THE FATHER, THE MOTHER AND THE TEACHER…

An article about a plagiarized doctorate dissertation was published on a popular Ukrainian website Ukrayins’ka Pravda (The Ukrainian Truth). The author of the article was Tetiana Parkhomenko, Doktor of Philosophical Studies, and the “accused” party was Kateryna Kyrylenko, also a Doktor (of Pedagogy). Soon after Ms. Tetiana Parhomenko’s article appeared, Ms. Kateryna Kyrylenko, the alleged “plagiarizer, published her own article refuting the accusations. Incidentally, the Doctor’s degree in Ukraine (“Doktor Nauk”) stands for the highest rung of recognized scholarly achievement, so this time it was an online “battle of heavyweights.” Besides, as of today, this case is becoming a matter of principle in the context of the government’s anti-corruption campaign: everybody in this country remembers President Viktor Yanukovych, ousted in February 2014, who was also a “doktor nauk ” but who used to make two errors in one word writing his title “professor” by spelling it with two “f”s and one “s.”

Whatever Ms. Kyrylenko’s argumentation in her defence may be, one thing is for me crystal-clear: if she extensively used someone else’s texts word for word without referring either to the texts or to their authors (and that was exactly the case with her doctorate dissertation defended a few months ago), it’s called plagiarism. Period.

However, the name “Kyrylenko” rings a bell. Yes, that’s the name of the Minister of Culture of Ukraine. And (you are right) Ms. Kateryna Kyrylenko is his wife.

In Ukrainian, as it is used in everyday life (we say, “in the kitchen”), there exists an expression “telefonne pravo” (“rule by telephone”), which roughly means: informal influence or pressure exerted by the authorities on persons or organizations that are dependent on those authorities as regards the decisions taken.”  The most flagrant case of the “telefonne pravo” was last July when the All-Ukrainian Center for High School Graduates’ Evaluation was raided by the Pocurator’s Office. The Center was accused of disclosing the contents of academic tests to some school graduates and of bribe-taking. More than half a year has passed, but the matter is still “under investigation.” I think, it can hardly be completed the way the Procurator’s Office wants it, because there was no crime at all. Mr. Likarchuk, the head of the center (he doesn’t head it anymore) had been widely known as a person of integrity who would not yield to any pressure from above as far as test results were concerned. For me the case seems rather transparent: with his/her test scores received in June last year, an offspring of a high-placed bureaucrat hadn’t qualified to be admitted to any university, so, the offspring’s dad (mum) contacted the Chief Procurator and the raid was effected. As a result, the situation was“put right” and, also, it was a good lesson for those who might dare be “disobedient” in the future. Can you imagine that the ACT or SAT centers in the U.S.A could be raided like that?

You may ask why admission rules to Ukrainian universities change annually? Or why, until now, Ukraine has stayed away from PISA (the Program for International Student Assessment)? My answer is: the high-and-mighty bureaucrats want to rule. To rule without any interference from outside.

That is why Ukraine needs Europe. I understand that Ukraine’s European membership and/or participation are no panacea against the country’s ills until the country pulls up its sleeves and starts cleaning its own Augean stables. But I hope that at least an understanding of what is good and bad, normal and abnormal, acceptable and unacceptable will then come Ukrainian society. And that the feeling of shame will return. The feeling that makes us humans.

Speaking about his country, the former President of India A.P.J. Abdul Kalam (he died last year at the age of 83) once said: “If a country is to be free of corruption and become a nation of beautiful minds, I strongly feel there are three key societal members who can make a difference. They are the father, the mother and the teacher.”

The same can be said about Ukraine.

AN APPETITE WITH A LINGUISTIC BACKGROUND

According to the decision of the Council of Europe the date September 26^th is annually observed as the European Day of Languages (EDL). An official document says that the EDL celebrates the linguistic diversity of a continent with more than 200 indigenous languages (225 languages, to be exact) and 24 official languages. What I particularly liked in the document was that the EDL is also aimed at “encouraging people of all ages to learn languages.” To me, a 67-year-old ex-teacher of English, the phrase sounded as “Vitaliy, there is life in the old dog yet.”  So, I rolled up my sleeves I looked into the linguistic panorama of Europe.

Firstly, Europe is not the most diverse continent language-wise. Ethnologue, a comprehensive reference work that catalogues all the known living languages in the world, lists 6,909 languages as of 2009, which means that 9.7% of the world population (711 m in Europe out of 7.3 bn in the world) speak roughly 3.3% of the world’ language total.

Secondly, only the popularity of the German language correlates with the number of its indigenous speakers. German is second popular after English and second as regards the number of the German-speaking people in Europe. Here’s the list of how popular the main European languages are and how many people speak them as their native language.

POPULARITY: 1. English, 2. German, 3. French, 4. Italian, 5. Spanish, 6. Russian.

