Identity and Values
The program is about worldview issues. The main topics include personal and collective identity, epistemology, and axiology. The purpose of the program is to promote conceptual thinking, shape community-building culture, and spread the dialogue about values in Armenia and the Diaspora.
Essentials of Society
The three central ideas in Aristotle’s “Economics”: family, economy and society. Significance of family in Armenian mentality and the modern transformative processes in family. Economic skills and financial literacy. Necessary human qualities for building a healthy society.
- Speaker: Artur Atanesyan
- Host: Deacon Vardan Aslanyan
Identity and Confession
The example of the culture as well as the national and religious self-perception of Sassoun’s converted non-Christian and Arabic-speaking Christian Armenians. The Christian faith and Armenian language as pillars of Armenian identity. The “Arabic” identity invented for the purpose of survival. The strong community ties and isolated life of Sassoun Armenians in Turkey.
- Speaker: Sofia Hakobyan
- Host: Deacon Vardan Aslanyan
The Fighting Spirit of the Armenian Army
The psychological preparation of servicemen in conditions of modern weapons and combat strategies. Formation of a fighting spirit and building an army. Leadership in armed forces. Interrelationship between the fighting spirit of soldiers and the state of society. National factors strengthening the fighting spirit of the Armenian army.
- Speaker: Svetlana Baghdasaryan
- Host: Deacon Vardan Aslanyan
Ecology
Is nature human-centered? The human being as the crown, protector, and cultivator of creation. The problem of society’s poor ecological awareness; the necessity of changes related to the system of values. Eco-educational programs. The young generation as a locomotive of global ecological movement. The network of NABU Armenia’s volunteers and ambassadors.
- Speaker: Lusine Aghajanyan
- Host: Deacon Vardan Aslanyan
Folk Rituals of Holy Week
Holy Week as the climax and finale of the Great Lent. Relationship between ecclesiastical and folk rituals. Folk celebrations of Palm Sunday and Easter. The communal and family nature of the folk rituals in patriarchal lifestyle.
- Speaker: Hasmik Baghramyan
- Host: Deacon Vardan Aslanyan
Popularization of Culture
The Mshakutamet youth initiative and propagation of culture in marzes. Strengthening of the cultural borders of Armenia as a goal. The untiring “cultivator” of culture. The significance of the notion of “for the sake of something” in culture and in education system. "To make a gift of culture is to make a gift of thirst" (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, “Citadelle”).
- Speaker: Jemma Manukyan
- Host: Deacon Vardan Aslanyan
Loss of Identity
Loss of identity in the example of the Turkification of Armenian children in the years of the Armenian Genocide. The methods of shaping a “new human” that were employed in Turkish orphanages and adopted by the Nazi Germany. The silent struggle of Armenian orphans to preserve their identity. Hamshen Armenians’ partition into three groups with different perception of identity.
- Speaker: Shushan Khachatryan
- Host: Deacon Vardan Aslanyan
Needs
How and at what age human needs are shaped. Sheler’s hierarchy of values and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Essential needs and their management through a system of values. Satisfaction of growth needs. Dignifying the needs at individual and public levels.
- Speaker: Anna Arakelyan
- Host: Deacon Vardan Aslanyan
National education system
Historical outline of Armenian education system; post-Soviet developments. Creation of an independent education system with the help of international education experience. Development of viable education models, and consistent realization of prospective plans. The value-based component of general education. What independent schools can offer to the state education system as an alternative.
- Speaker: Davit Sahakyan
- Host: Deacon Vardan Aslanyan
Parenting
The models and age peculiarities of parenting. The difficulties of adolescence and the strategies of parenting. The influence of family turmoil on the child. The formats of the psychological counseling of children.
- Speaker: Tatevik Abrahamyan
- Host: Deacon Vardan Aslanyan
Peace
War and peace. Negative and positive peace. “If you want peace, prepare for war.” Peace of victory. The attitude of Armenian government and society towards peacemaking. “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives.” (John 14:27).
- Speaker: Artur Atanesyan
- Host: Deacon Vardan Aslanyan
The Psychological Recovery of Children Survivors of War
War through the eyes of a child. Manifestations of psychological trauma. Integration of a child survivor of war into the new school environment. Preparatory counseling of the psychologist with school students, their parents, and pedagogues. The necessity of training for school psychologists.
- Speaker: Tatevik Abrahamyan
- Host: Deacon Vardan Aslanyan
The Lessons of History
Historic character of humankind. The role of the history in national self-consciousness and identification. The origins of Armenian historiography. The academic presentation of history in school and in higher education. The expected outcomes of the history course. The attitude of young generation towards modern history of Armenia. Why don’t we learn from history?
- Speaker: Ani Tovmasyan
- Host: Deacon Vardan Aslanyan
High Literature
Reading and self-education. Recommended reading lists. What to read and how to read. Literary analysis. The school courses of Armenian and foreign literature. The ability of literature to form identity and the value system.
- Speaker: Anahit Hovhannisyan
- Host: Deacon Vardan Aslanyan
Teaching Religion in General Education
The international experience and the Armenian model of teaching religion. The contents and teaching of the religion course in school. The perceptions of the Armenian Church history school subject in Armenian reality. The value-related component in the state educational standards.
- Speaker: Fr. Diradur Sardaryan
- Host: Deacon Vardan Aslanyan
Faith and Science
The seeming contradiction between faith and science. The false opinion on faith being groundless and non-scientific. Is scientific truth trustworthy? Albert Einstein: “Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” The three levels of faith according to scientists and Church Fathers. The necessity of founding the faith upon a solid basis.
- Speaker: Fr. Mesrop Aramian
- Host: Deacon Vardan Aslanyan
Meaningful Life
New Year as a chance to start a new life. The ways to escape the whirl of life. The necessity of adding beauty, moral values, virtues and a spiritual component to our lives. Service to society. Mahatma Gandhi: “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”
- Speaker: Fr. Mesrop Aramian
- Host: Deacon Vardan Aslanyan
Freedom
The sources and foundations of freedom. Freedom of the mind; personal and national freedom. Freedom: purpose or means? Absolute and relative freedom; social contract. The fight of Armenian nation for freedom. Declarations of independence. The price of freedom.
- Speaker: Artur Atanesyan
- Host: Deacon Vardan Aslanyan
Classical Music
Music and identity. The historical origins of music. Classical and national music. Music and the inner world of a human being. Interlinking education and classical music. The role of state policy in the popularization of classical music. The formation of musical taste.
- Speaker: Inessa Khachatryan
- Host: Deacon Vardan Aslanyan
Teaching Visual Arts
Art and beauty as inseparable parts of human identity. The branches of visual art and their teaching from preschool age. The transmission of positive values through arts. Visual arts as means of self-expression and psychotherapy. Does one need talent or diligent training to excel in art? The inspirational and leading role of the teacher.
- Speaker: Sevada Petrosyan
- Host: Deacon Vardan Aslanyan