've found I prefer e-mailing, when need arises. I'll write about Russia's educational opportunities on
the blog - btw, I've been wondering where you two are...on a visit to your son's family? Do they still think that the world was created some 4000 years ago :) (Now that's personal,sorry, but I would very much like to talk about American religious fundamentalism somewhere)
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