Face to face

Face to face
What complaints do you have against your teachers/your students?


Date of publication: September 26, 2000

It's no secret that education is a communicative, dialogical process, involving the exchange of opinions and coordination of positions. Theoretically, everything is exactly like this, but practice suggests otherwise.

So we decided to bring together, at least in a virtual dialogue, those who study and those who teach, so that they speak out on the issue:

What complaints do you have against your teachers/your students?

Students

Anya Dyer. Russian State University for the Humanities - Faculty of History and Philology - Department of History - III year: I only have complaints about specific teachers. I don’t like it when at seminars the teacher asks questions and says something just because it’s necessary. When it is clear that he is unbearably bored. Or when, for example, in a language class someone communicates only with a small group of students and ignores the rest. I also don’t like it when a lecture turns into a one-man show, when the lecturer focuses not on the subject of the lecture, but on himself. I really don’t like it when teachers delay students by being half an hour late. But I’m talking about individual cases, but in general I was usually lucky with my teachers.

Katya Rosenblatt. Harvard University - Faculty of Economics - III year: The problem is that many of our teachers are terribly famous. They come from a presidential dinner, a Nobel or some other prize ceremony, a Senate meeting, etc., give a lecture that they have been giving for forty years, and leave. It is somehow impossible to communicate with them. Fortunately, this is usually not very interesting. It is more interesting to communicate with professors who are more approachable. But here everything depends on the specific professor and the specific student. You can send any teacher an e-mail, he should (for the first time) answer you, make an appointment for a meeting at some general lunch, and then whatever happens. If the teacher likes you, you may have a great relationship; if not, he will no longer make an appointment with you.

But these are all personal likes and dislikes. It is difficult to talk about any system of relationships between professors and students. Very rarely do we have “interactive” classes and joint discussion of some problems. As a rule, students and teachers are of little interest to each other.

Kostya Gaidai. Novosibirsk State Academy of Architecture and Art - Faculty of Architectural Environment Design - VI year: Everything is very simple: the school that exists in our academy came from the construction institute. We are taught as builders or engineers, without taking into account the other aspect of our specialization. Many items are absolutely not in demand in practice. At the same time, teachers treat their subjects very responsibly, they are very demanding, because they are paid something for it, because they are used to it. Many old teachers lecture without thinking, out of habit. They know nothing about new building materials, technologies that have been used in Europe for the last two decades, and they are very surprised when you bring them a project, for example, a glass staircase: “This cannot be.” At best, 2% of teachers—practicing architects and designers—progress. But even they often, when talking about some new materials, are forced to say: “We don’t have that, it’s just so you know.”

Asya B. Moscow State University - Faculty of Philology - IV year: The main problems are associated with teachers of the old school. Many elderly teachers are in a state of insanity, but continue to lecture. And nothing can be done about it, because they are deserved, responsible, etc. In addition, the specificity of the Faculty of Philology is such that, unlike, say, the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics, many subjects allow for the possibility of ideological background. I can't stand this.

A paradoxical situation sometimes arises in the issue of attitude to the text: in the 3rd (!) year of the philology department, our teacher in every possible way welcomed the analysis of poems at the ah-ah-ah level, I like it so much - I don’t like it so much! At the same time, attempts to seriously analyze the text from a scientific point of view were simply suppressed.

Alexander Butsynov. Novosibirsk State Technical University - Faculty of Humanitarian Education - Department of Social and Cultural Services and Tourism - III year: Our university was recently an institute, but then it was given the status of a university, and for this it was necessary to open new faculties, including the Faculty of Humanitarian Education. Many teachers are of the old, Soviet school, and we are studying a relatively new industry for our country - tourism. Students and teachers speak different languages, there is no particular mutual interest. There are, of course, exceptions, for example, our dean has been the director of one of the travel companies for ten years. Accordingly, she is aware of modern events and can give us some really useful information.

Another problem is that no one teaches students to speak Russian correctly; there is no culture of speech. We had rhetoric, so they taught the basics of etiquette from the last century. What else can the old teacher tell you?

Anton L. MPGU im. Lenin - Faculty of Physics - Department of Physics and Computer Science - IV year: If you undertake to teach, then try to find the strength to remember that every student is an individual. It is very difficult to seek an individual approach to everyone, but a good teacher should at least strive for this.

Vadim Dmitriev, graduate of the Novosibirsk Trade Lyceum: People of the old school are brought up in such a way that they are only able to give information, but not perceive. They perceive only what comes from above, but not from the students. You can explain to them, prove that the cash registers they talk about are long outdated, that new technologies are now being used - all to no avail. The teachers don’t answer unnecessary questions, it’s as if they were programmed 20 years ago, and they just read the same thing from a piece of paper.

