Travels in Central Asia

Day Three: Education Matters

It is 3am on Tuesday, a day devoted to another trip to the mountainous country which borders Bishkek, this time to Al Archa Canyon some 40 minutes away. My sleeping regimen continues to be a blur. My cycle has not shifted; I am up in the middle of the night and extremely drowsy by the early afternoon. So I am up and ready to type. Having taken the 3/4 mile jaunt to this all night Internet cafe, it is time to get some blog work in, I guess. Incidentally, this cafe is located some 50 steps from the front gate of the country's White House. What do you think the closest all night business to the U.S. White House is? and where is it?

On Monday, the Kyrgystani train stayed at the station while I took another walking tour of the capital. My guides this time were two twentysomething female Kyrgyz National University (KNU)students, Jibek and Sultanat. Their names mean "silk" and "happiness" respectively. This was an opportunity for me to navigate through any language morass I might find with non-English speaking contacts and for them to get practice in speaking to "real" Americans. The teaching of English is a priority in this nation, with KNU enlisting 15 instructors (all female) to meet the task of providing all students with some English training each week. Students in the first two years take English for up to 12 hours a week (they also are required to take a second language with the widest of options, from Chinese to Arabic to the romance languages, etc.). It doesn't appear that they teach Russian, however, an interesting development in itself. Once this nation declared its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, mass emigration ensued with a significant percentage of the Russians in the population returning to their homeland. Those who stay, according to several people I have spoken to in the past few days, refuse to learn or speak Kyrgyz. Since the languages are derived from the same roots, communication is quite easy between speakers of both languages. The Kyrgyz people appear to resent this tacit rejection of the Kyrgyz language and are quick to point this out.

I met my new best friends, in age like my nieces Kerry and Casey and in spirit like any young college student living at home with their parents and commuting (or walking) to school, at the front entrance of Kyrgyz National University. I was was there at 8:45 am for my 9 o'clock appointment and had a chance to observe the arrival of students for their first day of summer school. Their facial features might be unfamiliar to our western gaze, but their gaits, social groupings, behaviors and dress quite similar to what you would see on any college campus. There were more women than men coming through the doors on this day. I would guess their ages between 17 and 22. Many sported cell phones as they walked. They carried plastic bags, with logos from in country and out. The logowear on their shirts, blouses and pants spanned the globe, in some cases with obvious misspellings from the original. Few male students, maybe two, wore shorts. Women were all dressed in skirts, dresses or slacks, many in jeans. Footwear was upscale, with many women wearing elegant yet flimsy high heals as they plodded through the stone tiled entrance area of KNU's main building.

A few male students were smoking and finished their butts at the entrance. I did not see any women smoking as they approached the entrance; although I did spot around a tree some 50 metres from the entrance a few female students smoking. While I have seen many women smoke in public, usually outside their offices in what we would call a smokebreak, I wonder if this practice is eschewed by young women in the country.

My guides finally arrived at 9:20 am and I suspended my people watching as they escorted me through the gathering crowd of students inside the building. Students attending summer school at KNU do so for enrichment and improvement, much like our U.S. institutions offer continuing education courses. The ungraded and relaxed atmosphere allows students to bone up, catch up, or gain more knowledge as they continue their education. The main building opened up to a kind of rotunda with hallways emanating in various directions. On either side of the back of the rotunda were two counters with books displayed, much like we would see in a small museum's gift shop. According to my Jibek and Sultana, these served as the university's bookstore. Winding our way down a narrow hallway, crammed with young, sociable and eager students, it was throwback time for me. Bulletin boards outside each classroom displayed notes, announcements, grades and other information (all in Kyrgyz, of course). Up the stairs, we soon came upon the department of International Education, ably overseen by its dean, Dr. Iris Betancourt. The signs outside of the classrooms here were in English and Kyrgyz. A quick glance revealed the names of Conflict Resolution and American Studies on the doors of two rooms. I was greeted at the door by the professsional and warm, Dr. Betancourt, and we sat down at her work area, a six foot table extending from her desk stacked with folders, books and other residue of a busy person. She soon introduced me to one of her English teachers, Turani, a 31 year old woman who wore a shirt announcing the recent grand opening of the Native American exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution (This was a gift to her by a visiting professor from Kentucky who has recently taught and consulted at KNU.)

