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THE POST COMMUNIST UNIVERSITY: AN ALASKAN'S EXPERIENCE TEACHING IN ALBANIA Susan McClear Originally created for HUX 594 California State University, Dominguez Hills copyright October 30, 1996
--- Jaroslav Pelikan --- The Idea of the University
Every American student is raised to "know" that a communist education is different and, without any real explanation as to what that means, inferior. In the 1995-6 academic year I explored that difference in the very isolated, very economically deprived, Balkan country of Albania as an instructor in the University of Tirana, Faculty of Foreign Language, Department of English. The Albanian people (I discovered when working there briefly two years earlier) are wonderful at verbal linguistics. They have used the mastery of language as a weapon against Hoxha isolation. For reasons that I did not understand at the time, but stem from their education system, this does not carryover to the written format. My original plan was to attempt to teach written English through the study of American History. I ended up with separate classes for history and writing. I feel that the history class was more successful, partially as I have more experience in teaching history and partially because there I was more able to "beat the [Albanian] system." There seems to be some logic to my original theory that I teach writing best as an auxiliary rather than as the principle topic. Most of the 165 students in the two groups are now better writers, and all have been exposed to different teaching methods which they may some day put to use, but I firmly believe that I've learned more than any of them. The early history of education in Albania is closely associated to the development of the language. Albanian is verbally a very old language, with a rich oral tradition. It's closest relative is Illyrian, sole survivor of the Indo-European linguistic group spoken by the pre-Roman inhabitants dating back at least to the seventh century BC. Like the Greeks, the Illyrians maintained their language and traditions through centuries of Roman rule. When the empire divided in 395 AD, Illyria was included in the Eastern Roman Empire-- Byzantium. Then followed a period of feudal states. The national hero, George Kastrioti or "Skandebeg," united many of these into a unified force against the invading Turks from 1443 to 1468. The area fell into the Ottoman Empire after his death. The earliest written form of the language appears in 1555, a litany written by the Catholic priest Don Gjon Buzaku entitled MESHARI ("Missal"). The handwritten book uses an archaic form of the Gheg Dialect of the northern peoples. He
Most of the writings represent authors of the diaspora. Efforts to use Albanian were not encouraged by the Ottoman occupiers. They feared that anti-Turkish propaganda might be developed in Albanian schools, so they were forcibly closed and the teaching of Albanian punished. The three Frasheri brothers were educated in Constantinople but distinguished themselves as Albanian patriots. They complemented each other in stimulating the long frustrated interest in Albanian independence. Abdyl (1839-1892) became a political leader. Nairn Frasheri (1846-1900), specialized in writing in the Albanian his brother developed. He is considered
Sami Frasheri (1850-1904) was a linguist, fluent in nine different languages, and the author of several bilingual dictionaries. He was also "a prolific writer of political, social, educational, cultural and scientific articles for learned journals in several languages." (Ibid 289) Sami developed the
This is the written language adopted in 1908. At that time there was great activity to provide textbooks for the proposed Albanian schools written by Nairn and others. As a part of this renaissance Koto Hoxhi (1824-1895) of Gjirokastra secretly introduced the Albanian language into the Greek school where he taught. Expanding upon this, in 1885 the Pandeli Sotir received permission from the Turkish minister of education to open a private Albanian school in Korca. This first permitted school opened March 7, 1887 with about 200 boys and girls. Always the victim of political and religious persecution, the Albanian Boy's School in Korca closed after finals in June, 1902. (In 1891 the girls were transferred to Kyrias Girls School. It had an American Protestant connection that provided it a degree of protection and it remained open longer.) (Ibid 290-5) While the Albanian people trace their roots to the pre-Christian Illyrian peoples, the political entity recognized as the country of "Albania" has a very short history. In November, 1912 it declared itself independent of the Ottoman Empire. In 1921 it was recognized as an independent sovereign state by Europe and admitted to the League of Nations. The recognized borders included about half the people who are ethnically Albanian. The others are primarily in Kosovo, but also in Macedonia and Greece. There was a series of very short lived, mostly local chieftain style, governments until May of 1924 when Bishop Fan Noli established a liberal, somewhat better educated, government. On Christmas Eve, 