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As you may be able to tell, our class has now reached the era of the #RussianRevolution
So, continuing our exploration of student #cultural #literacy (as always: descriptive, not prescriptive!):
1) As I expected, "Battleship Potemkin" was something completely new to them. They were suitably moved by the famous scene on the Odessa steps
https://archive.org/details/BattleshipPotemkin
(but why I did I first have to admonish a couple of them focused on their laptops or phones to turn toward the screen? WTF)
1/n
If "Battleship Potemkin" meant nothing to our students, then they were certainly not aware of Eisenstein's great "October," either.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k62eaN9-TLY
I hinted that, when their cultural tastes had further matured, I might at last introduce them to
"Aelita Queen of Mars" (1924) 
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0014646/plotsummary/?ref_=tt_ov_pl
3/n
But back to issues of students' cultural literacy, for lack of a better term (as noted, always descriptive rather than prescriptive)
Today, re: Bolshevik Revolution
One had an idea of housing blocks & monumental architecture
The rest: pretty much: 0
I noted opinion polls showing that students/young people had more positive views of socialism vs. capitalism--which I found interesting insofar as they had 0 knowledge of Marxism, socialist theory, revolutionary history
All instructive!
4/n
Final/bonus point about students' cultural literacy. I did not expect them to know "Battleship Potemkin" and the like: it's my job to introduce them to it.
But I thought I'd try something more recent, if still before when they were born:
Mikhail Gorbachev, (a) a major historical figure (b) who died only last August (so that should in some sense mitigate the before-you-were-born factor)
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/30/world/europe/mikhail-gorbachev-dead.html
Nothing. A few had heard the name, none could attach anything specific to it
5/n
Finally:
It was ironic that I was teaching about the #RussianRevolution/ October Revolution (1st task: explain Julian versus Gregorian calendar!) on the anniversary of the establishment of the #Comintern (2 March 1919)
Didn't even have time to discuss the history of the previous Internationals in detail, though I did explain the splits in the socialist movement, 1905-1917 over issues of radical action vs. reform & social democracy vs. communism, so that probably sufficed for their needs
6/n
@CitizenWald if one will ask in the Russian schools these days about Gorbachev and the Potemkin, not many students will answer you surely. Same about many countries. Sometimes it depends on the history teachers. My were great but I'm talking about 1975-80.
@victorbz Really? Very interesting! I am surprised. I thought Gorbachev would at least be seen as the destroyer of Russian power and greatness (from the perspective of the Putin era)
@CitizenWald Yes, but also like one who desired to change the gray life of the Soviet ppl and opened the iron curtain (once again). As well many western countries got the freedom thanks to him. Right now the history books are changing and Stalin returns back as a savior of the motherland.
Yes, exactly what I meant: here (US), he is seen as a hero, a visionary, and a wise man of peace.
I was thinking that in former USSR/current Russian Federation, he is today viewed negatively (as you say: Stalin viewed more positively again)
@CitizenWald same is here in Israel, where i'm living already 30 years. Most of the people of the USSR territory never felt the difference of the life before perestroika and after. But after the perestroika were a few years of the the "dry law" which was much more memorable for many. But in many villages not too far from Moscow still there is no gas and central water system.
@victorbz Ah, I see: you are in Israel! So, you left just around/after the fall of communism. I remember how exciting the time of Glasnost and Perestroika was: like the "thaw" in the Krushchev era, only more radical: such hope and sense of possibilities. And instead, here we are today....
@CitizenWald Perestroika happened during my service in the USSR army, so always drunk officers were in trouble with how to explain to us, soldiers and servants what exactly happened and KGB was strong as never and checked every said and written word.
Yes here are we today. I was born in Ukraine, remember the dark days of rebellious Kazakhstan, and now attend here in Israel the demonstrations against the extreme right government pushing us to an even darker era.