Over the past hundred years, more than 350 films about schools and teachers have been created in our country. And how many books have been written & mdash; & nbsp; not to count or read. But it was the last novel about school, teachers, children and parents, recently published by the Moscow publishing house Veche, that attracted the attention of readers. The dramatic story of an ordinary modern teacher of the Russian language and literature touched my soul, made me empathize and think. The title of the book is already intriguing: Pelicansha. Teacher & mdash; & nbsp; tawny bird. & Nbsp;
Together with AiF the author of & mdash; & nbsp; writer, candidate of psychological sciences Alexander Vitkovsky reflects on the problems of our education
Yulia Ilyina, AiF: Everything is clear with Pelikansha & mdash; & nbsp; this is the nickname of a school teacher. But what does the owl have to do with it? As far as I remember, an owl & mdash; & nbsp; is an owl & hellip;
Alexander Vitkovsky : Yes, in the modern sense of the word. But in the XIV & ndash; XVI centuries for the Russians, the owl & mdash; it is also a pelican or, as they used to say then & mdash; baba bird. Since those ancient times, the legend has lived that in a moment of danger she hides chicks in her beak. There is also a biblical story: if a snake stings a fledgling offspring, then an owl spreads its wings, beats itself in the chest with its beak and sprinkles dying babies with its blood, restoring life. Therefore, in Christian iconography, Jesus Christ sometimes appears in the form of a pelican, and it is not for nothing that the Messiah was called the Teacher. This meaning: the teacher is a selfless bird, is embedded in the subtext of the whole story. By the way, the Crystal Pelican & mdash; & nbsp; award to the best Russian teachers. & Nbsp;
& mdash; Just as a village cannot stand without a righteous man, there can be no school without good teachers.
& mdash; There are many wonderful teachers, but in recent years it has become more and more difficult for them to work. I'm not talking about preparing for lessons and checking exercise books & mdash; & nbsp; it has always been. Today, the administrative press is increasing, the hourly workload is growing, the ninth wave of bureaucratic and simply useless papers that every teacher must draw up has risen, the pursuit of ostentatious ratings is on the verge of strain. In general, there is no time left to work with children. Add to this the often unjustified pressure on teachers from parents, and now boorish behavior of students is no longer a rarity. In the current school, the status of a teacher is slightly higher than a cleaning lady and lower than a security guard. Pedagogical work has become a field of educational services: come-go-fetch. What quality of education and upbringing can we talk about in these conditions?
& mdash; But in international educational rankings Russia is not in last place.
& mdash; I agree, somewhere in the center, but still closer to the tail. The nuance is that these are ratings of developing countries, and not of leading states, where the emergence of Russia is more the exception than the rule. Remember, but not so long ago the Soviet Union held the world championship in this indicator.
& mdash; & nbsp; But now teachers receive high salaries.
& mdash; & nbsp; By and large, it is not that high. Officials from education, school administrations and those teachers who carry two loads – 36 hours a week, or even more – get good money. This is at least seven throat forty-five minutes every day, plus preparation for lessons, checking notebooks, filling out electronic journals, meetings, reports, courses, webinars, and even a cart and a small cart of various things. But after all, almost every teacher also has his own family, his own children and even grandchildren, but they do not have any energy or time left for them. The heroine of my book compared the workload and salary of a school teacher in tsarist Russia at the end of the & nbsp; XIX & nbsp; & mdash; & nbsp; at the beginning of the 20th century with the current situation. A very curious picture turned out. & Nbsp; & nbsp;
What does the president think about this?
& mdash; If President Vladimir Putin is concerned about education and upbringing, then the problem is really ripe.
& mdash; & nbsp; At a recent meeting with the government, the President of the Russian Federation clearly stated that the main enemies of Russia & mdash; & nbsp; poverty, problems in health care and education. At a video meeting with the public, he proposed declaring 2023 the Year of the Teacher in our country and stressed the need to increase teachers' salaries. Wonderful! But just don't forget about it and talk about a good idea. There has already been a precedent. By decree of Vladimir Putin, 2007 was declared the Year of the Russian Language in Russia. So what? The stakes were raised for teachers of foreign languages, and the teachers of the Russian language and literature were forgotten. Now many teachers believe that it is necessary to significantly increase the salary for the rate of & mdash; & nbsp; 18 hours. This will save you from double loads, will allow you to devote more time to individual educational work with children.
& mdash; & nbsp; The President also said that a program will be developed for the construction of new and overhaul of old ones, primarily , rural schools.
& mdash; & nbsp; Yes, the government has already promised to allocate over 74 billion rubles for the construction of new schools in 34 regions of the country. Within the framework of the state program “ Development of education '' for these purposes in 2021 – 2024 234.7 billion rubles are planned from the federal budget. This should have been done for a long time, since over the past two decades, 28 thousand mostly rural schools have been closed in Russia; as part of the flawed optimization, some schools have been merged and even merged with kindergartens.
