The face of modern Ukrainian school
A quarter of a century has passed since the USSR initiated the perestroika reforms. An epoch of big changes which touched all spheres of life began. It didn’t omit the school system either. As a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine’s statehood was renewed, and the reformation of schools around the country started evolving. Ukrainian school seemingly differs very much from the Soviet model, Ukrainian schoolgirls now view the white bows and aprons worn in graduate grade as a rarity. New curricula, new subjects and a twelve-grade system were introduced. But did real changes take place?
On the one hand, we observe the emancipation, democratization, and individualization of educational processes in present-day Ukraine. On the other hand, a deeper look at our school system reveals extremely alarming tendencies. One of them is the exodus of male teachers. This may be a bit of an exaggeration, but the present situation resembles the post-war years, when the men who perished at the front were replaced by women. In pedagogical institutes such as schools, lyceums, and gymnasiums male teachers constitute an insignificant part and don’t influence the modern face of education.
Contemporary socio-political discourse is fond of using the analogy of the Verkhovna Rada being a reflection of the society. However, another analogy is even more appropriate: school is a direct projection of the Ukrainian family. The main value of any family are its children. For a school these are its students. Parents give the child the essential foundations for their further development. A school should develop, in positive cases, the trend of teaching and education laid down by the family. In view of this fact, female teachers are often assigned, in a certain sense, the role of a mother, while male ones – that of a father. Since modern Ukrainian schools have a female face, the worldview of the young generation is distorted, as it is deprived of the possibility to see the world from a masculine perspective. This is further accentuated by the fact that many child ren come from broken families.
At present the dynamic processes of modernization are radically changing the face of the world in general, and Ukraine in particular. In the social sphere this concerns first of all the phenomenon of family.
Traditionally, a family is balanced. For centuries Ukrainian families avoided controversial choices, thus providing a feeling of order, discipline and strong family traditions. And now let’s look at the modern Ukrainian family. In recent years the rate of divorces is following the rate of marriages very closely. The direct consequence of this fact is that a considerable amount of Ukrainian families are imbalanced, as mothers play the role of both the mother and the father. School should compensate for this imbalance of male and female mutual influences. Yet when children grow up without fathers in their families, and are educated without the participation of male teachers, this leads to a society where children can only partially develop. This is mainly a problem for young boys, who are already programmed for some level of irresponsibility regarding their future wife and children.
Besides, curricula contain many topics presuming a substantial role of a male teacher to explain them. A man who has operated weapons during his military service will be able to better explain both the history of the military art of the Cossacks, and the course of the many military events in Ukraine’s history. In this context one shouldn’t forget classes of labor, physical training or creating school organizations.
As for the social sphere, the flight of men actually dissipated protests among teachers. It is much easier for a young male pedagogical graduate, earning a miserable salary, to leave and find a better paid and more prestigious job than persuading his colleagues to organize protests against the government. Moreover, for educational officials, communicating with female teachers is much more acceptable, since the profession requires women not just to understand students, but also to sympathize with them. Moreover, officials and their constant explanations that the state doesn’t have money for education also depend on understanding and pity. Obviously, if school education had a more masculine face, officials couldn’t deceive society so impudently and cynically.