Within minutes after introductions and small talk about what I had been doing the past two days, Dr. Betancourt and I began to discuss a potential relationship between myself and KNU. I had brought with me a Technical Communication textbook, as well as a report on the Kyrgy educational system, conducted by Indiana University, which I had acquired a month prior to my trip. This concise document gave me a cursory overview of how education has fared in the post-Soviet days. We then began to discuss the needs of KNU and what my credentials could assist them with. They welcomed the potential addition of Technical or Professional Writing courses to their roster of offerings. In particular, Dr. Betancourt was most interested in having her current staff of English teachers to be schooled in the aspects of technical writing. At the same time, I echoed a component of my original proposal to Fulbright submitted earlier this year and proposed teaching a technology studies course, much like the course I have been teaching at CFCC for the past five years entitled Computers in Society. She was in agreement that such courses would enhance the international education program in general and even more the extensive American Studies program which has been developed at KNU during the past seven years. Scholars from the University of Kentucky, the University of Washington and other institutions have spent extensive time working with KNU in developing this curriculum. At the same time, more than 10 KNU instructors have spent a semester at the University of Kentucky to take courses and learn the components of a viable American Studies program.

Once we were in agreement on how we could help each other in a Fulbright year, Dr. Betancourt brought me to the American Studies conference room for a visit with several members of her English language staff. This was a large conferene room, perhaps two or three classrooms deep, with high walls stacked with books, most in English and all donated to the University by former For one hour, we exchanged questions and answers about education in both countries. They were particularly interested in how Kyrgyzstan was perceived in the United States. It is sad how little most of us know about our world. Few of us can distinguish one country which ends in STAN with another. I told them that few people in our country know that Kyrgyzstan is a country. This is why exchange programs and Peace Corps contingents (there are more than 60 in the country now) are important to spread the knowledge of these countries to our fellow citizens. At the same time, the knowledge and effort shared by the dedicated Fulbrighters and PCV (Peace Corps veterans) is motivation for me as I pursue my dreams.

I marvelled at their obsession with language: these ladies spoke Kyrgyz, Russian, and very passable English. They also, if they attended KNU, were required to take a second language in their studies (German, French and Turkish were among the choices of second language study for this group).
I asked them how much they worked each week and what their schedule was like. Some taught four days a week, others five. To teach two classes (which met each day), each was paid $50 per month. If they taught an additional course, their wage would increase by half. Most of them tutored students at the rate of $1 to $5 per hour to supplement their income. As single women, custom dictates that they would live at home or with relatives until marriage. This was the case with all of these women. They enjoyed their jobs, commented on the range of student abilities and interests. Turani noted the recent trend of students being increasingly irresponsible in meeting tasks and deadlines. All of these teachers who ranged in age from 21 to 31 required daily attendance in their classes, considered themselves demanding instructors and valued the opportunity to work at KNU. They wanted to learn more.

I asked them about the much touted corruption between university students and teachers in Kyrgyzstan. More than one article comments on a "pay for grades" element throughout the university system. They rebuffed this charge.
All of their students are full pay students, as the university receives no financial aid for their students to apply for. Other universities qualify for this program, with those students on financial aid referred to as "budget" students. Turani also mentioned that the transparent student evaluation system for all courses reveals when a teacher resorts to such measures. Comments such as "will take bribes" and "must be paid" have appeared on instructors' evaluations in the past and seem to help minimize this perceived practice in the country, or at least at KNU.

One final point in our discussion involve technology and the classroom. They use cassette tape recorders for their language instruction, but rarely employ computers. Technology resources are scarce on campus and any rooms dedicated for computer labs are normally taken by computer classes and not language classes. The few mobile computer stations are in great demand and perhaps subject to excessive administrative red tape to obtain, according to this group of teachers. On a side note, they did inform me that the basic computer application courses (Microsoft Office, etc.) are taught in Russian. This figures as the language for this browser and computer as I type this blog entry is also Russian. The only thing in English in this operating system is the websites I access and the words I type!. Before I left on this day, I looked inside two computer labs, one for journalism and the other for computer instruction. The rooms were small, fully occupied and staffed with many of the students appearing to be writing reports. I did not see any computer screens with English on them, however.

