I had nothing better to do anyway- it was summer vacation. I found out some interesting stuff, too. I drew some comparisons, made out patterns, got the conclusions. It was research, on some rudimentary level. In this I want to talk about the stuff I actually found out while on this educational journey.
My first destination was a village called Voluyak (around Sofia, Bulgaria) and it was the typical scene- there was a small supermarket in the center area, a couple of old dudes drinking beer, young people fucking around, going about their day, also drinking beer. I had decided to speak to the mayor, who is not too hard to reach, his office was situated above the supermarket in the same building. The old guys I mentioned said he was on vacation, so they told me where his secretary lived. She, in turn, told me where the librarian of the school lived. I went there, she said she didn't know that much, nobody read anymore, but, surprisingly enough, it turned out that her husband had been teaching history and geography at the local school for some 20 years. He was in retirement now, but it was no problem for the info he gave me.
It turned out that there was a severe drug problem with 90% of the students. The school was one fence away, too, so it all could have been just as apparent even if nobody from the family was in the sector. This problem, of course, resulted in bad discipline, but it could easily be the other way around too. He told me some stories of his own, experiences in the classroom- how some kid once offered him cocaine, how some other kid, the kid of the once secretary of an influential politician here in Bulgaria, kicked some 8 people in the balls before getting found out and put into detention. He almost got sued by this secretary in the last one. The stories and absurdities went on- point was, there was no learning taking place. The teachers kept getting frustrated or just gave up and the kids kept going about with their business. I was finished with that village.
And so I needed some ground for comparison. I needed to find out about some other cases, maybe hopefully ones that represented the exact opposite of this one. I still didn't know this was going to be my experience before visiting the second village/small town- Buhovo.
I had entered the main hall of the school, completely unsuspecting of what I was about to find out. There were two ladies standing in front of me talking- I wasn't even sure which one was a teacher, which one the cleaning lady, so I asked. I proceeded to shortly explaining myself, why I was there, entering the school uninvited, and the teacher agreed to take me to a room and answer all my questions. We sat on some kindergarten-sized chairs and started the "interview". I didn't need to finish the sentences before the lady answered. At one point I just gave key words and she proceeded to give info:
"a more liberal approach?"; "individualization"; "community participation"; "projects"; "clubs?"
Yes, yes, yes, that all summed it up for her. The district was full of people of different ethnic backgrounds. They had not only gypsy and Bulgarian, but also Armenian students, a factor, which in the eyes of the history teacher from Voluyak was to blame for all disruption and disinterest in his case.
As our conversation progressed, there formed some more specific points. She told me about the need for parental involvement- a good environment in the classroom cannot compensate for a bad environment at home. She told me about how she took out her students sometimes, depending on whether there was a need for the subject of course, in nature, to wander and to talk about the sciences. There were all kinds of clubs, in which there were projects and interested and engaged students. In relation to this she told me about one of her projects in her club, which involved people from every age and capability- repainting the benches at the city (it doesn't sound that much, but there were many others, of which I just remember this).
Every activity was grounded in the belief of the teachers that it was something meaningful and something that the kids had to have fun with.
From the standpoint of the type of people, which were attending, Voluyak and Buhovo were practically the same. It was the attitudes of the teachers which were different, and not only that, but also the relationship they had with the locals. In the second case education was simply respected and looked upon as something positive and important. In the case of Voluyak teachers were frequently discouraged and conservative with regards to their approach. They expected that the respect of the students for what was happening in the classroom would just come about because it was the classroom. So when that wasn't the case they screamed, they became enraged, lost control, lost the authority, on which they solely depended, and that was it for them. They eventually burned out and gave up, unsuspecting of the fact the solution to their problem could have been right around the corner.
Those were my results- the things and ideas experts have been rooting for for years now and which still cannot get fully implemented. And maybe Voluyak wouldn't have been the bad place in my story if teacher education was better. Or maybe if there was good professional training and a basis for discussing ideas and methods being provided. Or maybe if there was an attempt to reach the people and the community.
I am not sure what should exactly be done, but that is why I share my story here and so I ask you the question you have been in anticipation for:
What do you think?
Submitted August 25, 2019 at 08:26AM by ksapatupov https://ift.tt/2L8rIbp
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