Since the first days of 2025, the State Duma has been talking about the possible abolition of the unified State Exam (USE). Andrey Maksimov, a well-known writer, is a calm and reasonable man with a solid teaching experience, he is sincerely glad to hear the news, he writes: “Exam reports are reports from the theater of military operations. The war of adults with children, the lottery.” I wish it was over as soon as possible.
I have a question: and for whom is it “over”? For all citizens: it’s like it never happened, have you forgotten? But what about those for whom we actually developed this whole mechanism, the “test generation” itself? Is it ethical to ignore their opinion about the current graduation test (or maybe it’s generally positive)?
“The little things of life,” the most ardent opponents of the unified exam will say. “What are you talking about?” They’ll survive. They will also thank you.” It’s like saying… if one of my friends, their grandchildren and children has to swallow their tongue again and obey a new industry “trend”, then in my opinion, such a decision can hardly be considered the most successful and fair.
It’s a strange thing: Just yesterday, it seemed the norm to back up public statements (from the category “USE is a war”) with detailed statistics. And this is true, especially if we are talking about a problem of such a large-scale, socially acute nature. But even top government officials have clearly cooled down to the sociological data “about this” over the past year and a half. Have nuances and shades lost their power over education policy? With the Unified State Exam, it turns out that everything has been “clear for a long time”?
Once again, we are being thrown from one extreme to the other. Which, frankly, is both alarming and disturbing.
Anyone who has never made a mistake should throw a stone at the author: earlier, the writer of these lines was also sure and even wrote about it that the country should be helped to get rid of the unified exam. He provided cancellation options, with alternatives.
There is no doubt that the exam represents intellectual violence for children. Well, for example, for those whose eyesight has been eclipsed by the misfortune of dyslexia (for reference: dys – “disorder”, lexis – “word”, “speech”; in schools, such children range from 30 to 70%). Getting a ballpoint pen into the correct square of the form with the USE assignment is fine. But even for a graduate with a sharp eye, writing a detailed answer in block letters on a machine–readable form (nb: commas, dashes and cons also fit into a separate cell) is far from “S” and not “ice” (good, great; the way it should be). as they say themselves.
In short, the only hope here is for Rosobrnadzor to suddenly “not notice” the blunders and scribbles.
At the same time, in Europe, students with learning difficulties can… Give up (sic!) to get rid of the state certification system or to take exams on special conditions – to get extra time, to use yellowish-colored paper (it is believed that people with dyslexia may perceive text worse because of the contrasting “black on white”). Submit work on a computer / speak it into a dictaphone…
We are a big country, we have the richest human capital. But it seems that he allows it (the paradox of affluence?) closing the problem is “in the interests of the majority.” Centrally cut her alive.
Let’s look at the statistics anyway. The results of a study by the Superjob job search service (March 2024) show that about 63% of Russians have a negative attitude towards the Unified State Exam and believe that the exam should be canceled. That is, if we reverse this proportion, 37% of citizens (one in three Russians over the age of 18) they see no reason to cancel the unified one.
Here’s another interesting thing: the fundamental laws of the state and democratic society prescribe that minority votes should be ignored during major referendums. Yes, but how honest will it be when it comes to pedagogy? Who knows, maybe it’s the other way around.: is the Unified State Exam the most suitable for dyslexics, unlike the classical exam? “Yes – no – I find it difficult to answer…” But let them decide this question on their own.
“When among 100 people one rules over 99, it is unfair, it is despotism; when 51 rules over 49, then it is absolutely fair, it is freedom!” Could there be anything funnier, in its obvious absurdity,” wrote Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy.
This may be the main obstacle for school improvers that we have inadvertently stumbled upon: democratic procedures around the world lag behind the needs of the education sector and the demands of the individual. Experts say that the number of children with learning difficulties has increased significantly. If 15 years ago in Russia, students with reading and writing problems were rare in middle and high school, now the proportion of such students is growing in grades 6, 7, and even 10.
So now the school is contributing to these incredibly complex processes? (Although a prominent philologist professor guarantees that Russian grammar in itself relieves dyslexia, because… “develops the ability necessary for life to perform tasks according to a pattern.”)
Overseas, by the way, there are at least two tests that students miss: SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) and ACT (American College Testing). That is, the American test is initially bifurcated, acting only in tandem with a competing analogue. And this is not counting the traditional graduations, which are given in 25 of the 50 American states. It is the principle of competition that is the key to the objectivity of the foreign Unified State Exam: the more independent examiners fight for self-confidence, the higher the quality of this service, the wider the freedom of choice for admission.
Therefore, in today’s difficult conditions, the main task of Rosobrnadzor is not to touch the Unified State Exam (here we agree with the position of this department), to create an emergency life raft, an alternative to the “Intuition show” (as high school students call the Unified State Exam) – a special, respectful exam for a more subtly organized generation in relation to standard writing.
It is the civilized competition of test procedures that will turn the “belligerent fervor” of officials who have declared a battle for students into a peaceful mood – they will do their job: not to label tests, but to regulate the rules of competition between honestly competing players in an honestly built education economy.
