Belarusian Humanities Lyceum

[Curt F. Woolhiser]

This is very sad indeed. Certainly, Lukashenka and his administration have done
their utmost to reverse the language policies of the early 1990s, just as they 
have effectively crushed most democratic institutions in the country. However, 
I have heard that despite the closure of Belarusian-medium institutions such as 
the Humanities Lyceum, a larger percentage of Belarusian schoolchildren (that 
is, those attending "Russian" schools) are now taking at least some classes 
with Belarusian as the language of instruction than was the case in the late 
Soviet period. So, even though "official bilingualism" as practiced under 
Lukashenka is weighted heavily in favor of Russophones, perhaps the situation 
is not quite as bleak as it seems. In any event, I think it's safe to say that 
young Belarusians are more likely to speak Belarusian or at least have 
favorable attitudes toward it than people of Lukashenka's generation, which 
bodes well for the future of the language. 

Curt Woolhiser

=============================== 
Curt Woolhiser 
Department of Slavic Languages 
and Literatures 
12 Quincy St., Barker Center 
Harvard University 
Cambridge, MA 02138-3879 USA 

Tel. (617) 495-3528 
Fax (617) 496-4466 
email: cwoolhis at fas.harvard.edu 
=============================== 


Quoting Uladzimir Katkouski <uladzik at MAILBOX.HU>:

> This is not really about language, but it's more of a political issue
> which in our case is entangled with the sociolinguistics (Belarusian vs
> Russian in Belarus). I've put 2 articles about National Humanties Lyceum
> struggle.
>
> • Children on the streets: Belarusian Humanities Lyceum closed down
> http://www.pravapis.org/art_humanities_lyceum.asp
>
> • Youth keeps alive spark of rebellion (reprint from yesterday's TIMES)
> http://www.pravapis.org/art_youth_rebellion.asp
>
> I feel so bad for these about children, I can't believe the government
> is doing all this.
>
> Regards,
> Uladzimir
>
>
>
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