There is another scandal in the education sector. One of the colleges in the Urals refused the job of a history teacher who had previously identified himself with the incel movement and wrote a private blog about sex. The unsuccessful educator sees himself as the victimized party; According to him, the past is not a reason for discrimination, moreover, he did not allow any radical statements to be made against him on his YouTube channel. Society is as divided as ever. Some criticize the man for his last words and assure that people like him should not be allowed even one kilometer closer to young people. Others defend the teacher against the attacks of moralists.
Moral… It seems that the Ural story is just another throw of fuel on the fire of the debate about the moral character of a teacher. This type of polemics is very popular among us these days. Everyone is trying to put their two cents in on what educators can and can’t do. They have already discussed from all sides whether they will be allowed to take pictures in swimsuits, buy underwear, visit bars and say that terrible word “sex” in public. But in reality, everything is not so clear. And the problem, as always, is much deeper. Such stories rather illustrate the problem of staff shortages in the education system and, as a result, the impossibility of an acceptable choice. It is this choice that society today is trying to undertake, although the average person of course has no understanding of how this should happen.
And the story that happened at the Sverdlovsk college perfectly illustrates this thesis. After all, what was known? It turned out that the institution could not fill the history teacher position for more than three months. In the end, the management had to consider the candidate recommended by the local employment centre. And let’s be honest, people looking for work with the help of state social services are not the most sought-after specialists. Has the institution attempted to obtain more information about the applicant? Have you studied in advance how the candidate’s image is presented on social networks? No, we’re not talking about rummaging through photo galleries looking for deeply incriminating photos with light, unfiltered glasses of wine. We are talking about the value system of a person. Maybe he’s drowning for Hitler. Did you talk to the potential employee in detail during the interview? Not like this! In college, they learned about the ill-fated blog from students and their angry parents.
And why? Why such carelessness? After all, to hell with a blog about sex, it may be scientific and educational after all, but if a person is entertaining himself with streams of garbage, is he naturally consuming the blood of Christian babes on camera? But it does not matter.
Today it is not possible for school and college administrations to take any special care. No queue outside the fence. Accordingly, the choice is impossible.
There is only one hole in the staff table and it needs to be plugged. As someone who once had dozens of interviews in schools, I will say this: Nobody is interested in anything. If the applicant has a diploma, the necessary certificates and a desire to work at a wage of 1.5 times the conditional 30 thousand rubles, he will be hired without any questions.
There is a huge personnel shortage in education. Unofficial. Officially, officials estimate the teacher shortage at a dire 3 percent. And the terrible news that a record number of teachers are leaving their jobs in 2023 was quickly covered up by representatives of the Ministry of Education: They say that teachers not only resigned for nothing, but immediately found jobs in other schools, all this, they say, is seasonal migration. It’s as if teachers are the antelopes of Tanzania, constantly searching for new pastures.
But the truth is that the real staff shortage in education is already so serious that it is about to lead to exhaustion of the entire system. And turnover is just one indicator of this hunger. Teachers are avoiding a workload 1.5-2 times normal (this is how the personnel shortage is masked: one person works for two). Graduates of pedagogical universities pragmatically get a job in schools for a period of no more than 2-3 years in order to gain experience and create a client base for private tutoring. You won’t believe it, about one-third of the retired and non-retirees who are educated are going to a well-deserved retirement.
How to make some kind of choice under these conditions? He doesn’t exist. And as a result, no one can get into the education system. Either strange women who seduced fourth graders, or physical education teachers who broke the teeth of second graders, or librarians who had previously been convicted of stabbing and considered themselves victims of the regime and were not allowed to study at the Kharms school, or completely notorious sadists. Insulting and beating disabled children. And all the events are confirmed by screenshots of correspondence, audio recordings and the teacher candidates’ own confessions. When you look at this, your head will spin and your hair will stand on end: it’s as if we didn’t have a school, but some kind of house of sorrow with a section for the insane.
We need to maintain order somehow. But there is no one. And nothing. The people take to the stage. He now declares himself the regulator on pedagogical personnel matters. And it would probably be very nice if we were talking about civil society. But it looks like he’s not there either. And there is a crowd of ordinary people, a crowd eager to kindle the fire of the Inquisition in the squares.
No, of course, those who are angry think that they are acting in good faith and that their anger is completely justified.
They even classify as witches those who allow themselves to take a modest wedding photo against the backdrop of a temple; This is not because they have no criteria for authenticity and cannot objectively evaluate someone’s professionalism, but because they need to keep their eyes open and be alert. Prevention is the best treatment.
Otherwise, you know, today the veiled teacher is taking pictures with her fiancé, and tomorrow, guess what, she will dance naked in the classroom. Where there is one thing, there is another, and that is always the case.
Fear. This seems to be at the root of public anger. Fear paralyzes the mind and one falls into a kind of madness. They are no longer even blowing on the water, they are demolishing a huge house, from the walls of which several bricks have fallen.
Of course, it is necessary to somehow calm people down and distract them from sin. But of course not with words. Normal repairs of the collapsed education building need to be done by professionals. It would be nice to somehow eliminate the shortage of brick products in order to fully restore people’s trust.
In general, the problem, as always, is not only on the moral plane, again it is necessary to deal with the material. It is difficult, time consuming and expensive. But it’s time to start.
The author expresses his personal opinion, which may not coincide with the position of the editors.