Russian professors were educated in a system where questioning a teacher was unthinkable. They listened to what the teacher said and read their textbooks, and when they took an exam, they gave it back exactly as they had received it. A program like Writing Across the Curriculum, which is relatively new even in the United States, encourages students to think through what they're doing, whatever subject they are studying. In talking with professors in St. Petersburg, Merrill found that universities' financial difficulties are holding back the process of reform. Factory workers make four to five times as much.
Most professors work second jobs.
The University of St. Petersburg is beginning to charge tuition to some students, said Merrill. Previously the state provided a stipend to all students who were accepted. Russian public universities are struggling so hard for survival that they have great difficulty focusing on reform. In contrast, she discovered, some Russian high schools are eager for change. While in St. Petersburg, she talked with high school teachers who were reforming curriculum and were highly interested in new teaching methodology.