1924 Ahmed Zogu came to power at the head of yet another military force. The next month he was proclaimed President by the Constituent Assembly. In 1928 Zogu had himself crowned as "Zog I, King of the Albanians." He argued that a monarchy provided greater continuity and stability. When Hitler began to change the map of Europe, Italy followed suit and, in spite of assorted economic and defense treaties with the country, invaded Albania in 1939. Zog fled. As the power of the Italians waned, the Germans moved in. A communist group formed under the leadership of Enver Hoxha, described by Hibbert as "puny in size and unsteady in ideology." (36) It assumed the role of organizing anti-fascist resistance to the Italian and German occupiers, setting up a country wide National Liberation Movement (the Partisans). There was also a group of nationalists, the Balli Kombitar, with a looser organization. Seemingly the purpose of the Partisans may have been more to defeat the Balli Kombitar than the invaders. The Germans left Tirana in November, 1944. Whether they were driven out or left because they no longer had need to occupy the country is uncertain. Hoxha took credit at the time and, in that same month, declared his provisional government to be that of all Albania. Albania became a communist country, but with a unique definition of communism. The end of the World War II found Albania economically devastated by the invaders and years of internal warfare. Albanians were poorly educated and unprepared to deal with the problems. In the early years there were increasing levels of economic growth, but at a high price in personal freedoms.
In the early years attempts were made at international cooperation and assistance, but in general the history is of increasing isolation. Albania broke with Yugoslavia in 1948, the Soviet Union in 1960 (as the Soviets were no longer following the hard line of Stalinism) and with the People's Republic of China in 1978. The socialists effected a unification in the language. In spite of the official adoption of a written language in 1908, the two regional dialects persisted. [note 1] Further, there was no standardized spelling prior to this period for either dialect.
This standardization continues to be tenuous. Albanian grammar is complex and based on word endings. (For example, "thikë" means "knife" while "thika" means "the knife" or "lule" is "flower" with "lulja" being "the flower." Further ending changes make plurals, formal vs. informal address, etc.) There is no computer "spell-check" so that newspapers are published with the author's "best guess." Some rural residents don't want their children to read the newspapers that are published in the capital and learn bad habits. (McClear) There are comprehension problems for people from the south when dealing with elderly mountain people of the north. University students from northern areas are often penalized for not having learned southern standards of both grammar and spelling in their earlier schooling. Throughout the Hoxha years there was a growing cult of personalization. The authoritarian pattern of ultra- centrist decision making continued until Hoxha's death in 1985. His hand picked successor, Ramiz Alia, attempted a slow, controlled liberalization, but after the fall of Romania's Ceausescu in December of 1989 more serious attempts at reforms were made. Elections were held in March, 1991 and won by the (communist) Party of Labor. A general strike in May forced the government's resignation and replacement by a national unity coalition. Chronic instability, riots and (fortunately limited) loss of life, which was devastating to the economy, continued through the year. Further elections were held in March, 1992. These were won by the Democratic Party. Elections in May, 1996 were overwhelmingly won again by the Democratic Party led by Sali Berisha, but most foreign observers found massive irregularities in that election. As an indication of the repressive nature of the Hoxha/Alia regime, in 1991 there were 120,000 political prisoners serving sentences in a country of 3,300,000 people. All were released within a year. This figure does not include those in "internal exile" for whom I have no figures, though estimates run as high as a million. (Çashku) Education does not appear to have been a priority for King Zog. When Hoxha's people took over in 1944 there was an 85% illiteracy rate, only 654 elementary and middle schools and 1,550 teachers. In 1946 the school reform made elementary education compulsory, free, secular and coeducational; indeed, "equal" for girls and boys. (note 2) The national government took on the responsibility to provide adequate buildings, books and teachers. (Jacques 540-41) In 1949 all illiterates under 40 were required to attend classes in reading and writing, with a resulting rise in the literacy rate. (Ibid 471) Nurseries and Kindergartens (for children 3-5) were developed for working parents. Elementary school was compulsory for all six year olds. Schools were available in essentially every town and village, though a student may have to travel to a near-by village for the upper grades of the eight year program.
