Education system all over the world needs reforming”

assures Valery Dzgoyev

Interview by Oleg Kusov. Exclusively for Vestnik Kavkaza

- Our guest today is the Editor-in-Chief of Bujet magazine, Valery Dzgoyev. Valery Dmitriyevich, concerning your homeland, the North Caucasus. In my opinion, as a non-economist, it is a very rich land. If we take, for instance, the Republic of Dagestan. It has a sea with fish, it has mountains with water, it has plains with pastures… And the republic is still under budget financing. Will we ever see Dagestan feeding Russia, and not vice versa? I have recently been to the Belgorod Oblast and was surprised to discover that it was producing poultry and ham, a quarter of all Russian production.

- You are talking about a rich land. Is Japan a land rich with resources? Obviously not. In reality, if we talk about what nature gave them, it is nothing but pity. But I read an amazing phrase in a mathematics book long ago: geography determines everything in history. I really like it. You see, if (I return to Japan again) they had to fight for survival with nature, the mentality of the nation formed in such a way that they do not expect mercy from nature.

- Moreover, it has constant earthquakes.

- Of course! We can talk about it for eternity, but such a mentality, such traditions, such approaches to existence are formed that we need to work a lot and think a lot. Concerning ourselves, again, some time ago, I read a book of a scientist who had been to Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk, 200 years ago. The man almost lost consciousness when he saw how well people lived there, what rich nature there was: a bag of sturgeon cost 5 kopeks, I say as I remember, I might be a little wrong, a cow cost 20 kopeks and so on.

- And fur was probably almost free of charge.

- Fur, indeed. In other words, when natures gives a lot, the forming mentality might not be the most constructive. Concerning Dagestan. I had a close friend, Mukhtar Mejidov, he was a very healthy, very good businessman, he has even been [working] at the government of the republic. We often discuss the future of the country, and we often talk about the future of our home region. Mukhtar Mejidov says that we need to develop IT.

- Israel has shown an example.

- I think it is extremely interesting. We need to form – however strange it may seem - a new man. Because almost every one of us is a child of the Soviet Union, except the youngest people. In the 1990s, hideous accents were made for the whole population. Not a very fair privatization, then there was a lot of shadow money made by criminals and so on. When a young man sees that a not very talented neighbour suddenly becomes rich, the young man would hardly be eager to improve, study and so on.

- A sad time indeed.

- Then, insane unemployment. Very many people get jobs via protectionism. I will get back to my friend Mukhtar. After he had worked the first half year, he told me: “I tell you, I have not hired a single relative and not taken even $100 from the budget.” It was said at an absolutely friendly table, there was no place for any populist talk.

- That is the new man… Valery Dmitriyevich, continuing the talk about the North Caucasus, what do you think about the idea of developing the tourism cluster as a priority in the region?

- Firstly, everything constructive should be welcomed. This is the first thesis. The second thesis is that nature is distinctive and beautiful. Doubtlessly, this should be turned into business and recreation zones. But I think the task would not be easy. We need a correct and complex approach for it. The goal is not to build cableways, hotels. It is a complex goal. I am absolutely confident that the heads of the districts the territories belong to need to be cooperated with, so that they would be preparing food services, boys and girls who would be welcoming guests. Because the word “service” is not Russian, you see. That is why I think there is point in working on it.

- Send them for training in Turkey.

- To Turkey or elsewhere, to Asia, Europe, it does not matter. We need to analyze. It concerns law enforcers, so that they would be carrying out awareness-building even among punks, so that punks would know that a tourist who visits them is a nourisher and should not be mistreated.

- So that you can walk at night…

- Of course. So, it is a complex goal. I am certainly positive about it, I vote for it with both hands. The idea is correct, but the approach needs to be complex. If, figuratively speaking, we leave a minister for tourism in a region and he takes action alone, it would be a winning theme. If we take a complex approach and take all the components, in just a few years… What is the problem there? There were fears of extremism, a bad background. But after the explosions in New York, Madrid and London, everyone figured that there is no protection from idiots.

- And everyone visits Israel, a war took place there.

- In this aspect, the background is very tolerable. But the approach needs to be tolerable, success would be inevitable then…

- Valery Dmitriyevich, we have touched upon problems of education. What results do you think the reforms of the higher education of Russia produced? We are reforming everything, but is it done well?

- I have not been monitoring it recently, I will be honest. I am more of a consumer of the process. But like any citizen and employer, I have recently been employing a lot of young people, I would like to say the following about our education. According to everyone in the world, the Soviet education system was good. The first thesis. The second thesis: it was socialistic, it needed to be put on new rails somehow, of federalism and the market economy.

- It was still very ideological.

- Indeed, it was Soviet. Clearly, the influence of single-party power existed. But the best should have been preserved. Concerning education, I would not like to make any assessments. But all citizens of the older generation, when helping children and grandchildren, note that depth of knowledge is falling. Something needs to be done about that. There are problems with approaches to bringing up pupils. First of all, experts note that what we have today was formed a couple of centuries go, and the world has changed a lot. It is quite easy to note one circumstance. On September 1, kids begin studies in the first grade. Remember what faces they have, girls with bows, eyes of boys shining, they go to get knowledge. Some years pass. Some of them are labeled “dull,” “fool,” “E-grader,” the poor fellow gets beaten all the time – usually it is guys, but some girls suffer it too. But this is horrible! I ask, how did it happen? Parents send a child with shining eyes. Where did all the shine go? Whose sin is it? The education system’s. It needs serious consideration. I, unfortunately, cannot name the author, but there was a popular note on the Internet. An expert speaks and says: an absolutely untalented child, a girl was graded by teachers as an absolute idiot, and her mother took her to a psychologist. The psychologist took a careful look and told her mother: “Let’s talk outside.” And they started watching the girl through a half-open door. When the adults left the room, the girl started dancing. The psychologist says: “Look, she wants to dance, she does not need maths and chemistry.” The mother did the right thing, she sent her child to a corresponding school, and she became an amazing choreographer. An amazing one, almost great! Unfortunately, I do not remember the name. But there are many such stories. We state that the education system needs reforming – not just our [education system], but that of the whole world.