EDUCATION FACING THE CHALLENGES OF WAR: OLEKSANDRIVSK IN 1914–1920

Abstract

The article describes the systemic and contradictory impact of the war, as a social and political phenomenon, on the sphere of education in Oleksandrivsk in 1914–1920, which was manifested by the circumstances of the First World War and the military struggle of Ukrainians for state independence during the Ukrainian National Revolution. It is shown that the war spawned a lot of problems in the activities of educational institutions, obstacles to obtaining high-quality education, destroyed the established system of education, rapidly putting forward priorities, being not typical for peacetime, for the management of educational institutions, teachers and pupils. Such effects of the war as raising waves of patriotic propaganda and political hysteria, the deterioration of the financial situation of pupils and teachers and attempts to regulate it, the forced displacement of pupils and teachers, the mobilization and demobilization of persons involved in the educational process, and changes in curricula are traced. It is given specific examples of the fact that some teachers and pupils of conscription age were mobilized to the front, from which they returned disabled and dropped out of the educational sphere forever. The demobilization, on the contrary, returned to school education people, often non-local, with different life experiences, culture and worldview, which made changes in professional activities and everyday life. The scope and manifestations of humanitarian initiatives of the population, the expansion of charity, the awakening and spread of feelings of involvement in the fate of others, and mutual assistance in society are clearly shown. It is concluded that before the Ukrainian National Revolution, the education system performed the role of one of the consolidating factors of the Russian imperial identity, forcing Ukrainians to accept the rules established by the dominant Russian nation. It is stated that the war radicalized public consciousness, accelerated the process of making changes in political regimes, political orientations of teachers, pupils, and all employees of the educational sphere. The threat posed by Russia, manifested by a series of interventionist wars between the Bolsheviks and the White Guards during the Ukrainian Revolution, strengthened the Ukrainian identity among teachers and educators in Oleksandrivsk, and resisted further imperial ambitions.