In a sign that the Putin regime is preparing for the militarization of Russian society over the long haul, schools across the Russian Federation are introducing ever more military training programs for ever younger school-age groups, including kindergarteners, Milan Czerny reports.
The journalist for The Insider surveys this trend which is all the more striking because, in many countries, governments and populations are focused on getting guns out of the schools rather than into them and offering programs to encourage young people to solve their problems without violence.
Most Russian educators and psychologists see this development as both appropriate and safe, but some international experts question that, arguing that by normalizing violence, the Russian approach risks making violence more widespread in Russian society if children decide that using force to resolve all problems is appropriate.
If that happens, these experts say, then the problems ahead for Russian society are dire indeed.
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