Translated material
Cross in education
Lessons of Orthodoxy and life lessons. Report from the Balaban school
Cross in education. Since September 1, 2012, the school program has a new subject: "Fundamentals of religious cultures and secular ethics." The New Times studied the experience and consequences of religious education - in the city of Balabanovo, Kaluga Region, the foundations of Orthodox culture have been taught for almost ten years 
- Where are you, red hat, are you going? - asks the wolf in an artificial fur suit. - To the temple of God, to pray to God. - Have you seen him? - No. “So he is not!” Enough to engage in nonsense, let's go to the club at the disco, there is cool. And then I will eat you! - Do not eat, wolf! I have a guardian angel!
The lesson of the foundations of the Orthodox culture (defense industry) in one of the elementary grades of secondary school No. 3 in Balabanov begins with such a scene. A girl with fake wings behind her back comes to the board.
-So the guardian angel is worth it! Hello, Angel! And the wolf says that you and God are not! Tell me, children, is there a guardian angel? - the red cap turns to the hall. -e-e-so !!! 
Balabanovo-a 30-thousandth town, three by three kilometers with an area. Directly in the center - a city -forming enterprise, match factory "Tlitspichprom". From the railway station to school number 3 - ten minutes on foot past the only one -story grocery in the area. On one side of the road, a plank fence stretches, on the other - a ditch and meter height embankment: the water supply is repaired. Somewhere far, they burn the foliage, the three-story school looks at the windows at the wasteland, on its wall-the dove laid out of the bricks and the inscription "Peace is the world!"
The course of the defense industry in school No. 3 has been introduced since 2002, first in the order of the experiment, without textbooks and programs, and since 2007 they began to teach systematically-one lesson per week from 1st to 8th grade. The subject is studied by more than 200 children - 45% of all students. In the classroom, they use the educational and methodological kit of Alla Borodina. The Borodina textbook was criticized by philologists, human rights activists and even some clergymen, it found “statements that contribute to the incitement of religious and national growth”, and the movement “For Human Rights” filed a lawsuit to the Prosecutor General, calling the manual “confessional apology of Orthodoxy”. The book was approved by the Council of the Ministry of Education and Patriarchate, but the Ministry of Education did not receive the stamp of the Ministry of Education.
“At first it was difficult. They were afraid that there would not be enough knowledge - for one lesson it was necessary to prepare for a week. The expenses were large: they bought a lot of discs and books themselves. And then we took advanced training courses for 144 hours, and doubts disappeared, ”Natalya Krivolutskaya, head of the school methodological association of primary school teachers, tells the correspondent of The New Times. And teachers with Stakhanovsky zeal began to introduce the subject. According to the teachers, the subject is optional, but no one has refused to go to it yet. Pupils say that the defense industry is an obligatory lesson. However, both are delighted with him.
Natalia Olegovna, a woman heavenly kindness, shows her favorite brainchild - the OPC cabinet. In the corner there is a stand similar to anal, it has a three -kilogram “biblical atlas” on it, on the wall - an exhibition of children's drawings on a church theme, a portrait of the patriarch, photographs of temples. The blackboard is decorated with the picture of Nesterov “Vision of the Pods of Bartholomew”, prayers and the icon of Seraphim of Sarov. “We cannot force children to read prayers, our course is cultural. But when we showed the children the office, their lips themselves began to move a little, the need for prayer arose quietly to read like that, they lowered their eyes, felt awe, ”Natalya Olegovna rejoices at the miracle of ineffective churching.
From the state for their work, the OPC teachers receive encouragement: a allowance of 500 rubles, as well as letters, diplomas and letters of thanks, which Natalya Krivolutskaya already has 14. Last year, the teacher took the first place in the All -Russian competition “For the Moral’s Moral feat”, which the Ministry of Education and Science holds together with the Russian Orthodox Church. At the All -Russian Olympiads in the defense industry, the school also holds first places.
"God dwells into me"
In several classes, the New Times correspondent distributes profiles: simple questions about the subject. Natalya Olegovna asks in a joyful voice:
- How do you, kids, like the defense industry? -D-a-ah-ah !!!
Schoolchildren reply that they learned a lot of useful things in the lessons: about the structure of the temple, the iconostasis and the church significance of their name. “In the lessons of the defense industry, I have something unearthly inside my soul. I feel free and happy ”,“ In the OPC lesson, I have a feeling that God and Jesus Christ have drew in me ”,“ In the OPC lesson, I feel blissfully, ”sixth graders write. Only one boy replies that he is agnostic and in the lessons he is bored.
