By ALEXANDER DOLITSKY
Today, our primary and secondary schools, and society at large, should be discussing essential social concepts that provide a background, foundation, and historic context of the cultural and traditional landscape in our country, instead of advocating for divisive “Critical Race Theory,” “systemic racism,” “DEI,” and “gender identity” nonsense.
In this essay, I would like to address three imperative concepts as a guideline for common-sense educators: appreciation of history; interpretation of truth and fact; and understanding of the criterion of beauty and its social application.
APPRECIATION OF HISTORY
Many students of history ask an essential question: “What is a practical application of history?” Unfortunately, there is no simple answer because history is not just a recording of facts and events; nor is it merely a logical classification of data in chronological order. History is the development and evolution of mankind from the past through present and to future. History forms a picture of what has happened to mankind from its origins to the present moment.
History is functional in as much as it allows us to understand our relationship with the past and to other societies and cultures. History reveals a pattern of a nation’s emergence and growth. It gives us facts and allows us to search for underlying causes of historic events. It is also poetic, in the sense that we all have an inborn curiosity and sense of wonder about the past.
But what do the politics of the past matter to modern men and women in the 21st century? What relevance has Tsar Nicholas II, Woodrow Wilson, Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin or Winston Churchill to modern concerns? Nowadays it is fashionable in many circles to deny that there is any intrinsic value in historical study. Yet, whenever statesmen, administrators, educators, politicians or journalists wish to convince the public of the rightness of their actions, they appeal to history. It is important, therefore, how history is written and who writes it. We need reliable and accurate guides to the past.
The past could be viewed as a foreign country or different culture. The attitudes and behavior of historical figures are often alien to the present generation. On the other hand, we should remember that the past was also populated with foreigners—in the sense that most people lived in closely-knit national, regional or even tribal communities—with access to much less information about events and conditions elsewhere in the globe than we have today. To these people, the world outside their communities often looked exotic and strange.
At one level, this distance from foreigners could give a romantic zeal for exploration; at another, it could encourage xenophobic resentment and murderous hatred.
The 20th century saw the occupants of the planet Earth come to know more about each other than ever before. But it also witnessed genocide, holocaust and mass destructions. It is important, therefore, that we understand how these two contradictory developments came about in the historic context.
The crucial distinction is not the difference between fact and fiction, but the distinction between fact and truth. Fact can exist without human intelligence or interference (e.g., gravity, speed of light, or other natural laws of physics), but truth cannot; truth is a man-made narrative.
I don’t think truth exists in any significant or objective way. Reality is not about truth, but about the relationship of facts to one another. Indeed, modern journalists should rely and base their observations and reporting on facts, not on an abstract and often fabricated “truth” and manipulation of data, as it is extensively evident in the far-left and fake journalism in our country today—i.e., CNN, MSNBC, NBC, CBS, ABC, PBS broadcasting systems and our own progressive and convoluted Juneau Empire newspaper in Alaska under leadership of Mark Sabbatini.
The concept and criterion of beauty is subjective to every individual—for some, blue is beautiful, for others green. I enjoy classical music; heavy metal gives me a headache. This is why in America we exercise a freedom of individual choice and individual appreciation of beauty. Indeed, beauty is not a group phenomenon. Thus, for example, no government policy can make me prefer green to blue.
The world may be beautiful, or it may be dismal to us. It depends on the view we take or the way we look at things. We may see beauty in everything. We may see beauty in a truckload of wood that is just being unloaded at our door. Others may just see a dirty load of logs—lacking in beauty. But on the other side, it makes our house warm and cozy, and we appreciate this source of beauty, even in the truckload of wood.
In short, the appreciation of beauty is the ability to see the good and beautiful in the objects which on the surface may not appear attractive. It is important, therefore, that we cultivate this ability to see in other people qualities buried beneath the surface of what we may think is an “unattractive individual.” Beauty is present in every color, race, physical shape, and nationality.
Indeed, the most common purpose of education is to gain knowledge and skills that will prepare individuals to lead productive and fulfilling lives; and, certainly, not to indoctrinate and brainwash our youth in the far-left ideology intended to support corrupt politicians who enrich themselves secretly outside the rule of law through kickbacks, bribes, and special favors from lobbyists and corporations; or they simply direct public funds to themselves and their associates—as it has been recently revealed by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Alexander B. Dolitsky was born and raised in Kiev in the former Soviet Union. He received an M.A. in history from Kiev Pedagogical Institute, Ukraine, in 1976; an M.A. in anthropology and archaeology from Brown University in 1983; and was enroled in the Ph.D. program in Anthropology at Bryn Mawr College from 1983 to 1985, where he was also a lecturer in the Russian Center. In the U.S.S.R., he was a social studies teacher for three years, and an archaeologist for five years for the Ukranian Academy of Sciences. In 1978, he settled in the United States. Dolitsky visited Alaska for the first time in 1981, while conducting field research for graduate school at Brown. He lived first in Sitka in 1985 and then settled in Juneau in 1986. From 1985 to 1987, he was a U.S. Forest Service archaeologist and social scientist. He was an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Russian Studies at the University of Alaska Southeast from 1985 to 1999; Social Studies Instructor at the Alyeska Central School, Alaska Department of Education from 1988 to 2006; and has been the Director of the Alaska-Siberia Research Center (see www.aksrc.homestead.com) from 1990 to present. He has conducted about 30 field studies in various areas of the former Soviet Union (including Siberia), Central Asia, South America, Eastern Europe and the United States (including Alaska). Dolitsky has been a lecturer on the World Discoverer, Spirit of Oceanus, and Clipper Odyssey vessels in the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions. He was the Project Manager for the WWII Alaska-Siberia Lend Lease Memorial, which was erected in Fairbanks in 2006. He has published extensively in the fields of anthropology, history, archaeology, and ethnography. His more recent publications include Fairy Tales and Myths of the Bering Strait Chukchi, Ancient Tales of Kamchatka; Tales and Legends of the Yupik Eskimos of Siberia; Old Russia in Modern America: Russian Old Believers in Alaska; Allies in Wartime: The Alaska-Siberia Airway During WWII; Spirit of the Siberian Tiger: Folktales of the Russian Far East; Living Wisdom of the Far North: Tales and Legends from Chukotka and Alaska; Pipeline to Russia; The Alaska-Siberia Air Route in WWII; and Old Russia in Modern America: Living Traditions of the Russian Old Believers; Ancient Tales of Chukotka, and Ancient Tales of Kamchatka.
Nonsense, they’re too busy striking for more money…..
I agree, Alexander. The left-wing commie, revisionist History professors are a plague on the education system. This is the brainwashing department. So glad to see many of them getting flushed into the soil.
Education must return to teaching! Educators need to go away and let teachers do what they do best and teach. Parents need to support the teachers and not the education system. Who works every day in a classroom more? Administrators? NO! Teachers are there every day for a child to help them learn and improve. Educators show up and cram their biases into the kids minds on broken curriculum and cry for more pay!
Like I always said, “be a teacher, not an educator”!