Not Broken But Certainly Cracked

November 13, 2008

Teaching here in Kazakhstan has been a very enriching experience, however as I said before it has not been without its problems. What bothers me the most is not the problems themselves, but that many of them seem so fixable. For example, the source of much of my classroom frustration can be directly traced to Kazakhstan’s educational system that forces university and college students to determine their profession/major before they have even taken their first class. I guess doing this makes sense from a bureaucratic standpoint, because it makes it easier to assign students into neat, manageable groups. From a teacher’s standpoint however, it is a ridiculous idea. In Kazakhstan students begin college when they are around fifteen or sixteen years old, right after the 9th grade, and most of these kids are not prepared to make that kind of irrevocable decision. Hell, I was not prepared to make that decision until I was twenty, and I am still second guessing my decision. If I had been stuck with my first choice of major I would be a miserable seminary student right now instead of a happy-go-lucky Peace Corps volunteer. Furthermore, the major written on your diploma carries much more weight in Kazakhstan than it does in the United States. For example, I have been here for a year, and I am still explaining that while yes, I did study art history at university, that does not necessarily make me an art historian.  

When I discuss this with other teachers they say that its not that big a deal, if a student decides later that they do not want to be an English teacher or psychologist, they will just finish their college or university studies and then go to another University and study something else. This frustrates me to no end because not only is this a huge waste of the student’s time and money, but it is also a major waste of the teacher’s time. I cannot tell you how tired I am of teaching a class of thirty students where at least a third of them cannot speak any English and have not interest in learning it. They will never be teachers or translators, they just sit there doodling or text messaging their friends, waiting for the college to give them an unearned diploma and send them into the ranks of taxi drivers, waiters, and housewives. Most days I do really enjoy teaching, but having to stand in front of a class of thirty students when fifteen of them are totally apathetic is really depressing. I know that there are lazy students at American universities, but there are far fewer totally apathetic ones because they are able to wait and see what sort of subjects they are good at and interested in before making a decision.  

According to my colleagues, Kazakhstan is planning a major educational system reform to be initiated in 2010. The plan would have students attend school for ten years followed by two years of general education at a college after which students will choose their professions in preparation for four years of university study. This is a good start, but only time can tell if it will mean smarter and happier students. Perhaps all this is partly nostalgia for the American Education system, but I still think that major changes need to take place if Kazakhstan is going to be a nation of successful fulfilled students; a nation ready to take its place among developed nations by 2030.