Those who do not study the defense industry, "comprehend the Orthodox culture through labor." Teacher Galina Khomenko says that her children go to the district temples at least once a month, wash floors there, clean the candlesticks and improve the territory (the school collaborates with several monasteries).
“None of the parents protested against the introduction of the defense industry,” the teachers assure, “according to the survey, 95% approve of 95%, and 5% treat it neutral.” “Only once the evangelists (Baptists) came to the school, they examined the textbook for a long time and critically, after which they said that their child would not go to this subject,” says OPC teacher Valentina Filina. Then, however, the evangelists brought their program to the director, saying: why not introduce the study of Protestantism? “They were refused, but our course is acceptable for all Christian movements, even small ones, what will it be if we have minor faiths, Muslims will make their prayer?” - Valentina Alekseevna spreads his hands.
Muslim migrants in Balabanov also study the defense industry. “The Uzbek is sitting with me - he must know the history of the Russian state. He came here to live and should behave among us so as not to insult our national dignity, ”Filina explains. Of the teachers, only one elderly teacher was indignant at the introduction of a new subject - an atheist of Soviet hardening. “When she conducted the first lessons, she was so twitching, it is clear that she was not good. And then nothing, softened, ”recalls Natalya Olegovna,“ in general, everyone somehow sighed, softened, became more human. OPC lessons have changed the entire school way. Recently thought: is it worth spending Valentine's Day? ” "
Orthodoxy is better, because the Allahs, the Satanists different there-in the news showed that people died a lot because of these gods. Vienna cut, hung
“The Balaban school in the vicinity of Kaluga is not one-the whole area is experimental in the defense industry.“ My grandson goes to the 2nd Vorotynskaya school. He wanted to choose secular ethics, but the whole class has chosen the defense industry, so he goes now forced, ”says the member of the public observation commission of the Kaluga region, Lyubov Moseeva-Elya.
"You can’t, sinful"
At a break, the New Times correspondent is approaching 12–13-year-old seven-graders. Left without the close supervision of the class teacher, children usually begin to complain about school order. Here is another case. “The school generally needs church education,” the children say and now they are already leading to the OPC office. The correspondent asks them a few questions.
Do girls from the Pussy Riot group deserve punishment?
Svetlana: A terrible sin! It was necessary to give them ten years! They obey Satan.
Sveta will grow up with a beauty. When she pronounces the word “sin” with pressure, her eyes are expanding. In the 6th grade, at the Olympiad for the defense industry, she scored more points than eleventh graders.
Vasya: This is the house of God! The news said that they were not only in one temple - before that they danced at the Assumption Cathedral on the roof. Yes, they also said that!
Egor: Are these three fools? They need to give more. We would go to the police and danced there. No, well, it's normal - go to the temple and dance?
Do you feel sorry for these girls? They are in prison.
Veronica: I am not sorry. You must also be responsible for your sins. They disgraced themselves, all their relatives. Then God will still punish them, for example, so that they will not be able to give birth.
Vasya: They need a life sentence or death penalty!
Egor: Oh, Vasya! Well, not the same. This is if the pedophile, then lifelong.
Have you heard that the patriarch is accused of moneymaking? Is it true that persecution began on the church?
Vasya: It happens. Now half of the patriarchs are collecting capital for the church, and they themselves buy cars different, rich, phones. We have been restoring one church here for 500 years! There, people were given 100 and 40 thousand.
Egor: So that there is no persecution, it is necessary to improve the temples, to put the cameras everywhere!
Vasya: Why cameras, it will be a sin. It is better to patrol services so that they ride and patrolling the territory of each temple. Now in the Smolensk region they began to chop crosses ...
Egor: The news said that the bulldozer drove through several cemeteries.
Vasya: We had a woman in the village, she walked with a bag in the cemetery and collected all the sweets for herself, who brought whom to remember. Over time, she fell ill and died.
Do you think that Orthodoxy is the best religion?
Vasya: The best, because 70% of the population in Russia - they are for Orthodoxy, the rest are all sorts of pagan. They tell us: be for Orthodoxy - a single God. And they are told - God in different faces.
Egor: Well, here in other religions there are all sorts of sacrifices, some kind of people, sheep should be killed. Not a fig to yourself, if you kill someone, is that good? This is not so pleasant. And in Orthodoxy - this is just believe in God and read prayers.
