Deputies propose to revise the Unified State Examination due to uneducated people and rural schools

The decision of the President of the Russian Federation on changes in the system of higher education, as expected, caused talk about reforming or abolishing the Unified State Examination. Oleg Smolin, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Science and Higher Education, calls for a review of the procedure for passing: the USE is only for those who wish. Because, according to the deputy, many graduates go to schools and colleges because of the fear of the state exam. And rural schools are closed due to the fact that they cannot enroll in grades 10-11.

The deputy noted that bills on the abolition or reform of the Unified State Examination were submitted to the State Duma several times to no avail. Smolin says he was against the “experiment with the USE” 20 years ago. To the obvious disadvantages of the state exam, he now refers to the too high “material and life” price of preparing for the exam. Those families who have money for tutors invest in 3-4 subjects, which they will take, forgetting about everything else. As a result, “people with a low general educational level” leave the schools. Who literally do not know that the earth revolves around the Sun or have not heard of the Provisional Government, for example.

Secondly, applicants from the regions cannot compete with graduates from Moscow and St. Petersburg. Although the USE was introduced precisely in order to standardize education and equalize chances for everyone. And if they did, they don’t return home, there is a negative internal migration among young people.

The argument of the deputy that “more than 60 percent of all children after the 9th grade do not enter the senior classes, but the vocational education system” seems disputable. And, mainly, because of the fear of the exam. The rise of secondary specialized education: vocational schools, technical schools and colleges is one of the goals of our educational policy in recent years. Both the State Duma and the Federation Council were worried about the need to develop open source software, and the president spoke about this.

Smolin refers to other arguments “against the Unified State Examination” the situation in remote rural schools (and small towns): “The reduction in the number of rural schools is partly the result of the introduction of the unified state exam. The absence of a creative, educational element in the exams, which are based on tests and tasks-schemes, is also upsetting. “The USE is reduced to training,” the deputy emphasizes. “It is clear that teachers of history, literature, the Russian language, and geography are forced not so much to form a future citizen as to train children for all-Russian test work, then for the Unified State Examination.”

The Unified State Examination or the credit of grades in the certificate according to the average grades, at the choice of students, was introduced in the Russian Federation in the DPR, LPR, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, where they are only introducing education according to Russian educational standards. The validity of preferential rules for passing the exam is 5 years, until 2027. Previously, also, at will, the exam was held on the territory of Crimea, where the transitional stage to the Russian educational system lasted from 2014 to 2017.

“It seems to me that there is no need to cancel the exam, especially now,” says Nina Viktorova, a mathematics teacher from Moscow. – Firstly, the system has already been debugged, all “geeks and bugs” have been eliminated. It is very good that mathematics was divided into “base” and “profile”, there is no need to torture future lawyers, for example, or other humanities scholars with higher mathematics. And I often hear from colleagues that KIMs (control and measuring materials, assignments for the exam) have become good. There are no ambiguities and even errors that were encountered before, and still exist in VLOOKUP, unfortunately. The organization of the exam itself is also debugged. But here, as an observer at the Unified State Examination, I would like to say that there are too many strictnesses. Exams are stressful. Graduates, in fact, are still teenagers. They have a huge responsibility, because many families really invest a lot of money in tutors. And ahead of admission – that’s another quest. The atmosphere at the exam is already very tense. Why so many cameras, in addition, under the control of a neural network? Children are afraid to move, sneeze, scratch their nose once again. Yes, and many inspectors go too far, definitely. They forget that the teacher is not a Cerberus or a sergeant major. Why is it impossible to be gentler, more friendly towards children, at least on a human level? And the last thing – I happened to be present at the exam for children with disabilities. There were autistic children, children with Down syndrome, with mental problems. They did not pass the USE, but the GVE (state final exam, a simplified version of the USE). But everything else: metal detectors, cameras and inspectors were in place. As a result, one boy did not write anything at all, he entered and was immediately frightened. And he studies well, I was told. Another from stress fell asleep and also did nothing. There were several tantrums, everyone was very confused and worked below their level. It was 6 years ago. After the rules were softened somewhat, special children were allowed to take state exams at their school. But after what I saw with my own eyes, I am convinced that there should be an exception or a benefit for them. These children should not pass either the Unified State Examination or the GVE at all, let them go from the report card to the certificate.

Earlier, State Duma Deputy Sultan Khamzaev called for a complete abandonment of the exam. Like, since the president announced a return to the previous terms of study in universities, the return in education should be complete. To which the senator, deputy chairman of the committee on science, education and culture of the Federation Council, Natalia Kosikhina, objected that such things are not done quickly and immediately. “From my point of view, it is necessary to initiate a public and expert discussion, calculate all the risks, weigh the positive and negative aspects of this decision, and then make a decision,” Kosikhina said.