In the summer of 2004, a close friend (Sasha, hi!) invited me to go to an evening sermon at a Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses. What could possibly interest me in a close friend’s invitation to go to an evening sermon at a Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses? The fact that the preacher was from the United States, and American preachers know how to speak interestingly and convincingly, and besides, I wanted to hear a native speaker of my second native language. The sermon lasted about 40–50 minutes; I remember almost nothing except the title: “Devalued Values,” and the idea reflected in that title. The point was roughly this: the Lord God created commandments that we must follow. Some people decide that certain commandments should be followed and certain commandments need not be, and in this way they devalue God’s covenants.
And I remembered this gesture of the preacher’s: with his right hand he drew a line in the air parallel to the ground at head level and said, “This is how God wants to see you.” And with his left hand he drew a line at chest level and said, “And this is how you want to see yourselves. You have devalued the values.” At the time it struck me as merely amusing, nothing more. But a few years later I encountered devalued values in the field of education.
What is a value in education? The knowledge acquired. What we are now seeing at the university: students are unilaterally lowering academic standards. Let me say right away that by a standard I mean excellent knowledge of the subject: 90–100 points. Besides academic standards, there are also professional standards in the labor market; they are, of course, higher than academic standards, but since they are directly proportional, when one standard is lowered, the other is lowered as well.
During the Renaissance, the amount of knowledge (and therefore the standards) increased. Recall Isaac Newton’s immortal line: “If I have seen further, it is only because I stood on the shoulders of giants.” What is meant here is that, on the basis of the knowledge of previous generations, it became possible to obtain new knowledge and pass it on to descendants. Now the opposite process is taking place: some students independently lower the standard of knowledge to a mediocre level. Some students simply try to pass the course on time, in some half-assed way. This has to do with the fact that the exam period is planned in advance, time is limited, and knowledge is not exactly some great value. And if there is one night left before the exam, and the exam date cannot be moved, then the remaining free parameter is the quality (amount) of knowledge. Naturally, such knowledge will fly out of their heads faster than the instructor can close the grade book after the exam.
Several characteristic thresholds can be identified:
— 60 points — the passing score; any less is not allowed, it will already be a “two,” and they won’t move you on to the next semester;
— 75 points — the average score needed to receive a scholarship.
A similar situation arises with courses that do not have an exam but have a pass/fail credit instead — there it is enough to get a “three” to move on further.
And this degradation is observed in every generation of students. In my nightmares I see the students’ knowledge at one moment turn into a material point, and in the next moment disappear altogether.