Learning processes and systems
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Many youth also highlight the increased costs of education and high unemployment as debilitating aspects of education reform in Georgia. “The fact is, learning is becoming more and more expensive, and people cannot get education just because of an inability to pay,” says a 20-year-old male in Tbilisi. “There are still too many kids left out of university because they can’t pay for their education; they can’t even pay the smallest share of the price,” a young person in Kutaisi agrees. “To pay for education, you have to work. Without opportunities for work, those who took out loans are in a worse situation now,” says another 23-year-old male in Tbilisi. He also explains, “Under the new credit system, if you fail any subject, you have to pass it again or change it with another course, but in any case pay an additional sum of money. For the term, it becomes a sufficiently big sum of money, and the financial aspect has a big influence upon education quality.” Another youth in Kutaisi says, “We need an educational system that is focused on the market. We need professions that will actually feed us. I don’t want to do a job I like doing if it requires me to starve.” Many youth in Georgia also complain about paying a lot for education that is, in their opinion, not top quality. Youth in Gori say, “The government should decrease prices for students because quality isn’t correspondingly good compared to high prices.” A female youth in Kutaisi says, “If I pay money for something, it must be properly given to me and brought to me. It is unforgivable when universities make you pay money for their service while it is poor and insufficient.” Another young person in Kutaisi says, “These prices are appropriate for European economies, not Georgia’s.” Others reiterate, “High school students without enough money to pay for private tutors are not able to get proper scholarships for university.” They call for “opportunities to receive scholarships later on for doing well in college.” They further suggest a sliding scale for university tuition costs to address the lack of fairness they see in “economically poor but talented kids not being able to get into college.” Youth in Kutaisi also suggest that a system of “allowances” be instituted to inspire and reward high-achieving high school students. Still other youth in Georgia have a problem with changes that have decreased the amount of attention paid to what might be called nationalism in the country’s curricula, and feel that it is “inappropriate to try and implant ‘Western principles’” in their country. Students in Kutaisi say, “After famous educational reform, hours have been subtracted from subjects with nationalistic spirit, like history. It is unimaginable how a period between 1918 and 1921 can possibly be taught in one hour. Consequently, we have a situation where kids don’t know where they come from and have no patriotic spirit whatsoever. It is necessary to start giving military classes in schools. It will bring a feeling of security and patriotism.” Another says, “We need to teach more subjects that ignite our patriotic spirit, or more and more destructive results will emerge as time passes. If smaller countries want to survive, they must be loved.” These young people blame globalization for disrupting Georgia’s national identity. “I like that motivation is rising,” another says, “but I am not satisfied by the reforms. School systems are not well organized; I think that traditions and values that were important in the past must have a place again. Without them, it’s a waste of time to talk about improving education quality.” Other youth flatly disagree, however, with one in Kutaisi stating, “It’s the other way around. Western education gives us the opportunity to fit into new environments better. As for losing patriotic spirit, it is an individualistic problem and has nothing to do with globalization.” Others suggest, “New methods should not be implanted without checking and testing them first. We shouldn’t copy from Western systems. We should try to adapt them to the Georgian reality.” In general, youth in all three cases also recognize that successful education reforms cost money, and most youth in Georgia and Tajikistan also want their governments to spend more on education, as seen in Figure 64 (a similar question was not posed in Kosovo). Only about a quarter of youth in Georgia and 30 per cent in Tajikistan think the current spending level is sufficient (the percentages rise to just over half, respectively, when those who ‘somewhat agree’ that enough is being spent are included). Youth in Georgia again show a very high level of awareness about this issue; less than one tenth of youth interviewed in Georgia admitted not knowing the issue well enough to express an opinion, compared with
Demand for Education Innovation: Adolescent and youth perspectives on education quality in the CEECIS Region
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