12th October

12th October

“Prisons are needed only to pride the illusion that courts and police are effective” Dune

Yep, I am still reading Dune… by book 4 it’s all gotten rather dialogue heavy and lacks the action that made the earlier books so engrossing. Which is why I don’t remember book 4, as I must have given up when I first read the series as a kid.

The quote was defending capital punishment, which I do not, but it was an interesting point. These days, many people no longer believe that prisons are in place to reform the bad, but are simply to segregate the “undesirables” from the rest of society. And aside from the practical view that this will make life safer and nicer for the rest of us, the point that the quote makes, that having prisons provides visual proof that the police are doing something, rings true.

In cash strapped western economies, I am surprised more people haven’t raised the idea of just executing people, instead of having tax-payers keep them. It would certainly save lots of money. But I am only playing devils advocate here, as I really don’t support killing people for crimes, regardless of how bad they were. Education and an attempt to improve the conditions that created the need for crime should always be the main focus. Although in theory I am not against castration for certain crimes.

Anyway, back to Kazakhstan, which is far more interesting than my strange hybrid of liberal and conservative views on crime. Today was the Autumn festival at school, which consisted of the 5-7th classes having to prepare food and costumes. To be honest, I was late to the event (was talking with some 11th class kids and a P.E teacher) and missed some of it, but caught the 2nd hour, and that included the standard fair of “talents” – singing, dancing and acting. In fact, there is a strong focus on these areas, plus sports, with a steady number of social events throughout the school year. It’s something that is often criticised about the modern British system, and I imagine the Japanese one as well, so it’s nice to see it alive and well in Kazakhstan. Of course, the academic achievements of the kids also seems to be directly related to how many non-academic activities they do, which would support the reasons for the reduction in such classes in England.

As a teacher, I am somewhat torn between both camps. Kids should have fun, and for those who are not academic, these events can provide a creative outlet and a chance to excel in something. It also helps develop other life skills, and keep children healthy – out of 500 or so pupils; there are probably less than 5 who are ‘fat’, and a further 10-15 who are ‘chubby’. Although with the diet here, once they hit middle age, these figures are greatly increased.

On the other side, for any country with an urban population, and Kazakhstan in slowly following other countries in that direction- a focus on academic study is very important, as the workforce needs certain skills that schools provide. School time is valuable and the time spent teaching children skills that they will potentially use for the rest of their lives, is relatively short – 10-20 years of school, but 80 years of life.

It seems the city schools have the balance about right, with academic success far greater than the villages, but still a healthy amount of extra-curricular activities on offer – the Beskol school team, undefeated in the village tournament, failed to score a goal at the regional finals, where they were up against the teams from Ushiral, the local town.

Of course, it could just be the lack of resources, and inability to attract good teachers that hinders the village schools. I will use my time with the English department here (do two teachers a department make?) to see if some fresh ideas and more books give much change to academic scores.