A Campaign without a Platform

For a couple of months now I've been wanting to share some of what I consider weaknesses of the Ukrainian school system. It's hard to put into layman terms what differences I see on a daily basis without great explanation. This is just a summary of roadblocks I face that shed light on the complexity of education reform in Ukraine. As a teacher, it's difficult to ignore injustice and take small steps towards a healthier model, but that is not my place. For a better introduction to education in Ukraine, I recommend the "Reform Strategy for Education in Ukraine" report provided by the United Nations Development Programme.

The topics summarized are in no particular order.



The Schedule

Every school day is different. In the States, it is common to have a schedule that repeats itself daily (math first lesson, biology second lesson...). In Ukraine, every day of the week has a different schedule and from what I can tell there is no attempt at making it beneficial for the student or teacher. For me, it's especially difficult because I often have the first class of the day when students aren't fully awake or I have students towards the end of the day when they have no self control. Because of this, my ability to be productive in the classroom is even further weakened.

With not having a repeating schedule, there is no rhythm to the day, meaning that students are in a constant abyss of not knowing what's next due to the changes to the schedule. Unlike in the States where there are substitute teachers, if a teacher isn't at school there is no class. I'd say on a typical day three teachers are missing school. Because there can be no class periods without teachers, the entire daily schedule must be picked apart and stitched together. I honestly can't recall a single day when the schedule went as planned, always resulting in uncomfortable shouting in the teachers' room and dozens of confused faces not prepared for class.

My school's schedule last March

The Classroom

I've gathered that it's not universal, but at least for my school, students stay in the same classroom all day from the fifth to the eleventh grade. Each classroom is typically a cabinet for a particular department, containing the materials for that subject. Students have chemistry in the Ukrainian literature room if chemistry is not their classroom. In turn, this means teachers carry around all their equipment with them from room to room and since I'm especially prone to visuals, I really look like a bag lady.

Because students don't switch rooms, when I walk into a classroom for a lesson I'm intimidated. I've entered THEIR space. There is no visual environmental clue that tells the student that this is the teacher's space and it's time for the teacher's class. With that, I have no ability to rearrange the room or where students sit in order to change the preordained dynamic, thus limited my chances of ever really gaining control of the classroom. Classroom management is really hard.

Also, in the school, student classrooms aren't divided by halls into grades. Meaning, a first grade class is next to an eighth grade class and they share a closet. Classes are not divided by strengths either, so if a student falls behind he or she has little chance of ever catching up. These students move towards the back of the classroom and are shut out from the learning process.



Incorporating the Bologna Process

Education is political. In Ukraine, especially so when factoring in constant divide between Western integration and Soviet nostalgia. With every administration, the criteria changes and the people who decide what children will learn are more likely than not in no way connected to education.

In much of the 2000s, Ukraine was attempting to strengthen systems so that they could be in line with European standards. This meant that a lot of outside and foreign methods were introduced and abruptly implemented resulting in miscommunication and disillusionment. With the current administration, a number of processes that were adapted are being reversed to what they were like during the Soviet period. For example, to make Ukraine's education more European, instead of an eleven year system (in my opinion really only ten), it was to become twelve years. In order to do this, the curriculum was slowly changing to allow that extra year (to be implemented in 2012). This past summer, the government decided to go back to an eleven year system. In talking to people about this, the only people that expressed resentment to me were western educated. In talking to others, they found twelve years to be a waste. One of my favorite responses was a woman who commented that she couldn't imagine what students would do for an extra year. She, in a jokingly manner, said that teachers would have to deal with husbands and babies in the classroom. This could be a whole other rant on the disconnect between cause and effect and the missing block I've grown up knowing as "prevention."

Classes are still often conducted in the old style, where there is only one right answer and self-directed learning is nonexistent. Teachers lack the training to be innovative and often fear being challenged by their students. Lifelong learning is a foreign concept. Everything is down from the top down. The federal government dictates what students will learn and the oblast hands out textbooks and stamped curriculum. A school has no voice.


School Subjects

Currently, Ukrainian students have eighteen subjects; 18 different classes a week. I can't even name them all: English, Ukrainian, Russian, Ukrainian literature, foreign literature, algebra, geometry, physics, biology, world history, Ukrainian history, philosophy, ethics, health, chemistry, economics, information technology, physical education....The subjects are taught in a vacuum, not connected nor interdisciplinary. Because of this, students are lost as they take in a lot of unrelated information that they more likely than not memorize out of context. A class's schedule is not tailored to it's needs, meaning that if students are especially weak, there is a possibility that in one day they will have three science classes and two math classes. It's quite cruel, given that teachers have very little say in what they can teach during a lesson since that's mandated by the Ministry. Therefore, a class must move forward reading Tolstoy despite the likely possibility an entire row of students still can't read. Learning disabilities are also a foreign concept. In general, I feel that there's a surface to everything a teacher does but little depth and context. Students are completely lost and have no way of connecting what goes on in the classroom to their lives. This is in part a failure on behalf of western institutions that implemented changes, miscalculating how ideas would be misinterpreted (in part because Ukrainian students spend less time in class than most other European countries).


