1. Introduction
5. Conclusion
1. Introduction
At this time, there are a sufficient number of problems in our education system that require urgent solutions. After all, the quality of our education, unfortunately, wants the best, if we recall the education system in Soviet times, then Russia was in 2nd place among the most reading countries, and all because in those days huge efforts were invested in the development of education, there were more stringent requirements that they attracted the most missing quality of today's students - this is responsibility. Children with youthful years attracted to education and considered it as an important part of public life, the engine of progress.
education system student teacher
2. Definition of education, education system
To talk about the problems of education, you need to understand what education is.
The education system is a complex of institutions, standards, programs and characteristics used in the education process.
Modern education is a purposeful, multifaceted and multi-stage process of acquiring knowledge and skills, but in addition to the process, education is also the result of this process. This is so freaky
Education as a process implements educational program(a set of basic characteristics of education: organizational and pedagogical conditions and forms of certification, in cases where this is provided for federal law on education, work programs of subjects, courses, disciplines, other components, as well as evaluation and teaching materials)
Do not forget that education is a multi-stage process, because even Jan Amos Comenius said that education should be divided into levels corresponding to age. He was supported by many philosophers of that time.
Education in this country is divided into several main stages:
General education- the first stage of education, which provides basic non-special and non-professional knowledge. In its turn general education is divided into several stages:
Preschool education - presentation of the basics of physical and intellectual development conditioned by nature. As during the development of the embryo, a person in life undergoes a transformation from a more biological to a more social one.
Primary general education- characterized by the presentation of knowledge about the basics of communication, ethics, understanding the world around. This period is also marked by the laying of the foundation of personality.
Secondary general education -can be called the most interesting and problematic period of a child's education for a teacher. If the foundation of the personality is laid in the primary general education, then during this period of education the walls are erected, and the walls are not erected quite evenly. Intelligence may develop in time or even ahead of age, but emotional maturation may be slow. Most often it happens differently: emotional and intellectual maturation takes place according to biological age, but physical development age is ahead and this reveals many social and pedagogical problems that need to be addressed, paradoxically. Also, the formation of a child as a person also presents a whole bunch of pedagogical problems that do not have and cannot have, in principle, a typical solution.
Secondary (complete) general education -a step aimed at creating a system from all the knowledge gained at the previous stage. More in-depth study information. Despite the more adult contingent, an equally interesting stage of education, both for the teacher and for the student himself. The previous stages are aimed at the formation of personality, at the presentation of spiritual and cultural values. And this stage is needed rather to realize oneself as a person.
Special education - The period of education aimed at obtaining special professional knowledge which guarantee the professional competence of the trainee in his work area. At this stage, a person is already formed as a person, according to biological and psychological standards, and now he is gaining experience in social activities honing communication and interaction skills. Least interesting period for the teacher in terms of solving any non-standard situations, because the student becomes in a position in which he receives most of the knowledge on his own, and conflicts and social aspects are not processed by the teacher of higher education. This can be called both a plus, because it brings up independence, and a minus, because the transition from school control to university freedom is quite abrupt and painful.
The versatility of education is especially indicative in the Ancient Greek model of education. There, an ideal image of a person was brought up, developing in himself: the physical strength necessary for health and longevity; intelligence is obviously necessary for life, not existence. They also did not forget about the spiritual sphere, which consisted in cultivating the moral image of a citizen, responsible to himself, understanding the essence and meaning of his life.
3. Main problems of education, education systems and their classification
Educational problems can be classified according to the sources of these problems. We list the main sources of problems.
Problems coming from students- the main part of the problem in pedagogical process created by students, but do not forget that solving problems in the learning process is the main task and purpose of the existence of pedagogy as a science. This should also include problems social character and problems with parents
Problems coming from the education system -a lot of problems modern teacher associated with bureaucratization and ill-conceived education system. This problem with the maximum simple solution- it is necessary to discuss typical problems arising from the education system. The problems of this class arise due to the fact that education officials, while carrying out reforms, are quite far from schools and educational institutions, and without seeing the problem on the spot, there is no way to come up with a reasonable and adequate solution.
Problems coming from the teacher -pedagogical activity, although it does not require physical exertion in the traditional sense, is actually very exhausting, and with such stress, a person works at the limit of his capabilities. And when a teacher comes home, he needs to rest, but in our state this is not always the case, stress affects and manifests itself in weakening health and in many other aspects. In addition, problems can be triggered by a lack of experience.
Let's look at examples of problems and their sources.
3.1 Problems coming from students
A person develops a huge way on which he has problems of a different nature. A teacher is a person who gives knowledge and helps to solve problems that arise along the way. At the same time, I would like to note that the best approach is not to solve the problems of students, but to help students solve them on their own.
