Vocabulary exercises on the text

Think of words that fit the definitions below (the required words are in the text).

bringing up, training, instruction - e...

advance to higher stage, progress - d...

get, accept - r...

skill, talent, gift - a...

subjects included in a course of study - c...

propose, suggest - o...

obligatory, enforced - c...

progress, advance - s...

THE SYSTEM OF SCHOOLING

Historians say that literacy existed before Kyiv Rus was baptized but we know too little about that period to form any definite conclusions. In fact, we can trace the schooling tradition to the time of the baptism of Rus, when the Cyrillic alphabet was given to the Slavs by the great enlightener St.Cyril. Christian monasteries and temples became the first venues of literacy. Every such religious community had a school where monks and priests were the first teachers.

In the 16th-18th c. an increasing number of schools were set up by national religious-educational communities — so-called Brotherhoods. The Greek-Slavonic-Latin Collegium, Ukraine's first institution of higher learning, was founded in Ostroh, in 1576.

At the turn of the 18th c. the level of public literacy placed Ukraine ahead of a number of Western and Eastern European countries. Schools were then to be found in most of the villages.

The first universities appeared in Kharkiv (1805), Kyiv (1834) and Odesa (1865). Later, "specialized institutes" were opened for training industrial, railroad engineers, agronomists, pliysicians and specialists in the other fields.

Present-day independent Ukraine has got a rather developed system of education, which in many respects answers the standards of the developed countries. General secondary education is free and compulsory. Post-secondary education is acceptable to one and all.

The educational system includes over 23,000 preschool educational establishments (child daycare centers). The basic link of the system is general educational school, of which there are 21,350 now. This school has three stages: primary, basic and senior. Of late there appeared a new type of schools meant for gifted children. There are gymnasiums and lycees, private schools in our country. The secondary school must secure a uniform level of knowledge necessary for every student. Besides, it also has optional, extracurricular courses and disciplines reflecting the school's academic speciality or major.

An important role in the educational system is played by vocational , training schools providing almost 800 qualifications.

Post-secondary education is provided by technical schools and colleges training young specialists and institutions of higher learning: universities, academies, institutes and conservatories, including 14 classical and 45 technological and branch universities, 30 academies and 72 institutes. Ukraine numbers a total of 1,5 million college-and-university students. A multilevel system of training is being introduced based on the junior specialist — B.A. — specialist — M.A. scheme.

The alternative system of higher education is gaining momentum made up of non-government institutions.

Institutions of higher learning enroll some 12,000 foreign students, postgraduates and visiting graduates, of whom 8,000 are on Ukrainian government scholarship.

Ukraine is party to intergovernmental agreements on education with 32 countries and cooperates with more than 50 international educational organizations, programs, and foundations.

* Make the sentences true.

1. Literacy did not exist in Kyiv Rus in the 11-th c.

2. The Cyrillic alphabet was given to the Slavs by Yaroslav the Wise.

3. The first schools were set up by Brotherhoods.

4. Ukraine's first institute of higher learning was called the Brotherhood Collegium.

5. The first universities appeared in Kharkiv, Lviv, and Odesa.

6. The general educational school in Ukraine has four stages: pre-school, primary, basic and senior.

7. The school's major is an extracurricular course obligatory for every student.

8. Vocational training schools provide post-secondary education.

9. Institutions of higher learning include technical schools, colleges, universities, academies, institutes and conservatories.

10. A multilevel system of training is based on the junior specialist — specialist scheme.

BROTHERHOOD SCHOOLS

Brotherhood schools founded by religious brotherhoods for the purposes of counteracting the denationalizing influence of Catholic (Jesuit) and Protestant schools and of preserving the Orthodox faith began to appear in the 1580s.

The first school was established in 1586 by the Lviv Dormition Brotherhood. In the first half of the 17th century even some villages had brotherhood schools. The most prominent schools were those of the Lviv and Kyiv brotherhoods.

At first the brotherhood schools had a Greek-Church Slavonic curriculum: lectures were in Church Slavonic, and Greek was taught as a second language. Then the schools began to adopt the structure and curriculum of the Jesuit schools, using Latin as the primary language. Ukrainian was used only for examination purposes and for teaching the catechism. The curriculum of most of the brotherhood schools provided what was accepted as a secondary education in those times: classical languages, dialectics, rhetoric, poetics, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music (church singing). Some schools taught Orthodox theology and Catholic theology (for the purpose of polemics).

