Teacher, don’t leave us kids alone

Dear American academia,

I know we’ve had our differences in the past. I’ve railed against professors putting their own research before undergraduate education. I’ve wondered whether or not I’m ever going to be employed after I leave you. I’ve felt like I know less now than when I came to you. But I know that you fall under harsh criticism frequently. Are you just an excuse for 20-somethings to party for four years? Do your students learn anything? Are we falling behind every other country in the world? Should we be more pre-professional?

Yet, despite our occasionally fraught relationship, I should simply say: You are wonderful.

I do not mean to suggest that you are the best educational system in the world, that you should never be criticized, or that you don’t have a lot to learn from other systems of higher education. You could, for example, put more emphasis on learning—really, truly learning—foreign languages. You might want to consider having mostly oral, as opposed to written, tests. This is how exams are administered here in Russia, and it sounds simultaneously terrifying and thrilling (like jumping into cold water after sweating it out in the banya).

After this experience abroad, however, I will hold you up to anyone, anywhere, as an aspect of my country and culture of which I am immensely proud.

I’m proud of taking part in a system in which student life plays a starring role. I’ve called student council an assembly of glorified event planners (disclaimer: I was, for one semester, an events coordinator for my class council), but the Russian students at my school are currently struggling to establish a class council for themselves for the first time ever.

I’m grateful that I did not have to know what I was studying or what I wanted to be when I applied to college—I applied to schools and not specific departments. Without that freedom, I would most likely be studying political science in France this semester. This alone is not such a terrible fate, except when one stops to consider that it took me exactly one semester to realize that I hate political science.

More than anything, though, I am appreciative that, for you, class participation—in the form of questions, queries, quarrels, and everything in between—is the rule, not the exception. The program through which I am studying here was specifically established to bring a liberal-arts college experience to Russia. Before even leaving New York, we were told how important it was for us to raise our hands and our voices and foster dialogue with other students, yes, but also with professors, because that isn’t taken for granted in the way that it is back home.

And at Russian universities that are Russian-style (which is to say not specifically designed for American-Russian cross-cultural liberal-arts exchange), it isn’t only rare—it’s non-existent.

I cannot say that you, American academia, are thus superior to your Russian (or French, or Chinese, or any other) counterpart. I can, however, say that we were told that at Russian-style universities it is not uncommon for students to simply not show up for the first few weeks of class, and I think that’s a shame. I can say that having professors integrating student feedback and participation is part of what makes a class dynamic. I can say that some of the most memorable and important lessons I’ve gotten out of any class have come not from my teachers, but from my peers. And I can most certainly say that I think that a system designed to push students to think critically, speak competently, discover a new point of view and fight for it is a system worth keeping.

And if your students fall behind in the world? If we fail to realize just how strong your strengths can be, and that, come graduation, those are our strengths, too?

It will be our fault, not yours. American students—like students anywhere in the world—have to want to learn. But you? You have tried to teach us well.

From Russia with love,
Emily

Emily Tamkin is a Columbia College junior majoring in Russian literature and cultures. She is studying abroad in St. Petersburg this semester. She is a former Spectator editorial page editor. Foreign Correspondence runs alternate Tuesdays.