Being Late for Classes, the Courage of Russian Students and Other Things that Surprise Foreign Teachers in Moscow

Four international professors, teaching in Moscow talked to the online magazine Bolshoi Gorod (Big City) about their lives in the Russian capital, about Moscow’s universities and about who grows up faster — students in Russia or in the West. One of the four is Benjamin Lind who teaches at the HSE Faculty of Sociology.

Benjamin Lind (USA), the HSE Faculty of Sociology:

On moving to Moscow

I moved to Moscow in 2011 and at the moment don’t have any plans to leave. I like it here but my family lives in the US. The important thing is not the country but the people you are close to. Where will I be working in six years time? I don’t know, I find it hard to plan that far ahead…

Previously I worked in a university in California where I worked with a team of other teachers. At HSE I am teaching several subjects on my own which is a new experience for me.

An Academic career in the US is different from in Russia. To move ahead a young PhD graduate needs to get a lot of teaching experience. So, after working in my home university I applied for academic jobs all over the world, in Turkey, Saudi Arabia and South Korea. Experience of work in education systems in other countries is extremely useful for sharpening up your teaching skills and great for your career. I’ve been on contract with the HSE for three years and I hope this will continue.

On Russian and American students

In America, just as in Russia students in different universities vary greatly. So it’s difficult to generalise and I can only judge by the students I’ve worked with. That old stereotype that Russian students don’t ask as many questions in lectures as American students just isn’t true. In the US I had some very shy groups and some noisy ones too. In Moscow I lecture in English which makes talking in class more difficult. Some of the Russian students speak excellent English and others struggle a bit but they understand everything. I try to adapt to suit my audience: I try to speak more slowly and use expressive gestures. But I’m impressed by the students who chose to take my course — they are very adventurous and talented. Hardly any American students would dare to take a course in a foreign language. 

Organisation and discipline is another matter... Some students are shamelessly late for classes on a regular basis. Sometimes I just lock the door to the auditorium at the beginning of the lecture. But introducing new rules which you have to explain over and over just complicates things and wastes a lot of time. Sometimes I want to shout but that is not acceptable for a teacher, you have to be persuasive in a low voice. With deadlines it’s very simple: if you don’t hand in your work in time, it won’t be marked. I don’t have a problem with this — maybe the students do...

 I’m impressed by the students who chose to take my course — they are very adventurous and talented. Hardly any American students would dare to take a course in a foreign language. 

On the specifics of Russian education

In one of my courses I tell my students about social networks, not on computers, but social ones. I’ve noticed that they form  groups easily and connect with their classmates but they find it hard to let strangers into the group or to make friends between different class groups.

I don’t have any theoretical basis for this of course, just my empirical observations but we could probably say the same about Russian society in general. In Russia, as a rule, children stay in the same class group throughout their education and rarely change schools. They are with each other for many years and form very strong social connections within the group and they have good social relationships but to work outside the group or communicate with other groups is more difficult.

In the US student groups are like a patchwork quilt: every subject has a different group in the class, besides, elementary, junior and high schools are separate establishments, and children go from one subject to another where they won’t necessarily be in a class with their friends from the old school.  Maybe that’s why it is quite unusual in the US to have life-long friends from your schooldays. But this system teaches us to make new friends and form new social groups easily. For example, I was born in Ohio, grew up in Florida and went to university in California, so I was always having to make new contacts and find new friends.

 I like Moscow, it’s a welcoming place for foreigners, perhaps more so than some European cities I have been to. Of course the language is a problem, there aren’t so many English speakers here. 

On life in Moscow

I like Moscow, it’s a welcoming place for foreigners, perhaps more so than some European cities I have been to. Of course the language is a problem, there aren’t so many English speakers here. But I have noticed, funnily enough, that the closer you get to the centre of town, the more English speakers you hear. But these are hurdles that force you to learn and move out of your comfort zone. I like that.

I think my favourite place in Moscow is not far from where I live. I call it the forest gym. Right in the depths of the park, among the trees there are tyres and metal bars which are a kind of do-it-yourself work out place. You can enjoy the nature around, get some exercise and friendly people go by. It’s quite surreal. It simply wouldn’t be allowed in the US because someone might injure themselves and there would be a row about insurance claims.

I would advise anyone who comes to Moscow to visit the Museum of Soviet Arcade Machines. It is really fun. I also like the cafe ‘Cheburechnaya USSR’- it has a great Soviet atmosphere.

Text by Alexandra Astapenko

Photos by Alexey Butyrin, Nikita Shokhov