On January 15, in Romania we celebrate “National Culture Day”, but we are not doing well in this regard. Because culture is not, for many of us, a strong point, and the evidence in this sense is many and telling, say specialists and experts in education.
The culturalization of Romanians should be among the national priorities. Archive
In this context, the sociologist Bogdan Bucur, a university professor from SNSPA, made an x-ray of Romanian culture for “Adevărul”, explaining, among other things, the fact that an educated person is not necessarily a cultured one. And the school, unfortunately, delivers us such citizens: little impostors.
What does it mean to be uneducated? “Don’t have a library in the house, and the walls of the house should be empty”
To better understand what culture really means, we should rather find out what it means to be an uneducated man. But even here the definition is a complex one, because it is difficult to characterize such a person, especially an educated one who went through school. There are, however, some clues that guide us in finding the answer. “To be uneducated is a negation of the idea of having knowledge, skills, values of a cultural nature”, the teacher explains, to begin with. “Being uneducated presupposes an inability to recognize as established values the main classical landmarks in most fields that belong to culture. It means not knowing, for example, who are the most important Romanian writers and of humanity, the greatest Romanian poets and of humanity, it means not knowing which are the most important works of art by painters from here and abroad”. continues the specialist. To be uneducated also means, in the opinion of Professor Bucur, not to have elementary notions in fields such as visual arts, music, literature, poetry, dance, scenography, cinematography. “Even commercial films can sometimes introduce us to a cultural universe. It’s currently playing in theaters the film “Maria” which reveals and helps you discover the music of the greatest soprano of mankind of the 20th century, Maria Callas”.
The teacher confessed that you must have certain expectations from a cultured man. “To know how to identify at least one painting by Nicolae Grigorescu, to recognize the great composers of humanity, a George Enescu, for example. From a cultured man I expect him to recognize the main architectural genres, I expect him to have a library in his house, and the walls of his dwelling not to be bare”. The professor refers to the fact that emblematic cultural landmarks are missing from many Romanian houses. “We can’t have original artwork at home. But you can have a poster or a perfect reproduction of a reference work from Romanian or world culture”.
The school must not discount culture
This cultural base must be built step by step in the school, says the teacher. “These classical, national and international cultural benchmarks must be delivered by 12th grade. Then whoever wants to study closely is free to do so. But we all have to leave school with elementary cultural baggage”. The teacher comes in this sense with an example: “In the 70s, during music class, the students of the “Ion Creangă” high school in Bucharest listened to vinyl records of Beethoven or Mozart in class. Then a minimal musical culture was built for children that today’s adults still possess. Then they were delivered the main cultural landmarks of humanity and of a nation, landmarks that should still be delivered today through the education system”, also declared prof. glad But it doesn’t happen anymore. “Because in drawing class, for example, you sit on the bench and just scribble. But how many of these kids actually have a talent for drawing? What can you do instead? You can teach them to recognize a Grigorescu, a Luchian, a Van Gogh”.
In conclusion, the teacher believes that the school should, in addition to literacy, also deliver culture. “I don’t want to offend anyone, but I have noticed people who are very scientifically literate, but culturally they are zero.”
Professor Bucur considers culture a safety net in relation to the life we lead today, but especially in relation to the life of our ancestors. Culture, in his view, is the blood vessels of a nation that connect the generations before us with the present. “Culture is the artery that carries the lifeblood of a nation from one generation to the next. And not having culture is an act of absolutely ferocious and socially dangerous selfishness. If you are not interested in the people of your generation, if you are not interested in those who lived before you, it means that, in fact, you are not interested in yourself either.”
Bogdan Bucur, sociologist and professor at SNSPA. Personal archive
Democracy among Romanians: “An elegant woman, whistled by workers who dig ditches”
The lack of education and culture was also observed in last year’s presidential elections, when the Romanians chose their leader: an extremist candidate, with an aberrant but manipulative speech. “Criticizing democracy is like criticizing an elegant and distinguished woman walking down the street, when you are nothing more than a laborer who changes the city’s asphalt and water pipes. That gorgeous lady, which I am using in this metaphor, is democracy. And there is nothing easier than criticizing democracy. You can do it, but it’s not a responsible act”. Voting in last year’s elections is, above all, a consequence of the lack of historical culture, explains the professor. “A man was elected who said that in the time of Stephen the Great, people communicated telepathically, that we will return to speaking the way plants speak, that water contains pure information. Claims that defy logic, science, minimal cultural knowledge and common sense”.
Professor Bucur states that the result of the presidential vote contains in equal doses forms of scientific illiteracy, forms of illiteracy but also forms of civic irresponsibility. “There are terrible moments that happened in the past in the name of ideas, under the umbrella of far-right or far-left parties, under the leadership of political leaders who gave criminal orders. And the tribute, today, to such situations is unacceptable for a man who is supposed to have gone through a process of literacy and who acquired a base of cultural values in school”. At the origin of last year’s vote is the illiterate and uneducated inability of many people to recognize symbols, personalities, ideas, political formations of the past that are guilty of establishing states of necessity or emergency, of decreeing authoritarian, dictatorial regimes, totalitarianism and committing crimes. “The resumption of these experiences can only take place in the conditions where you have a scientifically illiterate and historically uneducated people”.
Toxic patterns have invaded society like a plague. “Running through life without school is just an illusion”
University professor Bogdan Bucur testified that many of the young people of today’s generation do not possess basic cultural landmarks, and this is also because the models provided by society do not direct them to knowledge, do not open their appetite for education. On the contrary. There is a trend according to which it is not school that makes you a man, but rather trickery, naughtiness, impudence and stupidity – the new characteristics on which characters are built today. But those who boast that they have succeeded in life without school are either lying to us, or they are lying to themselves. “To break through life without school is just an illusion”the teacher considers. “And these people who really succeeded are very few, you can count them on your fingers. They are insignificant, but they are extremely vocal and visible in society. They flooded social media and gave us the impression that they were numerous. But they are exposed only when they are on the wave. They post on the networks and show themselves gloriously at the top of their little existences only when they have a stack of money or a car behind them. They show themselves to be strong and fulfilled in their little universe, in their little bubble, but their moment of peak, of glory, lasts two days, five days, two months, maybe a year. After which comes the inherent collapse.”
These toxic patterns have invaded society like a plague, like an infected plague. And the more corrupt they are, the more attractive they are. “It creates a false trend, and whoever follows this trend will end up in the woodshed.” Illiterates who drive expensive cars, who have accounts worth hundreds of thousands of euros are few, Prof. insists on this idea. Bogdan Bucur. “We are talking about a minority that unfortunately sets the tone for the majority. A fulfilling life, success, a career, prospects… without education I’m just a Fata Morgana”. Instead, there are many and many who try to fool themselves, to steal their hat. “But they will fail miserably. And at 40 they will find that they have done nothing in life. And then they will vote Calin Georgescu“, the specialist also pointed out.
