Translated material
What was, was
Most Russians do not know and do not want to know the history of the country
The All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM) has published research data on how well Russians know Russian history and can answer the questions of the unified state exam. It turned out that only 2% of adult Russians would pass the Unified State Exam with excellent marks, and the majority of them are not at all interested in the history of Russia.39% of Russians show interest in the history of the country; Among them, only 7% are “very interested” - reading history books, watching historical films, visiting museums. And a third of respondents (32%) are interested in history “from time to time.”
54% of respondents show no interest in Russian history at all . Among them, 36% of respondents note that at school or college they were interested in national history, but now there is neither time nor special desire for this , and 18% have never been interested in the history of the country. Respondents 60 years of age and older note that they are very interested in this topic more often (12%) than younger ones (5-8%).
Only 1% of Russians rate their knowledge of Russian history as excellent, 18% believe that they know this subject well; almost half of the respondents (45%) scored a C grade and every fourth (26%) scored a bad grade. The higher the level of education of respondents, the higher grades they give themselves: for example, 10% of respondents with less than a secondary education and 25% with higher and incomplete higher education claim to be good.
The respondents were asked eight questions from the demo version of the 2007 Unified State Exam on the history of Russia for the 11th grade of the school. Only 2% of respondents answered all eight questions correctly (5% in the group with higher and incomplete higher education). Another 4% of respondents answered seven questions correctly and 8% answered six questions correctly. 14% of respondents did not give a single correct answer.
Correct answers to this or that question are given by 23 to 57% of respondents. The higher the level of education, the higher the proportion of correct answers: in the group with less than average education, the proportion of correct answers ranges from 15 to 46%; in the group with higher and incomplete higher education - from 33 to 66%.
The history of the twentieth century is known to Russians somewhat better than earlier periods. Almost a quarter of respondents know that in the 16th-18th centuries orders were used by central government bodies (23% - from 15% in the group with less than secondary education to 33% with higher and incomplete higher education); that Russia was proclaimed an empire in the 18th century - 28% of respondents (from 16 to 37% in different educational groups); that the liberation of peasants from serfdom dates back to the reign of Alexander II - 34% (from 27 to 47%); that in the 19th century, representatives of social thought who denied the values of previous generations and contemporary society were called nihilists - 33% (from 20 to 49%); that as a result of the retreat of Russian troops at the beginning of the Patriotic War of 1812, our armies managed to unite near Smolensk - 43% (from 25 to 56%); that the transfer into state ownership of land, enterprises, etc. in 1917-1918 it is called nationalization - 53% (from 46 to 66%); that collectivization in the USSR led to the unification of individual peasant farms - 57% (from 46 to 66%); that the Constitution of the USSR of 1977 included a provision on building developed socialism in the country - 35% (from 25 to 46%).
The all-Russian poll by VTsIOM was conducted on September 1-2, 2007. 1,600 people were surveyed in 153 settlements in 46 regions, territories and republics of Russia. The statistical error does not exceed 3.4%.