2007/09/14



Teacher’s Day in Russia
October 05


In Russia since 1965 The Teacher’s Day was celebrated on the first Sunday in October.

But since 1994 by a special order of the President of Russian Federation this red letter day has been October 5.

Some links where you can read about the holiday:


http://www.solnet.ee/holidays/teacher.html
calend.ru/holidays/0/0/160
http://www.ronik.org.pl/holiday.htm
http://www.ei-ie.org/en/index.php

Posters: http://www.davno.ru/posters/collections/propaganda/poster-05.html





Was there any special reason to make it on this day?

What do you know and think about this holiday?

How is this Holiday celebrated in other countries?

Today I was all ears to hear congratulations on the radio, on TV - congratulations of our government or other VIPs upon this holiday - The Teacher's Day.
On the Radio-Russia they only mentioned in passing what holiday we had today.
On www.vesti.ru - where I usually read about the recent events - nothing at all caught my eye that could be related with today's holiday...

And they SAY being a teacher is the most important profession!?
And they SAY it is the greatest problem of our society!?
No comments...

We celebrated the occasion watching the film "Emperor's Club".

Below and  in the Comment are the students' opinions about the problems raised in the film.


My impression of the film “The Emperor’s club”
Sveta Shashkina

I think that if you’re sick and tired of Hollywood blockbusters and B-movies with violence, a lot of special effects and action you should watch “The Emperor’s club”, a sincere movie that deals up with the relationship between a teacher and a pupil.
The central figure of the film is William Hundert, a professor of ancient history at St Benedict's. He is a principled professor, who is passionate about his subject and believes the history of the Greeks and Roman is more than just a lesson about the past. He also believes that the role of a teacher is not only to educate a pupil, bur to mold the pupil’s character.
But his world up-ends with the arrival of a new freshman – Sedgewick Bell, an arrogant, selfish son of senator. Mr. Hundert’s firm moral standards and unshakeable integrity are challenged by Sedgewick's behaviour, but the teacher believes he could change this young man while maintaining his integrity. In order to inspire him Hundert fudges the results of the exams, involving Sedgewick in the school's annual Julius Caesar contest, which is staged as an intellectual tournament. However Sedgewick doesn’t win the competition and the teacher realizes the pupil he believed in was cheating. For William Hundert the fact that he couldn’t help the boy to change for the better was a grievance that is not really resolved, even 30 years later.
Thus we see that Sedgewick’s motto is “The end justifies the means”, which contradicts his teacher’s principles as well as the notion of integrity. The film arouses the problem of choice: every person decides what means to use to achieve different aims. For some people like Sedgewick Bell it’s quite normal to break the principles, to lie and to do everything to win, but they should realize that sometimes they would regret and it would be too late.
Watching this film we can’t help thinking about the rewards and challenges of teaching. We also begin to think of a role of a teacher in our life: thus Mr. Hundert is not only obsessed with teaching his pupils Greek and Roman history, but he also strives to inspire his students to live rightly, he tries bring out the strong and true character that he believes to be at the core of every student At the beginning of the film we found ourselves wondering: what should pupils learn ancient history for? But then we understand that Mr. Hundert wanted to show to them that eternal values, passing through a centuries, don’t lose their meaning.
I liked the film very much, because it makes you think. I think Cavin Kline did the most of the role as he gave a superb portrayal of William Hundert. Also in this film there are a lot of movie scarlets who created true-to-life images. “The Emperor's Club" is a very good, thought-provoking and philosophical film.