Vasya: Orthodoxy is better, because the Allahs, the Satanists different there, showed in the news that people died a lot because of these gods. Vienna cut, hung. And in Orthodoxy God the judge Himself, here he did something bad, repent to God, and God will forgive you! 
Do you have unbelievers in your class?
Vasya: He was Artem, he was a Buddhist, and his parents were Buddhists, but he, as usual, behaved himself, stole money from his parents.
Egor: Buddhists are those who believe in God-sun.
Vasya: Gypsies are also too much show off. I extorted money from my brother.
Masha: The teacher told us that they are even more believers! They keep the post even better.
Vasya: Are these gypsies believers? Are you kidding me?
Children sit down on the desk, and then Masha says that sitting on a desk is a sin. Everyone automatically jumps up. Steps are heard in the corridor. The guys grab the key and, giggling, lock themselves in the office.
And what else is sinful?
Sveta: We all have a sin from birth, from Adam and Eve.
Masha: Facial distortions - sin, dye - you distort it.
How do you know about the distortion of your face?
Masha: This is a teacher in the defense industry! She sometimes paints and then says: "Oh, I'm sinful!"
Vasya: Yes, see the muzzle of this one! She is sent to the toilet in the lessons so that she then washed off. She smokes!
Vasya points to Zoya - a girl who looks older than everyone in the classroom. She really uses cosmetics. Zoya makes an indignant face and wears Vasya with his foot on the “fifth point”.
Is it sinful to go to the disco?
Vasya: If such a disco, when the girls are stripped naked, it is sinful. And you can, when you are just joyful, you come home not in the morning at 6 o’clock, but at 4 hours.
The guys forget about Orthodoxy and begin to complain that the discos at school only once a year, because their teacher is “called the grandmother”. They say that they love “dubstep, rap, tectonics”, and not as before: “white roses” were all sorts. ”
And only Sveta, not listening to the rest, continues: “I was still at Easter at the liturgy, when I walked, I froze very much, and in the temple I immediately warmed, and then asked the god to give me the strength to stand up.”
They beat menacingly at the door, outside someone pulls by the handle, the guys freeze.
Existential Rus'
Isn't anyone at all protesting against the introduction of the defense industry? “Before starting the course, we show textbooks to parents, they study them and only after that they decide to go to the course,” says Valentina Filina. “It is in the capital that they show all their education precisely by the fact that they begin to speak and reason against what they do not know.”
The area in which the 3rd school is located is cut off from the central part of Balabanov by the railway. The playgrounds here are overgrown with weeds, of which the iron supports of former swings peek out, the roads are torn.
“I want to raise a real person. I emphasized love, kindness and honesty, ”says Natalya Krivolutskaya. - Sometimes they tell me that we have not achieved anything: children still indulge in changes. I reply that the result will be in 10-15 years, when they bring their children to us. ”
A company sits on a bench behind the school, drink beer. Anya - a girl with false eyelashes and in tight leggings - quarrels with the guy: “Well, think what you said wrong. For this they would have lowered in the zone. ” The guy is shaking. Apistine syndrome. Anya says that she is a believer, but "we are all not without sin."
Their friend, 32-year-old Ivan, is also a believer. A year ago he left prison: he served five years at the robbery. According to Balabanov, Ivan travels on an ATV, knows everyone and greets every grandmother. “Something in his head is stepping over, and he traces the whole of Moscow street once an hour-like a look here. Even the alarm clock starts, ”explains another guy from the company, Lesha. “I will tell you everything as it is. In 1998, there was a heroin boom. After Belgorod, we shared the second place with Obninsky. Those who fell from the youth under this wave, few survived. They could not cope for a long time, created the drug control department. The heroinovs were transplanted, now they moved to amphetamine and pills. Do you also see the barracks? There was a 101st kilometer. When the Olympics took place in Moscow in 1980, all the prisoners were sent here. Do you understand what contingent? " The guy raises the sleeve of the T -shirt, shows a tattoo with bells. And he continues: “They leave for Moscow, but many are returning. You have to work there. While I was in prison, a man of my classmates drank. I got out of prison, and they carry money from me, how so? ”
The alarm clock calls, Ivan gives me his ice cream and saddles the ATV: “That's why Orthodoxy is introduced. Such a bottom, nowhere to fall. A pit, there is no deeper. ”
A woman with a double chin is hanging from the window on the fifth floor and screams so that the company leaves. Two girls play volleyball - throw the ball through a drying dryer. From secondary school No. 3, the PAZ-672 bus departs (the release of these ended in the eighties)-schoolchildren are being taken to help with cleaning in the Holy Pafnutiev Borovsky Monastery.
