Mykhailo Hrushevsky on education and science as factors of post-war reconstruction

Abstract

Abstract. The purpose of the study is to reproduce the features of M. Hrushevsky's vision of the importance of the factors of education and science for the post-war reconstruction of Ukrainian lands. The methodological basis of the work is an interdisciplinary approach with particular emphasis on the structural-functional systematic analysis of historiographical facts and the comparative-historical method based on the principles of objectivity and historicism. The scientific novelty of the article lies in the study of the little-known problem of M. Hrushevsky's understanding of education and science as factors of post-war reconstruction. The article has concluded, that M. Hrushevsky gave primary importance to the factors of education and science for the reconstruction of Ukrainian lands after the end of the First World War. According to his reasoned belief, the state should invest particularly intensively in the development of all levels of Ukrainian-language education - from elementary to university levels. At the same time, the historian points out, the new educational program must be maximally internationalized for the rapid assimilation of the cultural achievements of Western partners. This should become a guarantee of raising a conscious and educated generation of Ukrainian citizens, prepared for the fundamental modernization of all aspects of the country's life. The restructuring of educational processes, M. Hrushevsky is convinced, should be accompanied by changes in the scientific and organizational areas. The scientist's efforts in this direction were focused on the creation of a wide network of Ukrainian scientific institutions, whose activities were to be moderated by the National Academy of Sciences. It is such a symbiosis of educational and scientific factors, as the prominent historian argued, that is able to ensure the quick and high-quality restoration of war-ravaged Ukrainian lands.

It should be noted that despite all the convention of historical parallels, the recipe for national recovery proposed by M. Hrushevsky with minor adjustments is fully suitable for the current situation of overcoming the consequences of Russian aggression. After all, Putin's reincarnation of russism primarily attacks Ukrainian culture, trying to strike at the foundations of national identity and thereby overcome our resistance. Therefore, today, as well as more than a century ago, the Ukrainian state should pay primary attention to issues of education and science.