Education or life?

Russia todayranks 6th in the world in terms of the number of suicides per a certain number of inhabitants, and in terms of the number of child and adolescent suicides it has no equal . By and large, silence (both from government agencies and public organizations) on this issue is the main evidence of the true value of human life in our country.

There is probably no need to sharply separate the problems of suicide between children and adults. But, undoubtedly, nothing can be more unnatural than the suicide of a child.

This problem is widespread; for example, in the Kirov region in 2011, 8 cases of child suicide were recorded. The series of tragedies in the country at the beginning of this year is well known from media reports.

Such deaths shock society, it reacts to them, but the measures taken to correct the situation are hardly adequate. Now all educational institutions are obliged to familiarize students with helplines where they can turn for help. Of course, this is important and necessary, but not enough.

One of the common reasons for such fatal acts among school students is academic failure, fear of punishment for bad grades, and fear of exams. However, if the matter is only about specific parents and teachers, then the fact of shameful leadership is inexplicable. People in the aggregate of individuals are the same everywhere, and the number of stupid parents and callous teachers cannot vary so much in relation to other countries.

It seems that the problem is in our education system itself. I am convinced that an unusually cruel (not just harsh) school towards children has been created in Russia. And, unfortunately, it is being reformed in a direction that only aggravates the situation.

People are different in their capabilities. This is an axiom. And it doesn’t occur to anyone that a short, plump man should jump one and a half meters high. We don't have a standard for weight, height, ability for music or drawing, but we do have standards for education - almost a standard for intelligence. A school that does not provide an educational standard in the form of tests taken by its graduates will simply lose its accreditation and the right to issue state-issued documents.

And already in the elementary grades, the “screening out” begins: this one is gifted, this one is disabled, this one is a “correctional student.” I always feel sorry for mothers who are forced to decide whether to send their child, albeit stupid, but still a sweet, touching, gentle, beloved child, to a auxiliary boarding school, sometimes far away, or to condemn him to torment, leaving him in a comprehensive school.

I always feel sorry for the children who are tormented by failing grades, repeated grades, reproaches from teachers and parents for “laziness,” who hate school openly and sincerely as an institution that hourly demonstrates their “defectiveness.” Quite normal in everyday life, these guys often find themselves in adult life, but until the end they remember school as the most terrible place on earth.

The introduction of mandatory Unified State Examinations in mathematics and the Russian language based on closed texts—isn’t this a mockery of still fragile souls? The experiment being conducted today on final certification in a new form for ninth-graders, similar to the Unified State Exam, further aggravates the situation.

Modernization of education sets many goals. First of all, she strives to create the best school in the world, believing that the best is victories and the ringing of medals at competitions and olympiads. Without denying the importance of working with talent, I dare to note that a school cannot be the best, cannot even be good, cannot be acceptable when it is merciless towards the uncompetitive, like our entire society. When the weak are on the sidelines. When you don’t solve a problem, that’s it, you’re done for. A child who is incapable of being a person of unconditional value is completely forgotten by our school; no one is interested in his little troubles.

But there was once an idea of ​​“schools of joy”, where there was a place for any child. But this task requires extremely intense and painstaking work, attention, care, and not just supervision and control; it requires the involvement of scientists, methodologists, psychologists, the creation of variable programs, adapted textbooks, the introduction of inclusive education, the support of “lagging behind” students by special specialists, it requires very serious costs.

Children always need serious expenses. But then you won’t be able to make money and save money on education, and all the accumulated volumes of papers and reports will have to be thrown away. Or is it still more important for us to change the school system so that it does not allow children’s tears, especially children’s deaths?