The Armenian Revolutionary Federation Shant Student Association and Armenian Youth Federation Western United States stand in solidarity with students in Armenia in calling for the resignation of the Minister of Education, Science, Culture, and Sport, Arayik Harutyunyan.
The Minister’s proposed policies strongly endanger the values and demands that came about from the people’s movement in 2018 in our homeland. Arayik Harutyunyan has proposed a decision to remove Armenian language, literature, and history as required courses in higher education. Education within these realms as a national standard is pertinent to the integral national identity of the citizens in the homeland and removing these elements creates a chasm of knowledge amongst peers and generations. The Minister’s attitude towards the values that the diaspora continues to uplift and promote amongst college-level students is wholly unacceptable.
Furthermore, the Minister in an interview responded to demands of his resignation by suggesting there were qualitative differences between our comrades in Armenia versus the diaspora. We refuse to accept the divisive nature of the Minister’s statements. As the face of education in Armenia today, we hope that, at the very least, Mr. Harutyunyan understands that our organizations are decentralized in work but not in ideology, and that we will always unite to stand in defense of our language, heritage, and identity.
Yes I am joining the movement to resign this Minister for serious national incompetence. No structural reform at the maternal, primary, secondary, even neo-Soviet curriculum, no democratic listening, organized, teachers’ body no exchange work and cooperation with education systems preconises by the major international institutions, UNESCO, then with professional organizations of countries with high level of pedagogical education, finally no relationship with school, educational, diaspora organizations. The success of national policies requires the quality of education in symbiosis with the world of education. Yes we must fire this minister designed by Mr Pachinian … On what criteria?
Armenian’s Armenian language is battered already by Russian, Persian, Turkish, English and many other foreign languages. One thing Armenian government should do is encourage/force learning the pure Armenian Language, Armenian History and Armenian Apostolic Religion. Soviet Union destroyed the religion and closed the churches and so called 1st Christion nation abandoned the Christianity. It is time to making mandatory study Armenian culture, religion and language at Armenian colleges.
In order to complete my math degree at U.C. Berkeley, I had to take English Composition, American History and Institution. They were mandatory. After I graduated and worked as a top trouble shooter at Oracle, one of the reasons why I excelled is because I was an avid reader of literature and the creative arts. When I visited Bangalore, India in 2002 to teach class, many of the Indian students around me took the position that they did not need to take other classes to finish their science degrees.
Einstein said: “Imagination is more important than knowledge”. It’s true in sciences, even in Computer Science. If Mr. Pashinyan is sincere in making Armenia a leader in IT, this is one of the first issues he has to be correct on.
I disagree with making the minister resign. We are too quick to call people traitors, forcing them to resign, throwing them in prison, both in the USA and Armenia. Those practices are from the palaces of the Ottoman Empire, where if you did not kill your siblings, you were gonna get killed and never become the Sultan.