Apparently, Russian kids watch too much of the OC. According to this report from state news agency RIA Novosti Moscow on 17th June, Russian schoolchildren would love to make like Ryan Attwood and lounge around in pool houses overlooking the pacific, while working for one of America’s Corporate Giants (not McDonalds, if that’s what you were thinking).

They’d also like to abolish the English language and scratch America, a.k.a “Georgia’s Henchman, “off the map…

(FYI: CocaCola would remain unaffected)

Article:

Russian schoolchildren regard the USA as an enemy but still want to live in Beverly Hills on the Pacific coast and work for Coca Cola. These are the results of the opinion poll “Political conscience of teenagers” carried out by the State University - Higher School of Economics. 

In October-December 2008, the political research laboratory of the State University - Higher School of Economics carried out a poll among 300 teenagers, aged 13-18, residents of Moscow. Of them, 150 live in stable families and go to prestigious schools, and 150 are runaway children, the so-called street kids, whom the researchers met at railway stations, markets, hostels and isolation wards.

To abolish the English language and conquer the USA: Forty-eight per cent of Moscow schoolchildren and 23 per cent of street children believe that the USA is Russia’s “enemy”, first deputy head of the faculty of applied political sciences of the State University - Higher School of Economics Valeriya Kasamara said at a news conference at RIA Novosti. Twenty-three per cent of children from stable families believe Russia has no enemies. The teenagers also named Georgia as Russia’s enemy (19 per cent of schoolchildren and 19 per cent of street children). Kasamara said the poll was carried out in October, when the press was still actively discussing the Georgian-Ossetian conflict. Moreover, the children described the Georgians as the Americans’ henchmen. 

The street children see enemies in Fascists and people of non-Russian ethnic backgrounds from the former Soviet Union (Azeri, Kyrgyz, Tajiks and Chechens), whom they regard as rivals (10 and 13 per cent respectively). Asked how Fascists could be considered as modern Russia’s enemies, Kasamara said that many street children spend only three to five years in school, and their answers show their inadequate knowledge of history.

The Moscow schoolchildren offer the following ways to oppose America: to abolish the English language, remove the USA from the position of world dominance or at least stop being dependent on the USA, or even such radical measures as wiping the USA off the face of the world. At the same time the children say they dream about owning a house in Beverly Hills on the Pacific coast and working as managers for Coca Cola. The street children believe that the ethnic issue can be resolved by dividing Moscow into quarters for the rich, the poor and ethnic non-Russians. Their peers from stable families want to ban foreigners from working in Russia to help Russians to find jobs more easily. 

Both rich and poor: The majority of the teenagers, 79 per cent of schoolchildren and 58 per cent of street children, have a positive perception of Russia. They regard it as a big, beautiful, powerful and rich country. Eighteen per cent of the schoolchildren and 32 per cent of the street children have a negative perception of Russia. However, the adjectives the schoolchildren used were softer and calmer than the street children’s opinion, Kasamara said. For instance, schoolchildren call Russia dirty, strange, incomprehensible, poor, hungry and unfair, where the government is not thinking about the children and everyone takes bribes. The street children used the words unfair, not free, destitute, immoral, dirty, a dump, cruel and criminal and say they want to leave it.  The children offered two optimistic forecasts for Russia’s development - “a technological breakthrough”, during which technology, medicine and education will develop, and a “great power scenario”, when Russia will instil fear in the whole world. Among pessimistic forecasts were a crisis, collapse, decline, a break-up of Russia when it is conquered by other countries, a catastrophe, a nuclear explosion, and the end of the world.

President = Stalin + Mikhalkov :The majority of the children believe that Russia’s ideal president must be a middle-aged Russian man. He must combine two qualities - kindness and toughness, i.e. to be kind towards its people (the idea of a paternalistic tsar who loves his people) and tough towards officials, Kasamara said.  The majority of the Moscow schoolchildren named Vladimir Putin as an ideal president. Some named [Liberal Democratic Party leader] Vladimir Zhirinovskiy. The street children believe an ideal president must be like film director Nikita Mikhalkov, showman and body builder Vladimir Turchinskiy or Joseph Stalin.

Medvedev is more intelligent than Putin: The schoolchildren value Putin’s political mindset, the lack of bad habits and the fact that “he still runs the country”. Kasamara noted that their perception of the current prime minister often resembles children’s stories about Lenin. Street children say they are “used to Putin”, whom they like for his policies more than Medvedev and note that “as soon as Medvedev appeared, a war started”.  The children say the president has circles under his eyes and this, in their view, means that he works harder than his predecessor. They also believe that Medvedev is more intelligent than Putin.Asked what they would do if they become president, children from stable families said they would provide social support to pensioners, resolve the housing problem in the country and invest in public health and education. If the street children had this opportunity, they would collect all homeless people, build a house for them, and open a bank which would give money to orphans and homeless people. They believe the president must travel round the country and write articles about the problems of children and homeless people.

Are these 300 children alone in their love-hate relationship with America? And will Georgian grief satiate their appetites for Applebee’s?