OLDS — École Olds High School principal Tom Christensen has taught social studies 30 for years. This year, it’s even more relevant than ever, due to Russian’s invasion of Ukraine.
“We do Russia every year in social studies and we go right from the czarist Russia right up to (current Russian president Vladimir) Putin,” Christensen said during an interview.
“I’ve always talked about the Ukrainian famine, the Holodomor. But this time, it just really has lent itself to the struggle for independence. I mean, these people are one of the most repressed and persecuted people in history, the Ukrainian people. And so it’s just been very timely on that.”
Christensen noted that after the Soviet Union collapsed, beginning in 1989, Ukraine, which had been part of that bloc, emerged as an independent country.
“They finally get 30 years of independence and now it seems like that dream is being crushed by Putin. So that’s kind of a theme that I’ve done as we’ve gone through it this week," he said.
Christensen said history is essentially repeating itself. He noted that about 100 years ago, Ukrainians were fighting a war for independence against the Russian Bolsheviks just as the 1918 Spanish Flu epidemic was winding down.
Now they’re fighting for their freedom again against Putin’s military and again, at the same time, a pandemic is supposedly winding down.
“Basically they’ve been fighting for independence since the Mongolian invasion in 1300. So I’ve really just been trying to emphasize the whole plight of the Ukrainians. This is just one more great struggle for these people and how horrendous that is," he said.
Christensen said this week, Social Studies 30 students will learn about how things went from bad to worse when former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, who aligned himself and the country with Russia, lost power in 2014.
That’s when Russia invaded and absorbed Crimea which had until then been part of Ukraine. That’s also when Russian-oriented separatists in the Donbas region of southeastern Ukraine fought a war for independence, reportedly with help from Russia.
“The Ukrainian people in 2014 basically said, ‘no, we don’t want that. We want to be more towards the European camp.’ And so that’s when the invasion of Crimea and the Donbas regions began,” he said.
During a Social 30 class on March 11, Christensen held a discussion about the war in Ukraine with students before they watched a film about former Russian and Soviet Union leader Josef Stalin.
Christensen asked one of the students, Robert, if he believed that sanctions imposed by the West on Russia will be enough to persuade Putin to abandon the invasion.
"I don’t know if they’re helping too much,” Robert said.
Another student warned those sanctions could “backfire some day; especially those countries close to Russia."
“Could be,” Christensen said.
Christensen noted that Putin had warned he might use nuclear weapons if necessary. He asked class if they were worried about that possibility or whether they think Putin is merely bluffing.
"Well, I mean, it’s him, right? So its possible. Absolutely, yes, I think he would definitely do that,” Roni said.
Roni knows only too well how vicious Putin can be. Putin’s military helped defeat a revolution against Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.
Roni’s family emigrated to Canada after escaping from Syria. Their house was burned and their neighbour’s house was bombed.
Reportedly chemical weapons were deployed by the Russians during the war in Syria. The West is concerned that Russia may deploy chemical or biological weapons during the current war in Ukraine as well.
Roni said he could see both sides of the issue regarding possible intervention by the West.
He understands the repeated calls for help by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and others, but also understands the concern of U.S. president Joe Biden and other leaders that any such intervention could spark World War III, which could become a nuclear war.
Such decisions could "decide what the world looks like for the next five, 10, 20 years from now,” Roni said.
“It’s a scary,” Christensen said. “It's an interesting situation. It’s one that when we talk about World War II, it’ll maybe help you understand a little bit about how the countries – why they maybe didn’t stand up to Hitler as much as they could have before that.”
“I think it would be wise to avoid a nuclear war,” Cody said.
“Yeah, for sure,” Christensen said. “But then, how long will the conflict in Ukraine last? Are we prepared to basically have those people fight a conflict against a power like Russia? Are we prepared to just kind of let them do all the work for us?”
“If we wanted to join the conflict with Russia we’d have to prepare for being against Russia and China as well,” Cody said.
