Russian Schools Push Patriotism Curriculum Urging Students to Die for Country

In Novosibirsk, a city of 1.6 million people in southern Siberia, schools distributed a textbook on patriotism earlier this year that reads like a manual for preparing children to accept death as a national duty. According to students who spoke to Deutsche Welle on condition of anonymity, the book frames sacrifice for the state as love, equates Western culture with moral poison, and instructs young people on how to think about their bodies and their futures. The material—labeled as resources for "spiritual, moral, and patriotic upbringing"—is not part of Russia's official national curriculum, yet it reflects what the Kremlin is actively pushing into classrooms across the country.

The textbook's core message is unambiguous. "Love always involves sacrifice," one author writes. "The sacrifice of a defender of the homeland is their life." Elsewhere, the book claims that children have been "mentally crippled" by computer games, Hollywood films, pornography, and Disney cartoons. It describes Europeans as "thieves, murderers and liars" and argues that Russia, unlike Western colonial powers, never exploited its own peoples but only improved their lives. There is no mention of Indigenous cultures within Russia's borders, and religions beyond Christianity and "Slavic paganism" are absent from its pages. The book also equates homosexuality with pedophilia and offers guidance on how women should deploy their "charms."

This textbook is one piece of a larger machinery. Since 2022, patriotism lessons have been formally part of the school curriculum. Students report that propaganda now permeates daily life: Monday morning assemblies called "Conversations about Important Things," new subjects like "Fundamentals of Homeland Security and Defense," and regular visits from war veterans who speak about the conflict in Ukraine and discuss career paths. The message is consistent and reinforced across multiple channels. At a May 9 assembly marking the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in 1945, the principal and her deputy drew a direct line between that historical war and the current conflict in Ukraine, framing both as tests of Russian steadfastness and inevitable victory.

Ilya, a 16-year-old who has read the patriotism textbook, sees the effort clearly. "It's proof that the country wants more cannon fodder," he told DW. He interprets the call to die for one's country as actually dying for "the president's interests and ambitions." Ilya's political awakening began a few years ago when he watched videos by Alexei Navalny, the Kremlin critic who died in prison in 2024, initially out of curiosity. But his resistance hardened when the government blocked access to YouTube and Discord. He set up a VPN, he said, partly out of stubbornness, and began reading independent media and seeking out information about opposition figures. As he learned more about what he calls the cruelty and senselessness of the war, his criticism of the government intensified.

The pressure to conform extends beyond curriculum. Ilya recalled that a student was reprimanded by the principal for wearing a sweater with English-language text. "Young man, do you realize that your sweater has words on it in the language of unfriendly countries?" the principal reportedly asked. "A call to the Federal Security Service will take care of that!" Alexei, another 16-year-old in Novosibirsk, said that YouTube's blocking was a turning point for him too. "I looked into why it was blocked," he explained. "Because nothing happens by chance. And that's how my interest in politics began." He came to understand that authorities wanted to eliminate dissenting voices and suppress free speech. "I love freedom, so it was hard," he said.

Yet Ilya believes that most students do not internalize the propaganda as intended. "On the one hand, we laugh about it in class, at least my friends do," he said. "On the other, we don't care. Some simply don't listen. We're very good at being quiet and not talking much about it." Dima Zicer, an educator and podcast host who fled to Estonia after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, offers a different reading. He said that many students are content to be part of what he calls a pro-Putin majority that accepts the logic of overwhelming force without questioning it. "We'll crush them all; we're stronger than everyone else. Everyone will be scared of us," he said, describing the worldview he has observed. He acknowledged having no statistical data but drew his conclusions from years of working with Russian children and conversations with parents who became alarmed when their own children began repeating such phrases or talking about supposed Nazis and fascists in Ukraine.

For Ilya and Alexei, both of whom oppose the war and want it to end, the atmosphere in Russia feels unstable and suffocating. Both are planning to leave the country after they graduate. Their desire to emigrate reflects a generational fracture: while some students may accept or perform acceptance of state messaging, others are using technological workarounds to access blocked information and are making plans to leave. The textbook and the broader curriculum it represents are meant to bind young people to the state's vision of sacrifice and victory. Instead, for at least some students, they have become a catalyst for resistance and a reason to seek exit.