Day of Teacher

DAY OF THE TEACHER FIFTH OCTOBER

What some Russians think of their school teachers

By Stephen Wilson

 

            

Ask a passer by in the streets : "Who goes to work at school ?" Lets just do this experiment without microphones and cameras face to face. Of course, someone will speak about how teachers love children and their vocation. But I very much doubt that will be the most popular answer. In the mass consciousness of people, teachers are either losers who can't find a more prestigious job elsewhere ... or have a strange personality because they are ready to work for kopecks and therefore don't inspire trust ', declares the author of 'The Daily Life of a Teacher', Pavel Astapov. 

             

Well, on the eve of 'The Day of Teacher,' Second City Teachers took up the challenge of carrying out Pavel Astapov's experiment. We embarked on a quest to discover how some ordinary Russians actually perceive school teachers. We asked some students, lawyers, caretakers, shop assistants and engineers.

             

The attained answer turned out to be not what we completely anticipated. We were often surprised. The answers were more complex, contradictory and ambiguous than Astapov suggested. Out of almost a dozen respondents questioned, only about one agreed with the claim they were 'losers'. Most agreed they did a difficult job and were under tremendous pressure and some who had tried teaching themselves claimed that not anybody could do teaching. When I asked Alexei Aleshin, an Editor in Chief who works in a model shop in Moscow whether he considered teachers losers, he answered, "Teachers have lost a lot of authority and prestige lately. They don't have many rights. I don't think they are losers. Those people who scold them as losers have something missing in their brains. Their brains are out of order. Those people only think about how to make money and steal from other people. A teacher can only be regarded as a loser if his pupils don't learn."  

             

I later ask a 51-year-old care-taker and ex-ambulance driver Dmitri what he thinks of school teachers. "I respect teachers, but I was never a good pupil. During Russian literature lessons I just fell asleep over the book all through the lessons. The teacher just left me alone. I remember how one of my school tasks was so full of mistakes it was saturated with red" he laughs. Yet Dmitri is always carving model planes and rockets from wood as well as making all kinds of beds, chairs and tables. 

             

When I asked a young woman, Julie, from Siberia, what she thought she answered, "I think teachers are losers. They don't know much about life outside their profession because they live so much in their schools." Her husband Vladimir states: "I think the situation is more complicated. I think they are under a lot of pressure from too much paperwork. But a true teacher will try and upgrade and improve her skills.

             

A manager of a foreign language company Tania states, "I have friends who work in schools so I know how difficult the situation is. They do a lot of paperwork which is unneeded. But they can't skip this work. They often have to teach classes of 30 pupils. When I was a school student there were 40 pupils in my class".  I asked Dmitri Kim what he thought and he answered : "My ex-girl friend is a teacher. Teaching is not as simple as it looks. Some people think anyone can teach, but that is not true. Once I taught and I found it very difficult. They often find themselves in extreme situations and have to figure a way out. They undergo 'rites of passage.' I really respect teachers ".

             

Kate from Belorussia told me: "Not all teachers are talented and have low scores at school. The pedagogical institute is the easiest faculty in University to enter and that is why they enter it". In this sense her answer resonates with the common cruel joke that, "Only idiots enter the pedagogical institute because they are not clever enough to enter other faculties." (Editors note: Or in the U.S. we joke - Those who can't - teach, those who can't teach, teach gym.) 

             

I asked a manager Yevgeny, who works for a Swiss company what he thought and he answered: " Well, I would not say teachers in Moscow are losers because they can earn as much as 100,000 rubles a month and that is the equivalent salary of some middle executives. But teachers are under a lot of pressure. They have to do a lot of paperwork . Then they have big classes to teach. My 14-year-old daughter attends a class full of over 30  pupils. " When I claimed that a teacher should be regarded as a loser if his pupils don't learn and not how  much they earn, he fully agreed. 

             

I asked Pavel Stepaneko, a 39-year-old engineer, what he thought and he answered, "Teaching is definitely a highly-skilled job. You not only have to know your subject, but be able to communicate this knowledge to pupils. You need to know a lot about the psychology of children. I have noticed that my young son at the kindergarten always does what his teacher tells him, but he doesn't always obey me. They seem to know how to manage children. Of course, not all teachers can do this. But I fondly remember some great teachers that really helped me. One school teacher who taught me for 3 years had also been the teacher of my mother ! She must be about 60 now and her name is Galina Anatolyevi. I still remember many things she taught me. I recall how she told me: "Write this down in your notebook. It is very important. It is the difference between Fauna and Flora. Fauna means animals while Flora is plants. I also recall that when I was a student at Bauman's University a businessman would drop into teach us physics. He would substitute for another teacher and he was a brilliant teacher. He could communicate very well by using his hands. He taught the subject as a hobby. " 

             

I was lucky to meet up with a lawyer called Maria, who is a student at the Higher School of Economics. She told me, "This profession is not respectable when pupils don't learn at school. Most school teachers don't want to know anything new. But many teachers are expected by the parents of their pupils to fix all their problems. They are expected to bring up pupils instead of the parents. My mother works in a kindergarten at Voronezh . A mother came to her complaining that her 3-4 year old child could not speak in sentences. The teacher stressed that it was the task of the mother to speak to her child and she must be the main authority. The mother refused saying: "No, you have to do this not me ". Parents don't often speak to their children, but instead give them a pet to play with. So children don't learn to speak.

             

She told the following story:

"I recall that when I was at school I had to answer a question relating a work of Russian literature with a theme such as compassion, love or war. I chose to write a composition from my favorite novel "The Master and Margarita " when Margarita is asked what Woland can do to her as a favor for being his escort at the ball. Margarita compassionately made the request that Frieda, a maid who strangled her baby to death with a handkerchief should not be tortured by having this handkerchief thrust in front of her eyes every night. She had been raped by her employer and landed with an unwanted baby. I gave this as an example of an act of compassion. The Russian Literature teacher did not agree and failed me. So I went up to her in an angry mood and complained. Since the teacher was scared of me I was allowed to resit the exam and passed.

             

"I remember how my dream was to enter Moscow State University. Almost everybody told me to abandon this dream. It was impractical and impossible because they only accepted students from Voronezh who could pay money for a place. But one of my school teachers, a teacher of Social Knowledge and History believed it was a dream that could be fulfilled. She was the only person who believed in me. She supported me. My parents told me it was impossible to enter this university, but she believed it could be done. I still keep in touch with this teacher today. Her name is Svetlana Nikolaevna. When she taught Social Knowledge in her classroom every pupil listened to her. Even the bad pupils paid attention to her. She could present the subject in an interesting way which could get the attention of everyone. All the pupils did well in her class ... I did enter Moscow State University!"