Russian schools held another “Conversations About Important Things” lesson titled “What Does It Mean to Work as a Team?”, dedicated to May 1 — the Spring and Labor Holiday. Students were told that success is achieved through joint effort, mutual support, and the ability to “work together.”
Following the lesson script, teachers explained that “a team is a group of like-minded people in which everyone contributes to a common cause,” and that “success is achieved through mutual support and combining different skills to solve a shared task.”
“Teamwork is the foundation of productive labor and the most important condition for achieving success,” — the teacher says according to the script.
In one of the videos shown during the lesson, students were told that the country has many youth organizations and “communities of interest,” including the Movement of the First, Yunarmiya, and the Russian Student Brigades.
Special attention was given to the Russian Student Brigades. The movement was described even to first graders: children were told that teenagers and students from across the country spend their summers not resting, but building houses, roads, and cosmodromes, working as camp counselors, and helping organize major events.
“A brigade is the ideal model of a team. It has a commander, a commissar, a headquarters, as well as a uniform, anthem, and traditions that create a sense of belonging.” — the script states.
The lesson also presented examples of “teams that changed Russia” — from the first human spaceflight to the construction of the Crimean Bridge to occupied Ukrainian territory and volunteer movements. Students were told that “the result of even the most independent individual is always the product of collective work,” and that “all people are interconnected,” even when success appears personal.
“Among us there are those who work and develop within a collective, and there are those who think they work individually and develop personally. But what if we told them that the result of labor, even for the most self-reliant, independent, and autonomous person, is always the fruit of collective work?” — says the narrator in the video.
As additional material, students were shown the film The Feat of the Pioneers. In the story, a student receives a book containing Yevgeny Yevtushenko’s poem Do Not Forget Your Children, Country. As the poem is read aloud, children are shown sitting in a classroom washing blood from soldiers’ greatcoats. Written on the board is the slogan: “Everything for the front. Everything for victory!”
“Do not forget your children, country, War became their kindergarten. Amid flying deaths one may forget everything — But not the children!”
At the end of the lesson, teachers reminded students that “all the peoples of our country are one big team,” and that “unity has always helped achieve victories.”