A teacher is not a job at a machine; a lot depends on him. Because of a teacher, a person can fall in love with or, conversely, hate a particular subject for the rest of his life. And we have no contact between students and teachers.

Remy. Graduate of Universite Laval (Quebec) - Faculty of Social Sciences - Department of Anthropology: Many professors in our department know a lot, but are afraid that students will not understand them. If you ask them any complex question, they will answer without any problem, but in general they try to talk about simple things. I don't attend most of the classes because everything is too simple, I can read it all in books. In my opinion, it is the students who should try to catch up with the teacher, and not the teacher who should stoop to the student’s level of knowledge.

Mark Bultenhagen. Novosibirsk State University - Faculty of Natural Sciences - Department of Biology: I don’t like:

1. Inflated self-esteem of teachers, putting their own “I” in the forefront;

2. encouragement of sucking up;

3. aggression from teachers;

4. dependence of the educational process on the mood of a particular teacher.

Danya Men. Moscow State School of Musical Performance named after Frederic Chopin - orchestral department - cello class - II year: Everything is fine, everything is fine. There are no negative emotions associated with teachers. The fact is that our school is very young, and it is not yet saturated with rot and old age. There are only 46 of us, the rector knows everyone by sight and cares.

Yasha B. Lyceum "Second School" (Moscow) - 10th grade mathematics: I don’t like it when the teacher does not maintain discipline and allows familiarity. There must be a distance between teachers and students, otherwise the teacher loses authority and no one listens to him.

Sasha Ch. Moscow State University - Faculty of Physics - VI year: Some teachers demand that students attend their lectures without giving a list of references: Why, they say, should you read - come to the lectures and listen.

Alexey Ch. - Moscow Machine Tool Institute - Faculty of Information Technologies - VI year: I don’t like it when the teacher doesn’t justify his decisions: he gives a “two”, but doesn’t explain why.

Isabel. Graduate of the University of Quebec - Faculty of Philology - Department of French and Quebec Literature: Often professors put themselves much higher than students, they forget that they were also students.

Teachers

Anatoly Efremovich Bulkin, Professor of the Department of Gas and Steam Turbines, Power Engineering Faculty, Moscow Energy Institute: The worst time is already behind us. At some point, there was a loss of prestige in the engineering profession, but now the situation is slowly improving and qualified personnel are valued again. It is clear that students are very different, but in general the students are good. Between them and the teachers, of course, there is mutual respect, a relationship between colleagues. At the same time, the general cultural level of students has fallen, the culture of speech and behavior has fallen, and you can often hear swearing. But at the institute there is nothing you can do about it.

As for the learning process itself, I teach at senior courses, by this time many have already been eliminated, and those that remain, as a rule, know how to work. Although sometimes there is still some laxity, some believe that they need the reins - they themselves do not work. Very often, students are not able to learn from the mistakes of others - half the group will be kicked out, and the remaining half thinks that they were simply unlucky and that this would never happen to them. In addition, you always have to overcome some inertia of students, resistance, convince them so that they do not hesitate to ask questions, that there are no stupid questions. But in general, I repeat, our students are good, and, in the end, the institute exists for them.

Viktor Abramovich Shilin, professor of the Department of Electronics, Moscow State University of Transport: Over the past few years, students have changed dramatically for the better, but infantilism remains, a misunderstanding that the opportunity for free education is very important. Even in senior years, when many drop out, you often encounter this infantilism.

Anna Yuryevna, teacher of the French language department of the Faculty of Philology of Moscow State University: I can only talk about a general trend with which nothing can be done. University students, for example, are not prepared for serious academic education and are not prepared for serious work or analysis. They are not prepared, not educated, not erudite and not interested. Students perceive only the narrow information that they need. There is no need for knowledge as such. This is due to both upbringing in the family and studying at school, but the main reason is that the world now has a very large amount of information in general. People have begun to read less because it is now difficult to think and exist at the pace that reading requires. It's hard to stop and think. In addition, a person’s head is often filled with video, a lot is imposed and is not thought through. A person begins to think in a standard way. Therefore, the level of communication with students has to be lowered in order to break through to the understanding and logic of the majority.

Vladimir Georgievich Gribin, Associate Professor of the Department of Gas and Steam Turbines, Power Engineering Faculty, Moscow Energy Institute: It happens that a student in class begins to have fun and amuse the audience. The teacher does not understand why the student came if he is having so much fun, and the student does not understand that he is disturbing everyone.

Nowadays the material side of institute life is very important. From hearsay I can say that among students there is wage labor: the less well-off work for money instead of the more well-to-do. The topic of bribery has also been heard, but I can’t say anything concrete about this.

