Educational Corruption

Recently I received an e-mail from an Armenian friend who completed and submitted his doctoral dissertation this month to one of Armenia’s leading universities. I have been eagerly awaiting some word of what happened. Below is his update:

P.S. – I know some of you want to ask me what’s new for your thesis? Well, guys, one of the opponent who was kicked out from the university because of taking bribes was criticizing my work strongly whereas the other two were really happy that this topic is researched in Armenia for the first time and they confessed that they have learned a lot from it. However the first opponent could fail me as he was asking 300.000 drams for his signature and I PROMISED him that I will never bribe him. He got furious and he PROMISED to fail it though the day of defending my thesis was already set on December 8. So he did !!! Later he called me and said that if I will change my mind I should know that his signature now costs 600.000 drams. Heheheheeeeeeeee. Now that I have his remarks on my work which is – there are not Soviet authors read and mentioned in Bibliography and that all the authors I have read are not familiar to him – I am going to appeal to the rector and will see what will happen.

300,000 drams is equivalent to approximately $835 which is probably what my friend makes in two months, and it is probably more than the professor demanding the bribe makes in several months, though who knows what he makes in other bribes from students and doctoral candidates. This is a very common story in Armenia.

Corruption, including bribes, is not new in Armenia since the breakup of the Soviet Union. It has been going on for centuries. There is a lot of Internet information in Armenia about corruption at the highest levels, and Armenia has not been improving on Transparency International’s Corruption Index. Armenia ranked 123 of 178 countries. The US was 22 of 178. (The financial and foreclosure crisis caused a fall from 19 for the US.) Most disturbing is that corruption pervades all areas and levels of society. I am constantly faced with it. I need to get receipts to get reimbursed and no one wants to give receipts because then they have to report income. It is estimated that in Armenia 70% of income goes unreported. (In the US that number is 7%; workers not reporting tips or casual labor and sellers on eBay, for instance.)

I also think that intellect and creative thinking are not prized in Armenia. I hear constantly that people don’t trust their own doctors. They are probably aware that he may have paid for his medical degree and for his hospital position, so how can they trust his skills? People most often get jobs because of who they know or who they pay, not because of their skills. Most software and movies in this country are pirated through Russia. When I mention that we have to pay for software for a project or grant, I get dis-believing stares. Educated people here, especially those who have studied abroad, constantly talk about the education system here, and how poor it is. A recent poll in Yerevan listed education as the number one concern for Armenians. But I feel as if those same people don’t realize that as long as parents and others corrupt the system, it cannot improve. Students never fail a grade (because the teacher will lose her job if they don’t all pass), grades are for sale, teachers get jobs through relationships, not scholarship, and there is no system for evaluating teachers. Textbooks are hopelessly outdated, which is especially critical in IT classes, and even in my business English classes, where the mandated textbook dates from 1996, before computers were on every desktop and e-mail became the primary means of business communication.