When the big bosses come to town
Big Brother is looking over your shoulder. Quick! What do you do?
You remember that he is just another human being like you are: you turn around, shake his hand, and ask him how his day is going... like any good American would do!
Everyday I'm finding out something new about the Moldovan educational system. My school has been hosting various government officials who have been scrutinizing every aspect of our school for the past month. This week, the Ministry of Education is auditing my school.
My school director and vice-director seemed to find it VERY amusing that I shook hands with the Ministry officials (both women) when I met them in the stairwell. And I also asked them how they were... Evidently, only men shake hands in Moldova, and you NEVER get so cozy with your superiors that you ask them "How're you doing?"(!).
Lol! Oh well. It's a well known fact that the best way to improve the standard of living in any country is to empower women, even Ministry officials! If that means I must shake the hand of every woman in Moldova to show them they have equal status with men, and are capable of challenging the status quo, then so be it!
Today in our staff meeting, my beleaguered school director and colleagues discussed the good things and bad things found by the most recent round of observations and audits. Several teachers were recommended to be promoted to the next level of seniority due to their excellent teaching. Others were chastised for not conforming to some regulations.
And I found out what happens when discrepancies are found between the lessons written in the catalog and the lessons written in the "Long Term Lesson Plan" that each teacher writes for himself... It's the same thing that happens to students when they do not conform to an institutional rule: They are named in front of their peers and publicly told how they must do better. Public humiliation works pretty well in a communal society, even IF it grates on the individuality-loving American's sense of propriety, decorum, not to mention "common" decency...
This reminds me, I need to devote the theme of at least one lesson in each of my classes to the apparently "American" idea of 'privacy'. PC is a cultural exchange, after all.
As far as I know, this is all that happens to the teacher (as well as they are not recommended for promotion by the Ministry officials). But ALSO the school directors/principals are chastised and have a penalty letter entered into their personal files (at the Ministry?) saying how they are not doing their job of keeping their school and teachers in order. Bummer.
You remember that he is just another human being like you are: you turn around, shake his hand, and ask him how his day is going... like any good American would do!
Everyday I'm finding out something new about the Moldovan educational system. My school has been hosting various government officials who have been scrutinizing every aspect of our school for the past month. This week, the Ministry of Education is auditing my school.
My school director and vice-director seemed to find it VERY amusing that I shook hands with the Ministry officials (both women) when I met them in the stairwell. And I also asked them how they were... Evidently, only men shake hands in Moldova, and you NEVER get so cozy with your superiors that you ask them "How're you doing?"(!).
Lol! Oh well. It's a well known fact that the best way to improve the standard of living in any country is to empower women, even Ministry officials! If that means I must shake the hand of every woman in Moldova to show them they have equal status with men, and are capable of challenging the status quo, then so be it!
Today in our staff meeting, my beleaguered school director and colleagues discussed the good things and bad things found by the most recent round of observations and audits. Several teachers were recommended to be promoted to the next level of seniority due to their excellent teaching. Others were chastised for not conforming to some regulations.
And I found out what happens when discrepancies are found between the lessons written in the catalog and the lessons written in the "Long Term Lesson Plan" that each teacher writes for himself... It's the same thing that happens to students when they do not conform to an institutional rule: They are named in front of their peers and publicly told how they must do better. Public humiliation works pretty well in a communal society, even IF it grates on the individuality-loving American's sense of propriety, decorum, not to mention "common" decency...
This reminds me, I need to devote the theme of at least one lesson in each of my classes to the apparently "American" idea of 'privacy'. PC is a cultural exchange, after all.
As far as I know, this is all that happens to the teacher (as well as they are not recommended for promotion by the Ministry officials). But ALSO the school directors/principals are chastised and have a penalty letter entered into their personal files (at the Ministry?) saying how they are not doing their job of keeping their school and teachers in order. Bummer.
posted by Emily at 2:00 PM
3 Comments:
Hello there!
I read that you live in Moldova. I'm interested to know about the situation of the country, i wonder if you could tell me about the way of life, the kind of its inhabitants, and what is really happening in the russian allied secesionist republic of Transdniester, and the turkish people of Gagauz. Here its very difficult to get information about "the outside lands of the empire", never more than 2 lines in newspapers, in the most hidden corner.
What do you exactly do in Moldova? Peace corps? i didn't know there were peace corps in Moldova!
Thak you for reading this and sory for wasting your time
Peace Corps is alive and well in Moldova, where I'd like to think that we're making a difference in the lives of the people that we live and work with.
Moldova is a great country with lots of cultural variety. If you'd like more news about it, your best option is to search the internet. Go to www.google.com and type in "Moldova". There's lots of places to turn for news when the the standards (TV, newspaper, radio) seem to be underreporting.
I've enjoyed reading your blogs about Moldovan. Have you posted any pictures to online albums like Flickr or Yahoo? If not then you should, I'd like to see them.
TGED
Post a Comment
<< Home