'The life of scientists in the USA is not the' Big Bang Theory ': how a Belarusian woman became a professor in New York
'18.07.2019'
Source: Onliner.by
If you study the life of American scientists on The Big Bang Theory, you get the feeling that it consists entirely of hunting for rare numbers of comics, video games, using lasers to heat up soup, and a robotic arm as a machine for hugging. All this diluted with timid attempts to build a romantic relationship and flirting with Stephen Hawking. At the same time, the Americans who received the Nobel Prize are already over 350. To achieve such results, leaving only on comics, definitely will not work. Then what is the secret of success?
On the move, three important components can be identified. The first is a skillful brain hunt. Clever men and clever men from all over the world come to the States for a reason: they understand that in this country the chance to realize their wildest ambitions is quite high. The second is the preservation of the traditions of education. Despite the fact that the United States is a relatively young country, many universities there have a century (or even two hundred years) history. And finally, the third - healthy American pragmatism, multiplied by the irrepressible American optimism. With high probability we can say that the majority of young scientists from the States will immediately tell you that science is cool. And the fact that such complex processes are perceived as an exciting adventure, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Think again about the number of Nobel laureates, writes onliner.by.
So let's try today to look at the lives of American students and scientists, comparing it with the Belarusian realities. Our compatriot who has been living in the USA for a long time will help in this.
Who is this?
Anastasia Lipnevich, a professor at New York University (The City University of New York), director of research development for the faculty of the university, a member of the scientific and technical council of the New York Department of Education. If this is not enough for you, we note that Professor Lipnevich lectures as a visiting professor at Columbia University in New York, Universities of Konstanz, Münster and Fry in Germany, University Thurgau in Switzerland, University of Otago in New Zealand, National Institute of Education of Singapore, Autonomous the institute of madrid in spain and others. She is also the author of more than 40 articles in the world's largest scientific journals. Professor Lipnevich is on the editorial boards of five leading scientific journals and is a member of expert scientific committees of a number of universities.
- Let's start with the differences in building the work of universities that you caught the eye immediately after moving to the United States.
- The most important difference is that science and higher education in the US are inseparable. The professorial staff includes scientists who are engaged in scientific activities. The process itself and its results become part of the curriculum of students who can not only observe, but also participate in research.
In good American colleges and universities, virtually all faculty members have a doctoral degree. The exceptions are highly specialized disciplines for which they can attract, for example, a practicing programmer.
Another critical difference is that in Belarus, students go to university to study immediately for a specific specialty. In the States, you rather go to university, expressing a desire to get a set of fundamental knowledge. You can write who you want to be, but most likely your opinion will change. The first two years you get here core - the core of knowledge, including general education subjects. For example, two subjects from history, two from mathematics, two from statistics, etc.
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And very often it turns out that a student goes to the university with full confidence that he wants to become a businessman, but, taking a course in chemistry, he realizes that this is precisely his vocation. Some of my students for two years four times changed their opinion about who they want to be, but then, having decided, they were engaged in a business that was really close to them.
The next two years of college imply a deepening and concentrated study of the narrow specialization that was chosen. At the same time, young people no longer have such a large, obligatory group of subjects, they retain great autonomy. Students can independently structure their education, and due to this they are almost always very motivated. For example, a student may refuse to study a chosen course in the first two weeks of a semester, replace it with another, or take the same course in another semester. This happens when students realize that they are not sufficiently prepared, or the professor, time, etc. are not suitable for them.
Finally, another factor is the continued availability of an international language in the education system. Scientific papers and textbooks are published in English in the USA, Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and many Scandinavian countries. It turns out a huge number of books that, while they are translated into Russian, will largely lose their relevance.
- In Belarusian universities, the problem of motivating students in the learning process is very acute. Many go to lectures just to serve time. Often you can see those who do not plan to work on the profession they receive initially. Is such a problem relevant for the States?
- Education in the US is paid, it is very difficult to get into a good university, so it’s not a question of studying for a tick. Students are perceived as clients of universities and colleges, and clients should be protected in every way, helped them and, in general, create an atmosphere of comfort and interest in what is happening. Personally, this attitude shocked me at first after the Belarusian high school. The first course I began to read to students was statistics - students, as a rule, are afraid of it.
A lot of time was spent on trying to figure out how to introduce an entertainment component in a lecture. I had to make it so that for two and a half hours they flew merrily, with a twinkle. Only over time, I realized that this, in essence, is the work of the teacher - he should interest the student and convey information in such a way that he would like to study further.
- How is the assessment of the teacher in the States?
- First of all, it is estimated by those for whom it works - by the students themselves. After each course, students fill out a detailed questionnaire, as a result, the overall rating of each teacher is displayed, you can see the comments of students about his work. An interesting point: practice shows that students are not highly appreciated by teachers whose lectures are easy, namely those who give the most complete and useful knowledge, even if they have to be strained to receive them.
Moreover, the lectures given by young teachers regularly come to more experienced colleagues and compile a detailed report. It is very important to note that this is not just a criticism (although it may be present), but rather a detailed consultation on how to make the learning process more effective and fun.
