Some thoughts on Optimism, by Member Pat Smith

Some thoughts on optimism

by Member, Pat Smith

We lived in optimistic times. With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukraine became an independent state, formalised with a referendum in December 1991. At this time philanthropist George Soros was publishing his ideas about how a democratic society might work. He set up Open Society Foundations in all the former Russian bloc countries including Ukraine. He believed that societies can only flourish when they allow for democratic governance, freedom of expression, and respect for individual rights — an approach at the core of the Open Society Foundations’ work. In 1999, the International sub-committee for the International Reading/Literacy Association sent a delegate to Mr Soros explaining the need for a democratic teaching philosophy in schools. Students have to experience and understand democracy if they are then to truly operate in a democratic nation. What they were experiencing was lecturing. They didn’t have the tools to think. He saw the sense in this argument and agreed to fund the Literacy for Democracy programs. Universities, mostly American, provided our salaries. The work books were written and translated into the relevant languages and we all set out for Summer School in Hungary where we met the teams from each country. We were allocated Ukraine, probably because we were used to long distance travelling. Four times a year for 2 and 3 weeks at a time we took training sessions in Kyiv and travelled to Odessa, Kharkiv, Simferopol, and, in fact, to all the cities now being attacked. It was wonderful to see teachers and students, debating, discussing texts critically and writing persuasive essays. I have many photographs but have selected few as representative of those exhilarating sessions helped especially by my talented interpreter Giorgi, photographed in front of a senior school in Kyiv. The program in Ukraine was a resounding success. There was no need for the program after more than 20 years. The strategies were incorporated in the teacher education curricula. It seems likely that the determination of Ukrainians to have a democratic society indicates that they continue to be optimistic. Photo source: Pat Smith