Under communism most students (79% in 1989) continued full-time in the four-year secondary schools where the only cost to the student's family was a nominal charge for textbooks. (Sadly, this figure has dropped to only 35% in 1993-5.) (AHDR 32) Secondary schools, offering a general education, developed in most towns or at the centers of the agricultural cooperatives for from 5-10 villages. In 1950 vocational schools were also created for about 65 fields of specialization. These followed the Soviet pattern and often used translated Soviet texts. Russian language instruction became compulsory for all students at the seventh year level. In the 1950's some 4,500 went to the USSR to receive further academic, technical, political or military training. (Ibid 471) There was also one technical school created by the (American) Junior Red Cross as an outgrowth of the emergency relief following World War I. The first class graduated from what was then called the Albanian Vocational School (and later renamed the Harry T. Fultz school after its founder) on June 27, 1926. (Kontos 84) Often on the "outs" with the government because of its American bias, the Fultz School was closed during most of the communist period but has reopened to playa small but significant roll in Albanian education. The first "higher" school (post-secondary) opened in Tirana in 1946, a two year Teacher Training Institute. There followed a four-year Institute of Science, and in 1951 the four-year Teacher Training Institute, the Poly technical Institute and the Agricultural Institute. The next year saw the Institute of Medicine and the Institute of Economics and, in 1954, the Institute of Law; bringing the number of students to about 1,200. In 1957 these institutes were consolidated into the University of Tirana with eight "faculties," about 1,000 teachers and 3,600 students. In 1981 a regular system of graduate courses was approved. (Ibid) In 1985 an Italian journalist noted that,
engineers, geologists, doctors, etc., the country needed each year, and the university was required to provide that many. Students who failed went back to the farm or the factory. . . Immediately after graduation all the specialists of higher training were assigned to their particular jobs, but always within their specialized field. There was no fear of unemployment. (Ibid 543-4) The principle characteristics of a communist education have been summarized by Dr. Cesar Birzea for the Council of Europe's study on Educational Policies of the Countries in Transition. (The points of emphasis are his.)
By these standards, the Albanian schools were very successful. During the 40 years of Hoxha's rule "illiteracy was completely eradicated." (Jacques 545) A corps of leaders was developed to lead the country that was well indoctrinated into the Marxist-Leninist philosophy. Higher institutes all included several courses based on the many written works of Enver Hoxha. These included such gems of wisdom as "Communists never look for excuses, but carry out the tasks entrusted to them with precision." (Hoxha 32) Also from a book used at the second year of university, "In the past the Albanian woman was economically and socially dependent and exploited. Leninism teaches us that 'the origin of social dependence should be sought in economic dependence." (Ibid 75) Many women educated under this doctrine lay many of today's problems to the truth of this statement. Forty- eight percent of the long term unemployed are women. (AHDR 54) They correlate this with the social upheaval related to the 1995 survey which indicates 64% of Albanian women are victims of physical or psychological violence within the family. (Ibid 19) The Faculty of Foreign Languages is officially a teacher training program. As it is the only language degree available, many students take the program that don't honestly expect to teach. There are many reasons for this, but the greatest one is that there is no prestige in teaching and the pay is very low. The minimum wage in Albania is currently 4,400 leke a month (about $44 US) and the starting salary for a secondary or university teacher about 5,000 leke. A University Department Chair might make 13,000. People in private enterprise usually start at 10,000 but often those salaries are 20-25,000 leke monthly. Experienced interpreters are paid $50 to $100 per day. Language teachers are often chosen to interpret for meetings or seminars. It is not unusual to have a teacher not show up for class because he/she is busy with this second job. Teachers don't forewarn the students that class will not be held that day. Instructors in other faculties are also now dealing with second jobs of whatever nature. There are instances of instructors "disappearing" for weeks at a time when travel opportunities arise. There appears to be very