On Saturday, I wrote my opinion on the situation in Yerevan State Linguistic University after V. Brusov. The reaction was ambiguous. On one hand, “Why don’t you encourage students who protest against dismissing the rector unfairly?” On the other hand, “Why don’t
you condemn the protests of students instigated by Zolyan professors, aiming at restoring the despotism raging during the former rector’s tenure?” It is obvious that the interested parties should incite me to whitewash them and to blacken the opponent. However, it is not my goal. Both in that and many other cases, my goal is to try to understand why there is such a situation. Why is the quality of our education low and why do, for example, I get 20 thousand AMD a month teaching second-year master students of that university for two academic hours a week in a semester. Is Zolyan, Ashotyan, the President of the Republic of Armenia or the Bologna Process to blame for that? Focusing on finding the guilty, we will never understand and will contribute to no change at all. The reasons for every problem are more serious, more deep and manifold, than any person’s merits and demerits. In the case of Brusov, it seems to me personally that a state university cannot be, according to the Soviet tradition, a “bureau” of the ministry. The law should entitle it to certain autonomy, also financial.
The same can be said about every sphere. Do you remember that in the spring of 2004, “easy” cards were sold privately, in subways for at least $50? Would the situation have changed, if a struggle had been waged against ArmenTel or Yorgulas? No, if there was struggle needed, struggle was needed against that operator’s monopoly. When that monopoly was eliminated, the prices went down, the service and the communication quality were improved. And that took place without shouts, without accusations and without a “change of the regime.” Therefore, when they say that those who don’t shout don’t want anything to be changed, they make a serious mistake. It often proves to be quite the opposite – the shouters are those who try to maintain the status quo with a “small” difference that they themselves want to benefit from that status quo.
ARAM ABRAHAMYAN