What are the problems coming from the students? In their individuality. Individuality is an excellent quality that puts a lot interesting tasks, because the techniques used for one group of students (or even a single student) can work completely differently for another group, even if the groups are identical in age (which is very rare even in theory).
Real example from practice: In the first grade with the letter "A", the teacher suggests summing up the number of oranges as a task. Everything is going well, the students are moderately active and sum up the oranges perfectly. Another class with the letter "B" uses exactly the same approach, but one of the students (for example, Kolya) claims that he is allergic to oranges. The teacher replaces oranges with apples, several people claim that they are allergic to apples. Kolya is indignant and demands that other students give up their allergic diseases. Mass children's fight - the lesson is broken.
What does this example illustrate? This example illustrates that the same methods may not work for similar teams, even if they have even minimal differences.
And there are a huge number of such problems and examples. At the same time, even an attempt to systematize them is a great difficulty.
3.2 Problems coming from the education system
Things are a little easier with the systematization of problems emanating from the education system
Problems of material and economic support - fading into the background, but still actual problem. It consists in the limited economic support of schools and other educational institutions. Lack of textbooks teaching aids, small opportunity for practical and laboratory work. It seems to be a minor problem, but in fact it grows into a very serious one. The lack of practice leads to a loss of interest in the subject, and this already gives rise to new problems that the teacher has to solve in the course of his activity.
The second problem caused by the system is the lack of worthy personnel. A lot of teachers by nature are now working far from professions, but why? They are afraid of low wages. And those who dare face more global issues that are repulsive. There are few teachers, which means that the free load is transferred to already loaded teachers. Overload, working to the limit - also scare people away from the profession and this is the fault of the system.
The third problem is an attempt to standardize educational process. In the modern world, there is a tendency to build a conveyor and industrial production in everything, but it is clear from the example that this is not always a good tactic to use in the education process. This manifests itself in total bureaucracy. A myriad of paperwork comes with the new state. education standards. Standardization is a great idea, but there are not enough forces in this country to implement it.
The fourth problem is weak reflection and slowness of the system. The system is very unresponsive. To change something in the interests of students is almost unrealistic, dozens of meetings, hundreds of people solve one issue and it is not a fact that this issue is so important.
Example: The decision to introduce uniform uniforms in schools. This decision was discussed for more than one year. The decision is not the most important, but at the same time its discussion dragged on for many years. Why all this? Bureaucratization, sluggishness.
3.3 Problems coming from the teacher
But in education, problems come not only from the environment, sometimes the teacher himself creates problems for the teacher. These problems can be divided into several groups.
Domestic problems - Problems caused by the conditions of the teacher's life. Overload, poor living conditions, family problems, lack of material resources. Many teachers in the 1990s were acutely confronted with these problems. Non-payment of salaries was a normal phenomenon. This backfired on the students in the form of a poor quality of presentation of the material, sometimes teachers corny lost motivation for arr. activities and quit their jobs.
Problems subjective-objective - problems emanating from the teacher, but initially caused by external factors. For example, a lack of motivation or experience that was not given in the right amount during their training.
Problems are subjective - caused by the qualities of the teacher himself. For example, the underdevelopment of any personal qualities. Or professional deformations.
Example: The teacher has very strong knowledge in his subject. He shines with erudition and, in principle, is a genius, but that's bad luck, he is an absolute zero in communicating with people. Has no communication skills. A very common occurrence in modern schools. Teachers are obsessed with their subject. They don't care about the students at all. Sometimes you come across shots that receive psychological satisfaction from more high level knowledge than their students. These problems are clearly subjective and need to be treated.
4. Research (sociological survey of teachers)
In the process of conducting the study, I decided to use a short sociological survey, with detailed answers of the respondents, among teachers primary school. The research audience is diverse in terms of experience and age.
What are the main problems of education?
What problems are you experiencing?
What are possible solutions these problems?
people noted that the main problems of education are poor provision and lack of high-quality young specialists.
The person answered that the main problem is the lack of motivation for development and a poor-quality training program.
people answered that they felt obvious problems with housing and material support, although they added that the situation was starting to improve.
people responded that they felt a poorly designed training program and excessive bureaucratization.
answered that a radical reform is needed with the involvement of practicing teachers
people noted that it is necessary to improve existing system.
Research conclusion:
According to the results of the study, it becomes clear that the majority of teachers are dissatisfied with the existing educational system and note that changes are needed, others believe that changes are not needed, it is only necessary to improve the existing system.
5. Conclusion
During the essay, we examined the problems and causes of certain types of problems that get in the way of the teacher, we also tried to classify them using data obtained in live communication with practicing teachers.
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AT recent times all sorts of ratings of sites that provide information about relevant opportunities for scientists are gaining popularity. And, at the same time, young people involved in science are often so busy that they don’t have enough time for full-fledged surfing in search of a grant or a conference. But from watching the tape in in social networks hard to give up...
