Boyhood

2019-2020

Today in Russia there are several hundred schools for single-sex education of children. This approach has always generated a lot of controversy. Proponents argue that separation enhances academic achievement, has a positive effect on the physical and psychological development of students and helps establish “traditional values”. Opponents argue that it can adversely affect the development of the individual and is far from the realities of life in society.

The “nineties” in the village of Borogontsy were a harsh time like all over Russia. A new world appeared in front of people, seized by uncertainty and anxiety. Economic upheavals, multiplied by the majority’s incomprehension of how to dispose of “freedom”, led to social crisis. 

The decision that only boys would study at the gymnasium that opened here was made, among other things, to combat this phenomenon. A bias in technical disciplines, obligatory dress code for students, a lot of written and unwritten rules of conduct, a special attention to sports — gymnasium students learned to be “real men”, an example for everyone else. Almost three decades have passed since then, the gymnasium has moved to a new fine building, but its core values have remained unchanged. 

I returned to look at this place through the eyes of an adult and try to find answers to questions that I once took with me from here.