Learn, teach, and learn again



You sometimes read Habr and take pride: this is how smart we have become with the help of these IT technologies! With the blockchain, we simulate “fair” voting, neural grids help to notice red lights, Javascript is already rendering Doom, async / await has put things in order in our multithreaded applications, PVS-Studio - in the code, Agile and DevOps - in our heads ...



And if only not a mobile operator with its subscriptions and advertisements that it "inserts into someone's http traffic" and not "effective managers" (who, judging by the rating of the articles denouncing them, are still byaks!) - life would finally get better.



Stop. The progress in technology is really huge, but we are somehow weakly involved in it. Here somewhere outside the border of our Motherland, in some China, life is really getting better. China copied the Soviet education system [4], graduates about 5 million educated engineers annually [5]. It is this power that ensures "progress", producing everything for us: from a fountain pen to an electric scooter!



And we? And we really get in the way of "effective managers". 30 years already. Further - calmly, in order and without humor. I am writing to the young generations of Russian engineers and teachers. I consider it necessary to speak about the current secondary education system. Which is a springboard to higher, universal progress and prosperity blah ...



Former Minister of Education Andrei Fursenko, now advisor to the President of the Russian Federation, Wikipedia attributes the following words:
… -, , .


When in 2006 the minister successfully implements the Unified State Exam in schools, Academician Alferov will say that “Minister of Education and Science Andrei Fursenko has no experience either in education or science” [1]. But it will be too late to give an assessment to his former deputy at the Leningrad Phystech: the minister will not only successfully break the Soviet education system, but will also “nurture” future “consumers” with might and main.



I also found the Soviet education system. I think I was very lucky. Deep respect for a person's personality, his education and upbringing in order to fully reveal the abilities laid down by the Creator - were indeed the fundamental principles of the Soviet School, this highest achievement of Russian culture.



The changes that have taken place in education over the past 20 years are hard to miss. Here, Archpriest Evgeny Sokolov from Arkhangelsk addresses Muscovites on youtube [2]:

- Your coat of arms depicts St. George the Victorious. A special sacred personality, which we have made a symbol of the capital, depicting on the coat of arms of the city of Moscow. What feat did he accomplish? Why is he especially famous that we decided to depict him on the coat of arms?

“… You know, practically no one said. Amazing amateurism!



It was hard to believe it! The coat of arms of Moscow is on every corner: at school, on the street, on the letterhead of housing and communal services. To study in Moscow and not know? .. On occasion, I ask a familiar youth the questions “Who and why is depicted on the coat of arms of Moscow?”, “To whom and for what is the monument erected on Red Square?”. Almost no one answers. Sometimes they remember the “horseman with a spear” or the names “Minin and Pozharsky” - but find it difficult to explain “why”. Hear what and where did you study?



Well, Fursenko coped well with the task set by his superiors. A man of a new warehouse appeared: the consumer . With a simplified picture of the world, but in principle, capable of comparing two cellular tariffs and evaluating a “10% discount”.



This is not the fault of the person himself: this is the structure of the system, which now does not “teach and educate the individual”, but “provides educational services”. The result is logical. The backbone of the "old" school was the Soviet teacher, brought up first on the Christian commandments, and then on the "moral code of the builder of communism." It is worth noting that most of its 12 principles by the author Burlatsky F.M. built on ... them! [3]. Such a teacher wanted and knew how to put his soul into the students, and not just train them to solve problems. I remember that additional lessons in mathematics in grade 11 began at 7:30, and there was no question of payment - Raisa Andreevna was doing her duty, preparing us for entering the university. Once I asked my school physics teacher Vladimir Markovich:
- You have a university level of knowledge of the subject, why do you teach at school?

“Because I love children,” he replied.

Now, all additional classes are paid (except for the choir;). With the introduction of distance learning - this complete profanation and imitation of the educational process, its actual legalization - another “bottom” has been broken.



Here is a good friend, a graduate of the CMC MSU sends a problem:





This puzzle is from the 1964 book "Funny Secrets", the "Know and Become" series of the pioneer library. In an address to a young reader, the author of the book writes that this book

"About funny riddles, entertaining tasks and tricky puzzles, ... how to solve and compose them yourself."


And he explains why they should be solved:

«… “ ?” — , ».


Those. the goal is a holistic, systemic picture of the world, which a person acquires by studying the causes of phenomena. An excellent book, only the answer to this problem is incorrect;) I had to explain what the author's mistake was. The acquaintance did not even try to solve and understand “why so?”! For the sake of interest, I sent the task to dozens of contacts in WhatsApp, in the Telegram group. I am reporting the result: more or less the correct answer is given by 1 person out of 10. But the problem is the 7th grade of secondary school, the topic is “Equality of work when using simple mechanisms. The golden rule of mechanics ”. Some leading engineers solve the problem. Young engineers and “effective managers” can no longer cope with it (although they use Google search quite well;). Almost half blame everything on friction and bet on a draw. Some are trying to apply ... the laws of logic!



I give him a counter task. “The student has learned 70% of the exam tickets. What is more profitable for him: to pull the ticket first or one of the last? ”. Doesn't want to think and decide, starts modeling on a PC. I ask: “Why?”. After all, this task is not for modeling, but for understanding the nature of probability. She has an obvious answer, which, of course, can be obtained directly:

P (A) = m / n.

After the next drawn ticket:

P (A) = m / n * (m-1) / (n-1) + (nm) / n * m / (n-1) = m / n.


I am not the only one noticing a new trend towards "probabilistic" thinking, an attempt to "estimate the probability" or "simulate" instead of wanting to understand the essence of a process or phenomenon.



What happens. If a person does not cope with a 7th grade problem, where will the skill come from - to seek and develop independent solutions? Where does he get his personal informed opinion? It's just impossible! In life, he will have to listen and take on trust other people's decisions. He will consider an opinion imposed from the outside as his own. And how will he look his child in the eyes after asking for help with a school problem?



You need to understand that the current education system serves the oligarchic economy of the "pipe", its goal is an immoral and obedient consumerdeprived of historical memory and independent critical thinking. Now medicine and education are built on the relationship of money exchange. These principles are rotten and harmful.



What to do? In the history of our Motherland there has already been both illiteracy and foreign "effective management" (intervention). But our ancestors got out of the situation victorious. We do not have a Soviet school, but there are Soviet textbooks, there is a slogan “learn, learn and learn,” which is again becoming relevant. The spirit and moral values ​​are alive in us, the basis of which is love for the Creator and man - who is the image and likeness of God.



Must learn... Constantly. “Dig deeper” and “broaden horizons”. I'm not talking about business education (MBA), “personal growth”, TRIZ, “corporate strategy” and other second-rate ones. I'm talking about fundamental knowledge, our culture and history. As Rutherford said:

"All sciences are divided into physics and stamp collecting."
Well, you get the idea;)



Must teach , educate morality. After all, it is not difficult to get a job in a school or an institute for a quarter of the rate, or at least to pull up the USE / OGE for children of friends? This obedience must be taken upon oneself and borne with dignity.



You need to teach not for the sake of self-interest, but with love for a person, for the sake of a person himself. You need to learn to love by sacrificing yourself correctly. This is the spiritual and moral basis of the whole process. An immoral person armed with knowledge is capable of causing colossal harm. Fursenko and his dismantling team showed this perfectly.



[1] ru.wikipedia.org: Fursenko Andrey Alexandrovich

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkDXZIIv9iQ , 9:33

[3] ru.wikipedia.org: moral code of the builder of communism

[4] link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF03026295

[5] www.forbes.com The Countries With The Most STEM Graduates



All Articles