The ideal higher education model for my country

Tetiana Karpus / Kyiv Borys Grinchenko University | 25-Oct-2016
The universities are teaching to repeat the facts, but do not form their own opinions. Modern textbooks include only one correct answer. According to the Soviet education: if the train leaves from point A, he will definitely come to point B. The other option cannot even exist. #education #PostSovietUnion #ModelOfEducation #NewEducation
Address: Kyiv, Ukraine
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photo credit: Tetiana Karpus
"The school should always have as its aim that the young man leave it as a harmonious personality, not as a specialist" once says theoretical physicist Albert Einstein. The school shouldn't just be about getting knowledge of a subject. It should lead to a fully-rounded personality, who has been taught to study, to research and to acquire all kinds of knowledge and skills, not in one subject alone, but across the board. Unfortunately the opinion of education in my country is absolutely the opposite of this view.

Ukraine is one of the countries that remained after the collapse of the Soviet union. In the ruins of the country tried to revive the economy, government and education system as a whole is called "Price of Independence". Freed from Soviet-era restrictions on free trade, residents in these regions have experienced the revolutionary effects of globalization and new digital technologies alongside, a critical need of the new education system in high school and universities. But is it simply to destroy into pieces that existed during the 70 year? Clearly, it is time to understand that the long-term stay in the crossroads of the educational system, when we moved from the old system and not come to the new, is abnormal. The first step to solving any problem is to identify the main reasons for its occurrence.

University is a workshop where the younger generation formed the idea, we must firmly hold it in our hands, if you don't want to let go of the hands your future. Our modern "education workshops" sorely lacking of the normal equipment. The first thing you should pay attention to the Ukrainian educational system is the fact that teachers did not notice the appearance of internet. For doing the homework teachers sent us to the library, whose books have long been covered in dust, and all of this information can be easily found on the Internet. Modern computers in universities already 10 years old are not modern, and are unable to support most of the modern applications and upgrades. Here we have the second problematic question: why the government of our country does not give a financial support of the educational system?

Actually, they do. But it's not always the money reach the ultimate goal. We are not even having considered the second question and we already see the third: why do we have corruption in the education system? The reasons for this are many experts see in the famous Academics lobby, which exists since the Soviet Union, it is corrupt and bribable part of the higher education system, which are not ready for a dialogue. The destruction of this should proceed from the top: if the employees of the educational system had a good salary, they would not have been forced to take bribes.

Another difference between an our and the ideal education system that we cannot choose the subjects, studying which we really want to. We are studying those subjects that the university amounts to us. And they come from the fact what sector of experts in education it has more. Therefore, journalists are studying ecology and biology, economists studying linguistics and interpreters have a mathematics course. This is an absurd, and it takes a lot of time that students spend on. If one is fortunate they could study the information that is really directly required and needed them in their future profession.

Teachers working on the most important task - they forms human. But, one of the problems lies with the teachers themselves and their approach to education. Modern school does not give critical thinking, freedom of thought and not working on strives towards for results. Students focus their efforts only on pleasing the teacher or educational program instead demonstrates commitment, effectiveness, some competition. The universities are teaching to repeat the facts, but do not form their own opinions. Modern textbooks include only one correct answer. According to the Soviet education: if the train leaves from point A, he will definitely come to point B. The other option cannot even exist. Thus, instead of the basic knowledge students receive a set of skills needed to cheat the system. Maybe that's why Mark Twain says, "I have never let my schooling interfere with my education".

Another problem post-Soviet time, which affects the Ukrainian education and science - the fact that the majority of the country feel themselves threatened. A person does not understand or tomorrow will be the same living conditions. In this situation, education - including diploma - is perceived as a factor of safety. If the outer structure and expression of life is based on the inner modern possibilities, and we build our lives and our civilizations based on who we are inside, why is it that we have tended to turn outward, dealing always with structures and forms, handling problematic situations with whatever capabilities we have, instead of attempting to improve our capacity for effective, intelligent action? We are doing our best for studying all the facts, but when it comes to practice, we do not know how to use theoretical knowledge.

In conclusion, what is still needed for my country to make an ideal education system? The main focus on the education system must be on the idea of the critical society through emphasis on the educated mind, freedom of thought and freedom for choosing courses and knowledge that will be really important for future profession, the cultivation of the intellect, and destroying barriers to human development. Today, the seeds of such a dramatic transformation in education are being planted. Prompted by massive revolutions in knowledge, information technology, and public demand for better learning, schools nationwide are slowly but surely restructuring themselves. First of all it is the understanding that students aren't consumers of the facts. They are active creators of knowledge. Universities and schools aren't just brick-and-mortar structures -- they're centers of lifelong learning. And, most important, teaching is recognized as one of the most challenging and respected career choices, absolutely vital to the social, cultural, and economic health of our nation.

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