Incentive

Students can't fail a grade. It's sad to say it, but why study if you're going to receive a diploma in the end no matter what? It's sad to see how some of the worst aspects of the old system have joined some of the worst aspects of pro-capitalistic one. My students won't work unless they know they'll get something in return (well, there are a few that do it because they like school). It's also difficult to have games in the classroom because they are uber competitive (really sore losers). Students have very little risk, except when it comes to totally being shut out of having a future. Thankfully most parents push them forward. They also push them towards fields that will be profitable (knowing English and math) and away from those that are part of the public sector (medicine and law).


Cheating

Our PC manual summarizes it best:

This is a huge issue in Ukrainian classrooms. Kids help each other out. That’s universal. But in Ukraine, due to the all-for-one mentality of Communism that was the ruling ideology for decades, kids help each other out even more than American pupils tend to. On the other hand, most Ukrainian children don’t consider sharing homework answers cheating. They think it’s helping. It’s up to you to explain to your pupils what constitutes cheating.


Cultural Differences

What I find rude is completely normal. It's typical for students to talk during class because it's what their parents do during concerts and teachers at meetings. My students' cell phones are sacred. I can't take their phones away from them despite how annoying they are and disrupt the classroom because if I do, the students will protest to a degree that is unbearable.


Village Schools

There is such a large difference between the resources of city and village schools that I don't even notice them anymore. School children are inadvertently being divided into the privileged (rich urban) and the unprivileged (rural poor). This means that often students from rural schools can't qualify for higher education or training because they don't meet basic requirements due to a lack of opportunity.

Grading

The grading system isn't objective. It's an odd scale (1-12) that isn't based on percentages and is totally chosen on the mood of the teacher.




This is not meant to be harsh. This is one sided. Looking back over what I've written I can see places where I can rebuttal and explain why things are the way they are. It's not black and white or good versus evil. Change takes time and Peace Corps is a vital element towards allowing Ukraine to discover it's own inner modern response to a skill-based post-industrial economy. Please comment if you'd like a clarification. If I have the time I'd like to expand on all the subtopics.

Meaningless Milestones

Today marks one year in Ukraine (well, minus that one week in Georgia)! I've been thinking about this jubilee a lot lately, trying to figure out how time is relative to me. Yes, in many ways it does feel like a year, but thinking about getting on that plane in New York seems not quite that long ago. In Ukrainian, Ukraine is Україна, meaning it's a feminine noun. Ukraine is treated as a female, referred to as a motherland. I've been thinking about my relationship with Ukraine as a same-sex partnership, using sexist stereotypes in an attempt to classify what she means to me. She's beautiful and has so much potential that's being thwarted by an old system. She's passive aggressive, pretending everything will continue on the surface despite what catalogues of yesterdays has piled upon her. She puts up with an abusive relationship because history defines her identity; who she is.

Yesterday was my birthday. I celebrated Saturday evening with fellow volunteers, walking along Kyiv's main streets. On Sunday, the actual day, I spent most of the daylight on a bus back to site. I was okay with it, it was nice to stare out the window and have an excuse not to do anything. At school today, I was greeted with flowers and many "Happy Birthdays." Birthdays are a very big deal here. I'm glad mine was rather low key. Limited toasts. The school gifted me with a journal and in the afternoon I treated them to a cake I picked up in Kyiv at the country's most famous bakery. This act definitely won them over.

I want to thank Midway for the card shower I got! The post office workers think I'm really something special. I'm guessing I receive more mail than anyone else in the village.

Where is Sara From?

I'm getting closer to a hundred percent. I swear.

Where have the days gone?

I'm sitting at my desk, thankful for sleeping in a bit, a successful grocery shopping blitz this morning, and dreary weather that won't distract me from things I have to get done today. I'm amazed how fast this month is going by. Thoughts of personal side projects and carelessly spending time with the family seem impossible.

Currently at school, I've only got about 15 classes per week but because of the way the schedule is arranged and my desire to work with students after their lessons I'm at school almost everyday from eight till four or five (which for Ukrainians is very unusual and for Peace Corps volunteers even more so). After the school day, I sprint off to get errands done, since most places close before five. I allow myself a little cooking break and ibuprofen cocktail after so many hours of shouting before lesson planning and grant writing. I've got one week to streamline a USAID proposal that's swelled to over forty pages. Once that's turned in, hopefully I can get a few other smaller grants in by the end of next month and start working on other things including country-wide commitments I've been pushing aside. Just to clarify, I'm not complaining, I love being busy and I'm aware how much my concept of time and productivity has changed here. I have a lot less to show for what I've been doing than I'd like to admit. Also, I use this as an excuse for not responding to emails and other things. I PROMISE I'll get on that in a little over a week from now.

