Four years ago, Tetyana Bila came to the United States for the first time and began to understand what democracy was about from educators at Montana State University. The Ukrainian educator has returned, this time to Eastern Michigan University, and is observing democracy not only from educators, but from students as well.
She hopes to take what she learns here about democracy and its principles, and incorporate it into her teachings back home.
"They (Ukrainian students) think democracy is something that is magic and will change their lives," said Bila, an educator in the Ukraine for 25 years and currently a teacher of English and civics at Viinytsya School-Lyceum #7. "I want to take democracy to the Ukraine and help them and make many students leaders. I see how leaders are taught in the United States. I would like to see as many students as possible become leaders."
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VISITING TEACHERS: Through a $25,000 grant from
the American Councils for International Education
(ACIE), Eastern Michigan University is hosting seven
Ukrainian educators for five weeks. During their stay,
they are learning about democracy and citizenship in
higher education in America. (front row, from left)
Ukrainian educators are Lesya Volokh, Liliya
Maydanyk, Natasha Cherednichenko and Tetyana
Bila. (back row, from left)Tetyana Ordynovych,
Valeriy Federov, Joe Bishop, assistant professor of
teacher education at EMU; and Oleg Bondarenko. |
Bila is one of seven Ukrainian educators that came to campus Oct. 9 and will stay until Nov. 15. For the second consecutive year, EMU is playing host to such a group through a $25,000 grant from the American Council for International Education (ACIE).
"They hope to learn about our relatively more democratic way of schooling our young people," said Joe Bishop, assistant professor of teacher education. "They also want to write new curriculum materials to be utilized in Ukrainian schools to promote democratic citizenship among young people."
In Ukraine, the educational system is very hierarchical, with a Ministry of Education that decides classroom curriculum and textbooks used, Bishop said. In the U.S., school districts make those decisions, he said.
"Typically (in Ukraine), there is a lot more of the traditional teacher-student lectures," Bishop said. "But a lot of these Ukrainian teachers here have shown innovation in teaching."
Citing the influence of democracy here, Valeriy Federov, a professor of psychology at Khmelnytsky Recertification Institute, summed up the difference between Ukrainian and American education as this: "Your education is personality concerned. Our education is government concerned. I spoke with some of your students. Your students can speak. Our students can answer."
While young people in the Ukraine are slowly grasping democracy, it has been much harder for older citizens who have spent most of their lives under Communist rule and have known nothing else, said Natasha Cherednichenko, who works at Kirovograd Collegium, a teacher's training center in central Ukraine.
To combat this mentality, Cherednichenko said her group works to involve parents in their children's' education.
"We had one situation where a parent from our school didn't want to go vote, but her child asked, 'How can you stay at home? You have the right to vote.'" Cherednichenko recalled. "So, the parent said, 'I go vote.'"
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Q&A: Tetyana Bila, an
English and civics teacher
at Vinnytsya School-
Lyceum #7, responds to
a question during an
"International Perspectives
on Democracy" seminar at
Halle Library Oct. 20. Bila
is one of seven Ukrainian
educators spending time on
campus this fall to learn
more about the democratic
process and how it applies
to American education.
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During their stay, the Ukrainian educators have lived with local host families and spent two days per week in area secondary schools with host teachers. They have attended various workshops that address topics related to citizenship, such as democratic theory, and different ways to participate in the improvement of society, student-centered teaching methods, service learning and assessment standards. Interim President Craig Willis hosted a reception for the group at University House Oct. 12.
In addition, the teachers have enjoyed local cultural activities, such as concerts, sporting events and school board or city council meetings.
Patti Maihofer, wife of Patrick Melia, EMU's associate dean for faculty affairs in the Graduate School, has enjoyed hosting Bila.
"She's in my age group, so we do well together," Maihofer said. "We're having a wonderful time and I'm learning about her culture and politics."
ACIE is an international non-profit organization working to advance education, research and mutual understanding across the United States and the nations of Europe and Asia. The Partners in Education Program (PiE) is the ACIE program for educational professionals that sponsor groups of teachers and administrators from selected regions of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan to school districts and universities in the United States. — Linga McClair contributed to this report.
