{"id":492,"date":"2010-01-29T14:28:03","date_gmt":"2010-01-29T18:28:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/?p=492"},"modified":"2010-01-29T14:28:03","modified_gmt":"2010-01-29T18:28:03","slug":"doing-it-russian-style-means-doing-it-%c2%ab%d0%ba%d0%be%d0%bb%d0%bb%d0%b5%d0%ba%d1%82%d0%b8%d0%b2%d0%bd%d0%be%c2%bb-collectively","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/doing-it-russian-style-means-doing-it-%c2%ab%d0%ba%d0%be%d0%bb%d0%bb%d0%b5%d0%ba%d1%82%d0%b8%d0%b2%d0%bd%d0%be%c2%bb-collectively\/","title":{"rendered":"Doing it Russian style means doing it \u00ab\u043a\u043e\u043b\u043b\u0435\u043a\u0442\u0438\u0432\u043d\u043e\u00bb [collectively]"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

The title of today’s post might (actually have been intended to)<\/em> lead my dear readers’ minds astray. Despite whatever you might have thought that this post was going to be about, let me assure you that \u00ab\u043d\u0435\u0442, \u043d\u0435 \u044d<\/span>\u0442\u043e<\/em> \u044f \u0438\u043c\u0435<\/span>\u043b\u0430 \u0432 \u0432\u0438\u0434\u0443<\/span>\u00bb<\/strong> [no, that<\/em> was not what I had in mind]. What I actually \u00ab\u0438\u043c\u0435<\/span>\u043b\u0430 \u0432 \u0432\u0438\u0434\u0443<\/span>\u00bb <\/strong>[had in mind] was something entirely different – the importance of the \u00ab\u043a\u043e\u043b\u043b\u0435\u043a\u0442\u0438<\/span>\u0432\u00bb<\/strong> [collective; group of people] in Russian society and culture. It is not surprising, I guess, that the country which once tried to build \u00ab\u043a\u043e\u043c\u043c\u0443\u043d\u0438<\/span>\u0437\u043c\u00bb<\/strong> [Communism] would still have some features of the \u00ab\u0432\u0441\u0435 \u0437\u0430 \u043e\u0434\u043d\u043e\u0433\u043e<\/span>, \u043e\u0434\u0438<\/span>\u043d \u0437\u0430 \u0432\u0441\u0435\u0445\u00bb<\/strong> [all for one, one for all] type of thinking intact today. How do I know this? you might ask. As a matter of fact, I know this because I learned it while being a part of a \u00ab\u0434\u0440\u0443<\/span>\u0436\u043d\u044b\u0439 \u043a\u043e\u043b\u043b\u0435\u043a\u0442\u0438<\/span>\u0432\u00bb<\/strong> [harmonious, united; amicable collective] in Russia during the past year and a half. This united and harmonious collective is the \u00ab\u0433\u0440\u0443<\/span>\u043f\u043f\u0430\u00bb <\/strong>[group] of students with which I am currently studying \u00ab\u0432 \u043c\u0430\u0433\u0438\u0441\u0442\u0440\u0430\u0442\u0443<\/span>\u0440\u0435\u00bb<\/strong> [in the Master’s program] at Ural State University here in Yekaterinburg. But before telling you of how things are done \u00ab\u043a\u043e\u043b\u043b\u0435\u043a\u0442\u0438<\/span>\u0432\u043d\u043e\u00bb<\/strong> [collectively] in today’s Russia, I must spend a few words explaining \u00ab\u0441\u0438\u0441\u0442\u0435<\/span>\u043c\u0430 \u0432\u044b<\/span>\u0441\u0448\u0435\u0433\u043e \u043e\u0431\u0440\u0437\u0430\u0437\u043e\u0432\u0430<\/span>\u043d\u0438\u044f \u0432 \u0420\u043e\u0441\u0441\u0438<\/span>\u0439\u0441\u043a\u043e\u0439 \u0444\u0435\u0434\u0435\u0440\u0430<\/span>\u0446\u0438\u0438\u00bb<\/strong> [the system of higher education in the Russian Federation]. I’m not going to tell you EVERYTHING about this, though, both because it is impossible (it is really THAT complicated) and because that is beside the point. What I will focus on today – and through which I will illustrate an important aspect of \u00ab\u043a\u043e\u043b\u043b\u0435\u043a\u0442\u0438<\/span>\u0432\u043d\u043e\u0441\u0442\u044c\u00bb<\/strong> [fem.<\/em> \u2018collectivity’] – is \u00ab\u0441\u0434\u0430<\/span>\u0447\u0430 \u044d\u043a\u0437\u0430<\/span>\u043c\u0435\u043d\u043e\u0432\u00bb<\/strong> [passing of exams] in Russian universities.<\/p>\n