My evaluation of the film «The Emperor’s Club»
Maxim Jackubowski
Having watched this film I realized over again that the profession of a teacher is of enormous social importance. In this movie William Hundert is not only a scholar of Antiquity but also a person of utter integrity and high moral standards. He does not simply impart knowledge to his students because he is supposed to, he feels dutiful to “mold” their characters, to inculcate in them love for antique culture and traditions, which, to my mind, is an indispensable part of moral upbringing. At lessons of Classics Mr. Hundert acquaints his pupils with proceedings of Socrates, Marcus Aurelius, Julius Caesar, Heraclites thus enriching their morality, extending their knowledge of moral principles, making them wise and veritable patriots of their fatherland.
I believe the key idea of the film is to focus the viewers’ attention on the importance of moral upbringing as a component of education. Michael Hoffman, the director, means to inspire that schools must make children strong educationally as well as morally, which he manages excellently. Michael Hoffman provides a dignified portrait of a principled but very humanу teacher, William Hundert, who condemns the ideology to believe that success is more important than honesty, and that greed and lack of principles became an accepted norm. It seems evident that Hundert’s concern for his boys took up a great deal of his energy during his time. He tried to redirect their lives, hoping they would somehow see the lessons of history and discover their own potential for ethical living, avoiding the negative influence of Sedgewick Bell. And in the end he does not change the boy, which truly amazed me. Most of the time in films like these, we see the free-spirited kid become proper and respectful. But 25 years later Hundert realizes that in those years when Sedgewick attended his class, he ignored the other students who were trying - and actually cared - about what they were doing. Only then does the teacher realize how deeply he is mistaken.
On the whole, the film is well managed and all the actors are cast to advantage. I hope their careers will continue after this film. At the end of the movie, I like the subtle differences in years. In the 1970s, a group of boys travel across a lake to flirt with girls from the school nearby but the nuns chase them away. 25 years later, as Kline's character walks towards his schoolroom, we see boys and girls walking around and studying together. In 28 years society has changed, and it is amusing to wonder if that group of boys from the 1970s ever thought that in 28 years, what they were paddling across a lake for would be right next to them.



12 комментариев:

Susana Canelo комментирует...

Hi: it's a good question.
I think it's an important day to remember all the people around us who taught us something and made us the person we are.
Parents, teachers,friends, professors,priests,grandparents, etc.
In Argentina we remember the death of Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, a former teacher and president. He felt Education would help to build Argentinian Nation, but it's still a long way to walk.
It's a holiday (off to school) here and we have dinner with other teachers and send flowers to our own teachers (retired of course).
What about you?

Susana Canelo
Del Valle
Argentina

Elena Nikolaenko комментирует...

Dear Susana and Barbara!

Thank you for sharing!
I do also think that this day is an important day for every country.

Here in Russia it was not meant to commemorate any of the great educators we had - though we had quite a lot really.

It is not a day off but usually school children congratulate their teachers, sometimes they have tea together.

As well as you said I phone to say a few warm words to my first teacher of the primary school and to the teacher of my secondary school.

If we have any interesting celebration at our faculty I'll share that!

And I invite everyone to visit Barbara's Blog to read something about this Day in Argentina, at

http://barbaratp.blogspot.com/


Elena

Irene комментирует...

Hello!
It's an interesting question indeed!
I'm fully convinced that teachers have all the rigts to have a day to be especially honoured. it's quite natural for Russia to have special days for people of almost every kind of occupation. Teachers and doctors are the first to have such an occasion to be paid particular tributes to.
But to my mind here in Russia teachers at school enjoy more attention on this day than their colleagues from other educational institutions.At some schools teachers don't work on this day and lesons are taught by senior pupils.
Irene.

Elena Nikolaenko комментирует...

Hi Irene and everyone!

Here is the Website called "Songs about School and Childhood" (Russia, 60s - 80s).

Here everyone interested can listen to our famous songs devoted to school years.

They are nice I cannot but admit:

http://music70-80.narod.ru/school.htm


And here is the song which is a kind of school hymn in Russia (though there are some of this kind). It is called "School Waltz"

http://music70-80.narod.ru/mp/school/midi/Shkolnyi_vals.mid

It would be nice to know if there are any nice songs devoted to teachers and school in your countries!?


Elena

Mary H комментирует...

Hi Elena,
What a great idea to start a conversation about Teacher's Day! Of course, it is important to remember the hard work of teachers every day, and show appreciation for their work year-round. In the US, Teacher Appreciation Day is celebrated in May. It is interesting to learn about this holiday in many countries.

Ilona комментирует...

Hi! Thank's for interesting discussion! I completely agree that this day,this holiday must be in every country.Teachers are people,who are responsible for our future and future of our country.Unfortunately in Russia tearchers are not treated in due course.Being a schoolgirl we celebrated this day every year.This day teachers usually turn into schoolchildren, they have such classes as athletics, music,drawing and children in reverse turn into teachers. I taught maths twise.Everyone is in high spirit,the day is filled with games,jokes,laugh.This holiday helps children to understand teachers better,their problems, to improve the relationships between grown-ups and children.
Respectfully, Ilona

Elena Nikolaenko комментирует...

Dear Ilona!

That is so very interesting the way you celebrated it. There is something in it...it should be both very entertaining and educative I am sure.

Elena

yana комментирует...

