When it is spoken of the nowadays students of Armenia, for some reason first of all the careerists of the student unions are mentioned. It is really an unpleasant phenomenon that cannot even be considered as Soviet legacy. Because it wasn’t necessary at all for the active students of the previous period to make a career in government. For example, I was the head of the students’ scientific society at the conservatory and a member of the Komsomol committee for two years, however it brought me neither a party card, nor else bright future in professional life – I worked as a music teacher for three years after graduating from college. The problem is how one perceives that “bright future”. Watching today’s students of the student unions, I suppose their longings confine to luxurious life and more importantly imagining themselves holding this or that high-ranking office. Have you seen a member of the Pan-Armenian National Movement (PANM) or the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) among the members of the student unions? It is ruled out, because “student bureaucracy” is a tool for the authorities that is used, in particular, during the elections; it is also a place where future party functionaries are fostered.
However, when one speaks of the students, one shouldn’t suggest the student unions. Young careerists are, although standing-out, glaring, but given all this, the overwhelming minority of our students. Teaching in a few places, I can assure you that the majority of the students evade political stereotypes and their main and true desire is to get education and to show themselves in profession. There are objective obstacles here. Firstly the nowadays juniors and seniors were born in 1992-93 and those years were not the best years for their parents, to say the least. Secondly the education system, first of all the school education, did not let them get good education and today it is hard for me to make journalists out of the young people who haven’t read Mark Twain or Ilf and Petrov. I think teachers of physics, biology or a foreign language have the same problem. I will not say anything new, if I say that there can be no complete college education without a serious foundation laid at school, which, unfortunately, doesn’t exist today.
However, there are no grounds for absolute pessimism, in particular, given the fact that the above-mentioned problems are common for post-Soviet territory. Furthermore, lately I had an opportunity to teach in a group, which includes not only residents of Armenia, but also students from other countries of CIS. I can proudly assert that our youth stand out both by knowledge and most importantly by freedom of thought.
ARAM ABRAHAMYAN
