Lesson 4. School reforms

Discussion

• How can the education system in Russia be improved?

• What reforms are currently being introduced in the sphere of education in this country?

Text 1. Pedagogy high on list of reforms

Over seven decades of communism, education played an important part in preparing children for their place in society. Young people left school with a good grasp of the basics, drilled into them by traditional teaching methods. Since the Soviet collapse, Russia has taken part in international comparisons in which its secondary students have performed well above the international average for mathematics and science. However, Vladimir Putin’s government was not happy with the system and was looking abroad for models of new teaching methods that they believed would improve young people’s creativity and entrepreneurial skills.

Teachers are being retrained in the new “methodics” to develop initiative and self-reliance in pupils. The plan is to introduce choice into the curriculum so students can specialize in four or five subjects instead of the present 12 to 14, and encourage the growth of new subjects such as law, economics and citizenship. The new methodology will cover primary through secondary education. If instituted, the major concern is that traditional discipline might be replaced with the worst consequences of the child-centered discovery learning that has left many Western pupils struggling to read, write and do mental arithmetic.

President Vladimir Putin also expressed support for standardized school-leaving examinations aimed at tackling corruption in higher education. Putin gave his backing for unified state exams that combine school matriculation with a scorecard for university entrance. The examinations would replace individual university entrance exams.

He said the full introduction of the exams, which are being piloted in 64 of Russia’s 89 regions, would tackle deeply entrenched corruption in higher-education admissions. The black market in bribes and cash payments made to lecturers from prospective students is estimated to be worth as much as US$1.8 billion a year.

Even though the necessity of such a reform is indisputable, all of us – school and university teachers as well as students and their parents – may not be ready for it yet. Therefore, implementing these educational reforms will require reforming our views and traditions.

One of the main concerns expressed by teachers about introducing a standardized university admission exam is that students will focus primarily on that test and will get distracted from their school studies.

However, if we examine, say, the American college admission system, we will see that there is no danger of that happening. In the United States, students' test scores are not the only factor that admission boards consider when accepting or rejecting applications. Good grades still remain a major requirement. Therefore, students may concentrate on the entrance exam as much as they want, being aware that even if they get 100 percent on it, good colleges won't accept them with low grades on their school transcript.

The introduction of a standardized admissions test also encountered opposition from some universities. It is not surprising that some university officials would oppose such reforms. After all, if there are no entrance exams to hold and no grades to assign, who will be willing to bribe the universities' admissions boards?

The payment of bribes for admission at universities and professional institutes has become endemic in Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. And critics worry that this form of corruption — which police and experts say is a growing problem — is further eroding the quality of a cash-strapped educational system that once ranked among the world's finest.

Viktor Sadovnichy, the rector of Moscow State University, said he has already seen an advertisement for a service guaranteeing a perfect score on the new test — for a price.

Valentin Shaulin of the Education Oversight Service said the standardized test has been given on an experimental basis for several years in many provinces. Some regions, he said, have reported incidents of unusually high scores, apparently because of cheating or other violations.

Therefore, the new test alone will not by itself eliminate cheating, unless the entire education system is overhauled, salaries for professors and administrations are raised and the ethical standards of academia improved.

Besides, it would be fair to agree with some university representatives who fear that a standardized test will not meet the requirements of specific universities or departments and won't provide enough information about students.

Here, once again, we can turn to the American system of university admission and see that test scores and school grades are not the only determining factors. American universities pay very close attention to students' extra-curricular activities. That is, to the myriad of clubs and groups in which students have participated during their high-school careers. These organizations range from physics clubs to school symphonic orchestras, and demonstrate to universities the skills of their applicants.

This brings us to the sad realization that very few Russian schools offer such extra-curricular activities as a way of spotting and developing students' faculties and skills.

Another issue concerning the introduction of this standardized test is that our instructors and students may not be ready yet for such an exam. Since the test scores will be the key factor for university admission, it is essential that strict and objective rules be enforced throughout Russia. Not a single student should get an opportunity to cheat or get help or even advice during the exam.

And if so far we have had trouble enforcing strict rules and fair conditions at school and college admission exams, the same problems might arise when students take the new standardized exam.

Thus, despite the advantages of the proposed educational reform, simply introducing a standardized test would not be a cure-all. What should be altered in the first place are the infrastructure and ethics of test-taking.

(http://www.guardian.co.uk)

1. Paraphrase the words and word combinations below, quote the sentences in which they occur, translate them into Russian.

A good grasp of the basics, to drill, creativity and entrepreneurial skills, to develop initiative and self-reliance, child-centered discovery learning, standardized school-leaving examinations, school matriculation, a scorecard for university entrance, deeply entrenched corruption, standardized university admission exam, admission board, school transcript, to assign grades, cash-strapped, a perfect score, cheating, to overhaul, extra-curricular activities, spotting and developing students' faculties and skills.

2. Put 10 questions to Text 1.

3. Paraphrase the following sentences using the vocabulary from the previous exercise.

1) More and more primary school pupils in Britain fail to understand the fundamentals of the three Rs by the end of their second year of primary school. 2) Being out of money, the county council imposed higher meal prices on schools. 3) With the advent of new technologies the whole education system needs to be completely revised and modernized. 4) When learning is most highly valued, there is little incentive for students to use dishonest methods at tests and exams to increase their class ranking. 5) The pupils learned the irregular verbs by repeating them every day. 6) School-leavers get a record of all the classes they have taken as well as their grades. This document is going to be requested throughout their whole career. 7) The use of governmental powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain is strongly established in many countries.