Assignments

Exercise 1. 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.

Exercise II. Complete the following sentences:

1. Kharkiv University was founded in …

2. In the 1830s a number of professors and students of Kharkiv University formed …

3. The Revolution of 1905 led to …

4. Before 1917 the more notable professors of Kharkiv University were…

5. In 1933 eight research institutes were brought under …

6. Today Kharkiv University has …

Text 7 the life of young people in ukraine

The life of any age, social or professional group is always determined by the economic, social and political situation of the country .So the economic crisis in Ukraine which followed the split of the former Soviet Union changed the lives of all groups of population including the young people. The unemployment rate among the youth is even higher than among other age groups because they: lack working experience and knowledge. As a result the criminal situation in the country has changed for the worse.

All these factors made the Ukrainian government take special measures for creating youth organisations in our country which could help young people to find their place in life, to determine their vocations, to follow the right guidelines. Among these organisations is, for example, «The Students' League» whose activity is aimed at solving various students' problems, including economic ones. The members of this league organise youth forums, festivals and interest groups meetings. This organisation also has friendly ties with the Student Unions of many foreign countries. .

A number of political parties in Ukraine have their youth wings: People's Democratic League of Youth(People's Democratic Party); Ukrainian Social-Democratic Youth (Social-Democratic Party of Ukraine (united); the Union of Agrarian Youth (Agrarian Party of Ukraine), Socialist Congress of Youth (Socialist Party of Ukraine), Leninist Communist Union of Youth of Ukraine (Communist Party of Ukraine), etc. ,

These youth organisations have been working under the guidance of and along the lines of their political parties. They have proved to be active and influential participants in social and political processes in the country. For example, during the latest election campaign a number of youth organisations formed a coalition «Youth for Leonid Kuchma», and, in general, young voters were very active.

A lot of young people in Ukraine are active in the «greens» movement. They organise various actions of protest against the pollution of the environment. Their main ,aim is to help the government and non-government organisations to protect and preserve a safe environment in our country .

There are some youth organisations that are based on common professional and educational interests, for example, All-Ukrainian Association of Young Scientists, «Liege Artis», Ukrainian League of Young Entreprerteurs, Union of Young Journalists, Association of Young Farmers, etc.

A lot of work has been done by the «Young Prosvita» organisation to raise national self-consciousness and to promote Ukrainian culture in the country .

In the early 1990s the Union of Pioneer Organisations was set up in Ukraine. It unites children and teenagers from 10 to 15 years old. All pioneers wear scarves of seven colours as in a rainbow. The aim of this organisation is to help children to become worthy citizens of their country and members of the community. Pioneers give an oath to do good things, to respect grown ups, to help the young a6d the old, to love our Motherland, and to carryon folk traditions. Pioneers practice sports together, do a lot of hiking, etc.

Boy Scout organisation in Ukraine was organised on the principles of British and American organisations of this type.

Ukraine, at its current transitional stage, is as a rather dynamic society ,which has not been completely structured. As all the other age groups, he younger Ukrainians are faced with a major problem: Choice.

Changes are noticeable among young people. Although these people are different, several common traits can be discerned and assumed to determine rends in the youthful environs. Our studies show that young people have quickly responded to basic changes in society by developing individual survival patterns, and we find it rather common, in a civilized society. There is an increasing number of young people holding more than one position or job, moonlighting, making things for sale, rendering paid services to the population, engaging in entrepreneurship, starting trading businesses... In other words, our young people are getting economically active, and at the same time, more pragmatic and spiritually restrained.

In today's Ukraine, people aged between 15 and 28 number a little less than 10 million, and their ratio is dropping, as is birth rate, while children's mortality is on the upward curve. Some 80 percent of the younger generation register various physical malfunctions.

Processes underway now leave our young people emotionally perturbed. Their social expectations are inseparable from the socioeconomic situation. Below are the data from the monitoring done in May 1996. Among the problems most acutely affecting our youth (as in previous polls) were material aspects in the first place: lowpersonal income (acknowledged by 60% of the respondents); low parents' take-home pay (52%); young families' meager earnings (complained of by two-thirds of the respondents with families); bad living conditions (27%), and unemployment (24%). Three-quarters of the respondents said the current economic situation in Ukraine negatively influenced their material standing only 6% said it was positive), and 65% pointed to its negative impact on their psyche (a mere 4% stated the contrary).

Another phenomenon is that a great many young people these days think less of mental work, education, research, and knowledge in general. A1l,his takes time,and they want things done overnight. And so they plunge into business headlong, grabbing quick bucks here and there, wheeling and dealing, acting as commercial intermediaries without proper training and experience. An increasing number of these people are making money in a manner far remote from honest and painstaking professional work. Note some 70 percent of young people working in the public sector. On the one hand, they cannot in any way .influence the development and management of production. On the other, they are in no position to start up business themselves. Hence yet another contradiction: a great many young people support market reforms in Ukraine but ore opposed to the manner in which these reforms are implemented.

In short, problems faced by young Ukrainians could be grouped as follows:

-employment;

-worsening conditions of young families, obliteration of their educational functions;

-growing housing problems;

-increasing youth crime rate (20- 25 percent annual increment);

-crisis of cultural and moral values;

-lowering public activity, etc.

Youth problems are caused not only by today's economic hardships. The worst destabilizing factor in the modern Ukrainian community is the crisis of consciousness and cultural and moral values. We have here a formidable contradiction that deserves separate consideration. On the one hand, the gratifying fact is that most young people wholeheartedly support today's political course aimed at building an independent, free and sovereign democratic state. On the other hand, these young people, have never placed too much trust in either of the three branches of power. They simply do not expect any support from the state. In tackling their problems, young people rely on their own resources in the first place. All the government has to do is to give youth a bit of support.

To begin with, it means financing top priority youth programs concerning education, health care, and sports. And, of course, making payments for social groups that are simply incapable of supporting themselves -like cripples, orphans, and children of disadvantaged families.

Another strongly negative phenomenon is the situation with young families. Statistics shows that the number of registered marriages has dropped by 20 percent over the past decade, and that of official divorces has increased as much. This is especially true of couples married under one year (2.3 times). Couples married under 4 years -mostly young people, of course -share some 40 percent of the divorcees; An increasing number of families want fewer children (a short while ago most newlyweds said they would have at least 2 babies, considered necessary by the demographers for what they call normal reproduction of the population; today, more than one half of. the families have one baby each, andand about one-fourth are without children). Basic social economic, and political changes in Ukraine, as well the crisis of traditional social institutions affecting, amc others, the younger generation (primarily in regard the family and school), dramatic transformations in the notion of heritage, alienation of youth from politics a culture, young people's changing atritude toward moral values and entities like jobs and earnings, and finally t absence of constructive political and legal approaches the younger generation show that it is necessary now only to help these people with some of their problem but also, and most importantly, single out the issue youth as a specific and top prioriry one in the government policy.

Contrary to allegations, Ukraine does have a you policy, and this policy is supported by the goverlimer What is more, Ukraine is in many respects superior other CIS countries in this domain. In fact. this superiority was confirmed by a team of experts from 34 countries who gathered for an international conference on youth policy in Kyiv.

Young Ukrainians today are more pragmatic and actively independent. They rely more on their own resources and do not expect the state or anyone else to solve their problems for them.They show less public activity in joining political parties and volunteer organizations (youth organizations included).They are eager to get an education and well- paid jobs. They want to take a confident stand in life and show their self-realization. They show less cultural demands and take a simpler approach to cultural and moral dictates. There is a crisis in terms of ideals, and a loss in terms of general human values.