Increasingly, we are seeing that a person receives the lion's share of information about internships, summer schools and vacancies, just like news in education and science, without leaving Facebook. You can accuse these people of being too lazy, but the fact remains that most science communication platforms try to have their own representative groups on social networks.
Today we will try to put together groups and public pages on Facebook that are relevant for young scientists.
Capability Collectors:
This public page has almost 16.5 thousand subscribers. It is designed not only for scientists, or rather not so much for scientists as for students, those who are looking for opportunities to get free education, or for young professionals who are building a resume. However, here you can find offers for both postdocs and graduate students, as well as many summer schools.
There is a lot of humor on the page about the modern education system, employment problems, ethnic stereotypes, and more. Administrators try to please their subscribers with all sorts of useful things in life - the so-called life hacks.
This page, in fact, is a representation of the Ukrainian crowdfunding platform https://biggggidea.com. The number of her subscribers is also already over 16 thousand. Here you can find up-to-date information about language courses, trainings, facilitation, lectures, competitions, etc.
The targeting audience of the site and the group is much wider than just scientists. This platform is designed for young, active and intelligent people who are engaged in self-education. But useful scientific and popular science events are also covered here. Use and choose.
This is perhaps the largest and most famous academic mobility program today. And the public Facebook page of Erasmus Plus+ is also quite numerous (over 15,000 subscribers).
Here you can find program news, tips for applicants, success stories and descriptions of the life of fellows in Europe.
There are more than 6 thousand people among the subscribers of this community. As the name implies, the public page is designed, again, for active urbanized youth (conditionally called "hipsters"), however, here you can also find offers with interesting courses or competitions for scientists who are not aged and not "with big shoulder straps". A nice feature of the platform is that partners are often found here for the implementation of social projects.
As you may have guessed, the community is dedicated to short-term scientific and pseudo-scientific events. Also in the group there are a lot of amusing motivating pictures. Pochi five thousandth!
The community has almost 4 thousand people. The range of events covered by the group is quite wide - from parties of young leaders to an internship in the Verkhovna Rada, from a competition of journalists and bloggers to a summer school on gender studies. Not everything will be interesting to scientists, and not everything covered in the group is science, but you can find a lot here.
Yes, yes, our site also has its own public page, which is developing dynamically. She recently reached the 2,000 subscriber mark. It collects information focused primarily on the scientific community (grants, vacancies, conferences) as well as problematic articles about education and science, their prospects and negative development trends. We also duplicate our digest on this page. Join now!
Representation of the site of the same name in Facebook. Both the site and the page are quite young, but they show very good promises. The number of subscribers approaches the first number with three zeros. It should be noted that the site team monitors well foreign "collectors" of opportunities and qualitatively translates information from foreign resources.
The page is a representative of the site https://confoznauko.wordpress.com/ . Quite an ambitious Lviv project. He has more than 500 followers on Facebook. The project is designed for the humanities. His content, covering grants, competitions, conferences and scientific lectures, is original. In his scientific life I use and recommend to colleagues.
The project was created by an enthusiastic student Irina Samchenko, who herself traveled half the world on various international educational initiatives. Ira simply wanted to share her experience and thanks to her for that. Here are only those opportunities where it is realistic to get, even for a beginner, even without perfect English. Unfortunately, recently the activity on the page is low (Irina's busyness affects, because the carefree students are already behind). But she does not completely forget about her brainchild, sometimes pleasing with very useful content, which is not found in other places during the day with fire.
Debating clubs:
The group presents the project of the same name by Yury Khalavka in social networks, but recently the life of the group is much more diverse and full than the life of the site. The undisputed leader of the "discussion clubs" both in terms of the number of participants (almost 5,000 people) and the intensity of the polylogue. Virtually not a single problematic article, not a single draft law, and not a single reform in the field of education and science remains outside the attention of community members. Although the intensity of the discussion is quite high.
The number of group members is just over 650 people. There is a lively discussion in the community not only of the issues of reforming higher education, but also of secondary education. He was joined by many concerned about the quality of knowledge of schoolchildren's parents. Despite this, the group does not lose relevance for the scientific environment (as you know, the solution to the problem must be sought at its root). Among the participants are many university professors.
UPE and the mission of universities, financing of education and the child's professional choice - this is not a complete list of issues discussed here.
The group started just a few weeks ago and today boasts a fairly representative composition of 302 members (among them there are enough people with a name in the scientific community, many of whom I am ready to bow my virtual head to). Its goal is to unite Ukrainian scientists, regardless of the borders that exist between them due to life circumstances.
The group has rather strict rules: “To become a member, you need to be certified, that you are a scientist, affiliated with a scientifically advanced or initial pledge” (how the examination of the authenticity of evidence is carried out in the horizontal world of social networks remains a mystery to me).
