What About Education? Part 8

Happy days for today!

Some of us will be looking for work soon!

Continuing our discussion about morality and sex education in Ukraine, we should remember what it was like to be a child looking for answers about sex. In the orphanage/boarding school (OBS) that I focus on in this series, the children have many opportunities to watch movies, which have been approved by the administration, without supervision. Part of the reason that movies containing sex and violence are approved is because it is better to satisfy the curiosity of the children within the walls of the OBS. Unfortunately, there is no discussion or evaluation with the children about what the children see. They are left to make their own conclusions.

In Soviet times, mothers would not necessarily prepare their daughters for puberty and the biological changes that would take place. Imagine experiencing this in an OBS. I have watched the girls grow up over the past ten years and I was aware of the ones who were having difficulty dealing with their growing pains. It was obvious which girls were interested in boys, and which were lost in their self-consciousness. In either case, the girls need good examples and clear understanding of sexual morality.

When we started our program, a number of years ago, the focus came about because some of the children were sniffing glue. As we battled this chemical abuse toward the body, we began to understand other problems that the children were encountering. The program that we support, provided by a local church, reaches out to the children before they lose their innocence, if that is possible in an OBS. There are no funds available in the OBS budget to provide a program like this, so MUCH looks to a local church that already has this type of program. It is a big task. MUCH has been making a monthly donation to the church for someone to come to the OBS to teach the children. The personal attention helps the children, but we see bigger changes because of the program.

Looking at national statistics, I see big reasons to be afraid for the children. After leaving the OBS system, an alarming number of the children become involved in crime, end up in prison, or commit suicide. The very sad statistic is that 60% of the girls become involved in prostitution. There are many reasons for this, many are not their own decision, but the question remains, “What can we do to change the future potential of the children?” MUCH is opening doors to create new opportunities in education.

This church-run program is one of the three programs that MUCH supports at this OBS. In What About Education? Part 9, we will look into the computer program that is piquing the interest of many of the children. Their enthusiasm is on the rise.

What About Education? Part 2

In Part 1, we revealed that sex education, morality, and family are the three instruments that will cut the chain-link in the cycle of poverty.

Beginning with sex education, we will explore it from possibly a different perspective. When a child views the body as a positive entity, this begins a healthy foundation. Understanding sex and how it works takes away the mystery of sex, eliminating the “dirty” label, the need for street information, and prepares the child to make health decisions when confronting the views of sex in the world at large.

In my opinion, the strongest factor in building and maintaining a healthy attitude about sex is discussion in a family setting. When children don’t have access to healthy answers, they experience stress, and begin to become secretive about their need for answers. This, in itself, separates them from open communication. They may begin to develop negative ideas about sex.

Jumping forward to puberty and beyond, sex becomes a major factor in the social interaction expectations of peers. Now the questions are: should I or shouldn’t I, do I want the experience, what will people think, do I care what people think, could I get a disease, and what will the results be in the future? Without healthy sex education, many of these questions probably will not even cross the mind of the youth. Have you ever heard a youth say, “Well, I never thought about that.” Sex education promotes thought. It teaches us to consider the outcome of our actions.

 This leads us to morality. Morality may be seen as a list of do’s and don’ts, but I see morality as a guideline. Guidelines seem to be more acceptable than a rulebook, more intellectual, and more thought provoking. When a youth has a moral foundation, he/she will approach each situation, sexual or otherwise, in a thinking mode. I believe that the youth will approach all of life in a thinking mode, evaluating each situation with some degree of wisdom. Of course, it is much more involved than these few words, but I want to lay the foundation for the series.

Finally, family is the social cornerstone for the development of the child. Having parents, a mother, and a father, to nurture the male and female psyche balance in the developmental stages, is very important. I don’t think that this balance is very common today, but it does exist.

People, from birth to death have a need, a deep inner need, to belong to a relationship of family. No matter how strong a person seems, he/she needs mom, needs dad. It is how we are built. Family is an intricate part of who we are as human beings.

In Part 3, we will look at the Ukrainian orphanage system, (the Internat). How does it differ from the orphanages of other countries. What are the living conditions like? Most of all, what are the futures of the children?

What About Education – Part 1

 

A result of Soviet un-family concept.

Orphan or from bad family, they are alone.

Many debates have occurred about education over the years, everyone has their opinion, and many people have theories, so I will do my best to write with an interesting new perspective. My article will begin with an overview of the basic needs of education from the perspective of preparing children to become responsible adults.

What is the opposite of a responsible adult? Being more specific than to state the obvious, an irresponsible adult, the answer must be an adult involved in criminal activity. The results of improper or incomplete education often will result in criminal activity. Why? Because people are not completely prepared to function successfully in job and society. We will briefly look at the basic education first.

Reading, writing, and arithmetic are the core of survival in the world, but those alone will not suffice. Science, geography, art, music, history, economics and social studies are some of the additional subjects that add to understanding the life experience, but these are still not enough. The soviet education went to great lengths to expand the understanding of each subject, but, in fact, this was not enough.

Life in the soviet system was a forced lifestyle. Not only were children required to study high-level courses in high school, but also they were require to find work after completing their education. If a person was out of work for more than six months, he/she was sent to prison. Can you believe that?

What is missing? Maybe the answer is about family. A wholesome family is the heartbeat of a healthy community. How does this happen, where does it begin, what is the starting point? I believe that sex education, morality, and family structure, are three of the main starting points.

There has been great debate about sex education over the last 60 years. Can sex education be looked at without religious foundation, without rules and regulations and still have a positive outcome? If morality is taught along side, it can. If the value of family is taught as an outflow of the two, it can.

The point is this. When teaching about sex, the end result must be expanded upon. In the past, pregnancy, abortion, single parent homes, and STDs have been the results focused on for not having sex outside of marriage. Of course, getting married so that you can have sex does not provide a good outcome either.

In part two, we will begin to unravel why sex education, morality, and family are the instruments that will cut the chain-link in the cycle of poverty. Illichevsk, Ukraine is a port city, a seaside resort, with a growing economy, yet we have a serious problem of poverty that will not go away. Continue with me as I unravel this problem that is common to many cities.