NUMBER OF INDIGENOUS SPEAKERS: 1.Russian (150m), 2.German (95m), 3.Turkish (80m), 4. French (67m), 5.English (63m), 6.Italian (60m), 7.Spanish (48m), 8.Polish (38m), 9. Ukrainian (30m), 10.Romanian (26m).

Not without interest are the data that show how well the Europeans switch from language to language. 56% of EU citizens speak a language other than their mother tongue. 44% admit to speaking ONLY their mother tongue. 28% have knowledge of two foreign languages. 38% know English, 14% know French or German, 7% – Russian, 5% – Spanish, 3% – Italian.

A typical multilingual European is either a student, or someone who holds a managerial position, or someone born in a country where the language of his/her parents is different from the main language of the country.

On my bookshelf I found an English-language cookbook titled Vegetarian – the Best-Ever Recipe Collection and suggested that my wife pick up a recipe and prepare something “yummy” to celebrate tomorrow’s ELD. Liudmyla looked doubtfully at me and asked if I don’t think that I’ll have to go hungry for some longer time before she is through with reading recipes IN ENGLISH. If the issue concerns the European languages, I answered, I’m ready to go hungry as long as it takes her to read the English cookbook from cover to cover. The date of September 26, I said, should encourage people of all ages to learn languages!

Liudmyla didn’t have to be asked twice. She got down to reading the book immediately, and already this afternoon –on the eve of the ELD! – both of us enjoyed eating Eggplant, Lemon and Caper Salad. My research into the European Language Day and Liuda’s enthusiasm for both English and cooking gave each of us a good stomach for that dish.

ONE STEP INTO EUROPE

The water tap in our kitchen started leaking. My wife, who makes final decisions about what should be repaired or renovated in our apartment, has been putting off a call to a plumber for quite some time. The reason, she explained, was the irresponsibility and, more often than not, utter unwillingness of the plumber to provide the maintenance of the utility at an acceptable level (plumbers, electricians, yard-keepers, etc., are usually assigned by the local utilities service office, popularly known here as “zhek”, to each separate building in the area). Our plumber, Mykhailovych by name, was a stout man nearing his retirement age. He found it already problematic to bend his body or kneel down when he had to screw or unscrew some bolts in the bathroom, much less to replace a corroded water pipe. Knowing the professional qualities of Mykhailovich, my wife once called a private utility service to do some repairs, but the guy was no better professionally, though his service was much more expensive.

This time, when the leakage of the kitchen tap reached a degree which made it possible to also wash your hands and face while your original intention was only to fill a glass with water, my wife gave a ring to the “zhek.” After a few minutes of the phone talk she entered my room with her eyes shining. “I couldn’t believe my ears,” she said. “Before it was next to impossible to contact them in the morning. This time the answering machine told me I was a third in line to place my order. When my turn came, a pleasant young voice answered and apologized for the inconvenience caused – they had so many repair orders after the long weekend. Then the lady registered my request and asked when it would be better for the plumber to come – in the morning or in the afternoon… Could a talk like that be possible only a year ago? The plumber is coming at one o’clock in the afternoon. No, not Mykhailovych. Mykhailovych has retired. Our house has got a new plumber!“ My wife voice was energetic and young.

“It looks like they have begun introducing the long-promised reforms. Europe is getting closer,” I murmured.

The plumber came at a quarter to one. He was a young man wearing a baseball cap and an unbuttoned shirt. Instead of the usual kit with instruments he held only a spanner in his hand. And he was noticeably drunk. He staggered to the kitchen, gave a long stare at the tap and said that the thread “was kaput,” but he had no instruments at the moment, because he had left the kit at another building – the kit was too heavy to carry it from one place to another. But he would try (!) to come tomorrow, though he wasn’t sure because he had about fifty orders to do. If he did not come, we might call him. His name was Roman and his mobile number was…

After Roman had gone, my wife and I looked gloomily at each other and then at the note with Roman’s number. Luda was clearly downhearted. “Take it easy”, I said. “At least, that lady on the phone… she was polite…”

 

A LIKELY FUTURE

The shootdown of the Malaysian airliner brings a new factor into the development of the warfare in Ukraine. If it is proved that the plane was downed by the Russia-supported rebels (and there cannot be otherwise), the rebels will be officially re-qualified from “separatists” into “terrorists”, and Russia will hardly keep supplying them with weapons on the scale it has been doing until now. The support with the manpower, if not stopped altogether in full view of the watching world community, will have to be only secretly arranged, which will mean the considerable reduction of such support. On the other hand, I don’t think Mr. Putin will distance himself from the terrorists (who are actually the Russian “wild geese” recruited at military call-up centers right beyond the Ukrainian border) to the point of breaking away from them. The 90 percent of the Russians will “not understand him” then. Which is why, to save face, Mr. Putin may announce that Ukraine hasn’t been able to guarantee peace and security on its own territory and launch a full-scale invasion into it. I am afraid that even in this last case, the old and slow Europe will hardly rush to rescue Ukraine. There may be some back-door games between the Asiatic gas supplier and the European gas consumer followed by compromises, which will make Ukraine into a sacrificial lamb. Alas for Ukraine!

