History education as a form of value indoctrination in Soviet Lithuania

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Istorija; Sovietinis režimas; Vadovėliai; Švietimas; Education; History; Lithuania; Soviet regime; Textbooks.

ENIn the 1960s Soviet regime in Lithuania introduced through education a concept of “a new man”. This “new man” represented the idealistic vision of the Soviet citizen, thus he had to be indoctrinated with the specific set of values. History as a value-oriented discipline at schools, including both humanitarian and social dimensions, can be understood as one of the most appropriate school subjects for such totalitarian formation of a new man. The aim of this paper is to distinguish principal values, which were introduced to the school children at schools of late Soviet Lithuania (1957-1988) during history education. It is pivotal to note, that Soviet control in Lithuania is understood as an occupational and suppressive regime. Also, it was a regime of idiosyncrasies, so the contents of the aforementioned educational materials are analyzed in two-layered principle – the direct instructions regarding the lifestyle, values, and opinions appropriate to Soviet citizens and more subtle (through symbols, images, and politics of national Communism) indoctrination. This paper raises a hypothesis that Lithuanian break up with the Soviet Union in 1990 has left traces in current Lithuanian education because it was recreated mostly by the same people, who were instructed in the Soviet value system. People educated as “the new Soviet men” created a new Lithuanian history education curriculum, thus aspiring to prompt “a new Lithuanian man”. [From the publication]

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