With unabashed pride Vadym Kud shows the student graduation album of the Faculty of History and Philology of the Lutsk State Pedagogical Institute named after Lesya Ukrainka. In these photos he is a little over thirty. The fact that he was older than his classmates did not prevent him from having a higher scholarship and graduating with honors. Now he is 93, Vadym Oleksiiovych has gone through World War II, military service, PhD thesis and years of teaching.
- Having gone through dozens of socio-political changes, was it difficult to adapt to the conditions dictated by the new system?
- Both in the Soviet times and today there are people who can think critically. However, then there was a very strong ideological brainwashing of people who believed in the system. Nonetheless, when it began to spread, many realized that not everything was so good, indeed. Some ideals turned out to be wrong. Since the advent of democracy, there was a special exaltation, really: everything that had been previously impossible became available.
Life is life. In general, I am an optimist. I think it can't always be bad and bad. There should be something good, really.
- Could you tell us what the University (then an institute) was like when you first saw it? What do you remember?
- It was 1947. At that time I was still serving here in Lutsk. Our barracks were close to the institute. What could we, young military guys, think about?! Of course, about girls, about love. At that time, it was believed that women, who studied at university, were extremely intelligent, because we all had 7-8 grades of school education. We thought it was something so unattainable… Later we started courting these girls.
It turned out that guys of our company married the girls graduating from institute. I found my wife there. Before the demobilization in 1957, I decided to enter this institute myself.
- Why did you choose the Faculty of History and Philology?
- There was little choice. The institute then had only two faculties. I had no special attraction to physics or mathematics, so I chose the faculty of history and philology. I took textbooks, read them on the river bank all summer and got prepared. The secretary of the admissions committee at that time was Nestor Volodymyrovych Burchak, who later became the rector of the institute.
I remember getting "4" for all the exams. And I even got the scholarship, it was 200 rubles.
- What was the students life like then? What do you remember?
- At that time, students often went to work on collective farms. There was an agricultural research station nearby. We were made to work there. Such collective work helped to make friends.
It was just as interesting as to go on the so-called "demonstrations": on May 1 or on the October Revolution Day. There we talked to other students and teachers.
One day Kost Shyshko suggested attending the workshop of one of the famous "Sixtiers", Dmytro Ivashchenko. Then very carefully he told us about some things we had never heard, for example, that a communist can also be a mean person. Since then I have begun to perceive "dissident thoughts," which later helped me to think critically. Unfortunately, Ivashchenko was convicted in 1965. He did not return to university. But Valentin Moroz, other legendary sixtier, came to us. He taught me a lot.
- Later you became a teacher and the dean of History faculty. What were your students like?
- Young people are different: some wanted to study, others did not. There were no bribes then, but there was such a thing as "protection." Someone's father was a party worker; someone's mother was a doctor, so we had to walk the "dark streets" in order not to meet anyone occasionally.
I had good students. I always tried to be on their side: sometimes to help, sometimes to give advice. As a dean, I tried to free the group from classes for about a week so that they could visit some centers in Kyiv, Brest, Lviv, Moscow… Somehow they even went to the Baltics. Often it gave them more than a week of lectures.
The students were motivated as well, because after graduation they could get a job in the Party or state bodies. At that time, our pedagogical institute was the only institution of higher education in Volyn.
- How do you feel about educational innovations in Ukraine?
- I see that all this is inevitable. Life changes, and there is no escape. I already think that maybe soon people will not write anymore. For example, I never thought that it would be possible to communicate over the phone.
The further away, the faster everything changes. Here I look at the great-granddaughter, she can handle everything so quickly. This is the movement forward. However, it is always necessary to evaluate everything from both sides. I do not like radicalism. We must experiment carefully: you should not destroy the old without creating anything new.
- What could you advise the students and teachers of our University?
- I want students to learn to gain knowledge which is provided for them. Use your youth as the time for self-development. Be kind and, most importantly, always remain decent people. No matter how hard it is, but try not to fall to the level of "bribes" or any other actions.
Interviewed by Olha YURCHUK
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