UKRAINIAN BRAVE GENERATIONS DEMONSTRATE A NEW TYPE OF PATRIOTISM
It might be a rather boring blog. It will talk about education and another NGO – topics that, let’s agree, are not the most appealing for the media. But this blog is about something more than just education and an NGO. This blog is about new Ukraine and how it is much cooler than you think, and how it is much closer to the Western values and standards than we expect it to be.
A young Ukrainian from Donetsk, Tetiana, and a student from Columbia University, Reed, chose a fairly common name for their NGO. There are many organizations called Brave Generation around the world. Yet, it certainly suits Ukrainian young generations. Sometime ago Tetiana entered Yale University. It sounds like a great accomplishment even for an American, but you can’t even imagine all the challenges that young Ukrainians face on their way to such achievements. This includes the long-lasting mindset gap between the post-Soviet and Western worlds and the lack of technical knowledge on how to apply to the institutions abroad. Ukrainians are not taught neither how to properly format their resumes nor how to write motivation letters. Moreover, post-Soviet schools always pressure students to unnatural modesty, condemning any self-praise. For many years, there has been a problem with getting the right paperwork in the universities, not to mention the backwardness of English translation in the country.
Radical changes began only after Euromaidan in 2014, when Ukrainians clearly stated that they are choosing the Western path. After undergoing all the difficulties of an application process and admission to the American university all by herself, Tetiana felt that she could help others. The new Ukrainian generations are free from the painful post-Soviet traumas, which liberates their natural energy, making them open-minded and very much alike their western peers. However, bridges needed to be built over the abyss of lack of knowledge.
The NGO Brave Generation became this bridge. First, it offers a mentorship program for Ukrainian students with American students, teachers, and professors from such universities as Yale, Columbia, and Harvard. Through 1-on-1 communication, mentees and their mentors discuss challenges that Ukrainians face and, together, they study technical aspects of the way American universities function.
Ukrainian students are thoroughly taught about all the specifics of the application process to Western universities. Over the course of three years, the NGO has facilitated the acceptance of 39 mentees into institutions abroad, 36 of them were awarded full scholarships totaling $5.1 million in value. Now, the NGO’s network unites 487 Ukrainian students–members of the organization.
Last year, the organization initiated a new comprehensive program–Ukraine Recovery Youth Global Initiative–which allowed Ukrainian students to study democracy, human rights, diplomacy, leadership, anti-corruption practices, and more. In a span of 3 years, the NGO engaged prominent figures. Not only does it offer lectures by Professor Timothy Snyder from Yale and Francis Fukuyama from Stanford, but it grants Ukrainian students the opportunity to regularly communicate with the Members of the European Parliament from Finland, Czech Republic, Romania, Luxembourg, Poland, Germany, and other EU-states. Now, I must confess that this blog is somewhat biased, as in Brave Generation, I volunteer as a Board Member. And as I joined the NGO, we took the further steps for these talented students to succeed: Brave Generation organized the internships in the Ukrainian Parliament and the American Congress for some of them.
Yet, this blog is not all about the education curriculum of the NGO. It’s about Ukrainian students who are keen to acquire up-to-date practical knowledge and eager to build Ukraine in accordance with the highest standards of Western democracies. That is what I see as a new type of patriotism–building Ukraine of the future through daily hard work based on the freshest knowledge.
Currently, Ukraine exists in survival mode. For a third of the country’s population, it involves constant hiding from shelling, while for everyone else, it means dealing with power outages and economic deterioration that affect the speed and quality of anyone’s work. Some have become refugees, while others have sacrificed their lives to trenches, tanks, or control panels for combat drones. Almost every Ukrainian knows someone who died because of the war, and around 50,000 people have lost one or more limbs due to shelling. One out of every three Ukrainian children cannot attend school in-person. In the U.S., parents often complain to me about the damage caused by COVID-19, as their children had not been able to socialize and the quality of online education had worsened. Now, imagine that for many Ukrainian children, along with the pandemic, this is the fifth year of such schooling. The life of every Ukrainian inevitably involves volunteering, hiding in bomb shelters, and surviving to some extent. In such circumstances, only a small portion of the society has the energy for innovation and advancement. This is something that will become a significant problem in post-war Ukraine. Therefore, Ukrainian patriotism today is not just about trenches and military heroes. It also includes Ukrainian youth who, despite hiding from air attacks, seek opportunities for mentorship and education. By candlelight, they are writing resumes and drafting motivational letters just to gain Western knowledge and be competitive enough in the international market.
The most important question remains the same for me. Will Ukraine of the future offer talented youth something significant enough to preserve their inspiration and desire to invest their knowledge and experience in their homeland?
Thank you for reading and for your feedback, and don’t forget about my book The Fight of Our Lives that provides a profound analysis of the political life of Ukraine and describes how we attempted to build a meritocracy.
Iuliia Mendel,
Knight-Wallace Fellow 2023-24
WCEE Distinguished Fellow 2023-24