The founders are no less demanding on the quality of the published material - exclusively a strategy for the development of Ukrainian science and education. For disobedience to the ethics of the group, expulsion from its lavas threatens. Obviously, because of this, the number of publications is small. Personally, I didn't risk...
"Five Reasons Why You Shouldn't Become a Professor," is the title of an article by Vera Afanasyeva published on social networks, which caused a wide resonance among the teaching community. After the scandal, they came to the author with a check from the department for combating economic crimes. We asked Vera Afanasyeva seven questions about this situation.
1. Why did you decide to write this note and put it in the public domain?
I constantly write something on Facebook or on a blog on the website of the Vzglyad-info news agency. I wrote this note in January, when another useless campaign to rewrite documents began at SSU. It was so tired that it was impossible to remain silent, so I laid out everything in the blog.
2. Did you expect that after the publication an investigator would come to you with a check?
Didn't expect that. For me it was a literary trifle. But the newspaper "Moskovsky Komsomolets in Saratov" saw in him something connected with corruption in SSU. The newspaper sent a request to the prosecutor's office. The investigator tried to find out with me and with the vice-rectors exactly what violations I described. I think their goal is to accuse me of defamation. They promised to conduct a linguistic examination. In my opinion, all this is absurd.
3. Are you afraid of losing your job because of this story?
I'm not afraid of anything at all when it comes to my interests. But I have something to lose - professorship. If there had not been a public outcry, my days at the university would have been numbered. Leaders are smart people. Their repression will not follow immediately. But in a year and a half, I may not pass the re-election competition for the position, which takes place with teachers every five years.
4. Has your essay influenced the position of other teachers?
We have created a Facebook community called “Problems of Education and Science”. It includes educated and caring people who are going to create a project to improve the education system in Russia. Colleagues from SSU did not enter there.
5. Are bad students an omission of teachers?
The low level of students is a general trend. This is largely due to USE system, which forms fragmentary thinking. And also with the fact that the majority of students come to the university not for education, but for a diploma. Some of the teachers are also to blame. I have seven lectures every week, and I have to prepare for each one. And I write papers.
6. You write that teachers are afraid of free-thinking, which opposes ideological censorship. What is the ideology Russian education?
Ideology such - the chief is always right. This is due to the aging of the teaching staff. We either have young teachers who depend on the authorities. Or pensioners who, according to the Soviet system, remember what freethinking leads to.
7. You also mention that higher education is subject to church canons. How is the influence of the ROC manifested?
I see aggression on the part of the ROC in relation to education. At our department of theology and religious studies, conferences are often held jointly with the diocese. And sometimes I’m scared to go there without a scarf on my head and a skirt to the floor. I had situations when I filmed reports at a conference, because such an audience could take my speech with hostility. And the fact that an Orthodox church was built on the territory of the university, where people of different nationalities and religions work and study, is simply unethical.
From a note by Vera Afanasyeva:
“The current professor is in constant fear. He is afraid of the authorities (everyone who was not afraid flew away a long time ago). He is afraid of losing his job, and with it the opportunity to do science, because modern science is a collective matter. He is afraid of his natural free-thinking, which disgusts the university leadership, party norms, ideological censorship, patriotic attitudes (Kant was a German, although he lived in Kaliningrad!), Church canons, and the stupidity of officials standing above him. He is afraid of a cheeky and ignorant student spitting at him from a high bell tower. He is afraid of not being able to, not finishing, not pleasing, mediocrely dying from fatigue during the next worthless clerical campaign. And he is afraid of himself, afraid that sooner or later he will remember the great moral principles and ideals of scientific knowledge and send all his tormentors and guards in the way that only Russian professors can do. And even more afraid that he will never do it.
The current stage of technological development has led to unprecedented opportunities for creating fundamentally new and more effective methods and ways of learning. Along with this, original approaches also take place in the scientific community, where the latest developments are actively used. However, the introduction of new concepts and programs that promote development is not always readily accepted by responsible persons. But this is not the only reason for the problems. modern education and sciences that make further development impossible. stagnation pedagogical activity, for example, several factors contribute, the culprits of which are both teachers and students themselves, and ineffective.
Funding issues
Patriotic for a long time was considered one of the best in the world. The reason for this could be called the enthusiasm of the teaching staff, who performed their duties with high quality and with love for the wards. However, in our time, quality education is impossible without funding. And we are talking not only about the proper level of remuneration for teachers, among whom there are many people who are truly dedicated to their work. The fact is that the distribution of money is planned based on the number of students. But such an approach today is ineffective and gives rise to other, no less education, including the difficulty of controlling school attendance by students. To do this, some institutions practice the introduction of special commissions, which subsequently draw up reports on the actual number of students. This is due to the fact that the allocated money does not always correspond to the intended tasks, precisely because of the discrepancies in the numbers related to the number of students. However, there is an alternative to such a financing system, which involves the receipt of funds directly from the parents. At least, the most acute problems of the technical condition of schools are solved in this way.
