Today's school education, not only Russian, but also in general post-Soviet, is scolded even by the most lazy ones. And the objects of criticism are so many that even a simple listing of them can take more than one page. Scold the quality of education in general and each subject individually, reducing the number of hours studied and the overload of students.
Discussions are prompted by the list of academic disciplines, and the most heated disputes - which of them are mandatory, and which are simply not needed. They blame education for its excessive high cost for parents and the state budget, and at the same time they are indignant at the low salaries of teachers and the material base of ordinary schools. They denounce corruption and continue to make "gifts" and "presents" to teachers and school principals. They hate the Unified State Examination - and hire tutors to train their beloved children to take it.
And these are only the most common and most scandalous problems of the education system as a whole. However, even they, for all their undoubted importance, are secondary. Until now, the main question remains unresolved - who, in fact, should the school prepare for? In Soviet times everything was kind of clear: the goal of school education was proclaimed the education of a harmonious, creative, comprehensively developed personality. Against this no one, in fact, did not mind and then, and today many people do not argue with this statement of the question. The Soviet Union was quite legitimately proud of its education system, considering it the best in the world. However, the Americans also adhered to a similar view, true, in relation to their education.
Americanization of Russian school education
As you know, the basis of American philosophy is pragmatism, the credo of which is "everything should be of use!" And since the Western civilization has long been regarded as an ideal by the person who consumes it, it is the education of the educators that directs the efforts of teachers. The ironic lines "learned little by little, something and somehow" became, oddly enough, a guide to action for several generations of American teachers. And the same principle slowly but surely becomes leading in the domestic education.
The results are already visible: the representatives of a generation that grew up under democracy are free, relaxed, self-confident, practical, but deprived of the amount of knowledge that was considered necessary for a primary school graduate about twenty years ago. Today, even the majority of students who came after school to universities do not have them. And the trouble is not only in the absence of some basic information, like the multiplication table. By and large, with minimal computer skills (which almost all schoolchildren now know how), you can find out how many "three times six" there are on the Internet. The trouble is that today's high school students do not have a system of knowledge and skills, including a verbal account, reading, not to mention a much lame spelling.
Communicating among themselves mainly on the Internet to children is easier to learn "Albanian languages", than to remember that "cha, schA" - is written with the letter "a".
So, what is next?
The phrase of the great Bismarck that the battle at Sedan was won not by guns and guns, but by a German schoolteacher, was already forgotten for a long time ago. Following his logic, we might perhaps have to admit that the American teacher won the Cold War after all. But for some reason, I do not want to admit this, if only because the school education in the Russian Federation has lost much more than it has gained from the Americanization that has been energetically planted from above. And this unpleasant fact has been realized for a long time already both by teachers and parents.
And do not be consoled by the fact that it is even worse in neighboring Ukraine or Moldova - it is generally known that it is easier to fall down than to rise. Apparently, at the very top should be a clear understanding of the prospects for further development of the country as a whole. Once upon a time, the Soviet Union was called, and unjustly "Upper Volta with missiles." It is unfair in the first place, because none of the African countries for more than two decades after the death of the USSR did not learn to build missiles.
Russia (in the number of very few countries) is still getting it. But looking at the further "progress" of education in Russia, we have to admit that the prospect of becoming "Upper Volta without missiles" is not that fantastic anymore. And that, alas, we know well about what happens to countries with large reserves of minerals, but without rockets. And so if you are interested in the further fate of your children and grandchildren - make them learn. It was never easy and did not always give a return, equivalent to at least spent efforts. But there is simply no other way, alas.