"One must make the key decision in life as early as possible," said Vladimir Putin at his meeting with the Russian students. While explaining why it's important, he shared his story about not being ready to be a president at first. It all happened at the open lesson at the Proyektoriya forum during Putin's eventful trip to Yaroslavl. About an hour ago, Putin finished his meeting with theater professionals. We'll return to that later.
But first, Alexey Petrov with the details on the open lesson.
The range of fields varies from medical technologies to spaceships. Both teachers and students came to the forum in Yaroslavl. Student groups look more like laboratories with project work and heated debates. The key aspect is to let everyone choose a vocation and understand in advance what to focus on. Thousands of schools across the country are watching the open lesson in Yaroslavl.
Vladimir Putin stresses, that the 21st century is the time of tectonic changes. In order to keep pace with the global market, it's extremely important to preserve and develop breakthrough technologies.
Vladimir Putin: "If we have brains and if we are able to use them properly, we will be able to retain leadership in such industries as space exploration, nuclear energy, materials science and many more and to acquire new competencies. We will not just manage to jump onto the last carriage of this departing train of technological revolution but will remain a leader".
Putin stresses how important it is to choose the right profession while young.
- If you were choosing your profession today, and encountered the what-to-become choice, what would you choose?
Vladimir Putin: I spent a lot of time choosing my profession and I'm happy with my choice. Speaking of something that I find the most breathtaking out of everything that happens today, it's genetics and artificial intelligence.
Choosing one's profession is a special responsibility especially if one desires to be a senior government official.
Vladimir Putin: “When a person chooses a vocation like that, they must ask themselves the main question if they are ready to fully dedicate their life, or at least the major part of it to the vocation of their choice. That's first. Secondly, doctors have one nice rule: "Do not do harm."
Many students from all over Russia watch the discussion and probably ask themselves if it's possible to make it, especially if one comes from the province and unlock one's true potential. But there are many textbook examples of that.
Vladimir Putin: “Everyone must understand that 90% of their personal success depends on their own actions. We keep thinking that a nice man will appear and bring us gifts. We should recall the revolutionary songs of the Bolsheviks. “Nobody will help us, be it God, a tsar, or a hero.” You must do everything with your own hands. As you all know, Lomonosov came from the family of fishermen. Well, some of them were merchants. But he came to St. Petersburg and became a world-renowned scientist. You should take an example from him.”
Many inventors came to Yaroslavl to present their developments. For example, here's a light multi-purpose airplane.
Sergey Gorobets, student of MAI: "This airplane is almost completely made of composite materials".
And here's a tiny robot designed to collect and separate litter. The students from Nizhny Novgorod are no less excited.
Yaroslav Bakanov, 11, can talk about trains for hours.
"I'd like to be a train driver. I love it here. The children's railway became my ticket to the future".
Vladimir Putin: "Future Russia must be represented by such bright people like you with your accomplishments and successes in the professional field you choose. You know, when First President of Russia, Boris Yeltsin, summoned me and told me he wanted to nominate me for a seat in the State Duma to allow me to become the Prime Minister so that I could run for President later. He asked me, Do you agree? No, I said. He was astonished. He was quite a character. He goes, Why so? I told him I wasn't ready. And I was a grown-up boy. You see? And by that time, I had worked for quite some time in various government bodies. I want you to be ready as soon as possible to make the key decision of your life".
Undoubtedly, many people consider starting their own business or imagine themselves as a CEO of a large company. But business is not just personal financial success. Responsible entrepreneurs have other horizons.
Vladimir Putin: “The Crimea Bridge is a well-known example. It's a business project. But it's a project the country needs. I've recently had a meeting with the CEO of the Magnitka metallurgy facility. The owner of the company, Viktor Rashnikov, met me to report on how his company's developing. He could've stuffed all those billion-worth investments in his pockets, call them dividends, and stuff them into the pockets of the shareholders. But no. They spent billions on reducing emissions. They spent billions on creating new jobs. The only thing that makes you a happy man is creating something that's going to last forever for a very long time. That's the only thing that proves you haven't wasted your life haven't just hustled cash, pardon my French, without knowing what to do with it.”
New projects may appear, technologies may change over time but human traits like compassion and willingness to help are still going to be important. The employees of the Vera charity fund that helps hospices possess those traits. But in many cases, state participation is required.
Vladimir Putin: "I know that you've dealt with the problem of access to child medications like painkillers".
Nyuta Federmesser, director of a palliative care center: "The problem was that we received (and will receive) a lot of money to buy medications, including painkillers. However, we couldn't buy painkillers and not because there are none in drug stores but because doctors hesitate to prescribe them... On the one hand, some doctors are not properly educated. On the other hand, any procedural error like writing a wrong prescription or failing to store or write off medications properly incurs criminal liability".
Vladimir Putin: "Thank you very much for taking this issue so seriously. We'll discuss each aspect in detail".
At the meeting with the governor of the Yaroslavl Oblast, Putin discussed the preservation and development of the region's industrial potential.
Vladimir Putin: "How's your progress? What have you accomplished and what do you consider to be your next priorities?"
Dmitry Mironov, Governor of Yaroslavl Oblast: "Over the last two years, we've managed to restore the production at the three largest industrial facilities. Now, the facilities are fully operational. More importantly, we managed to do it without firing workers providing them with enough contracts".
Perhaps, many promising prototypes presented at the Proyektoriya forum will find application in the Yaroslavl Oblast.
Alexey Petrov, Alexandra Terpugova, Alexander Antonov, and Nikita Fomkin Vesti, Yaroslavl.