(The cartoons are uploaded courtesy of Kyiv Post)

POLITICAL UPDATE – KANDINSKY STYLE

Europe’s position towards Ukraine grows increasingly treacherous. Recently Serbia followed Austria in supporting Putin’s South Stream project – the building of a pipeline for transporting gas to the West bypassing Ukraine. Incidentally, Serbia is a candidate for EU membership.  France continues training 400 Russian sailors teaching them how to operate the amphibious assault ships “Mistral.”   The French “teachers” know quite well that Putin can use the warships in the Black Sea for further aggression against Ukraine. The French ambassador to Moscow speaks about the need to restore Russia’s membership in the G8, as well as about the need to simplify the visa regime for Russians. The German Foreign Minister joins his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov urging Ukraine to negotiate with the terrorists. Both forget that back in 2006 the Russians had killed the Chechen terrorist Basayev instead of negotiating with him over tea.
A tougher and more integral anti-Russia position is occupied by the U.S.A., Canada, Poland, the Baltic States, and NATO military authorities. But a consolidated anti-Putin strategy hasn’t yet been formed. The use of the “third package” of sanctions against Russia has again been postponed indefinitely. Regrettably, the political shortsightedness prevents Western leaders from correctly assessing the intent and extent of the threat posed for Europe and the world by Putin. They don’t see 1938 through 2014, they don’t notice Neville Chamberlain in themselves, they don’t recognize Adolf Hitler behind Vladimir Putin’s mask.

BEFORE DOING ANYTHING ELSE

It has become customary for presidential candidates in the U.S.A. elections to engage in debates, which are considered a part of election process. The main target in these debates are undecided voters. I don’t think that either a Republican or a Democratic candidate would win the election if he refused from debates while the candidate from the opposing party would insist on such debates. However, what cannot happen in another country, happens in Ukraine. In the 2010 presidential election campaign the candidate Yanukovych was supposed to discuss the most controversial issues of the time with his opponent Yulia Tymoshenko. That evening Viktor Yanukovych, showed the white feather and didn’t come for TV debates, which is why Yulia Tymoshenko was speaking to an empty chair. After a few days Yanukovych was elected President, and a year later Tymoshenko was sentenced to seven years imprisonment on laughable charges by a kangaroo court.

Don’t these two approaches to debates reflect the mentalities of the American and Ukrainian peoples? In the U.S.A. they think that a person must be able to think clearly and to express himself in order to act rationally. If the person is tongue-tied, it means that his understanding of the things under discussion is poor and he will hardly act positively.

In Ukraine a taciturn person creates an impression of a person who acts and gets things done – a “man of deeds, not words”. In a similar way, politeness may be considered a sign of weakness, and a smile addressed to a person you don’t know – a strangeness of character. To say that a person is given to smiling (Russ. улыбчивый) would imply a rather negative characteristics.

I earnestly believe that before Ukraine gets into Europe, as it declares it would like to, it should learn to appreciate an intelligent speech, to accept politeness as a value, and to give a friendly smile to somebody who is “just a stranger.”

 

JOIN AND LEARN

News can be purchased. Much of editorial content in the Ukrainian media is bought by advertisers, but disguised as news. More often than not such information is of little value but it is presented as something worth noticing. Practically every day you may hear a “doctor’s advice” on the radio. Seemingly , the radio takes care of the listeners’ health. But after ten minutes of listening to how well and effectively a disease is treated at a certain clinic you start understanding that it is the clinic that placed the order for this information. I can accept this kind of “reporting” in glossy magazines which you read on a flight (you can hardly expect much more from glossy magazines), but I do not imagine the New York Times or the Guardian giving details of a restaurant service on their front pages. The question arises: why can’t the Ukrainian media go honest and start selling its space for adverts and commercials? Maybe they would do it, but the reader will hardly “believe” that advertisement. The cases when goods and services of low quality are promoted through advertising are numerous. That is why both the media and the companies do this back-scratching.

In Ukraine one may often hear debates about whether or not the country should join Europe (the EU, NATO, etc.) I think the major reason why Ukraine must be after it is that in Europe we may start learning not to cheat about advertising, not to advertise smoking and drinking; we’ll formulate “European” laws and start abiding with those laws; we’ll be learning politeness to customers, and, maybe, we’ll begin smiling more often at one another.  But… will Europe want a learner who is a cheater, a smoker, a drinker, a churl, a lawbreaker? Which reminds me of a typical case from our childhood: the parents of a problem child want their offspring to keep company with a “good boy”, while the parents of a good boy tell their kid to stay away from the “bad boy.”