Is it possible not to study the foundations of Orthodox culture?
The new compulsory subject “Fundamentals of religious cultures and secular ethics” (Orksa) is studied in grades 4-5 and consists of six “modules”. Each parent has the right to choose for his child one of them - the foundations of secular ethics, the foundations of world religious cultures, the foundations of the Orthodox, Islamic, Buddhist or Jewish culture. According to the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, in the country as a whole, the foundations of secular ethics choose 42.7% of parents, the foundations of Orthodox culture - 31.7%, the foundations of world religious cultures - 21.2%, the foundations of Islamic culture - 4% (other options - within the limits of statistical error).
As the directors and teachers of several schools of the Ostankinsky, Izmailovsky and Tver regions of Moscow confirmed, most schools cannot ensure the election of “modules” (not enough teachers and hours), therefore, “in practice the problem is solved as follows: the whole class is studying what the majority voted in the parent meeting.”
Of the three OPC textbooks, two - the deacons of Kuraev and Kostyukova, Voskresensky, Savchenko - were recommended by order of the Ministry of Education and Science, one - Borodina - did not receive approval of the ministry.
The author is a candidate of cultural studies, a methodologist of the Moscow Institute of Open Education, a member of the nationalist movement "People's Cathedral".
“They seemed to have not seen and did not see ... the children's consciousness of sexual programs corrupting ... They were not interested in the question on whose means it is being implemented ... They must have narrow specialization, they are in wait for the Russians and the Orthodox. Borodina's textbook was guarded! There is no end to the zeal of “human rights activists”! ... And if any other of the Russians (more than 80% of the Russian population-we note, the indigenous population ...) will think that it has any rights to preserve national culture, then hysteria will begin again ... Naturally, the organization of the Orthodox genocide we are dealing with? ”
From the open letter of Alla Borodina to the Interdistrict Prosecutor's Office of the Swan of Moscow, 2003
** ---
Russians chose secular ethics Orthodox religious scholar Valery retired - about the new ORKSE subject, which from September 1 of this year is without fail in all schools of the country
Since September 1 of this year, all schools of the Russian Federation (4–5th grades) introduced a new compulsory subject “Fundamentals of religious cultures and secular ethics” (Orksa). It consists of six “modules”, and each parent has the right to choose one of them for his child. We list. 1. Fundamentals of secular ethics 2. Fundamentals of world religious cultures 3. Fundamentals of Orthodox culture 4. Fundamentals of Islamic culture 5. Fundamentals of Buddhist culture. 6. Основы иудейской культуры.
Уже есть цифры по стране. Что выбрали папы и мамы, например, четвероклашек?
So. По данным Министерства образования и науки РФ
По стране в целом:
* основы светской этики — 42,7% родителей * основы православной культуры — 31,7% * основы мировых религиозных культур — 21,2%**
Другие выбрали остальные религиозно-культурные модули.
По Москве:
* основы светской этики — 47,4% основы православной культуры — 23,43% основы мировых религиозных культур — 27,7%
Другие модули набрали меньше.
По Санкт-Петербургу:
* светская этика — 52,6% основы православной культуры — 9,46% мировые религиозные культуры — 37,7%
Остальные модули набрали меньше.
Как мы видим, светскую этику и мировые религии выбрали по стране 63,9% родителей. Чуть более 30% выбрали «Основы православной культуры». В мегаполисах таких еще меньше. В Петербурге — просто провал. Менее 10%.
Как можно это прокомментировать?
1. Большинство родителей не хотят видеть школу клерикальной. Не хотят, чтобы их дети изучали в учебных заведениях «религию».
2. Даже давление на родителей, не желающих отдавать детей на ОПК, вряд ли могло сыграть существенную роль (если оно и было). Всего 10 % разделяет число выбравших ОПК в провинции и в свободолюбивой Москве.
3. Мое предположение. Для руководства школ даже выгоднее, если количество выбравших «светскую этику» максимально. Не надо искать учителей, желающих и могущих преподавать «странную» «Православную культуру». Больше учебников по светской этике. Аж четыре утвержденных Минобразом вместо двух по ОПК. Кроме того, есть масса методической литературы и в наличии навыки учить не заповедям, а «общечеловеческой нравственности».
