picking cichorium

I have always been jealous of the teachers and college profs because they got to read some truly brilliant pieces.  Even though not a teacher, I get all benefits of the job.

Enjoy some excerpts from the student essays that I came across this year:

• The veterans of the Ukrainian Revolting Army
• You would think that it’s unreal that a teenager reads Shakespear’s plays, but read it because i found it in my “old things,” and there is a lot of murder, so i decided to read it.
• Americans always feel pity for those who get in trouble[,] are keen on disabled.
• Parents should take steps to prevent their teenagers from hitting the bottle.
• Lover man keeps in heart image by his love, makes him immortal, like immortal sun, Earth, wind, because just this immortality possible in our world.
• First i heard about law when i was 14.
• There is nobody who wants to be lovely on Earth.
• Ukrainian constitution was found in 1996.
• Once i tried to milk the cow but it was difficult, moreover the cow didn’t like my movements. [...] Playing with my dog pleased me a lot, too.
• Leo Tolstoy “The World and the Peace”
• What is the most important thing to make people happy? [...] First and foremost my suggestion would be to choose a landlord and make him the head of the government.
• We have first place in the world by the number of dead people.

P.S. In case you wonder what country kids are writing about, it is Ukraine.

In September I attended a discussion between President Saakashvili and President Ilves moderated by the President of Columbia University, Lee C. Bollinger. I was very impressed with how Mr. Saakashvili presented Georgia after the Rose Revolution – he fired at the audience all sorts of numerical data that proved his case of a capable leader with many accomplishments. The numbers from internationally renowned organizations such as World Bank did not leave a doubt that corruption was effectively fought, GDP was growing, and Georgia was becoming one of the most favorable countries for starting a business. I definitely became a believer. So what is happening now, a provocation organized by the Russian special services, or Georgians’ active disagreement with the accuracy of the mentioned above numerical data? 

What interests me even more is whether both Georgians and Ukrainians demand too much from their leadership, or whether both Rose and Orange Revolutions lost their momentum. Looking from across the ocean I see different things in the press than I hear from the people: could it be that these two focus on different aspects of the development and improvement? In Ukrainian case we just witnessed fair elections recognized by the international community, but Ukrainians sigh when asked about the political situation.

hm…

And since we already started talking about the revolutions, let us bow our heads in memory of the deceased October/November one because today it could have been its 90^th birthday, and many people might have been ploughing in the morning and criticizing in the afteroon by now. If only Lenin did not think  that he knew better than Marx