LETTER TO THE EDITOR (06/27/04)

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Comments about education in Ukraine

Dear Editor:

I was delighted to read about education reform in Ukraine in the article "Canadian educators change the teaching of history in Ukraine" (April 18). However, having taught Ukrainian children in New Jersey schools, and, having studied with Russian and Ukrainian students in Pennsylvania schools, I am concerned that any Westerners would reform the Ukrainian system of schooling too much.

Natalia Pastushenko is concerned that Ukrainian schools "use methods that allow for the retention of the greatest amount of material." She complains, "There is no time for thinking." She praises Valentina Kuryliw for her new book which, apparently, tackles this issue by presenting paradigms that were described in the article as "interactive teaching and learning" methodologies.

Ms. Pastushenko's words and Ms. Kuryliw's book echo the sentiments of Kilpatrick and Dewey, American educators who laid the foundation for modern pedagogy in the United States. For these educators, experience-based education and cooperative education supplanted traditional methods. Many pedagogues refer to Dewey and Kilpatrick's methods as being child-centered.

While I agree with the sentiments of these educators, data regarding the benefits of child-centered experimentation is up for discussion. You see, these methods have been ubiquitous in the United States for over half a century and the results are not promising.

In his book "Dumbing Down Our Kids: Why American Children Feel Good About Themselves But Can't Read, Write, or Add," Charles Sykes gives volumes of information indicating how experimenting on American children with child-centered approaches has effected thousands. For example, "Less than 10 percent of 17-year-olds can do rigorous academic work in basic subjects. Only 15 percent of college faculty members say that their students are adequately prepared in mathematics and quantitative reasoning - a lower proportion than among higher-education faculty in Hong Kong, Korea, Sweden, Russia, Mexico, Japan, Chile, Israel, or Australia. A survey by the Gallup Organization found that one in seven adults can't find the United States on a blank map of the world. In late 1992, executives at Pacific Telesis found that 60 percent of high school graduates applying for jobs at the firm failed a company exam set at the seventh-grade level. A 'reading report card,' finds that 25 percent of high school seniors can barely read their diplomas." (pp. 20-22)

According to Sykes, the culprits for this "Legacy of Dumbness" are legions of child-centered pedagogues embracing the new pedagogy to the exclusion of traditional methods. He convincingly lays out evidence supporting this argument. My question is, should the diaspora be pushing to reform education in Ukraine in this vein? Is the West in any position to reform Ukraine? Maybe Ukrainian pedagogues and citizens should be reforming our schools.

The Venice Gondolier Sun reported that a Ukrainian immigrant began home-schooling her daughter because North Port, Okla., public schools did not challenge her daughter. "The same work students learn in the seventh and eighth grades in America is what students in Ukraine learned in the fourth and fifth grade," she explained. Her daughter seems happy to be out of the public school, child-centered quagmire, saying, "I like the science book I'm working out of now because it explains about inventors and it's more in-depth. In public school, we weren't finishing the whole book by the end of the year. Now, I am reading a lot of books." (Venice Gondolier Sunday, September 7, 2002)

The Devon Local Education Authority from the United Kingdom sent a delegation to Ukraine to study Ukrainian teaching and learning styles, and raved about them. The report compiled by the Devon LEA is peppered with all types of praise, such as, "All students did their homework! Children are encouraged to make presentations and share their learning. Ukrainian teachers used a variety of teaching styles and an effective range of questioning techniques. Singing and dancing are strongly applied resulting in many relevant and enriching cross-curricular links. A clear teaching focus followed by oral practice appeared to produce confident learners with good attitudes to learning." (www.devon.gov.uk/dcs/cpd/tipd/Ukraine.ukraine2.htm)

In an article titled "The Tories could learn a thing or two about education from the Russians," Benjamin Wegg-Posser, a British writer, waxes philosophic on the strength of the school systems Communists set up. He cites interesting anecdotal and statistical evidence to support his ruminations. For example, a whopping 72 percent of Russians earn the UK equivalent of an undergraduate degree. Sure, Westerners can do without the Lenin and Stalin hype and devotion to the state that was part of the old curricula, but, Western pedagogues should be open-minded enough to admit that maybe the education system in former Soviet republics is something that needs to be slightly tweaked, not reformed. Perhaps, even, it should be emulated. (Soviet study: The Tories could learn a thing or two about education from the Russians, says Benjamin Wegg-Prosser, August 08, 2002, www.education.guardian.co.uk/higher/comment/story)

Other countries have experimented with de-emphasizing tests and rote learning, while giving more weight to non-academic criteria and the socially relevant aspects of learning. In fact, in 1967, China did just that. But, by 1977 China reconsidered. According to Thomas Sowell, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institute at Stanford University:

"The Ministry of Education announced that college entrance examinations 'will be restored and admittance based on their results.' Why? Because, 'the quality of education [had] declined sharply in the absence of examinations, which had retarded the development of a whole generation of young people.'

"Deng Xiaopang complained about the 'deterioration of academic standards. Schools have not paid attention to educational standards and instead overemphasized practical work; students' knowledge of theory and basic skills in their area of specialization has been disregarded.'" (U.S. Schools Should Learn From Failed Education Fads Abroad, September 2, 2002)

I congratulate Valentina Kuryliw on the publication of her book, and I applaud all the activists of the Ukrainian diaspora who are involved in dialogues with Ukrainian educators. I only hope that Ukrainians are not too taken by the romantic notions of child-centered experimentation.

Lubomyr Konrad, M.Ed.
Philadelphia

The letter-writer is affiliated with the science department at Olney High School in Philadelphia.

| Home Page |