Bribes in Schools?

[Kleanthes]

Hey Natasha,

Good to hear from you. I'm not sure whether anyone is going to follow up on your query, but let me add a new thread for it.

Hello? Anybody out there with something interesting to contribute?

The little report from bribery in Russian schools is indeed shocking. I have no idea how to tackle it, or what you could do. It's clear from your post that you don't intend to go this route and that's important. You also raised two further interesting points. First, your country used to be known for good education and second, bribery doesn't buy knowledge. So in the worst case scenario, the situation will solve itself once these "students" or high school "graduates" try to further their education, at college or university. It won't get them far. But one would suspect that the majority of bought-diploma holders will NOT go to uni. Well, what is the social status of such high school diplomas in Russia? If they won't ever need the knowledge they supposedly gained at school later on, the damage is dealable -- in the worst case scenario you're going to have a country full of idiots soon. But in the long run this can't be sustained: the government/education policymakers will have to address this problem as soon as there's another international comparison of schools, schooling, and knowledge. It'll be obvious to the rest of the world and to Russia that there's something funny going on and it will then have to be addressed.

In the meantime, try and talk to the students -- as hopeless as that may seem. Try to gather some of those who don't bribe and ask them to help you. Maybe you can make a difference at your school, maybe other teachers will pick up, maybe other schools in your district will pick up, and so on. Write editorials in the newspapers, turn the media's attention to this problem, write to the school board and other official bodies.

Keep us posted with (hopefully positive) news! Good luck!

[caithalia]

I agree that it would seem the best thing to do in this situation is to bring it out into the open. Sending letters to papers and other media, and disseminating info in general is a powerful tool for change. Informed people make better decisions than those who are ignorant.

I don't agree though with your "worst-case scenario" assessment. I think the worst case scenario is that this situation, unchecked, will actually bring some amount of poverty in its wake, along with a common acceptance of such behavior, and possibly even a breakdown in services provided by individuals with a faulty "education". My mother worked in the Baltimore County public school system for a number of years before leaving out of frustration: in this area, bribes are not offered to elementary school teachers, but they are under enormous pressure to pass students who do not demonstrate the learning and knowledge they need in the next grade. As the student progresses, they fall farther and farther behind and soon it is useless for them to even continue in school. This means that we are sending 18-year olds out into the world without the skills they need to work and support themselves (like the ability to read and do simple arithmetic -- I'm not talking calculus here). Worse, they develop the idea that they don't need to know anything or work for anything, because they will just be passed along anyhow.

I know it all sounds kind of alarmist, but I've seen it happen as the children my mother taught passed through the school. This situation makes me angry, especially with the current administration touting its "No Child Left Behind Act" -- which does just that-- while cutting welfare, social security, and government healthcare programs for the people it put there in the first place. We are growing children to depend on the programs we are taking away.

Natasha, I'm not sure how applicable this is in the Russian system, and now I'm kind of worried I just went off on a rant about something that isn't at all a problem there (or is already a worse problem than it is here). Kudos to you for being concerned enough to do something about it...now at least everyone on the board is aware of the problem as well.

Gwynne

[Natasha]

Hey, Kleanthes! I probably did not express myself very well - I was talking about college/university bribing! And, actually, if my message does not attract a lot of reactions, it is probably a good sign - elsewhere the situation is not like this and the people do not feel that this is really a problem that calls for immediate attention. And probably it is a matter of one's individual conscience, after all. And, to be completely honest, I have already chosen my way in this - decided to try having a career in a different country. Last month my older sister defended a candidate of sciences dissertation in philosophy. She really is the author of her text and she is really very smart, but I know how much she unofficially paid - there was no other way to get anyone pay attention to what she had to say, this is why I got so worked up.
I'm sure you heard about that bombing in Madrid - everyone has. Awful. I am pretty sure it is not ETA but AL Qaeda or a related group. Early last Fall similar bombing occurred twice where I live, in southernmost Russia. Each time, bombs exploded in one carriage of our local commuter train. There were way fewer casualties, but it was shocking anyway - some of our students and faculty were on those trains, in those carriages. Then there was that bigger bombing in Moscow - an underground train got blown up. And ETA cannot have done these bombings. Our commuter trains and the underground one in Moscow were the testing ground, I think.
Do you think people like this can really be fighting for a cause? If you fight for a cause, you try to at least pretend to put up an honest fight. At least so it seems to me. Because when you fight for a cause, it matters to you and you want it to matter for other people too. People who bomb civilians and use brainwashing and violence to make women wear belts with explosives cannot be trying to win support for their idea. They are openly using brute force to gain control through fear.

[Natasha]

Dear Caithalia, thank you for your reply! I was really talking about the bribing that takes place at colleges and universities, although we do have it in other kinds of education too. And here too the pressure to pass kids and students who do not make enough progress exists. Maybe some of it comes from the parents' ambitions - 'my kid just has to be the best'. If the parents have a way to influence the school or college/uni in question ... well, they get what they want by bribing or by pressing. Maybe we should add something to teachers' training - something of the kind secret service agencies teach - resistance to psychological pressure (joke, probably not funny).

[Jeff]

Hi Natasha,

It's really sad to hear about the bribes, but it seems typical of the kind of gangster capitalism that's been imposed on Russia. I wonder if there's much you can actually do about it, beyond acting for larger political changes. But if I were in your shoes I would refuse to accept any bribes myself, even if it meant that I couldn't advance very far.

Good luck with everything.

Jeff

[Natasha]

Hi, Jeff! Thank you for your reaction to my message! It helps to feel like a normal person, not a freak of nature. But I sort of doubt that large political changes make large changes in people's minds, at least, not automatically.