His teachers, the legendary duo Kotova and Liskova, weren't actually in the room, but their names were printed so boldly on the cover that Artem felt their presence. To him, they were like the architects of a complex social labyrinth he had to navigate every Tuesday night.
In the quiet suburbs of a Russian town, seventh-grader Artem sat at his desk, staring down at the glossy green-and-white cover of his most formidable foe: the .
When he reached the section on "Economics," he hit a wall. He had to calculate a family budget. He looked at his own life—the cost of the internet, the price of the buns in the school cafeteria, the mysterious way his parents managed to keep the lights on. For the first time, the abstract terms like expenditure and income started to look like real life.
He tucked the workbook into his backpack. Tomorrow, he would walk into class ready to explain the structure of the Russian government or the nuances of social norms. Kotova and Liskova had challenged him, and tonight, Artem had won.
The first task asked him to identify the difference between a biological and a social need. Artem thought about his dog, Rex. Rex needed food and sleep—biological. But did Rex need to pass a civics test to feel like a valid member of the canine community? Probably not. Artem, however, felt a very strong social need not to get a 'C' on his report card.
Artem cracked the spine. Chapter 1: The Social Nature of Man.