"For science and education"

What problems and goals can unite university teachers, scientists and teachers

Teachers, university teachers, students and scientists united at the time of the rally “For Science and Education”, exceeding the permitted number of 2 thousand people. According to unofficial data, 3.5 thousand people participated in the June protest campaign, while last week the rally “for the right to study and the ability to learn” gathered about two hundred.

It would seem that both rallies had to attract the same audience, plus a certain number of scientists who were unlikely to appear so much that the number of participants became a record for this kind of action. On the one hand, it can be assumed that intellectual forces were finally cooperated in a single impulse to save not only themselves, but also the future of the country, on the other hand, too much difference between these two events, everyday, albeit all-Russian in May and bright, large-scale June 6.

The result of the latter became the following requirements:

1) changes in priorities in state policy in favor of supporting scientific research, the dissemination of scientific knowledge and education. It is not only about increasing financing: in addition to decent payment, the work of the scientist should enjoy respect in society and the trust of the authorities;
2) real self -government and autonomy in science and at all levels of education. The professional community must have the right to a decisive vote in determining the principles of the organization of education and scientific work. First of all, this applies to the currently conducted reforms of academic institutions;
3) the abolition of the statute of limitations for canceling fake dissertations;
4) compliance with academic freedoms in schools and universities. Ideology and propaganda should not invade university audiences and pages of school textbooks;
5) the immediate cessation of the persecution of scientific and educational organizations, charitable foundations, as well as other non -profit organizations, using the “Foreign Agent” label or similar to it. This concept should be excluded from Russian legislation.

As for paragraphs 2 and 4, nominally these provisions exist in the current legislation, although it becomes obvious from the first paragraph that the authors demand to change state policy in principle. No less utopically, albeit in another way, the requirement of respect from society and confidence from power sounds. Perhaps the emotional fuse and rhetoric of the rally reflected in these lines.

Are there any contact points that can maintain the effect of unification of university teachers, scientists and teachers for a long time, radio freedom was told by the participants of the events and organizers - the organizational secretary of the University Solidarity union Vladimir Komov , Doctor of Biological Sciences Mikhail Gelfand, member of the Teacher’s interregional trade union Leonid Perlov and teacher Alexei Makarov.

Leonid Perlov , member of the Interregional Trade Union "Teacher":

- Problems of school, university teachers and scientists, perhaps, are the same. However, they are manifested in different ways and are differently assessed by society. A week earlier, the rally “For Science and Education” we conducted one more, “for the right to study and the ability to teach”, to which two hundred people came to Moscow, that is, half as much. So, in all likelihood, the problems are close, but not the same, and society otherwise perceives what is happening in higher education and in science.

Society otherwise perceives what is happening in higher education and in science

True, there is one common thing. Almost every educational rally in Moscow, and indeed any educational protest is accompanied by a reference "Kalina to resign." Why? Incompetent. School education in the city of Moscow is led by a person who is professionally insolvent, but the matter is not even in him personally. He fulfills what he is ordered and does as ordered to do. That is, the general problem is that our affairs are guided by people, let’s say, small in the area that they lead ...

I recall Martin Luther King, and I also have a dream: someday a scientist, a university teacher, a school teacher, a turner, a pilot finally realize that they are all parents, and what affects children is their common problem. And if this happens, there will be a very powerful incentive for combining.

Mikhail Gelfand , Doctor of Biological Sciences:

- I think the point is not that teachers and scientists have different problems, but that both events were accompanied by a different emotional background. The rally organized by trade unions was in a sense the next, and people came there who are actively interested in the problems of education. And the rally on June 6 was still provoked, I would say, the very specific, absolutely ugly behavior of the Ministry of Justice, and a significant part of the people came there on an emotional wave. Actually, all Moscow rallies show this - starting with Bolotnaya - many people come when there is a strong emotional occasion. 3.5 thousand - this is a lot for a rally, relatively speaking, scientific and educational, quite narrow on the agenda. This, I think, is a record for such professional rallies.

There are very few people who, in principle, are ready to waste time, relatively speaking, on politics

However, the problem is not that teachers unite with scientists, with doctors and many more with anyone. The problem is that in society there is no request for any serious changes. We can unite as much as we like, but it will still be, so to speak, rearguard battles, fighting in the retreat, we must be aware of this. This is not good and not bad, you just need to understand what kind of light we live on. If teachers are aware of themselves as a class and contrast themselves with a class, for example, directors, or officials, this will be enough, they, generally speaking, will no longer have to unite with anyone.