Dr. Betancourt appears to be the right person for this department. She is aggressive, seeks connections, is smart and efficient (she buzzed in and out of my conversation with her instructors several times). She introduced me to her staff of five secretaries who run the department and proudly stated that her department was very lean, with no assistant deans or other administrators in her team. By Friday, she will have ready for me a letter of invitation which should be useful to me for any future Fulbright applications. In sum, though, I felt very good about this visit. The teachers were interested and inquisitive; Dr. Betancourt accomplished and open-minded and the students, well, just like any students anywhere. I like that.

Our two and half hours at KNU flew by; Jibek, Sultanat and I now strolled for about a half mile through the narrow, oak lined streets near the university to Secondary School 27, the site of our next visit. This area is dedicated to universities. At least five are within one-quarter mile of each other, including the International University of Kyrgyzstan, the American University of Central Asia and KNU. We passed by a streetside car detailing business, with the most pricey Mercedes and BMWs being serviced by a diligent group of streetside workers. At each corner more than a few vendors sold their magic liquid elixirs, potions derived from tea, spring water and other natural ingredients that can be purchased for 5 cents a cup throughout the region. These stands are almost formulaic. A vendor, often a woman, sits on a low riding chair next to the smallest or tables on which sits an insulated cooler of their potion. The ingredients are clearly marked and the business is brisk. Jibek and Sultanat, as well as Seyit and Stambul, swear by these juices as the key to healthy living.

On the way we spend a few moments at the rundown, Sport Stada, the site of national football (soccer), and athletics (track and field) competitions. The scorboard is missing its facing, the concrete supports are gradually being chipped away in this facility which appears to comfortably (in brightly colored seats) to hold 25,000 people.

Finally, we arrive at the school and make our way through the hallways and floors. The students are on three month holiday, according to Sultanat, who is an alumnae of Secondary School #37, but signs of school life remain. We begin to tour the classrooms in this forty year old structure. As we approach the first one, we are greeted by a woman who is painting her way out of the room. She is Margaret, a middle aged, English teacher at #27 for twenty years, who tells me, in English, of course, that she is just helping a colleague out. She has been applying a dark brown paint to the wooden floors of the empty room. All along this hallway, teachers are completing their year end teacher's only days by repainting their rooms and readying them for the new term in September. Into one room, I step onto an island of unpainted slats and see the chipped surface the new paint is covering. I gather the teacher/painters for a group shot. I am sure that I + tracked some of this paint out of the room. Finally, I come to a room that is not being painted and come upon this full older woman, with Russian features and a broad smile. Sultanat introduces me in Kyrgyz and tells me that she is physics teacher. Small wooden chairs, sturdy, slatted and upright, and similar to those I saw in Sosommyr a day earlier, are stacked atop their wooden desk counterparts. In the backpart of this physics classroom was a cabinet with a gyroscope and any number of seemingly antiquated dials and voltage meters. Atop them were a healthy collection of plants, a fixture of each classroom I have visited thus far in Kyrgyzstan. The front of the room included a blackboard divided into two sections, one half much like those in our U.S. classrooms (if they do not have a whiteboard!) and the other separated into what might be called either blackboard pixels or a blackboard spreadsheet allowing for the easy listing of numbers and computing calculations. On the long wall of the room opposite the window was the Periodic Table of Elements, notably fixed with the profile of its inventor, the Russian Mendeleev. In the upper right hand corner of the front of the room are a small 13 television and a VCR. The teacher's desk is on a raised slate platform, ideally suited for demonstrating experiments or principles. One thing sits off to the side of the desk, a vase with beautiful flowers. I ask this woman to pose with her flowers and ask her to hold the protractor which she uses to draw arcs on the left side of the blackboard. She broadly smiles and I take the picture.

We move to other rooms and watch the rooms take shape for the 2005-2006 academic year. Outside what appears to be an administrative office, the entire schools schedule is presented in a multicolored chart. This outlines the entire workings of the school. This is next to the school logo which includes traditional school icons (the atom and alphabetic characters) as well as the name of the school, written both in Kyrgyz and in Russian.