Brotherhood schools were open to various social strata. Students were judged not by lineage, but by achievement (in contrast to Jesuit schools). Discipline in the schools was strict, and physical punishment was used. Orphans and poor students lived in bursas. Brotherhood school made a significant contribution to the growth, of religious and national consciousness and the development of Ukrainian culture. They published textbooks, particularly language textbooks. At the end of the 17th century and in the 18th century the schools found themselves in adverse political conditions and declined.

* Are the following facts found in the reading?

1. Brotherhood schools began to appear in 1580s.

2. They were founded in various towns of Ukraine and Belorus.

3. Greek was taught as a second language.

4. Hence these schools were also called Greek schools.

5. Lecturers were required to set an example by their behavior.

6. Brotherhood schools played an important role in the development of Ukrainian culture.

THE ANCIENT UNIVERSITY

Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, one of the highest cultural achievements of our state, became one of the most brilliant phenomena of the Ukrainian culture and the Ukrainian spirit.

Its history begins at Kyiv Brotherhood School. On October 15, 1615, the noble woman Hlashka Hulevichevna presented her land, in Podil in Kyiv to a monastery, hospital and school for children W "all positions and ranks". Iov Boretsky, a well-known; Ukrainian enlightener, became its first rector.

The guardian of the school was Kyiv Brotherhood which supported it both financially and intellectually: almost all Kyiv scientists of that time were its members. Zaporizhian Cossacks led by hetman Petro Sahaidachny joined the Brotherhood with the whole army.

Sometime later the school united with the Lavra School of metropolitan Petro Mohyla: it was declared a higher educational establishment and was named Kyiv-Mohyla, in honour of its patron Petro Mohyla, the most educated man of that era.

Hetman Ivan Mazepa, protector of art and education in Ukraine, did much for the development of the Academy.

Until 1661 the Academy was the only institute of higher education of Eastern Europe. Kyiv-Mohyla Academy provided a very wide education. The Church Slavonic, Greek, Latin, Polish, French and German languages were studied in the Academy. The curricula comprised poetics, literature, philosophy, geography, mathematics, physics, and from the end of the century also economics and history. Graduates of the Academy became writers, publishers, translators, prominent diplomats and men of the church.

Talented statesmen — hetmans Samoilovich, Ivan Mazepa, Pylyp Orlyk were its graduates. The founder of the Russian Academy, Mykhailo Lomonosov, the first professor of medicine of Russia Konstantin Schepin, honorary member of twelve foreign academies Danylo Tuptalo, a prominent portrait painter H.Levytsky and architect Hryhorovych-Barsky studied at the Academy at different times.

In 1817, the Academy was closed by a tsar's decree. It is impossible to estimate the losses to Ukraine caused by this action. The library, the picture-gallery together with the most valuable archives disappeared.

Kyiv-Mohyla Academy only resumed its work in 1991, already as the independent and international University "Kyiv-Mohyla Academy". Three faculties work now in the University: the humanities, social and natural sciences.

The International Sociological Center is being created together with the American»Ukrainian Ecological Center, the French-Ukrainian Laboratory of Humanitarian Studies, the Information-Computing Center, scientific and educational laboratories. The scientific library is being replenished.

An art gallery, drama school, and chorus are opened in the Academy. Students have organized the students’ Brotherhood and yacht club.

A very strong teaching staff is gathered in the Academy. Leading scientists from different countries of the world deliver lectures in the University.

UKMA is so far the only higher institute of learning in Ukraine, where almost half the courses have been chosen. An international meeting of UNESCO experts was held in May 1993 in the Academy. Consequently UKMA was granted international university status.

* How is the following related to the University "Kyiv-Mohyla Academy"?

1. Brotherhood school

2. Podil

8. Ion Boretsky

4. Petro Mohyla

5. prominent people and men of the church

6. M.Lomonosov

7. 1817

8. 1991

9. humanities, social and natural sciences

10. leading scientists

P.MOHYLA

Petro Mohyla, born 10 January 1597, died 11 January 1677. Ukrainian metropolitan, noble, and cultural figure. Son of Simeon, hospodar of Wallachia and Moldavia, and the Hungarian princess Margareta. He was tutored by teachers of the Lviv Dormition Brotherhood School and pursued higher education in theology at the Zamostia Academy and in Holland and France. After his return to Ukraine he entered the military service and fought as an officer against the Turks. In 1621-27 he received estates in the Kyiv region and through his friendship with Metropolitan I. Boretsky became interested in affairs of the Ukrainian Orthodox Cliurch. Soon Petro Mohyla was nominated the metropolitan of Kyiv. In 1631 Mohyla established a school at the Kyiv Cave Monastery. In 1632 it was merged with the Kyiv Epiphany Brotherhood School to create a college, which eventually became the largest center of scholarship and education in Eastern Europe, Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.