Lack of young professionals
The aging of the teaching staff is one of the main problems modern universities. It would seem that this is a normal and natural process, since the older generation is always replaced by young teachers and teachers. But every year it becomes more and more obvious that the rate of “reproduction” of young personnel is decreasing. The situation is aggravated by the fact that, out of desperation, the heads of institutions are forced to hire people with dubious qualifications. As a result, suffers and By the way, in science there are problems of the same nature, but with their own specifics. It must be said that many young specialists begin their career in science with teaching. This is followed by research, writing articles, etc. But to stimulate such processes, the participation of the state is not enough. Again, much rests on the lack of sufficient material resources for teaching staff.
The absence of a career guidance institution
According to surveys of high school students, most of them, even in the last stages of their basic education, do not have a clear idea about the choice future profession. Of course, you can name several specialties and niches that are in demand in our time, but in the context of a rapidly changing market and technological development, it is difficult to say which professions may come in handy in 5 years. Accordingly, the problems of education in Russia are to a certain extent expressed by the lack of confidence of schoolchildren in for the purpose of acquiring specific knowledge.
According to experts, students should have an idea about the possible direction of their further development in terms of education. Of course, this does not negate the need to obtain a wide range of knowledge. The solution to such problems in the West is to attract successful people who have made a career in one area or another. As a rule, these are recognized specialists who share their experience with schoolchildren and students.
Lack of practical education orientation
Another unresolved problem follows from the above problem - the practical orientation of education. Even if the student determines for himself the direction of further development on early stages, he will not have the opportunity to maximize practical skills in the learning process. Russian system education is rather focused on the production of young scientists with a theoretical base. Such problems of education in Russia manifest themselves in the future, when graduates cannot organically fit into the conditions of real activity. And it's not even so much about getting practice in its traditional sense. It is much more important at the training stage to be able to navigate the market of professions and services, understanding where and how specific skills can be in demand.
Limiting the Opportunities of Gifted Children
The notorious "equalization" is still included in the list of the main problems of national education. Unfortunately, even the modern system does not allow children to rise higher than the bulk of their classmates. The five-point system, in particular, does not allow encouraging students who seek to go beyond the boundaries of standard programs. It can be said that work according to standard programs and methods is common problems modern education and science, which hinder development in both areas. The originality of thinking, of course, finds its own ways of expression, but the school and the university should in every way encourage and support such aspirations. And this is not to mention the lack of teaching practice within the framework of individual programs, which are much more effective than standard methods that smooth out the personal characteristics of students.
Problems of higher education
The last 20 years have seen a whole series of changes that have significantly transformed. The main result of the reforms was the commercialization of universities and the provision of complete freedom from the state. Most of modern universities is almost a commercial organization that takes money for their services from students. Of course, this situation causes other problems of modern education and science, which, among other things, are expressed in the low level of knowledge gained. Similar problems begin with accessibility. higher education. Theoretically, any graduate of the school can get it. The following are the nuances of the personnel formation of universities. The growth of their number against the backdrop of a shortage professional educators also does not allow to ensure the training of a specialist at the proper level.
Causes of education problems
As already noted, one reason to explain contemporary issues education is not possible. On the one hand, one can call weak positions the state, which does not participate in the support of universities, does not sufficiently finance schools and practically does not stimulate schoolchildren and students to acquire new knowledge. But problems in the education system are explained not only by state policy. The reluctance of teaching staff to introduce new technologies into the learning process causes backwardness Russian schools and universities against the backdrop of European educational institutions. For example, one of the loudest novelties recent years have become interactive tools that are being actively implemented in many Western schools. But in Russia, even large educational institutions are reluctant to accept such innovations. Of course, one cannot ignore the unwillingness of schoolchildren and students themselves to study among the reasons for the problems of domestic education. But these factors are closely intertwined with the lack of incentives and, in general, understanding the benefits of knowledge.
The main problems of science
Many of the problems of education are also characteristic of science. The first is the lack of funding. Activities in this area require considerable investments - only in this case, you can count on high results of research and new developments. But the problems of domestic science are connected not only with the technical arrangement of laboratories. According to many experts, domestic science lacks a clear definition of goals and objectives. As a result, there is inconsistency in activities and, as a result, inability to implement innovative priorities.
Problem Solving Ways
Most of the concepts that propose creating conditions for a natural solution to the problems of education assume an initial focus on students, and not on the development and continuous improvement of new rules and standards. In other words, the school should not force and control, but stimulate interested development. From this point of view, the solution to the problems of education occurs through the impulse to independently search for answers to questions. For their part, teachers and educators should evaluate the proposed solutions, taking into account the originality of the approaches used. Important in this process is the motivational component, which arouses the interest of a schoolchild or student in further research.