& mdash; & nbsp; The Russian leader did not ignore such a scrupulous position as the difference in the quality of education.
& mdash; & nbsp; It's not only about the quality of the knowledge gained by students in urban and rural schools. It's no secret to anyone that there are a very small number of elite schools for the elite, and all the rest are for the crowd, okhlos, rogue. But one of the main humanitarian aspects of education lies precisely in the fact that education should smooth out, and not increase the already enormous inequality of the population in terms of property. And first of all this concerns Russia.
& mdash; & nbsp; The statements of far from the last persons of Russian business that graduates of schools and universities do not need knowledge and skills, but only skills are shocking.
& mdash; & nbsp; Let's start with the fact that without knowledge there are no skills, and without skills there are no skills. I also get the impression that, at the suggestion of the financial and oligarchic elite, advanced education managers are striving to make our children obedient and primitive biorobots, capable of only stupidly performing the simplest functions. And how can one fail to recall our contemporary, the brilliant English scientist and humanist Stephen Hawking. Shortly before his death, he expressed fear that the oligarchs would usurp the education system, subjugating the whole world for the sake of their own business interests, the purpose of which is & mdash; & nbsp; personal enrichment.
The concept of one of the former ministers of education is still in trend: to educate and educate advanced consumers who are able to skillfully use the results of the creativity of others. And who are these others? Where to get these creators and creators? After all, in order to use something, you need to create something. And an advanced consumer can only professionally poke a finger into the icons of a fancy smartphone. And more & mdash; & nbsp; nothing. But you can teach a hamster this too …
& mdash; & nbsp; “ To work out the issue and ensure a reduction in the number of control and verification work in general educational organizations '', & mdash; & nbsp; this is again a quote from the president.
& mdash; & nbsp; Control of knowledge at the entrance and control at the exit & mdash; & nbsp; the elementary truth of monitoring the effectiveness of the educational process. But now hourly control works are carried out not so much to find out the level of mastery of the material passed by schoolchildren, but to increase the rating of the school, district, city and useless bulky reporting to higher authorities.
& mdash; & nbsp; There are constant talks about canceling the exam …
& mdash; & nbsp; The question is complex and ambiguous. For & nbsp; 13 & nbsp; years, the content of the unified state examination is qualitatively changing for the & nbsp; better. It is time to introduce new, less stressful and more democratic forms of conducting it and checking children's work. The other thing is bad: preparation for the & nbsp; Unified State Exam is increasingly going into the sphere of tutoring and is turning from & nbsp; training into & nbsp; elementary coaching. And yet, the main plus of the & nbsp; USE allowed talented graduates from the & nbsp; hinterland to enter the & nbsp; best universities of the country without patronage and & nbsp; bribes. But & nbsp; every psychologist knows: even the most ingenious test cannot objectively assess knowledge. Testing will give an adequate and & nbsp; reliable result only in & nbsp; complex with & nbsp; an interview & nbsp; eye to & nbsp; eyes.
& mdash; & nbsp; The President proposed to create the TV show Teacher of the Year starting in 2022.
& mdash; & nbsp; In the lessons of good teachers, there are always elements of the show. But working at school is & mdash; & nbsp; hard work every day. Will there be time for the TV show? If this is just another pop telepsy all over the country with tired media faces and annoying advertisements & mdash; & nbsp; then better not. If a wise, exciting and thoughtful program about the work of teachers & mdash; & nbsp; God help you. & Nbsp; & nbsp;
& mdash; & nbsp; Forced distance learning prompted the idea that teachers will soon be a thing of the past & mdash; & nbsp; they will be replaced by devices, neuronet and digital technologies.
& mdash; & nbsp; In this regard, the great Einstein remarked back in the last century: “ I am afraid that the day will surely come when technology will surpass simple human communication. And then the world will have a generation of idiots. ” Unfortunately, this process has already started. Gadgets are replacing normal human communication in everyday life, and teachers & mdash; & nbsp; from the learning process. Soon we will descend to ancient Greece, where the slave who accompanied the young patrician to the gymnasium was called the teacher.
& mdash; & nbsp; But Vladimir Putin spoke about the main curricula using e-learning and distance learning technologies.
