Differences between USA and Russian Federation systems, cultures, and mind-sets have numerous medieval and Renaissance origins more profound than Soviet era issues on which western analysts typically focus.
The following summary is based upon extensive research of the Russian education system. Important contributions to the project were made by Teton Sands associates who grew-up in the Russian system – earning advanced degrees in subjects as diverse as linguistics, medicine, and bioengineering – and who now teach at USA universities.
In contrast to USA mass education policy, Russia’s long history of exclusively educating the aristocracy led naturally in the Soviet era to a policy of focusing educational resources on the most promising students.
Broad fields of study, rather than the USA system of discrete courses are the rule. Emphasis is placed on understanding the evolution and historical perspective of disciplines. Typesetting, for example, is a topic which is difficult to fully appreciate without knowing its history.
The Russian approach is perhaps best exemplified in the USA by Asimov’s method of teaching science and Shakespeare. Another example is the “capstone” History of Mathematics course often required of math majors which interconnects discrete sub-disciplines studied during the previous four years.
Proponents of the historical perspective approach argue that it facilitates deeper and interdisciplinary coverage of material. Facts are more than items to be memorized ~ their relationships are a compressed description, a schema to help apprehend and remember them. “Connecting dots” within and between disciplines is particularly stressed in the Russian system.
Instead of measuring “semester hours” per class as in the USA, the Russian system measures “academic hours.” Fifty four academic hours – roughly half spent in classroom – is considered a full time schedule. Grading systems and honors designations are roughly equivalent to USA methods except grade inflation is less prevalent in Russia.
The “Specialization 02170” syllabus is shown below as an example. Specialization 02170 most closely resembles a USA five year program resulting in BA/MA degrees with a double major in Russian Literature and Philology and certification in education. It requires approximately 9,500 academic hours including 4,500 classroom hours. This compares to the 3,000 minimum USA classroom hours typically needed to acquire 150 semester hours for a combined BA/MA in liberal arts.
The Russian diploma, transcript, English translation, and USA certification of an honors graduate of Specialization 02170 are shown on Teton’s web site. Detailed descriptions may be seen by clicking on subjects in the curriculum outline below.
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