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Science does not stand still, new research is regularly published and educational material is updated. For the most successful professors, this is the norm of life, they inform students about their research, as well as about developments in their discipline.
- But after all, apart from feedback from students and colleagues, are there other incentives to work better?
- Of course. For example, good salaries, flexible schedules and the ability to travel. In addition, in American universities there is such a thing as a “lifelong position” that guarantees you a well-paid job - this is one of the highest awards for services to an educational institution. It can be said that some teachers relax a little when they receive such conditions, but this does not affect the quality of their work. It should be understood that the bar for obtaining these preferences is so high that, having reached it, people simply cannot work carelessly.
Teachers give much less lectures than their colleagues from Belarus. Suppose I usually have scheduled 5 hours per week. It is expected that a professor at the university will work most of his time on research, contributing to science.
It is also wonderful from the other side that students will almost certainly receive knowledge from a person who is directly involved in the development of the subject taught by him. Speaking in a simple way, it is a living science, not a set of archival data, which today can be obtained simply by looking at the Internet. I regularly tell my listeners about my research long before they appear in scientific journals.
- How are priorities assigned to your work?
- I have to do 60% of my time in science, 25% is allocated for teaching, the rest - for social activities (work in the editorial offices of magazines, advising students, etc.).
- Is the format of lecturing in Belarus and the USA very different?
- During my studies in Belarus, lectures were often primarily a monologue of a teacher. In the United States and European universities, this is a dialogue that periodically develops into a discussion. The distance between professor and student is not as great as ours. The listeners calmly ask questions during and after the lecture. In truth, the number of e-mail questions I receive would surely amaze you. In this case, students object, argue, defend their point of view. This education is literally sharpened by the fact that listeners ask questions, show curiosity, curiosity.
The Belarusian, more rigorous and authoritarian form of teaching is more like the one that is now common in Asian countries, for example, in Singapore, where the words of the teacher are not disputed, and questions can be asked only in order to clarify what was heard. It should be noted that the level of knowledge, for example in the field of exact sciences, in Asia, as in Belarus, is quite high.
Now, in many international studies, scientists from Singapore are in the leading positions, which is associated with excellent subject knowledge. But at the same time, the main problem for their educational system is the inability to go beyond. Therefore, the country today attracts "daring" scientists from around the world to slightly stir up the orthodox education system.
- Is it possible to imagine that in high schools of the USA someone will study or teach for a tick?
- I know that in Belarus it is perfectly normal to have two higher educations, and it is often possible to meet people with three higher educations. In the US, such a person would cause great interest, delight and surprise. On the one hand, it is worthy of respect (because it is really hard to get a higher education here), but on the other hand, a logical question would arise: “Why?”. Why was to spend so much time, money and effort?
- Let's talk about public and private capital in education. How to invest money in universities in the most effective way and is it possible to earn money on them?
- In the US, there are both private and state universities. In addition to tuition fees, they are funded from the federal budget or exist on private donations. A very frequent practice is sponsorship from wealthy graduates who have already achieved a lot in life, but continue to support their native alma mater. (A similar tradition is widespread in Britain.) Let's say Princeton boasts such statistics: there is about a million dollars per student in a bank. It is clear that with such a huge stock of money you can devote a lot of time to science. Many universities here are rich institutions in which everything is invested - the state, local authorities, individuals.
The US National Science Foundation (NSF) administers a huge number of grants for various scientific disciplines. To receive such a grant is very honorable. Thus, the state supports scientific activities, regardless of whether scientists belong to public or private universities. In addition to the NSF, there are other funds with their grant programs.
- The theme of retrograde in the education system is very popular in Belarus. How to overcome this vice? Very often, pundits or educators linger in their places, not allowing young people to grow up. How to deal with this in successful universities? This story, too, was repeatedly mocked in The Big Bang Theory.
- A scientist who has received a lifelong position for great services to the university is really impossible to dismiss, and therefore you can sometimes find cadres among employees looking at whom you wonder: “How do you still work?”. But having learned the record of such a scientist, you realize that he certainly deserved a special attitude. These people have already paid for their status, and the administration, working with them, is creative. We also have a couple of such personnel in our department: they are given administrative roles, trying to divert them directly from teaching, for example, they are appointed to be responsible for the admission of students.
This, of course, is a problem that, while remaining a tradition, is not yet effectively addressed.
Some universities strongly persuade scientists with insufficient scientific work to retire by offering them an impressive “golden parachute”, they say, you leave, then we will pay you a good pension for the rest of your life plus your salary within a year after being fired.
- When will our diplomas about graduating from universities begin to be taken seriously abroad and what will it give to the country (and not their owners, who hurry to hurry with these diplomas to go abroad quickly)?
- It’s not to say that Belarusian diplomas are not quoted abroad. I graduated from the Belarusian State Pedagogical University. Maxim Tank in the specialty “Psychology and Foreign Language” and only after that she entered the magistracy in the USA, my diploma was counted! True, to admit honestly, I had to learn modern psychology practically from scratch, because, knowing all the classical studies, I could not imagine what modern science was studying and how. This, strictly speaking, eloquently shows the main problems of Belarusian universities.