The process of passing exams is known as \u00ab\u0441\u0434\u0430<\/span>\u0447\u0430\u00bb<\/strong> in Russian, though you might come to find any of the following translations when looking up this word in the dictionary: lease; surrender; delivery; change, money received back after paying for goods; hit back. It is called \u00ab\u0441\u0434\u0430<\/span>\u0447\u0430\u00bb<\/strong> because of the phrases \u00ab\u0441\u0434\u0430\u0432\u0430<\/span>\u0442\u044c \u044d\u043a\u0437\u0430<\/span>\u043c\u0435\u043d\u00bb <\/strong>[impfv.<\/em> to TAKE an exam] and \u00ab\u0441\u0434\u0430\u0442\u044c \u044d\u043a\u0437\u0430<\/span>\u043c\u0435\u043d\u00bb <\/strong>[pfv.<\/em> to PASS an exam].<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u00a0All students at institutions of higher learning in Russia have the following in their possession: \u00ab\u0437\u0430\u0447\u0451<\/span>\u0442\u043d\u0430\u044f \u043a\u043d\u0438<\/span>\u0436\u043a\u0430\u00bb<\/strong> [a student’s record book]. Colloquially it is known as a \u00ab\u0437\u0430\u0447\u0451<\/span>\u0442\u043a\u0430\u00bb<\/strong>. In order to receive your \u00ab\u0434\u0438\u043f\u043b\u043e<\/span>\u043c\u00bb<\/strong> [diploma, certificate given upon completion of a course of study (i.e. high school, university, etc.)] after finishing your education you must turn your \u00ab\u0437\u0430\u0447\u0451<\/span>\u0442\u043a\u0430\u00bb<\/strong> in and you’ll never see it again in your life. That’s why this picture is almost sad – soon I will have to part with \u2018her’ forever…<\/em><\/p>\n

At the end of every course in Russian universities you are given a \u00ab\u0441\u043f\u0438<\/span>\u0441\u043e\u043a \u0432\u043e\u043f\u0440\u043e<\/span>\u0441\u043e\u0432 \u043a \u044d\u043a\u0437\u0430<\/span>\u043c\u0435\u043d\u0443\u00bb<\/strong> [list of questions for the exam]. It is imperative for you to be aware of the fact that this list is never – as is the general practice in most other countries – given to you at the BEGINNING of a course, but only at the very END of it. While taking a class in a Russian university you never can be completely sure what is actually required of you to know in order to pass it. Sometimes you’ll get a \u00ab\u0441\u043f\u0438<\/span>\u0441\u043e\u043a \u043b\u0438\u0442\u0435\u0440\u0430\u0442\u0443<\/span>\u0440\u044b\u00bb<\/strong> [list of literature (required reading)] in the beginning of a class, but far from always. The amount of questions varies greatly – from only ten up to a hundred. On the exam you will be handed what is known as a \u00ab\u0431\u0438\u043b\u0435<\/span>\u0442\u00bb<\/strong> [ticket] from the professor. This \u2018ticket’<\/em> contains a certain number of the questions from the list mentioned earlier. \u00ab\u0415<\/span>\u0441\u043b\u0438 \u043f\u043e\u0432\u0435\u0437\u0451<\/span>\u0442\u00bb<\/strong> [if (you)<\/em> get lucky] it could be only one question; if you don’t get so lucky then you might have to answer up to five questions… In Russian universities almost all exams are \u00ab\u0443<\/span>\u0441\u0442\u043d\u044b\u0435 \u044d\u043a\u0437\u0430<\/span>\u043c\u0435\u043d\u044b\u00bb<\/strong> [oral exams]. But before you are brought in front of the professor to start explaining the answers to them, you get an hour or two to prepare your answers \u00ab\u043f\u0438<\/span>\u0441\u044c\u043c\u0435\u043d\u043d\u043e\u00bb<\/strong> [in writing]. The tricky part about passing exams in Russia is that the professor can always ask you more questions than what was initially on your \u00ab\u0431\u0438\u043b\u0435<\/span>\u0442\u00bb<\/strong>. Usually they do this if they feel that you haven’t really answered good enough to pass it. Or if they’re unsure what grade to give you – if you actually deserve \u00ab\u043e\u0442\u043b\u0438<\/span>\u0447\u043d\u043e\u00bb<\/strong> [excellent (the equivalent of A or 5 in other grade systems)<\/em>] instead of \u00ab\u0445\u043e\u0440\u043e\u0448\u043e<\/span>\u00bb<\/strong> [good (B or 4)<\/em>]; or \u00ab\u0445\u043e\u0440\u043e\u0448\u043e<\/span>\u00bb <\/strong>instead of just \u00ab\u0443\u0434\u043e\u0432\u043b\u0435\u0442\u0432\u043e\u0440\u0438<\/span>\u0442\u0435\u043b\u044c\u043d\u043e\u00bb<\/strong> [satisfactory (C or 3)<\/em>].<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

After passing an exam the professor will write your grade – by hand! – in your \u00ab\u0437\u0430\u0447\u0451<\/span>\u0442\u043a\u0430\u00bb<\/strong> like this. Once a grade has been written in it there’s nothing you can do to change it. You can cry, and you can shout, but it won’t make \u00ab\u0445\u043e\u0440\u043e\u0448\u043e<\/span>\u00bb <\/strong>miraculously turn into \u00ab\u043e\u0442\u043b\u0438<\/span>\u0447\u043d\u043e\u00bb<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n

