This is the second part of the "series" about Russian school education and the possibilities of IT to improve it in various areas. For those who haven't read it, I recommend starting with . I’ll warn you right away, this article is not about the optimal choice of subjects for the exam and not about the holivar between “jocks” and “nerds”. It is, for the most part, about decency and efficiency. At the end - a small sociological survey.
Disclaimer: I write figuratively, extensively, sometimes it brings me into radicalism. Conservatives of all stripes are not recommended to read. Don't say later that you weren't warned. Ready to add some radicalism to the established everyday life?
Forty years ago it was released , a frame from which served as KDPV for this publication. In one of his scenes, in the words of a character played by a brilliant , vigilantly noticed the nuances of human nature: "Every person has a button ..." I want to congratulate those who share my tender feelings for this picture on its anniversary and find some "buttons" of the modern Russian system of general education.
Physical activity - for every student
It is impossible to imagine modern school education without textbooks. And it is right. The content of the school curriculum, fixed on a material carrier, insures students against irretrievable backlog in case of possible absences from classes. Textbooks allow students to recall past topics and familiarize themselves with future ones, and provide a guideline for the scope of the parenting education program.
In a broad sense, textbooks can also include teaching aids. These are all kinds of auxiliary materials on subjects, prepared in a typographical way: from specific workbooks and contour maps to problem books and anthologies. Their diversity and versatility have consistently grown as the well-being of the families of students has grown, and in our era of commercialization of “everything and everything”, their number has reached truly unimaginable limits.
Perhaps the most obvious example of a school subject in which textbooks are not traditionally used is physical education (aka "physical education"). But, nevertheless, school textbooks work for her.
Textbooks are needed both at school and at home. Not everyone can afford to have two sets of textbooks. Not all schools have the opportunity to allocate space for their storage. Therefore, as a rule, schoolchildren are forced to "carry" textbooks, day by day and year after year, "pumping" strength and endurance. School bags and bags of all kinds have become an indispensable attribute of apprenticeship. By this hiking and tourist "accessory" it was only possible to distinguish a student from a "free" student in those times and in those areas when and where the school uniform was abolished.
An experienced parent knows that textbooks (even in the broadest sense) are far from all that needs to be “carried around”. Writing, drawing and drawing supplies, a set of plasticine, interchangeable shoes, sports shoes and a uniform for physical education, aprons, gowns and sleeves for "labor", handmade from all sorts of crafts, models and other "herbariums", skates and skis with sticks in winter time, sometimes also a “snack” - what schoolchildren don’t have to wear to the place of work and back. On other days, the specific load on a still growing person, in relation to his own body weight, may exceed the similar parameter of “full gear” for special forces soldiers who are ready to be thrown behind enemy lines.
And that's not counting any "out-of-school" weight. If a child also attends a music school or (as the apotheosis of an example) hockey training, and he doesn’t have time to “run home”, then here, as the Romans said: .
Individual exercises for the especially talented
Fortunately, our valiant Rospotrebnadzor does not sleep and vigilantly stands guard over people's health. He even occasionally that there are SanPiNs that establish и . These rather detailed normative acts comprehensively describe the "ideal" of the Russian school.
From the standards, we learn that the weight of a textbook for an average high school student should not exceed 500 grams. Personal experience suggests that this is roughly true. That is, the textbooks themselves usually weigh around 300 grams, but with the addition of manuals and covers, everything fits into about a pound per item. Multiply by the average number of lessons per day. We get the average value of the weight of the "baggage of knowledge" in three kilograms.
At the same time, the recommended and maximum weight of a completed school bag is set at 10% and 15% of the child's body weight, respectively. It is easy to see that the younger the student, the harder it is to meet these standards. Especially if you pay attention to the fact that it is the younger generation of students who are the most “school-abiding” in terms of wearing all kinds of pencil cases, folders, shifts, suits and accessories.
You probably all guess that not every "educational publication", no matter how hygienic it may be, can serve as a textbook. Indeed, we have , which is formed in the bowels of the Ministry of Education. The list is called “federal” because there are also “regional” similar lists. In theory, the federal list includes all these regional lists, although nowhere in it is clearly not written. I never managed to understand what is the point of the existence of regional lists of textbooks. After all, no matter how the federal list is formed, it is impossible by law to prohibit a school from using any textbook from it.
There is also "simple" organizations admitted to the issuance of teaching aids. There are no longer any regional liberties (even such formal ones, as in the case of textbooks). The main difference of this list is that it does not include a specific product of production (probably, their constantly mutating diversity does not allow this), but the production itself.
With the slightest search, you will find that with lists too . "Gossips" that most of the lists are occupied mainly by editions of some . In all the information provided by the search engine, special attention is drawn to annual government spending on the purchase of textbooks and manuals in the amount of 20-25 billion rubles.
Does he have a counting machine?
As he writes, God bless him, a living classic of Soviet-Russian satire in one of his "imperishable": Let's try to become like this capable boy.
