The Culture of Ukraine Rather juvenile investigation into the beliefs and customs of the people of the Ukraine.

The Culture of Ukraine Rather juvenile investigation into the beliefs and customs of the people of the Ukraine. The Culture ofUkraineThe Ukrainian people have made a spirited effort to preservetheir cultural heritage. There are several outdoor museum villageswhich display buildings, craft, and living conditions of the pastcentury. Folk dancing and music festivals are often held withtraditional, regional music and costumes.The theater scene in Ukraine is pretty lively. Performancesare mostly in Russian or Ukrainian. The Kyiv Opera House is thehome to many opera and ballet companies of considerable talentand with extensive repertoires. Government subsidies make operaand theater broadcasts less expensive. The Kyiv PhilharmonicConcert Hall, a nineteenth century church with a pipe organ, andthe Kyiv Opera House have a scheduled program that includesperformances by the Odessa Philharmonic Orchestra.Ukrainian contemporary art includes painting and sculpturein a wide range of both experimental and traditional styles. note:Are you noticing that, like practically every other cultural report,this paper i s giving you the impression that, if you didn't knowany better, Ukraine would still be in the eighteenth century, and Idon't remember any ugly municipal parking garages in theeighteenth century, and therefore this paper is not entirelyEnglish: Vydubychi Monastery in Kiev, Ukraineaccurate. Icons and folk arts are portrayed in museums, andcontemporary versions are skillfully done and can be purchased inart galleries and shops. There are several art museums in Kyiv aswell as a Kyivian history museum. There are house museumscontaining Ukrainian and European art. The former LeanMuseum, now referred to as the Ukrainian National House, usesits exhibition space to display numerous small exhibits. In additionto art, many museums have collections and exhibits on botany,zoology, geology, archaeology, and aerospace. How the Ukrainiangovernment fits approximately fifty-three million people in withall those museums and concert halls is a great demographicmiracle.Eleven years of schooling are mand atory in Ukraine, so thesecondary school system is a matter for the government. Schoolsare state run, (Of course they're state run. Did you ever see agovernment program that was privately run?) and deviation fromthe curriculum established by the Ministry of Education isfrowned upon. The objective of the secondary schools is to givestudents a good knowledge of the fundaments of the arts andsciences, as well as to teach them to use these fundamentsproperly.Students begin schooling at age six. Because there are noindividual buildings for elementary, junior high, and high schools,students remain in the same building until they graduate.After the ninth grade students have the option of entering atechnical school program. These can last from one year (if thestudent enters after graduating from secondary school) to threeyears (if the student enters after ninth grade). Entering a college oruniversity in Ukraine is very competitive in Ukraine. Applicantsmust produce a certificate of graduati on from a secondary schooland to pass difficult examinations. I mean the kind ofexaminations that would make the Graduate Record Exam looklike a two-year-old putting together blocks.Educational policy favors the study of science andtechnology. Kyiv is rich in institutes of higher learning. MohyloAcademy is a private liberal arts university recently built on thesite of Ukraine's first university, which was founded in theseventeenth century. Among the other new facilities is a school oflaw that offers courses in both Ukrainian and English. There aremany American graduate students studying in Ukraine under aprogram administered by the International Research and ExchangeBoard (IREX) program. Professors from the United States conductcourses in American literature (an near-oxymoron) and othersubjects under the Fulbright program.The switch from labor to leisure in Ukraine is not as plannedas in other countries. Ukrainians generally work as hard at onetask as possible so that they needn't t ry again.There are a variety of ways Ukrainians do spend their leisuretime. One popular way is to combine the relaxations of drinking,eating, singing, and get some fresh air. This is also known asgoing to a picnic to get drunk, after which you eat enough chili togive all of southeast Asia heartburn. If you can obtain tickets,movies, ballets, and plays are a favorite weekend diversion.Sports complexes can be found in nearly every major city inUkraine. These complexes usually house a swimming pool,facilities for aerobics, boxing, and team sports. There are sportsacademies for students, or they may use their own school facilities.But if none of the above is available, a grassy surface in a parkwill suffice. Adults also take part in amateur competitive sports.Their most popular sports are soccer (with good reason),basketball, volleyball, hockey, and boxing. Tennis is slowlygaining popularity, and the Ukrainians have again proven theirintelligence, for there are no golf courses in all of Ukraine.