The repair of Russian science is carried out so haphazardly that nothing of educational traditions remains . Photo: Nickolas Titkov / Flickr, CC-by-2.0. Some rights rederved.It’s a shame: Russia’s new parents, bouncing their children along in pushchairs, have no idea of what is happening right now in their schools and universities, and how it will affect them for years to come. That is, the fate of Russia’s professional education system is being decided as you read this.
At every stage, these children will be in the hands of professionals — kindergarten, school and university. But where do Russia’s professionals come from? And, most importantly, why are they disappearing in a country with such a rich tradition of education?
Highly educated, highly dangerous
Several years ago, I was struck by a story that, at the time, seemed fantastical: the director of a successful district center for social aid was suddenly fired in a single day. The director had the right education for the job, didn’t accept bribes and received no complaints from either clients or colleagues. In a word, she met the highest professional requirements. It was just that the centre, which she had built from the ground up and which was used by local bureaucrats as an example to their superiors, needed a different director — one who was easier to negotiate with, less strict in observing professional and ethical norms and, I’ll say it straight, less educated. Today, an educated person, it turns out, presents a risk for the Russian state.