KHARKIY UNIVERSITY

Kharkiv University is the first university in Russian-ruled Ukrainian territory. It was founded in 1805 on the initiative of V.Karazyn, and with the financial support of the local nobility, burghers, and the municipal council. The university enjoyed a broad autonomy: its highest governing body was the Professorial Council, which elected the rector and all professors. Count S.Potocki was appointed curator of the university, and the first rector was the philologist I.Rizhsky. During the first decade the faculty consisted mostly of foreign scholars, the majority of whom were German.

During the 19th century the university consisted of four faculties: physics-mathematics, history-philology, law, and medicine. The university was provided with a surgical laboratory and clinic; art, astronomy, physics, technology, zoology, and mineralogy cabinets; a botanical garden; a library; and a printing press. The first periodicals in eastern Ukraine were published by cultural circles closely connected with the university. In the 1830s a number of professors and students of Kharkiv University formed a literary group known as the Kharkiv Romantic School. Kharkiv University became an important cultural force in Ukraine. It introduced Western ideas and trends and recognized the cultural significance of Ukrainian folklore.

In spite of political interference, studies in Ukrainian history, literature, and language continued to expand. The Kharkiv Historical-Philological Society published a wealth of materials in these fields.

The Revolution of 1905 led to an easing of government controls and a quickening of the development of national consciousness.

Before 1917 the more notable professors of Kharkiv University were the philologists I.Sreznevsky, N. and P.Lavrovsky, O.Potebnia, and S.Kulbakin; the historians D.Balmhi and V.Buzeskul; the economist V.Levytsky; the mathematicians A.Liapunov and T.Osypovsky; the physicists M.Pylchykov and D.Rozhansky; the chemists N.Beketov, V.Tymofieiev, and O.Danylevsky; the botanists V.Palladin and A.Krasnov; and the geologists N.Borysiak and I.Levakovsky.

During the revolutionary period of 1917-20 the predominantly Russian faculty reorganized the linguistic and cultural rights of the Ukrainian people but resisted the idea of political independence.

In 1933 eight research institutes were brought under the university and large funds were provided to stimulate research. In 1936 the university was named after the Russian writer M.Gorky.

Today Kharkiv University has 11 faculties: mechanics-mathematics, physics, physics-technology, radio-physics, chemistry, biology, geology-geography, economics, history, philology, and foreign languages. It also has a graduate school, evening school, and correspondence courses. There are 4 research institutes, dozens of laboratories, an astronomical observatory, a botanical garden, 4 museums, a central library, and 50 departmental libraries.

* Tick the facts that are not found in the reading.

1. Kharkiv University was founded in 1805.

2. The Professorial Council elected the rector and the professors.

3. A veterinary school was added to the university in 1839.

4. The university became an important cultural force in Ukraine.

5. By 1848 all publications and even lectures were subjected to censorship.

6. In 1874 the university began to publish its "Zapiski".

7. Studies in Ukrainian history, literature, and language expanded.

8. A number of noted faculty members worked at the university after the revolution.

9. Some of them emigrated after 1943.

10.Kharkiv University has 11 faculties today.

Education Quiz

1. When did literacy exist in Kyiv Rus?

2. What were the first venues of literacy in Kyiv Rus?

3. Where was the first brotherhood school established?

4. What languages were taught in brotherhood schools?

5. Who was P.Mohyla?

6. When did he establish a school at the Kyiv Cave Monastery?

7. When did the history of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy begin?

8. Why was Kyiv-Mohyla Academy named in P.Mohyla's honor?

9. What prominent people studied at the Academy?

10.When did the Academy resume its work as the International Independent University "Kyiv-Mohyla Academy"?

11.Where did the first university appear in Ukraine?

12. When was Kharkiv University founded?

13. What faculties does it consist of today?

14.What components does the educational system in Ukraine consist of?