HOW DOES THE STATE OF HISTORY EDUCATION IN UKRAINE AFFECT DEFENSE CAPABILITIES?

Abstract

The article substantiates the position that the education system should serve to strengthen the spiritual resilience of the younger generation, and that civic and historical education should primarily provide the foundation for this resilience – the formation and consolidation of the historical memory of Ukrainian society, regardless of region of residence. It has been established that Ukrainian identity, and with it the spiritual foundations of the Ukrainian nation, are at increased risk.
An analysis of the content of school history curricula revealed insufficient attention to key events and prominent figures of the national past. Under such conditions, the process of forming national identity and spiritual unity of society is complicated, because historical memory is their necessary component. And undermining national identity will inevitably have a negative impact on Ukraine’s defense capabilities.
This article analyzes the purpose of historical education, examines the textbooks of the new Ukrainian school for their compliance with the mission of historical education, and identifies urgent problems that require immediate solutions. It is argued that the formation of national identity is one of the key factors in ensuring the defense capability of the state, and historical education plays a decisive role in this process, combining the transfer of knowledge with the formation of values and the development of critical thinking. As evidenced by an analysis of the content of some history textbooks, historical education in Ukraine takes a selective and biased approach to the formation of historical narrative, which contributes to the distortion of historical memory and the reproduction of Russian propaganda myths.
In order to prevent such manipulations, there is a need to develop a regulatory document that would clearly define a mandatory list of key events and figures in national history and serve as a safeguard against ideological distortions. In the context of the Russian-Ukrainian war, the ideological front is no less important than the military one, as the undermining of the national identity of the younger generation creates long-term risks for Ukraine’s national security. These examples are only part of the systemic problems associated with the formation of historical memory in the New Ukrainian School. It has been established that the introduction of the new State Standard for Basic Secondary Education, in the absence of clearly defined requirements for the content of historical education, has created conditions for arbitrary and uncontrolled manipulation of historical material. As a result, there are significant difficulties in the formation of national and universal values, as well as the undermining of Ukrainian identity. This, in turn, contributes to the formation of distorted ideas among students about the responsibility of Russia and the Soviet Union for crimes against the Ukrainian people, as a result of which students’ first acquaintance with the history of their own state becomes fragmentary and conceptually distorted.