Hi,Elena!
I have a feeling that my commentary will be a fly in the oinment.I believe that Russian teachers` life is very hard and very often all the hardships they have to face(I mean,low wages,bureaucratism,disrespect on the pupils` side,etc)make the teachers be disappointed with their profession(at the best).Thus, I think that this day is one of those days when a teacher can really be a teacher.From my own experience I can say that when all year round it is raining,one sunny day is not very remarkable,i.e.when all year round teachers are not very well treated,one holiday is like a sop.Of course,nowadays the situation is becoming not so painful,but still there are a lot of things on which we must work tooth and nail.
As for me,I remember all my teachers and try to communicate with them.
Sincerely,Sokolova Yana

Elena Nikolaenko комментирует...

Dear Yana! Dear everyone!

I think Yana you are right. What we are facing now here is that a new generation of real Teachers is to be brought up as what the Teacher was before - his status, his moral qualities, his enthusiasm etc - all this is gone.
Being no pessimist I don't know how we'll manage...

Elena

Elena Nikolaenko комментирует...

Ann Lapick

"EMPEROR'S CLUB"

The film has left a great impression on me. The stars of the film were unfamiliar to me, they are just movie scarlets, I think. But they could create very true to life images, so that when you watch the film you go through everything by yourself.
The main idea and the running theme of the film are very actual nowadays, because we really see a lack of good teachers who can teach not only their subjects, but also some principals of life.
The situation, which is described in “The Emperor’s Club”, is very usual and known perfectly well to each of us. Everyone had such experience at school, but unfortunately not everyone had such teacher as Mr.Hundert to point to your demerits and help to remove them. Mr.Hundert is a wonderful teacher, he is clever, communicative and, what is very important, talented! But as the plot developed, we realize that Mr.Hundert made a mistake. He tried to help one of his pupils, Sedgewick Bell by name, who as he thought, needed his help greatly. But having done this, he hurt the feelings of the other pupil. The time passed and when Mr.Hundert met all of his pupils again, he realized that he’d really made a mistake. Bell wanted to become a senator, but his methods were not true and honest, he didn’t change and would never do it in future. People never change. But all the other pupils were really glad to see the teacher; they are thankful to him and forgave him everything. All of us are alive people and it’s one of our characteristics - to make mistakes. The last scene, when Mr.Hundert saw the son of one of his pupils and understood that he was forgiven, is the most powerful for me. It’s the highest point of the film, a kind of culmination!
I think that the flash back plays a very important role in the film. It makes it more colorful and impressing. One of the merits of the film is that it’s interesting not only to one particular part of the audience, but practically to everyone, it’s a family film.
So I can say with sure, that I like “The Emperor’s Club” and I advise everyone to watch it, especially in English, as a translation often spoils some elements of the film.

Elena Nikolaenko комментирует...

Olga Muraeva
The Emperor’s Club
I’ve recently watched one film which is called “The Emperor’s Club”. Frankly speaking I can name only few foreign films which I really like, but this one is the best of them. I think it can be in the first lines of the list of my favourite films. So, the plot of the film is built around the character of the teacher, William Hundert by name. He tells us about his students and especially about one of them, Sedgewick Bell by name. First, when Sedgewick joined his class, he had a conflict with Mr. Hundert. The boy did his best to anger his teacher. He didn’t want to study at all. But the professor noticed, that Sedgewick was a talented boy and he tried to help him to reveal his ability. But the boy didn’t justify his professor’s hopes.
Well, I think, “The Emperor’s Club” is a great film about real teacher. To my mind, Mr. Hundert should be a good example for all the teachers. He could awake his student’s interest in his subject. But, of course, not all the students can value all these things.
The actors of the film were cast to advantage and they created true-to-life images on the screen. I think that especially we should note the work of the actors, who played the role of Sedgewick (young and adult). I think they made the most of the role. They gave convincing portrayal of the character of Sedgewick. I think, this film will win universal acclaim and it will appeal so much to the audience.

Elena Nikolaenko комментирует...

Alexander Vinokurov
"The Emperor's Club"

I should confess that I liked “The Emperor’s Club” & appreciate Hundert’s behavior because the profession of a teacher is a noble & difficult at the same time. But in spite of all the difficulties you should go forward & never give up. Only under such a condition you can get what you want.

ОТКУДА БЕРУТСЯ ДЕТИ Родители сплюнулись, и получилась точная копия - детенок. А говорят, сперматозоиды, яйцеклетки! Слюни! ⠀ Так чт...