I decided to write a post on topic #1 of Irina Arkhipova "When you visited your school the last time? Write about your feelings". But I won't my feelings about school education that I came through, so I know reality of it.
I was studying in the most famous "physical-mathematical" school in my city which was known for her genious students in the Soviet times. But the USSR crashed, and with it crashed many good schools in Russia. Best teachers, who had an opportunity, left Russia, others continued teaching, but good teachers were leaving school because of their age. But school still has a little number of good teachers who are trying to make good students.
As in every society, there are people in my school, who just do their work without any enthusiasm, receive their salary and don't care about anything. This kind of a human was my form-master. She was old woman, who hadn't been teaching for about last 5 years and whose job was just into making students wear their uniform. But nobody wore. So she was just annoying us every day. We didn't like her and vice versa. But she was the first human who I met with when I came to school during my winter holidays. I really didn't want to meet her, but I needed because the month before she called my mother I said that she need my olympiad diploma, but it was in Moscow, so I gave it to her only went I returned home. Diploma was needed for application for some scholarship. But I asked her about that scholarship, she answered that she didn't know anything, no title, no date of application, no even who this scholarship was given by. I understood that I don't I wouldn't get any information from her and left her rather quickly.
But I had one more teacher who I ought to visit. It was my economics teacher. She must be decribed in particular paragraph. Her main job was job in Voronezh State University, but during last 20 years she was conducting such an experiment which was called "economics group in physical-mathematical". This idea came to her and our headmaster (who is sitting in her chair since 1984), in early 90-s where good economists were really needed. According to her, all students from these groups were becoming very good economists and then were becoming very wealthy ( the causual-effect link was very doubtful, because many students from such groups had good mathematical knowledge, and then were entering well-known universities), but she continued to claim her impact on them was crucial in their career. But all people in school, except her, knew the reality, which was evident in last 5 years. People joined such groups only in one purpose: to save themselves from very hard physics cources and have an ability to do nothing in school.
So I met her. She made me tell them, people who were teaching in such a group this year, about NES and all. What could talk with them about if they even didn't know what is Marginal costs ot rate of unemployment? And these people consider themselves as future good economists. And such a situation was happening in all groups in our school. People were coming to high school only in one purpose: to prepare for their final exams. They didn't care about other subjects because grades in their graduate certificates could't influence on their university entrance. And, what is the most regretful thing, teachers of these "other" subjects admit this state of affairs. And, eventually, students after graduation from school know only 3 or 4 subjects, which were required for entrance. And one more disaster is in the way how they know them. They know standards of writing these exams. I think, if student were given another exams which required the same knowledge, but had another structure, only a half of them did them correctly.
As I heard, Russian government during last year are writing a law, which will require money for school education. Most Russians are absolutely against this law because they consider education as state obligation. But, in my opinion, if such a law will attach only high school, it will have only consequences because, as I said, in the high school students bother only about their exams and don't receives knowledge on other subjects. As was written in one myth from "Myths of economics" by Sergei Guriev, if people pay for their education, then they consider it useful. So, may be possibility of paid high school education is not a big disaster.
So, in answer to question about feeling after visiting my school I can say that I felt purposelessness of students, futility of teachers' attempts to teach people who were not intrested in studying, and decay of system of education. And this is the best school in rather big city.
And it's sad.
I was studying in the most famous "physical-mathematical" school in my city which was known for her genious students in the Soviet times. But the USSR crashed, and with it crashed many good schools in Russia. Best teachers, who had an opportunity, left Russia, others continued teaching, but good teachers were leaving school because of their age. But school still has a little number of good teachers who are trying to make good students.
As in every society, there are people in my school, who just do their work without any enthusiasm, receive their salary and don't care about anything. This kind of a human was my form-master. She was old woman, who hadn't been teaching for about last 5 years and whose job was just into making students wear their uniform. But nobody wore. So she was just annoying us every day. We didn't like her and vice versa. But she was the first human who I met with when I came to school during my winter holidays. I really didn't want to meet her, but I needed because the month before she called my mother I said that she need my olympiad diploma, but it was in Moscow, so I gave it to her only went I returned home. Diploma was needed for application for some scholarship. But I asked her about that scholarship, she answered that she didn't know anything, no title, no date of application, no even who this scholarship was given by. I understood that I don't I wouldn't get any information from her and left her rather quickly.
But I had one more teacher who I ought to visit. It was my economics teacher. She must be decribed in particular paragraph. Her main job was job in Voronezh State University, but during last 20 years she was conducting such an experiment which was called "economics group in physical-mathematical". This idea came to her and our headmaster (who is sitting in her chair since 1984), in early 90-s where good economists were really needed. According to her, all students from these groups were becoming very good economists and then were becoming very wealthy ( the causual-effect link was very doubtful, because many students from such groups had good mathematical knowledge, and then were entering well-known universities), but she continued to claim her impact on them was crucial in their career. But all people in school, except her, knew the reality, which was evident in last 5 years. People joined such groups only in one purpose: to save themselves from very hard physics cources and have an ability to do nothing in school.
So I met her. She made me tell them, people who were teaching in such a group this year, about NES and all. What could talk with them about if they even didn't know what is Marginal costs ot rate of unemployment? And these people consider themselves as future good economists. And such a situation was happening in all groups in our school. People were coming to high school only in one purpose: to prepare for their final exams. They didn't care about other subjects because grades in their graduate certificates could't influence on their university entrance. And, what is the most regretful thing, teachers of these "other" subjects admit this state of affairs. And, eventually, students after graduation from school know only 3 or 4 subjects, which were required for entrance. And one more disaster is in the way how they know them. They know standards of writing these exams. I think, if student were given another exams which required the same knowledge, but had another structure, only a half of them did them correctly.
As I heard, Russian government during last year are writing a law, which will require money for school education. Most Russians are absolutely against this law because they consider education as state obligation. But, in my opinion, if such a law will attach only high school, it will have only consequences because, as I said, in the high school students bother only about their exams and don't receives knowledge on other subjects. As was written in one myth from "Myths of economics" by Sergei Guriev, if people pay for their education, then they consider it useful. So, may be possibility of paid high school education is not a big disaster.
So, in answer to question about feeling after visiting my school I can say that I felt purposelessness of students, futility of teachers' attempts to teach people who were not intrested in studying, and decay of system of education. And this is the best school in rather big city.
And it's sad.
Michael, you broached a very serious question about our educational system by describing your school, teachers and students. I hope there will be some improvements in the future.
ОтветитьУдалитьUnfortunately, I think there is no evidence for such a hope. The market of education is inexorably moving toward the real "market", and I think it's normal. We have very good example of the US education which can be characterized as very effective and useful, but also very expensive and "unfair".
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