So where in all of this does the \u00ab\u043a\u043e\u043b\u043b\u0435\u043a\u0442\u0438<\/span>\u0432\u00bb<\/strong> so proudly stated in today’s title enter into the picture? I’ll tell you exactly how: in how I and my \u00ab\u0443\u0447\u0435<\/span>\u0431\u043d\u0430\u044f \u0433\u0440\u0443<\/span>\u043f\u043f\u0430\u00bb<\/strong> [study group; group of students] prepared during January for our exam in the subject \u00ab\u0418\u0441\u0442\u043e<\/span>\u0440\u0438\u044f \u0438 \u0444\u0438\u043b\u043e\u0441\u043e<\/span>\u0444\u0438\u044f \u043d\u0430\u0443<\/span>\u043a\u0438\u00bb <\/strong>[History and Philosophy of Science]. The \u00ab\u0441\u043f\u0438\u0441\u043e<\/span>\u043a \u0432\u043e\u043f\u0440\u043e<\/span>\u0441\u043e\u0432\u00bb<\/strong> [list of questions] for this exam contained forty questions and we’re twenty students in the group. Thus we divided the questions between us and each person prepared answers to two questions. Then we e-mailed the answers to one girl in our group and she compiled all of our answers into one big document which was sent to everyone. It is not just my group that decided to prepare for exams \u00ab\u043a\u043e\u043b\u043b\u0435\u043a\u0442\u0438<\/span>\u0432\u043d\u043e\u00bb<\/strong> [collectively]; I’ve heard that it is actually a very common practice found all over Russia. Usually only a few people in a study group go together this way; it is rarer to find such a group like mine where everyone is prepared to take \u00ab\u043e\u0442\u0432\u0435<\/span>\u0442\u0441\u0442\u0432\u0435\u043d\u043d\u043e\u0441\u0442\u044c\u00bb<\/strong> [responsibility] for themselves as well as for the others. Because to do something like this \u00ab<\/strong>\u043a\u043e\u043b\u043b\u0435\u043a\u0442\u0438<\/span>\u0432\u043d\u043e<\/strong>\u00bb<\/strong> [collectively] is dependent on the fact that everyone delivers – since ALL questions are included on the exam and it will be your fault if you didn’t prepare an answer in time and an other student failed the exam because of it.<\/p>\n

On the above-mentioned exam \u00ab\u043c\u043d\u0435 \u043f\u043e\u0432\u0435\u0437\u043b\u043e<\/span>\u00bb<\/strong> [I got lucky] – one of the questions on my ticket was one of the questions for which I had prepared the answer… No wonder \u00ab\u044f \u0441\u0434\u0430\u043b\u0430<\/span> \u043d\u0430 \u043e\u0442\u043b\u0438<\/span>\u0447\u043d\u043e\u00bb<\/strong> [I passed it with the grade ‘excellent’<\/em>]!<\/p>\n

And I don’t know whether I should feel happy or sad about the fact that I only have ONE exam left to pass here in Russia. In a way, I feel very sad about it because when I turn in my \u00ab\u0437\u0430\u0447\u0451<\/span>\u0442\u043a\u0430\u00bb<\/strong> [student’s record book] after passing \u00ab\u0433\u043e\u0441\u0443\u0434\u0430<\/span>\u0440\u0441\u0442\u0432\u0435\u043d\u043d\u044b\u0439 \u0432\u044b\u043f\u0443\u0441\u043a\u043d\u043e<\/span>\u0439 \u044d\u043a\u0437\u0430<\/span>\u043c\u0435\u043d \u043f\u043e \u0440\u0443<\/span>\u0441\u0441\u043a\u043e\u0439 \u043b\u0438\u0442\u0435\u0440\u0430\u0442\u0443<\/span>\u0440\u0435\u00bb<\/strong> [state final exam in Russian literature] in a month, I know that it will be \u00ab\u043a\u043e\u043d\u0435<\/span>\u0446 \u044d\u043f\u043e<\/span>\u0445\u0435\u00bb<\/strong> [the end of an era]. On the other hand, I also feel equally happy because I know a completely new adventure awaits me after all of this has been done (yeah, I did get accepted to Berkeley!)<\/em>…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

The title of today’s post might (actually have been intended to) lead my dear readers’ minds astray. Despite whatever you might have thought that this post was going to be about, let me assure you that \u00ab\u043d\u0435\u0442, \u043d\u0435 \u044d\u0442\u043e \u044f \u0438\u043c\u0435\u043b\u0430 \u0432 \u0432\u0438\u0434\u0443\u00bb [no, that was not what I had in mind]. What I actually…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":494,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3,913],"tags":[1049,1222,1326,1352,1363,1366,1561,1562,1563,1714,1715],"class_list":["post-492","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-traditions","tag-doing-things-collectively-in-russia","tag-russian-collective","tag-studies-in-russia","tag-the-system-of-higher-education-in-the-russian-federaion","tag-to-pass-exams-in-russia","tag-to-take-exams-in-russian","tag-1561","tag-1562","tag-1563","tag-1714","tag-1715"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}