Other ramblings, I now have a posse of girls that get way too excited every time they see me and bombard me with hugs and requests for English games. It's really hard to say no to them. I got this card this past week, awesome. At the bazaar today, the tomatoes were lackluster, which is a sign that I've got to eat as many eggplants and peppers before my only choices are carrots, potatoes, and beets. Luckily, my landlady has been canning a lot (I help her when I can) so we'll have something this winter, even if it's pickled. I want to expand on food and the surging prices of energy sometime soon. It's going to be an interesting winter and I'm thankful that I will witness it from the comfort of a steady stipend and the promise that if things get really bad, Peace Corps will subsidize for us. The first picture is the garden outside of the school. If you go back a couple pages you'll see pictures of when it was sown. Ukrainian earth is quite magical in how anything grows here splendidly.

There's so much I'd like to share but for now I'll just take notes for later. If you happen to have an awesome granola/power bar recipe that can be applied to Ukrainian limits (finding ingredients and price) please let me know. Typically, I make oatmeal bars with raisins and sunflower seeds. Next weekend I'll be in Kyiv so I'll make a quick supermarket run to see if protein powder exists in this country. The school day kills me. I really miss the convenience of picking something up, including a Starbucks Doubleshot. Convenience isn't something that exists in the village, partially because it comes with a higher price tag. The youngest kids have lunch so I might start doing that because the snack stand white flour rolls and sugar cookies aren't cutting it.

Off to copying and pasting!

First Bell

V. was kind enough to pose with me after a full morning of growing-up.

Arriving in late September last year, I missed the First Bell tradition. I can confidently report that it is very similar to Last Bell, only the ceremony was a lot shorter and the students seemed mellower in comparison. In this part of the world, there is the tradition of starting school on the first of September, also known as "Day of Knowledge". On this day, across Ukraine and similar countries students and teachers gather in a courtyard to welcome the new school year. At my school, a flag was paraded around to the national hymn, a few words were said, some awards handed out, a couple of presentations, and a senior student circled around with a first grader while ringing a bell. After the ceremony, there was a first lesson that is open to parents. Typically, the lesson goes along the theme of Ukraine (history, poetry, famous Ukrainians). I watched the first grade's first class, which included a bunch of introductions and a cake. After the "school day" my host family gathered for a lunch, where I tried and failed to explain why champagne shouldn't be drunken like shots.

M. and V. These amazing girls are the granddaughters of the woman I live with.

First Grade's First Lesson: It's more packed than a PTA meeting.

With all the smiles and hugs First Bell left me in a good mood for the rest of the day. The previous week, I'd gone into school every day for a bit to say hello, see if there was any news, and try to arrange a meeting with the director. Every time I left the school I felt like I had less of a purpose, a series of dull conversations that never allotted room for me to express changes I wanted to make. Working with colleagues here is an art. As volunteers, it's beaten into our heads the importance of integrating into the community and that developing relationships takes a long time. We joke about being on "Ukraine Time," a neither here nor there state of ignoring schedules, poor customer service, and overall resistance to change as the country is in a never-ending state of transition. "Ukraine Time" is especially hard for newer volunteers that are wired to value output and efficiency. In the first part of service a tactful experiment takes place of finding the right combination of patience and persistence. I'm still working on mine. The week before school started, I was sure I wasn't going to ever find my balance in regard to being an active member of school. I often feel like a glorified substitute teacher. I have to find out what is going on by asking, otherwise I'd never know. I don't have a shelf, table, or even a chair in the school. This is compounded by the fact that the class schedule hasn't been finalized for this year, to the extent that teachers don't have any idea how many lessons they'll be teaching because of last minute changes made to the curriculum at the federal level.

My worldy possessions (educational materials) piling up in what limited living space I have.

Having that moment of confidence and feeling like I'm a member during First Bell encouraged me. The following day, I finally got the meeting I was waiting for. To be honest, it was more of a walk-by. In any case, in that five minute conversation I got the basis of a grant cemented and a classroom I can share with another teacher. I'm wondering if feeling sorry for myself led to this quick takeover. Or if it is my sly ability to read cultural relativism. In any case, I'm glad to have hope for having some sort of impact this school year.

In other news, I still don't enjoy jogging. I'm trying. To substitute, almost every evening I go for a walk. I often end up in fields that I probably shouldn't be in, like the one in the picture below:

It may not look like much, but this is my home for two years.