As a high school teacher, I can honestly say I’ve never observed that students’ academic success—or failure—is determined by their gender. For decades, high schoolers, whether boys or girls, have approached university entrance by focusing solely on the subjects required for the exams. Now that only two subjects are typically needed, they concentrate, for example, on history and English, and conclude that the rest of the subjects are irrelevant.
This approach, of course, contradicts my own beliefs. I think a person should strive for well-rounded development. Without it, they risk losing their inner harmony, becoming spiritually crippled—and ultimately, unhappy—regardless of how much money they may go on to earn in an “office” job. But today’s utilitarian mindset—“learn to earn, and spend the rest of your time having fun”—is neither an exclusively “male” trait nor one that stems from a criminal subculture.
If we’re looking for signs of that subculture, I would suggest starting with the National Assembly.
What defines it? At its core is the belief that you are not an individual representing humanity, not an Armenian representing a nation, and not a citizen of the Republic of Armenia representing a civic community—but rather a representative of your “corporation,” or, to use a more fitting term, your pack.
Read also
And within the pack, no one is ever “surrendered.” “How can we let anyone speak against our brother? No matter what he did—he’s one of us.” That, in essence, is the logic of criminal subculture.
It was on this basis that the Civil Contract party refused to create an ethics committee to investigate the obviously hooligan behavior of “one of their own.” And it is on this same basis that they will continue to harass journalists, to curse and spit.
Aram ABRAHAMYAN