& mdash; The covid remoteness clearly showed a far from rosy result of the current state of digitalization and cyber learning for the vast majority of our schoolchildren. Many teachers are not ready for this either. Only a third of teachers have the necessary level of knowledge of digital computer technologies and programs, and are proficient in distance learning techniques. In addition, & nbsp; less than half of the students have the necessary computer and software at their disposal. However, I don't want to seem like a retrograde. Among other topics, my book also talks about how wonderful the current school education could become at the junction of the achievements of domestic pedagogy, modern teaching methods and digital computer technologies. & Nbsp;
& laquo; What is education & mdash; & nbsp; & nbsp; so is the ending & raquo; & nbsp;
& mdash; & nbsp; Finally, we come to the discussion of the new book. It has everything & mdash; & nbsp; plot unusual in content and form, exciting stories from the life of a modern school, interesting facts from the past and present, a combination of the real, the fantastic and even the biblical-mystical. But why does the narrative have such a tragic ending?
& mdash; & nbsp; What is education & mdash; & nbsp; so is the ending. However, I would not call the ending of the book tragic black. There is also a glimmer of sunlight at the end of the tunnel. The main thing is that it does not turn out to be another mirage.
& mdash; & nbsp; Surely every reader will remember two teachers: the old, forgotten pensioner Queen Agrippa and the main character & mdash; & nbsp; Pelicansha. Are these literary portraits of specific people?
& mdash; Yes and no. Of course, these are generalized images. But they reflect the real traits of many teachers, whom I know well, the events of their school and personal life. The wise teacher Agrippa, that is, Agrippina Vasilievna & mdash; & nbsp; is the embodiment and symbol of the bygone Soviet school. Pelikansha & mdash; & nbsp; Anastasia Alexandrovna & mdash; & nbsp; the personification of how wonderful a modern Russian school could be. Alas, it hasn't worked yet.
In general, the artistic image of a woman of the XXI century is still only being formed in modern domestic literature. What will it be? Do not know. But Pelicansha & mdash; & nbsp; experience of creating such an image.
& mdash; & nbsp; In modern literature, you rarely find linguistic diversity. In the book, on the one hand, there is an accurate and figurative author's language, Russian poetic classics, wise teachers' dialogues, even high-intensity journalism. And then there is a thug Fenya, Anglicisms, Ukrainian MOV, pseudoscientific nonsense, bureaucratic newspeak and a completely separate song & mdash; & nbsp; modern school slang. Not to mention “ for the Odessa surzhik '' & mdash; & nbsp; David Gotsman, Fima-Poluzhid and Aunt Pesya from the series Liquidation from envy nervously seeds on the sidelines peel & hellip; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp;
& mdash; & nbsp; And that's all & mdash; & nbsp; our modern Russian language is “ on the verge of a nervous breakdown '' in all its beauty and ugliness. Linguists are already arguing about terminology: is it a “ Russian Volapuk '' & mdash; & nbsp; artificial language, consisting of a mixture of fenny, mat, foreign language and slang; or “ pidgin rushen '' & mdash; & nbsp; primitive speech for forced communication between societies speaking mutually incomprehensible languages; or some other gibberish called quasi-russoyaz. And the language of the books & mdash; & nbsp; is a reflection of our speech life.
& mdash; & nbsp; For whom was Pelicansha & hellip; written? Who will be interested in this novel?
& mdash; & nbsp; For everyone who is not indifferent to the problems of domestic school education. & nbsp; Now there are 41,350 schools in Russia, where seventeen million children study and one million one hundred thousand teachers work. And then there are mothers and fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers of our students. For all of them, young and old, I wrote this book. And I am glad that the novel finds its reader. I receive kind letters from teachers and parents on my e-mail and Skype, and I try to answer everyone.
& mdash; & nbsp; Circulation of Pelicanshi & hellip; & raquo; 1200 copies in total.
& mdash; & nbsp; Yes, during the period of Soviet stagnation, even regional publishing houses published dozens of titles of books, 60-80 and even 100 thousand copies per year, and the circulation of all-Union publishing houses rose to a million. A book with a circulation of 25 thousand was considered a bibliographic rarity as soon as it left the printing house. People raved about books, stood in line for days for a subscription, read in transport, in the evenings, at night. But at present, 1200 copies are & mdash; & nbsp; very decent circulation, although this is less than 15 copies for each of the 85 regions of our country. Add to that the high retail and online sales prices. But the main thing & mdash; & nbsp; our contemporaries lack of desire to read. Even students of philological faculties go to take exams in Russian and foreign literature, having familiarized themselves only with the summary of many program works on the Internet. After that, it is hard to believe that Russia is a reading country.
& mdash; & nbsp; Where else was the book published?
& mdash; & nbsp; Completely, unfortunately, nowhere. Chapter 'Queen Agrippa' saw the light at the stage of creating a novel in the Irkutsk literary and art magazine Siberia. Another chapter is currently being prepared for release in the Moscow magazine Our Contemporary.
& mdash; & nbsp; Perhaps the book will be read and thought by leaders of all levels of the education system. & Nbsp;
& mdash; & nbsp; Reading good books is always beneficial. By the way, let me remind you: in the Old Russian language, the word “ reading '' akin to honor.
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