Promising directions of development
Both in the education system and in science there is a huge gap between theory and practice. The school has practically nothing to do with the labor market, the mechanisms of which are knowledge with the skills of a specialist, and does not take into account the interests of financial groups. Therefore, the most promising direction, the movement in which can solve the problems of the development of education and scientific industry, is the splicing of theoretical thought and viable market segments. At the same time, the effectiveness of this merger is possible only with the support of the state. Still, without proper funding it is impossible to talk about the implementation of promising knowledge and projects developed on its basis.
Conclusion
In recent years, Russia has been in some kind of search for an optimal education system. This is evidenced by the reform of this segment. Nevertheless, attempts to make changes are not yet modern education and science, but only change their nature. If we talk about the most acute tasks that the state faces today in this direction, then there is a lack of funding and a lack of orientation in scientific and educational activities. That is, with a high development potential, domestic schools and universities provide a rather modest return.
Problems of Education and Science in Russia and Strategy for the 21st Century
VICTOR SADOVNICHII
academician Russian Academy Sciences,
Rector of Moscow State University
named after M.V. Lomonosov
Socio-economic progress is unthinkable without the rise of education, science and culture
The wrong course of reforming education led to its crisis and degradation
Strategy for the 21st century - priority development of education, science, culture, morality as the basis of high human qualities
When discussing the strategic directions of the socio-economic and scientific and technological development of Russia, as well as developing proposals for the forecast and programs for the country's long-term development in the 21st century. there is a clear uncertainty. The prognosis for a century ahead would be extremely doubtful.
It is more reasonable to limit forecasts and projections to the immediate and rigid time frames. We are talking about 10-20 years. We can list with a higher degree of certainty those major world problems of education that the 21st century will undoubtedly inherit from the 20th century. With a lesser degree of certainty, but in principle it is possible to predict the development of the situation with education in Russia at the start of the new century. We can say even more definitely about the solvability or unsolvability within the indicated timeframes of already known problems that life, the state of knowledge and practice have posed in the field of fundamental science.
World problems of education
If we summarize the opinions expressed by the world community about the fate of education and universities at the turn of the century, we can single out two main theses.
n First thesis is that today success in solving the most common world problems - ecology, economic growth, demography, etc. - largely localized by local and regional features. International structures dealing with such issues can and do give specific countries very useful, but no more than the most general recommendations by their permission.
It seems that the most valuable thing in such advice is what should not be done, what should be feared, what it is desirable to avoid, based on the experience accumulated by mankind. But what, how and in what way to do, i.e. the choice of development path must be determined based on the place of action. "One Gospel is given to the human race, but every people understands it, applies its actions to it in its own way, until all people have made up their flock. Thus, every people has its own physiognomy, its own philosophy, morality, poetry and religion, or better, perspective on religion. These are the words of M.P. Pogodin - one of the founders of Russian historical science, professor at Moscow University. It is from this angle that I look at the development of education in the world in general, and in Russia in particular.
n Second thesis is to find a positive answer to the question of how, integrating into the world community, at the same time remain yourself, preserving your national characteristics.
For Russia, the issue of the model of higher education is extremely important and acute. It is here that the differences between the federal authorities, education and the university corporation are most noticeable. Everyone has known this for a long time. There is an idea to form the education system in Russia according to some Western models, basically copying the American system. However, in my opinion, the mechanical adjustment of the domestic school and science to any foreign systems is one of those negative trends that, if preserved, will bring much more trouble to our national education than they have already brought. There are many concrete examples of this.
How to achieve an effective balance between tradition and innovation? How to proceed in order to continue developing within the framework of the European and global educational process, not only to maintain the high place of Russian education, but also to increase its contribution to the achievement of common goals? What and how to do so that, transforming and dynamizing our education, not to lose its national roots, traditions, values that lie at the foundation of Russian culture?
The questions are not rhetorical, they are vital. And, by the way, it was not only Russia that got up sharply. They have been actively discussed for at least 25-30 years, with increasing intensity as the turn of the new century approaches. These discussions made it possible to clarify a lot in general, although by no means everything can be calculated accurately enough due to the large number of influencing parameters and restrictive conditions. In the main, all are one. The problems of education facing each of the countries of the world are the same. With slight variations, they are inherent in the national education systems of all states. The difference is in scale, sharpness, as well as determination in search of positive solutions.
n It is no secret that the education system, even in the richest countries, is experiencing significant financial difficulties and legislative constraints. In this regard, again and again turn to the problem "Education and the state". I will recall two fundamentally important conclusions made at the conference of laureates Nobel Prize"On the Threshold of the 21st Century", which took place in 1997 in Paris.
First. The division between political circles and the scientific community that exists in many countries must be overcome. To do this, each of the parties must recognize the role that the other plays in society.