Varvara Mikhailovna Mikhina, in the recent past, a teacher of history and social studies in the 11th grade of secondary school #1036: In the 11th grade, people, as a rule, have already decided on their plans for the future, and only those who need it study history. I can’t have any complaints about the rest, since a person cannot cover everything at once.

Elena Evgenievna Berger, teacher at the Department of History of Medicine and Cultural Studies, Faculty of Preventive Medicine, Sechenov Moscow Medical Academy: In principle, I like the students. It is clear that there is a huge difference - there are wonderful students, and there are those who say in plain text that it is best to go to oncology, since this is the most profitable place - even nurses are always thrust with chocolates. This is hard to hear.

Another problem that humanities teachers face at medical school is that there is a very large variation in the level of preparation of students. Some simply did not study history at school, so it is not clear who to focus on - a few “diamonds” or those who know nothing.

I also hate it when people lie to my face. Now this is mainly manifested in the widespread falsification of coursework. Many students do this, and in all universities.

Grigory Efimovich Kreidlin, professor of the Russian language department at the Institute of Linguistics of the Russian State Humanitarian University:

1. Lack of concentration, inability to organize your time in such a way as to combine rest with work, and I believe that both are necessary.

2. Normal mutual assistance is not organized, which does not allow serious scientific work.

Tatyana Yurievna Borodai, teacher of ancient Greek and Latin at the Institute of World Culture (MSU): In general, working with students is a pleasure, especially after eight years at the Academy of Sciences. Students are now more pragmatic, less broad erudition, "disinterested interests." But I rather like it.

The problem is that my subject requires a lot of homework, and most students work, they simply do not have time to complete these assignments.

Vladimir Igorevich B., mathematics teacher in the senior classes of Moscow school #1333 (“Don Gymnasium”): The main problems are lack of motivation and infantilism. Many children are now simply disoriented. For example, often in the 11th grade a person starts studying with a tutor and decides that he no longer needs classes at school. It is clear that the task of a teacher in high school is not to evaluate the student, not to educate, but to try to help him with admission. But it is difficult to help a person who believes that he does not need this help. High school students sometimes believe that they are not responsible for their admission, but their parents, who find tutors and pay them and/or someone else.

A special situation in private schools. At the school where I taught, the teacher was something of a clown to the students. As long as the clown is funny, it’s good, but as soon as he starts making some demands and giving bad marks for unfinished homework, you can complain to your sponsor dad and the clown will be replaced by another. It’s a very unpleasant feeling: children understand that you can’t do anything for them, and you understand that they understand this, and they understand that you understand.

Dmitry Petrovich Bak, Associate Professor of the Department of Russian Literature, Russian State University for the Humanities: First of all, the student is always right, and problems with communication cannot be considered in evaluative categories. It’s just that students have a different mentality, that is, you can only talk about what is not clear.

What seems unclear? A different combination of pragmatic and fundamental approaches to learning. A successful student now is not one who sacrifices everything for the sake of science, but one who manages to do everything: study, work, and relax.

The distance from the era of the 80s seems “not our own” and interesting. There is no contact between generations, as if there are not 20, but at least 50 years between us. Students do not hear some words, do not understand the language, they have different points of reference. They do not need to discard slag in search of information ore; they are given a ready-made list of references, which turns from a list of sources and problems into a list of labels and reputations. There is no interactivity, no living knowledge, the lecture as a genre has practically exhausted itself. Communication in this genre is deeply problematic; there is a moment of repression in it: the student does not understand why, in fact, he should here and now listen to what he is told and take it on faith. It’s even worse when the student doesn’t think about it and simply perceives everything the lecturer says as absolutely correct and sufficient information.

Today's students have freedom, it is not a benefit for them, a point of reference, but is perceived as something natural, taken for granted. We still live on inhalation. Contact between generations is broken; students and teachers often simply do not understand each other.

Arranged meetings, listened to opinions, recorded oral speech in writing - Andrey Borzenko

From the editor

The same complaint can be made about any survey - the sample is very small, and therefore the results are irrelevant/invalid/do not reflect/do not...

Yes, the sample is indeed small, but it also shows the problems that we have. They emerge quite clearly in the answers of students: the lack of pragmatism of education , and in the answers of teachers: infantilism , or unpreparedness for education.

There are two more very simple observations:

1. these problems, thank God (or so and so - substitute what is necessary), are supranational;

2. Each of the respondents spoke only about the opposite side. Neither students nor teachers address their complaints to their “side of the barricades.” What is this - an established mentality, an awareness of the only truth, or an unwillingness or inability to take the point of view of the interlocutor? This is exactly what we propose to understand.