Can education in Russia be reformed?

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

Not sh*t-stirring, just genuinely interested as the former roommate of a Russian physicist at university. She was one of the smartest women I knew at my fancypants college, so I would like to know what your impressions are 15(ish) years on.

Can education in Russia bereformed?

Education was made anational priority by then deputy prime minister Dmitry Medvedev in 2005 as thesystem was failing to provide the educated workers that Russia needs as well asfailing to reward the gifted.

"There is a lingeringnotion that Russian or rather Soviet education was very good, if not the bestin the world," said MashaLipman, an expert at the Carnegie Centre. "The truth [now] is that it lagsbehind the rest of the world."

Indeed, HR departmentsfrom international firms at a recent Economist conference in Moscow spoke of the huge qualitative differences in educationbetween the generation who received a Soviet education and those coming afterthem.

But if the quality of theeducation system in modern Russia is questionable, one thing is certain: Russiadefinitely leads theeducational world in bribery and is in need of dramatic change. In the town ofMorozovsk, in the Rostov region, 30 teachers were caught in May, police allege,preparing to take end-of-school exams for students. What's the price of a goodexam result in Morozovsk? It's about 40,000 roubles for a teacher to take theexam. One estimate by Mark Levin, from Moscow's Higher School of Economics, putscorruption at $1bn a year.

A survey last year foundthat 36pc of Russians had paid money in one form or another to educators.

There is also hugeseparate industry that provides essays and dissertations for students. Educationalreforms have been introduced by the government to combat this corruption and toimprove an educational system seen as failing. Controversial end-of-schoolexams, similar to SATS, went nationwide last year and in 2011, universitieswill introduce a more flexible, four-year course replacing the rigid five-year courseswhere students had little choice in what they studied.

Reform is designed tomatch the standards set by the Bologna Accords, a treaty that aims to createunified higher education across Europe. Once the reforms are complete, a Russianuniversity education will be accepted in the European Union. "The fact that thebest and the brightest go and study abroad shows the inefficiency of theRussian educational system,"said Lipman. Only a couple of universities, Moscow State and St PetersburgState, are in the top 100 in world and the country's low citation index, thenumber of times Russian works cited in academic works, is slipping, she said.

However, Denis Popov, astudent at the Moscow Insitute of Foreign Relations, also studied in Germanybut prefers the Russian system. "The system is freer in Germany but when Iinterned at the foreign ministry, Russian education provided me with aknowledge I would not have gained abroad," he said. "The Europeans cantake a lot from the Russian system."

The most controversialchange has been the introduction of national standard tests (EGE) required forentry to university. The multiple-choice tests are taken by all school childrenand marked by computer and could not be more different from the previoussystem, which relied on oral tests at the universities.

Another advantage is thatit makes it easier for students from the provinces to apply to study in othercities,where previously they would have had to apply in person. But opponentssay it is dumbing down Russian education, with questions such as: "What coloureyes did Anna Karenina have?" The previous system had more ambition,teachers say.

And the question ofwhether the new system has reduced corruption remains moot. "EGE has notdestroyed corruption but increased the number of corrupt deals in school,"said Oleg Smolin, a Communist deputy who focuses on education policy.

Indeed, the case in Morozovskinvolved the EGE tests. Schools have had improved funding in recent years, withmoney going into some improvements in infrastructure and equipment, but wagesremain low and attracting qualified people to join the profession is tough.

Wages are around 14,000roubles ($280) a month, "not enough", said Alexander Adamsky from the educational think tankEureka, but reforms are in place which will reduce the number of teachers andlink results to pay which, hesaid, should help increase pay. Despite protests against reforms, the educationministry has remained firm except at the top echelon of Russian universities. Moscowand St Petersburg State University, whose rectors have consistently opposed thereforms, won an opt-out from solely accepting the standard tests and they willbe allowed use their own oral exams. And instead of thefour-years-plus-two-year system, they will expand to six-year courses in 2011.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/russianow/society/7977339/Can-education-in-Russia-be-reformed.html

[eekee 182]

United Russia is apparently planning to solve the problem of Russia’s “brain drain” once and for all. Thanks to its proposed school reforms, there may very well be no more brains to drain from Russia.

The reforms presented to the Education and Science Ministry could be implemented as early as this year and propose that, beginning in the ninth grade, the school day will be divided in two parts.

During the first part, students will attend class as usual, but in the second, they will take part in “patriotic education.” This will include an old Soviet tradition of sending schoolchildren to old prominent World War II battlesites to dig for heroic artifacts and other activities aimed at increasing the level of student patriotism through the prism of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s autocratic power vertical.

Meanwhile, the number of academic subjects will be lowered to ten, of which only three will be obligatory: physical education, general safety and Russia in the World. The remaining seven will be optional. In other words, learning to love Putin will be obligatory, while math and English will be optional.

These reforms would mean that the ruling regime has not only destroyed modern Russia but now wants to destroy Russia’s future as well.

http://www.sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=33444

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

United Russia is apparently planning to solve the problem of Russia’s “brain drain” once and for all. Thanks to its proposed school reforms, there may very well be no more brains to drain from Russia.

The reforms presented to the Education and Science Ministry could be implemented as early as this year and propose that, beginning in the ninth grade, the school day will be divided in two parts.

During the first part, students will attend class as usual, but in the second, they will take part in “patriotic education.” This will include an old Soviet tradition of sending schoolchildren to old prominent World War II battlesites to dig for heroic artifacts and other activities aimed at increasing the level of student patriotism through the prism of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s autocratic power vertical.

Meanwhile, the number of academic subjects will be lowered to ten, of which only three will be obligatory: physical education, general safety and Russia in the World. The remaining seven will be optional. In other words, learning to love Putin will be obligatory, while math and English will be optional.

These reforms would mean that the ruling regime has not only destroyed modern Russia but now wants to destroy Russia’s future as well.

http://www.sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=33444

A good read...

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article2163481.ece

"Textbooks rewrite history to fit Putin’s vision"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/01/russia

Additionally, public-sector workers including teachers, students and doctors have been told to vote tomorrow or risk serious consequences. Parents have even been warned that if they fail to turn up their children might suffer at school.

In Niznhny Novgorod, there were reports of students being told to vote for Medvedev or face being thrown out of dormitories. Vladimir Primachyok, a campaign official with presidential candidate and Communist veteran Gennady Zyuganov, the chief rival to Medvedev, claimed students in Irkutsk were being forced to vote under the supervision of college officials. "All of this is a blatant violation of electoral laws," he said.