Second. Education should have an absolute priority in the budgets of all states and contribute to the development of all types of creative activity. Unfortunately, the leaders of many countries are not always guided by these absolutely correct conclusions made by people representing the world's intellectual elite. Russia is among them.
n Educational establishments and scientific institutions in all countries feel the growing tension around them and in this regard, again and again turn to the problem " Education and society". Its essence is that there is a loss of confidence in education on the part of society, and society itself is one of the reasons that gave rise to the existing gap between social needs and education.
In all countries, many do not fully understand that the so-called critical problems of education - its quality and relevance, equality of access, freedom of choice, employment, efficiency and funding - are by no means purely educational. The education system does not exist in a vacuum. The tasks that it is called upon to solve, the successes it achieves, the failures it suffers, are mainly due to the forces surrounding it, historically rooted in the national culture, and all the circumstances of a particular socio-economic situation.
Not everyone understands that the internal political course plays a major role in the dynamics of the educational system of any country. Nevertheless, society is eager to get the most out of education, sometimes denying it even a minimum of attention, often sacrificing education as a sacrifice to politics.
n Education systems at all levels, from elementary to postgraduate, increasingly demonstrate the inadequacy of what has been invested in what has been achieved. In this regard, we have to turn again and again to the problem " Education and man". In the eternal triangle from the time of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle - the state, society, man - education has always played a role the main civilizational factor in human development.
Russian specifics
All the problems of world education are also inherent in Russia, but they have a pronounced Russian specificity. Moreover, this specificity is not so much in our historical past, our traditions, but in the originality of the time experienced by the country.
When we talk about the current moment in reforming the system of education and science, while trying to build some schemes for transformations, and take the Western school and science as some guidelines, then this approach must be recognized as not quite adequate for a number of reasons.
n First. In all Western countries, school and science represent for the state investment sphere: somewhere they invest more in it, somewhere less. In Russia today, on the contrary, education and science are spheres for the state withdrawal of resources of all kinds - financial, logistical, personnel - for redistribution to other areas. The scenarios of reforms in higher education and science in recent years are a continuous chain of such withdrawals made by the administrative-volitional method: the privatization of university property, the pumping out of qualified personnel, entanglement in debts and extortions.
Therefore, the question of developing a new strategy and tactics for further reforming education and science directly depends on the answer to the question whether the process of withdrawing resources has been completed or not. If completed, then at what level did we end up? Hence one strategy and tactics for the entry of Russian education into the coming century. If this process is not completed, then we must try to understand what and to what extent will still be withdrawn from the sphere of science and education. Then the strategy and tactics of solving the above-mentioned problems common to world education will be different. Our starting conditions at the beginning of the 21st century will also be different.
I think it is appropriate to draw a parallel here with the conduct of hostilities. There, between strategy and tactics, for example, a front-line operation, the connection is such that, under certain specific conditions, tactical tasks acquire the character of strategic ones, and strategic tasks pass into the category of tactical ones. The one who understood this in time and made the appropriate conclusion, he won the battle. And the reform of education and science is not such operations, they are larger in terms of goals and resources and more significant in terms of the ensuing consequences. If we had thought deeply about these goals and consequences, the result would have been different.
n Second. The reform of education and science is taking place in conditions when Russia is experiencing a profound cultural shock, the negative impact of which on society is already incommensurably more destructive, primarily in moral terms, than the instant impoverishment of the bulk of the population, which was the result of shock therapy. Financial discrimination of a scientist, teacher, teacher, constantly sounding doubts about their professional level, derogatory opposition to foreign colleagues - this and much more is not only wrong in principle, but also carries a negative social charge that is dangerous for the state and society.
Let us also note this fact. The state finds huge financial resources somewhere to send thousands of our specialists to study abroad for the so-called retraining, and so far does not invest any money in solving a similar problem directly in Russia. Had it been otherwise, perhaps there would not have been such a situation when, as the results of a 1995 survey showed, professors of Russian universities gave an extremely negative assessment public policy in the field of higher education ("it contributes to the development of higher education" - 1% of the respondents, "it is not effective enough" - 13%, "it is destructive" - 43%).
Speaking about the state of the education system in Russia at the turn of the 21st century, I am especially concerned about the fact that in some ways de facto, and in some ways already de jure, there is an attempt on a natural and constitutional human right - the right to education, the largest 20th century conquest Depressing is the desire to politicize education, especially higher education, and the nationalism and extremism that develops on this basis. I am sincerely concerned about the numerous facts that testify to the narrowing of the cultural and educational function of education.
