С. Пивовар
Сосновый Бор
?s Russian society is becoming more and more open to
the Western world, it inevitably gets influenced by the new ideas coming from the West in
all aspects of life. With so many changes taking place in this country, the former
(Soviet) educational system had to be changed as well so that it could satisfy the new
demands of our society. Thus if the government intended to create a new democratic society
it was supposed to create a new democratic educational system as well. New educational
reform has been recently held in Russia. The main tenets underpinning this reform are
aimed at making our educational system democratic, variable, flexible, and open. No doubt,
all these concepts are based on the understanding of the freedom of choice per se.
Therefore it may seem that the new reform is very much American-like and has diverged from
the traditional Russian education. But is it really so? To what extent can the freedom of
choice be called 'American' when seen through the prism of the average Russian school?
How does the understanding of the freedom of choice differ in Russian educational system
from its American counterpart from which this concept has originally been borrowed (as it
is often claimed)?
Freedom of choice in education is meant for all parties involved in the
educational process i.e. for schools, teachers, students and their parents. Thus freedom
of choice makes it possible
The reform has brought immediate results as there is a great variety of different types of schools and educational programs in Russia nowadays, by far exceeding those in the USA. In fact, it may be claimed that Russian students have a bigger choice of different educational opportunities. If we take for comparison two small towns in the USA and in Russia with the population between 10 and 50 thousand people, we'll see that the American town would have in most cases one (big) school, whereas its Russian counterpart would have five and more schools that are not so big, however. During the Soviet times schools, though numerous, differed little from each other (with the exception of some schools specializing in specific subjects). With the new reform in operation, the situation has changed a great deal. For instance, schools even in small towns would have considerable differences between themselves, therefore giving more educational opportunities to the students. In this situation it is essential for parents and students not to make a mistake in their choice of the school that would best correspond to the student's abilities and demands. In the United States, on the contrary, different educational opportunities are very often concentrated in one big school that can offer a great number of electives and extracurricular activities. So the choice exists within one school, not between many schools like in Russia. This fact shows that the two educational systems, though based on the same concept of freedom of choice, are essentially different. They both can be described as being variable but they are different in their variability. In the American model block A is the dominant block whereas in the Russian model block B is the dominant one.
What model is more preferable? At first it may seem
that each model would work best in the country where it originated as big schools are more
typical to the US and small schools to Russia, but actually there is more to it.
Variability becomes possible due to the freedom of choice in both educational systems but
responsibility for making this choice is placed more upon parents in the Russian model and
more upon students themselves in the American model. In American High schools students
themselves are responsible for building up their curriculum, choosing those electives and
extracurricular activities that they are interested in and from which they could benefit.
American High school is a mirror reflection of the American society per se where each
student is a worthy citizen of the school community who, first of all, learns how to be
responsible for his/her actions.
Unfortunately, Russian model gives little choice to the student with
all the responsibility shifted to his/her parents. In most cases it is parents (not
students) who choose the school as the decision has to be made at an early stage
(elementary school). The decision having been made, the choices within the school are very
limited as most subjects in most schools are still obligatory notwithstanding the
theoretical tenets of the reform. The variety of extracurricular activities is rather
limited as well and has to be compensated by attending specialized schools (music, art,
sports schools). It is quite obvious there are some drawbacks in the Russian model.
First of all, students are very often deprived of the opportunity to
learn how to make their own choices. No doubt, this ability is one of the most important
in present-day Russia. It is not so easy to develop this ability in people who are used to
following somebody else's track, submitting to the orders and desires of others and have
never made their own choices themselves. Therefore, we should open up more opportunities
for children to learn what is the freedom of choice all about and let them practice making
their choices while they are still at school. Otherwise, students will not be able to cope
with the influx of information and new opportunities in their grown-up life. It can damage
not only their future but the future of those around them and the country as well. A very
simple example can be drawn from the educational field as well. The variety of teaching
resources and textbooks (especially TEFL resources) has tremendously increased over the
past ten years. Teachers should be able to keep up with all the new changes that appear on
the market and to choose the most suitable and effective resources. Unfortunately,
mistakes or inability to make the correct choice are very often 'fatal' in this case.
Those who are afraid of making a choice continue teaching as they used to teach twenty or
thirty years ago ignoring those opportunities that are available nowadays.
The second problem that occurs within the Russian model has to do with
the difficulty of choosing the right school for a child. Sometimes parents follow their
desires and not those of their children when making this choice, ignoring the child's
abilities and interests. A child's interests may change within his/her school years as
well. For instance, when placing a child in the school specializing in humanities, parents
may find out later on that their child is keen on mathematics. In this case they will have
to transfer their child from one school to another and this may continue for an unlimited
number of times. Such a problem could never possibly occur in the American model where
each student can try doing many things within one school. Moreover, American students can
try doing something even if they think they don't have particular abilities or are not
good at something. In the Russian model, however, only those who have special talents can
enter prestigious or specialized schools. Therefore the freedom offered to Russian
students is limited in comparison with that of American students.
The only drawback of the American model, that is the limited initial
choice, can be ignored as it is compensated by the choices offered within each school. It
seems that Russian model could benefit greatly when combined with the American system.
According to the principles of the new educational reform, Russian education should become
more open, which means it should be ready for cooperation with other nations in the field
of education. The combination of these two models can be viewed as a tree with the
unlimited number of choices available:
Model 3 has an unlimited number of choices.
Therefore it seems to be the most favorable model for educating students in accordance
with the concept of freedom of choice. However, when applying this model to real Russian
schools it should be borne in mind that some problems might occur as well. Such an
experiment is being carried out in one of the schools in Sosnovy Bor. Feedback received by
me from some of the students shows that not all of them were prepared for such a change as
they couldn't always decide what subjects they would need in the future. The other thing
was that they didn't like the division that took place within each class. One class that
used to be for them a community, a single unit was divided into small groups. Many
students chose electives so as to be in the same class with their friends. It seems that
these problems can be dealt with if special advisers will work with the students helping
them in their choice so that it could match their further plans.
In conclusion it should be mentioned that Russian and American
democratic educational systems are both based on the concept of freedom of choice.
However, those who suppose that the new Russian educational reform is to a great degree
americanized are wrong. American and Russian models are different. The difference in
educational systems can be explained by some differences in the evolution of the two
societies. In spite of this fact, the combination of the two systems would be very
beneficial and effective for both countries.
© Пивовар С., 2000