Of course, the system is building, but in fact there is a tremendous decomposition of the professional community. The institution of reputations has been lost to a large extent. Active people left, if we talk about science, because they did not want to cook in all this. And again, the experience of recent years shows that physically very few people who, in principle, are ready to waste time, relatively speaking, on politics. It can be a trade union policy, there may be some attempts by one or another reform, a discussion of science reform plans.

An example with the reform of the Academy in this sense is very indicative, because the emotional upsurge was also enormous, rallies were carried out quite noticeable, the mass of people signed up in the society of scientists, which arose much earlier. There was a club of academicians, the July 1 club, who objected sharply against all this, a commission for control in the field of science was formed, but 20 people really work there - those who read fan papers, writes objections, offers projects, works in working groups of the same Fano. After all, if a rally of 200 people will add to a rally of 3 thousand people, there will be 3200 ...

Vladimir Komov , Organizing Secretary of the University Solidarity Trade Union:

- Social groups, it would seem, at both rallies were the same. Protests against the lectures of Starikov and interference in university intellectual autonomy - this is a certain bridge that unites, brings together both rallies. But for many reasons, it is quite difficult for me to compare them. Firstly, because at a rally on May 31, the main direction was still social and labor rights, but the requirements that were put forward there were, in fact, political. How else can we solve problems if most universities in our country are state?

Unfortunately, university teachers are not the most solidarized group. We work together at the departments, often communicate, but the sense of individualism is quite developed. Therefore, it is much easier for many to go to the rally in defense of education than to fight at workplaces, putting themselves in jeopardy inside the institutions.

It is much easier for many to go to the rally in defense of education than to fight at workplaces

You need to understand that, unlike teachers and university teachers, the same doctors or workers have much more levers of pressure on the employer. Such scales are obtained there when the benefit of the reduction can be outweighed by the damage that will cause a strike or other actions of the trade union. Unfortunately, the university administration does not always act as an effective manager, and the teacher’s work complicates the issue of the strike. More than once, the teachers were ready to absolutely legally refuse to conduct tests, exams, when, for example, time was not allocated for the test, and this work is not paid. In response to this, they were answered: for you, someone else, for example, the dean, can put for you. This is a real problem.

In addition, students often, due to their rather dependent situation, act as a kind of ram that knocks out the most active teachers. In some universities, points in the charter are still preserved by which the teacher can be brought to the disciplinary responsibility of the teacher on the basis of a completely unfounded complaint of students. This is as if grandmother anonymously contacts the prosecutor’s office, and in the end they check the Sakharov Center. And we have anonymous students, as a result of which a fake business is started, a disciplinary sanction is imposed on the teacher.

In my opinion, people go, including to the trade union, when it is connected with personal interest. Of course, there are some of the people who unite and go to the rally simply because they like it, they need it, their soul hurts for the common cause, but most people will go for specific issues. And when this movement becomes massive, then it will already be necessary to show people a certain way of victory, to offer specific options for actions. Isn't it in a pure form of a policy when workers are opposed to the employer as a class, whether it be a teacher or a scientist?

Alexey Makarov , Teacher:

-There are problems that are common for schools, and universities, and partly for scientists. This is a bureaucratization, the problem of academic freedoms and state pressure in the ideological sphere, self -government that is on paper, but in reality it is not. Problems of financing. But for unification, you need, in fact, to be more tolerant, but to be able to look at the neighbor and understand that he has the same problems. The experience of rallies on May 31 and June 6 shows that you first write to scientists: come to the rally of the 31st, the teacher’s problems are your problems, and they are arranged not terrible trade unions (as scientists believe). Then you write to the teachers: the problems of scientists are your problems. You explain human rights activists: it is necessary to support scientists and temporarily close their eyes to the fact that many of them did not say anything when the law on foreign agents was adopted.

Initially, when we prepared a rally, we proceeded from a wider story than the situation with the "dynasty", because the problems are common, and only together we can solve them. And these problems also lie in the political plane: the existence of a law on foreign agents, freedom of assembly ... In the fall, it has become more difficult to organize a rally, now, for example, all posters are checked. And if in this situation we will not unite and play not only for ourselves, but also for a neighbor, then this ice rink, and the state, and some part of society, will rather quickly crush us.