What the cult Soviet textbook on home economics told about, and why modern children do not understand it
What the cult Soviet textbook on home economics told about, and why modern children do not understand it

Video: What the cult Soviet textbook on home economics told about, and why modern children do not understand it

Video: What the cult Soviet textbook on home economics told about, and why modern children do not understand it
Video: Неизвестный Грибоедов – гусар, дуэлянт, дипломат | Курс Владимира Мединского | XIX век - YouTube 2024, November
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The iconic Soviet home economics textbook for children: how a modern child reads it
The iconic Soviet home economics textbook for children: how a modern child reads it

In the seventies, a very special story with a sequel began to be printed in the Pioneer magazine. She was supposed to teach pioneers and pioneers the intricacies of home life and cooking, self-care and etiquette, but also - in it there was a fairy tale and sometimes difficult relationships of heroes, which could be followed like a modern TV series. The story was called "The Academy of House Wizards", and now it is considered a cult among lovers of Soviet children's literature. But you can't easily share it with the younger generation. It turns out that children are so incomprehensible and funny!

Oddities start from the very first page. Children ask each other what pistachios are and think about the word "interview", although they know what lace was woven in the old French Valenciennes. But a modern child has seen and ate pistachios more than once, but asks the question - what is a school apron? Children do not associate school with the portfolio mentioned below.

Soviet poster: a schoolgirl checks if the student's hands are dirty
Soviet poster: a schoolgirl checks if the student's hands are dirty

Why is there no ketchup or mayonnaise in the fridge and you have to make sour cream sauce? Do people eat compote and not drink? Why is it so difficult to buy flowers? How can a very seriously decent-looking boy who plays with other decent children not wash his hands for several days, even to the point of scrubbing them with a brush? Isn't it strange that Kalinka tells the girl that washing her hair every five days is too often? What kind of ink is there in the pens that you have to remove it from the skin with a lemon? And hair, and rags, and dishes - everything is washed with soap, wow! No other detergents at all.

Soviet advertising of mayonnaise
Soviet advertising of mayonnaise

Why can't you sit after lunch for more than five minutes, then what, just stand at home ?! How do children know so easily what cambric and pique are? By the way, what is this ?! Why does Kalinka think that skirts are shorter than a palm above the knee?

Soviet soap advertisement
Soviet soap advertisement

Children are particularly bewildered by the listing of, as they would say now, brands:

“Now we will pull out the basting and wash it in warm water with laundry soap or washing powder“Lotus”,“Neptune”,“Planet”. Yes, perhaps, we will bleach it, because the piqué has slightly turned yellow from lying for a long time.

- How to whiten? Whitewash?

- No whitewash. The hardware store sells a powder called Seagull, or Swan, or simply Bleach. White things turn slightly yellow over time, they are bleached. White, especially smart, dress or trim to a smart dress should be dazzling white and, of course, without a single spot. Bleach kills almost all stains.”

Soviet soap advertisement
Soviet soap advertisement

Why only these brands of powder or bleaches if there are dozens more? What if these are the ones you can't find in the store now? Why is it necessary to buy only in the household and you cannot go to a regular supermarket?

The description of shopping is racking its brains. It is clear (albeit ridiculous) that prices are completely different - in kopecks, they also change … But precisely because prices change, it is not clear why it is precisely described how much and what is in the store. Indeed, in different stores, the price tags are different!

Soviet ice cream advertisement
Soviet ice cream advertisement

Some skills seem completely meaningless to children. For example, starch the collar, spend several hours cooking banal ice cream (you can just buy a large briquette), rub the floors with something, rub fruit for juice, let go of the dress (where?), Darn (you can see that it is darned, it is better buy a new one!).

The Soviet poster encourages children to learn to be independent
The Soviet poster encourages children to learn to be independent

Of course, not every child of the twenty-first century understands the realities of the pioneer life, even when they know who the pioneers are. The link is about people, and not about the chain - how's that? The druzhinnaya wall newspaper differs from the usual one - in what way? Is it just for friends? Why then is drawing her more important than sitting with a sick grandmother?

Soviet poster with pioneers
Soviet poster with pioneers

Many aspects of the childhood culture of the seventies are unfamiliar to modern children. For example, why suck on icicles and why an icicle from the top of a mountain is somehow especially cool. Yes, Kalinka says in the book that there is no difference - but you feel that it is very important for the boy Bob that the icicle is from the Tien Shan or the South Pole. How can boys tease a girl because of her freckles? It happens that bespectacled people are teased or a stutter, but there is nothing strange about freckles. What kind of notebook with songs is Leka leading? Maybe she composes them?

We'll have to explain to the modern little reader what photographic film and tape are. And if you want to be surprised, ask him what the milk bags mentioned in the book look like - for example, they made a boat out of them and lowered it down the stream. He will describe clearly not cardboard triangles.

Children find it difficult to understand not only advice on home economics, in which everything in the world is washed with soap, but also fiction. Where the police are looking and is it not a pity for a cat: this is what surprises modern children in the books that their parents read as children.

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