According to the Russian Ministry of Education, over the past five years, the commissioning of new schools has decreased by 4 times, while the number of students has grown by 1.1 million people. Classes are overcrowded, 36% of schools work in two or even three shifts. Studies show that about half of the Russian population does not read a single new book in a year. Entire types of literature are dying out. Publications on art, poetry, scientific and technical literature, classical works are disappearing - they account for only 2% of the total volume of publications. Only 30% of the population can afford the luxury of buying a book.
As a university professor, I am alarmed by the symptoms that indicate a drop in the level vocational training students. The fast-growing deficit of morality is frightening, which is much more dangerous than the budget or commodity, since its roots are in the attitude of the state, society and the individual to education. It was no longer considered prestigious and a priority. A.S. Pushkin, in a note on public education, drawn up by order of Nicholas I, wrote: “Not only the influence of foreign ideologicalism is detrimental to our fatherland, education, or rather the lack of education, is the root of all evil. Let’s say more, education alone is able to restrain new madness, new social calamities.
n Third. When we talk about the current moment in the reform of our higher education and science, we must keep in mind that the use of such concepts as crisis, critical state, etc., has a different meaning in today's Russia than in the most developed countries, where they are also operated on. When they talk about the crisis of universities, for example, in the USA, Japan or France, then they are not talking about the division of the educational and scientific space, the threat to the very existence of hundreds of research institutes and universities. The competition between state and non-state higher education in the West does not at all mean a landslide transfer of state universities and institutes to private hands, but a brain drain - a mass exodus of professors from the walls of universities. That is why, if to describe the situation with Russian higher education we use such concepts as crisis, critical state, competition, brain drain, etc. from the dictionary of international education, then this should be done with great caution.
It seems to me that the reasons for the difficulties that our higher school is experiencing are not quite correct. Two directly opposite points of view prevail. According to one of them, all the troubles of universities are the consequences of shortcomings acquired by them in Soviet time. Another point of view connects the crisis situation with the current state line in the field of higher education.
Of course, both statements have their share of truth, but they differ significantly. This difference can be eliminated if we admit that many problems of the Soviet period were extremely exacerbated as a result of ill-conceived, hasty, strong-willed actions taken by the country's leadership in the late 80s to reform higher education and science. As can now be seen, these actions were based on ignoring national history and traditions of the development of education and science, mechanical copying of far from the best foreign practice, neglect of our undoubted advantages, artificial exaggeration of shortcomings, opposition under the guise of democratization of a student to a professor, a university to a technical university, a general education school to a higher school, etc.
Unfortunately, even today in this approach, little has fundamentally changed. In many ways, this is why, it seems to me, the reform of the education system is going on so hard and at such a cost.
The rise of education, science and culture - the path to the revival of Russia
Today, as in the past, a special responsibility for solving the problems of the relationship between education and the state, society and the individual lies with Moscow University. So history ordered and confirmed life. Moscow University was conceived and created by its founders M.V. Lomonosov and I.I. Shuvalov as nationwide, nationwide. He never changed his destiny and never betrayed him. And today there is no reason to do otherwise.
There was not and is no other such university in Russia. This, perhaps, is his weakness, and perhaps, on the contrary, his strength. The weakness is that the blows that were inflicted on Moscow University were even more painful for domestic education, high school on the culture as a whole. There was no one to deflect or soften these blows. The strength lies in the fact that Moscow University, while defending itself, simultaneously defended all domestic education, higher education, and culture, taking on the main burdens.
That is why Moscow University has become not only the leading national center of scientific education and culture, but also a symbol of Russian morality, a moral attitude towards the state, society, and man. All this determined and continues to determine the line of conduct, content and forms of action of Moscow University in relation to the reform of education and science at all its stages.
They often talk about the desire to integrate into world civilization. I personally do not think that Russia is somewhere in its backyard. And yet, if we say so, we will be guided by the words of UNESCO Secretary General Federico Mayor: "The time has come to recognize culture as a direct inspiring force for development, to give it a central role as a social regulator." Louis Pasteur, once elected an honorary professor at Moscow University, wrote: "At the stage of development that we have reached and which is designated by the name" latest civilization ", the development of science is perhaps even more necessary for the moral well-being of the people than for its material prosperity. There is only one way to civilization, to the future of the country - in the union between science and the state". He understood this even 100 years ago.
The main, all-defining goal for Russia at the turn of the twenty-first century. I consider restoration of confidence in ongoing further reforms in education and science. Without it, everything will go to waste. The reform is made by professors, teachers, students, but not officials. It is high time to understand and accept the formula - not education for the state, but the state for education. We should remember the wonderful words of our compatriot: "One of the hallmarks of a great nation," wrote Professor of Moscow University V. Klyuchevsky, "is its ability to rise to its feet after a fall." And he added that "social revival will be accomplished by processing the word of science into a matter of life."
The article was prepared on the basis of the author's report at the All-Russian Scientific Conference "Russia - XXI Century" (September 25-26, 1997), organized by the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Russian Academy of Sciences.