Our last stop in the school is the gymnasium, up on the third floor and accessed through young student activity room in which spacklers, painters and carpenters are completely restoring the room. Inside the dustfilled gym, while one young student is chipping away at a crumbling buttress at the far wall, another student is attempting to kick a soccer ball into the wooden goal above. Off the court there is perhaps room for one row or spectators. Gymnastic bars and windows fill out the side walls of the room.

Clearly, small funds exist for education in general in Kyrgyzstan. Teachers, already well underpaid with some earning as little as $7 a month) are expected to keep their own room in order. Inside, the spirt is positive, visual and engaging. Personally, I found the teachers to be focused, forward thinking and industrious, not unlike what you SHOULD find in any elementary school classroom.

Our trio then moved down towards the corner of Sovietska and Frunze to visit the National Library of the Kyrgyz Republic. Since my visit to Armenia last summer and the wonderful afternoon the Project Harmony Group spent at Matenadaran, the ancient manuscript depository in the country's capital of Yerevan, I have been most interested in a nation's library. For our tour of the Kyrgyzstani edition, I was privileged to meet Fedor Bakolov, a computer a library science graduate of Kyrgyz National University, who conducted a brief tour. Another concrete monolith common to the entire Soviet realm, the National Library of the Kyrgyz Republic was Founded in 1934, and now includes a second nearby facility. The library holds more than 6,000,000 items, serves more than 200,000 patrons per year. Fedor could not have been more gracious on our tour of the layout of the main building, of the Internet access and card catalogue areas and the rare books room by Fedor Bakolov, who spoke impeccable but heavily accented English and was all to pleased to show us around, I was impressed by the role of the library in this society. Already the library has developed an exhibit on the recent "revolution" when the former president Akayev fled to Russia. This includes newspaper accounts from around Kyrgyzstan on the events of late March. In the same room as this exhibit, I also inspected the rare books of the country. One in particular caught my eye (and my camera), a 1772 edition of a History of Russia, written in Slavic, and consuming some 700 thick pages. Also on display is a full wall of books and articles on the Kyrgystani epic, the Manas. The selection below from a typical online dictionary provides descriptive material on the work.

"Manas is a traditional epic poem of the Kyrgyz people and the name of the epic's eponymous hero. The poem, with close to half a million lines, is twenty times longer than Homer's Odyssey and one of the longest epics in the world. It is a patriotic work recounting the exploits of Manas and his descendants and followers, who fought against the Uyghurs in the ninth century to preserve Kyrgyz independence. Although the epic is mentioned as early as the fifteenth century, it was not set down in written form until 1885. Different opinions abound regarding the origin of the epic: the VII-X century, the XI-XII century, and the XV-XVIII century, but it seems likely that the earliest of these periods is the correct one.

One final stop in our tour was the Internet room, where 15 workstations provided access to a world-class collection of online databases, all provided free or with support of such organizations as the Soros Foundation for Kyrgyzstan (and I am told, other libraries in Central Asia). Fedor also told me that the workstations utilized open source operating systems as well as appliation software, thus saving on costs. The only software the library is required to fund is the integrated library system software, much like the state of Florida's LUIS or LINCC systems.

Naturally, in the post-independence days and the temporary chaos which has resulted, budgets for anything are scarce. Most of the cement structures, built by the Soviet Union as shrines to technology and progress and the future world order of the Soviet state, are in need of repair. Each structure, including the library, the Historical and Fine Arts Museum and even the Philharmonic Hall, is adorned with statues and fountains, some in need or major restoration and others showing more than initial signs of age. Yet, the city of Bishkek fashions itself as a "Green City," with flowing oak trees and pink and red roses everywhere brightening up the area around these state structures and making for wondrous walks as the visitor navigates the compact area downtown.

We winded down our day with a chatty lunch in Fatboys, an expat hangout where we dined on chicken and tomato sandwiches and mineral water. For three sandwiches and drinks, our bill was under $6. I then left my guide/friends and headed to the historical and fine arts museums, only to find that they, like many US museums, are closed on Mondays. Stupid me. I must squeeze these visits into the already cramped afternoons on Thursday and Friday.

I appreciate your reading of this and hope it helps you share in my experiences in the Kyrgyz Republic. More to follow, particularly if I have more sleepless nights.

posted by Student Success @ 2:05 PM