The number of consumers of school literature in modern Russia, i.e. и , can be roughly estimated at 18 million people. By simple calculations, we find that the state annually spends about 1100-1400 rubles to provide printed materials for a unit of manpower of the educational process. Naturally, this money is absolutely not enough for a complete renovation of the “educational library fund”. By real employees of school libraries, their fund of textbooks and manuals is updated only by 20-25% per year. It turns out that the state completely updates the school set of printed publications about once every four years. But still, in many cases, parents have to buy textbooks and manuals.
For some time textbooks have an electronic form in the public domain. Such a requirement is no doubt in itself a great progress in making knowledge accessible to the public. Thanks to this, students in schools where there are places to store their textbooks can afford to lighten their backpacks a little. However, as we know, public availability and free are different things. And a light backpack for a child will also cost money to parents.
Why the legislator stopped at a half-measure and did not oblige to make free for students and teachers (and who else needs it?) An integral component of “as if free” general education is a huge question for me personally. This would make life easier for many schoolchildren and their parents, without additionally enriching at their expense publishers who are not at all poor, as we now know.
And in general, these billions of rubles can and, in my opinion, should be used more reasonably than paying for the conversion of trees into waste paper. In the end, for the boy to become as “capable”, as in the work of Mikhail Mikhailovich, someone must give him a “calculating machine”, because the textbook cannot be programmed. It makes sense to simply give each student a tablet for free, or better, a full-fledged laptop.
The relevance of the topic was demonstrated by the last months of distance learning in many schools in the country. Despite the fact that during this period most publishers had mercy and opened free access to their electronic textbooks, this did not solve the problem of the need for each student to have a means of "computer connection with the teacher." In large families, this issue arose especially brightly.
Issues of organizing the economics of school informatics
I'm certainly not the first to come up with such an obvious idea. And even for some time in our media, the project being developed for a “school” tablet was often mentioned. the mention, according to the tablet developer, was even too frank. However, recently nothing has been heard about the progress and results of the introduction of the Russian school tablet.
It's no secret that Russia has a certain technological backlog in the production of processors and other "ultra-large integrated circuits." And a multimillion-dollar batch of computers made entirely on the domestic element base could serve as a good impetus for their development. The school computer does not need "top" characteristics, and our microelectronic productions certainly need investments.
And if you don’t bother with import substitution, then at least now there are worthy and inexpensive examples of wearable computers of various kinds and types that can be used for these purposes. A tolerable tablet on Yandex.Market can be purchased from 2 rubles, that is, almost at the price of annual government spending on textbooks for one student, and a tolerable laptop - from 12 rubles. And each of them will be lighter than three kilograms. Of course, you will also have to spend money on the corresponding software. Fortunately, the situation with software developers in the country is much better than with the production of computer components.
It probably makes sense to differentiate the types of computer devices for different classes of the school. Maybe in elementary school, or, as it is now commonly called, stage I, you can get by with a tablet with very limited “reader” functions. But starting from stage II, when children begin to study computer science and prepare essays, a wearable computer must have the appropriate functionality. It can still be a tablet, but always with a full suite of office applications. If we want our students from a certain age to completely comprehend the basics of the professions of the "digital economy", then exactly from this age it is necessary to give them a full-fledged laptop with development tools for their study.
In order to eliminate illiteracy and make a breakthrough in "industrialization" in the 20s and 30s of the last century, most of the country's population (almost by force) had to be put at desks and provided with textbooks. Defeating what our leadership considers the “analogue economy” and making a breakthrough in “digitalization” without ensuring equal access to IT training and the supply of computers will not succeed either.
What do you think about this? Below, as I promised, a small survey. Please select the answer that best suits you for each question.
Only registered users can participate in the survey. , you are welcome.
Does the state spend enough money on the purchase of "free" textbooks?
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Present in several = 27,7%I see no reason to buy them at all.26
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Present in several = 13,8%More than. Should be cut.13
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Present in several = 17,0%Quite. Leave as is.16
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Present in several = 41,5%Not enough. Need more.39
94 users voted. 50 users abstained.
Should the state provide free access to textbooks in electronic form?
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Present in several = 99,3%Of course. This is in the public interest.140
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Present in several = 0,7%In no case. This is market degradation.1
141 users voted. 16 users abstained.
Should paper-based educational publications be replaced by a wearable computer?
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Present in several = 27,9%Yes, it is necessary for modern education.38
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Present in several = 30,2%Yes, it is convenient and practical.41
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Present in several = 8,8%Yes, it will save trees.12
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Present in several = 11,8%No, they will only be distracted.16
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Present in several = 8,8%No, it's unhealthy.12
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Present in several = 12,5%No, they will still break (lose).17
136 users voted. 19 users abstained.
At whose expense should school wearable computers be purchased?
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Present in several = 26,3%States. In addition to textbooks.36
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Present in several = 46,7%States. Instead of textbooks.64
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Present in several = 13,1%Families. After all, these are their children.18
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Present in several = 13,9%For no one. I am against their presence.19
137 users voted. 22 users abstained.
If we buy wearable computers for schoolchildren from the state budget, which ones?
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Present in several = 7,6%Cheap to save.10
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Present in several = 15,3%Domestic production to stimulate it.20
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Present in several = 77,1%"Unkillable" to serve longer.101
Voted by 131 users. 22 users abstained.
Source: habr.com