Педагоги ОПК боятся начинать занятия
Я беседовал приватно с рядом учителей, которых назначили вести ОПК. Именно назначили, потому что это были сплошь и рядом словесники, учителя русского языка и литературы. Видимо, директора понимают: если коллеги «начнут плавать в материале», всегда можно будет «вырулить» на Пушкина или Тютчева. А как «естественнику», не знающему ни основного богословия, ни апологетики, совместить в своих уроках рассказ о законах природы и о креационизме (создании всего сущего «из ничего» за шесть «дней» Творения)? Вообще, налицо «разрыв формы и содержания». Есть масса батюшек, обладающих богословскими знаниями, но не ведающих о возрастной психологии и не могущих понятным детям языком в культурологическом ключе (без призывов к молитве и крестным знамениям) донести до 10-летних в увлекательной «обертке» информацию о красоте православия. Ведь это не беседа за столом в церковном доме после литургии. С другой стороны, есть много профессионалов-учителей, знающих, как работать с детьми, но абсолютно плавающих в материале. Любой вопрос ребенка вне текста учебника может поставить такого мастера-педагога в тупик. Вот спросит такой вундеркинд: «Марь Иванна, а Христос — Бог или Человек?» И что отвечать бедной Марь Иванне? Самое опасное, если, не желая ударить в грязь лицом, учителя начнут придумывать свою собственную версию православия, да еще наполненную магизмом и суевериями. Духовные травмы детям будут обеспечены. Менее травматично — остановиться на простой эстетике православия: красота храма, колокольного звона, икон, куполов. И на христианской новозаветной нравственности.
Учебники
В списке рекомендованных Приказом Министерства образования и науки № 2885 от 27 декабря 2011 г. учебников для 4–5-х классов (т.е. разрешенных, лицензированных государством) всего два учебника по «Основам православной культуры». Это учебник протодиакона Андрея Кураева и учебник группы авторов — Костюкова, Воскресенского, Савченко и др.
Практически ВСЕ педагоги, которым предстоит преподавать ОПК и с которыми я общался в Туле, выбрали учебник о. Andrei Kuraev. Это действительно качественное учебное пособие, изданное в форме большого толстого журнала, с массой иллюстраций, жизненных примеров, учащих детей нравственным поступкам, массой проверочных вопросов. С объяснением новых для школьников терминов, связанных с христианством и Церковью. Все школы, которые я знаю, учебниками о. Андрея в конце августа уже были снабжены. А вот с методическим материалом, хрестоматиями к учебнику, разъяснениями, как подавать материал, хуже. Все учителя говорили мне, что «их пока нет, но им обещают, что они вот-вот появятся».
Если с учебником для 4–5-х классов определились, то для старших классов сложнее. Ведь во многих школах есть еще и обязательные факультативы ОПК. Обязательные в том смысле, что ОПК входит в перечень факультативных предметов, один из которых ученик должен обязательно выбрать. Есть школы, где родители выбирают ОПК, есть педагоги-энтузиасты, желающие преподавать именно этот предмет. Тут, как мне рассказали учителя, одного учебника им мало. Кураев для этого возраста пособие еще не написал, вот и приходится компилировать материал из разных авторов.
Надежды и опасения
Надежды связаны с учебным пособием о. Андрея, которое может само вызывать у учителя интерес к православию, заражать его им, а через него детей. Надежды связаны с немногими учителями, которые давно пытаются рассказывать детям о православии живым языком, с любовью к предмету. На уроках таких учителей я бывал лично и свидетельствую: они есть в любом регионе.
А настораживает то, с какой поспешностью предмет введен. Видимо, по политическим соображениям. Как подарок спикерам Церкви, которые поддержали действующую власть на выборах. Но спешка всегда чревата. Не хватает методической литературы, слабовато подготовлены учителя, которые прошли очень краткие курсы под руководством т.н. тьютеров (других учителей, которые тоже прошли краткие курсы, но в Москве, региональных центрах, чтобы учить коллег). А еще есть опасение нравственного характера. Боязнь того, что предмет может обюрократизироваться, стать «фарисейским». В Рекомендациях Министерства образования и науки предлагается не ставить за ОПК оценок, лучше «зачет-незачет». Забота об обидчивых детях? Мне одна учительница по секрету сказала: «Валерий Владимирович, нам по ОПК запрещают ставить детям тройки и двойки, только четверки и пятерки. Или ничего».
Да, в российской школе дети могут знать «Основы православной культуры» только на «хорошо» и «отлично»! А иначе какая мы православная держава?