little respect for the students, and as a result they have little respect for many instructors or the university system. The buildings aren't terribly old, but the maintenance has been so bad that they appear to be. Classrooms are completely bare except chairs (or benches) and long table/desks with a board painted black in the front of the room. The chalk is very brittle and doesn't really leave a visible mark on the board. At the beginning of the 1995 school year there were many windows with no glass. Lighting, when available, is a single uncovered light bulb hanging from the ceiling (or four such lights in the lecture room.) Electricity is a problem in all Albania, but seems worse in the University as switches are broken and bulbs missing. Most rooms have no outlets so no possibilities for slide or overhead projectors, or any other teaching aids that require power. The washrooms sometimes have water, not infrequently allover the floor, and often smell strongly many feet away. There is no provision for heat of any kind. This is the first job I've had where I walk to work and once I get there put on another jacket because it's colder inside than it is outside. The concrete building retains cold and damp very well. You're no doubt familiar with the saying that "knowledge is golden." In Albania, books are protected as if they were gold. Any room that has books in it has not only bars on the windows (even on the second floor) but also there is a massive barred door outside the normal classroom doors. For the British Reading Room, a part of the language faculty, it's double locked. Very few libraries allow books to be checked out-- and then only one at a time and for no more than a week. Photocopies are the same ten cents a page that they are in Alaska; but paid for from a much smaller budget. Thus they are rarely used as a means of sharing information or for standardizing tests. Books that teachers acquire are often hoarded. As a part of the Fulbright program, Americans have brought an interesting selection of texts and reference materials into the country. Most of these remain in the private control of the heads of the departments that they worked in, or of those that they worked closest with. They rarely make it into a library where they would be available for general use. There are insufficient classrooms in our department so English students attended afternoon classes in '95-'96 (a cultural hardship as traditionally the family dinner hour is 3 PM) while students of other languages fill them in the morning. Alternate years this reverses, adding greatly to first week chaos. This is not the hardship on work schedules that it would be for students in the U.S. as there is no real tradition of students working for an income. In 1991 all students received a stipend; now only the "10" (straight "A") students receive money from the state. The changing economic situation in Albania has forced some students to find part time jobs so it will become more of a problem. (Students in journalism or languages have an easier time here than those of other faculties. Maybe 15% of last year's second and third year English students and 40% of the third and fourth year journalism students work. (Gjergji) Students in this year's fourth year English class estimate that "the majority" have a job.) An entering freshman is assigned to a section, traditionally with attention paid to distribution so that no section theoretically gets a higher than average number of good or bad students. This may be changing so that there are "bright" sections and "dummy" sections, though there is no differentiation in the curriculum either to accelerate the gifted or remediate those with less adequate preparation. For many reasons there is great controversy over this question. These groups stay together and take each class together for their time in school. Most programs are four years. There are beginning to be efforts to change this, but now all courses in the program are required of all students. The transcript of a student graduating from the English program in June of 1996 looks very similar to one who graduated in June of 1966, though they have dropped the classes in communist ideology and "productive labor." Because all students are full time and there are no electives, scheduling is arbitrary and not completed until the first day of class. This sometimes changes several times in the first week or two. That makes the first weeks of school very chaotic, and completely unrelated to anything going on in the world outside of the university. Albanian schools are based somewhat on the European model, with lectures through the year and then a single examination at the end determining the year's grade. They usually have 3 or 4 days between tests to prepare. By the time they reach university level students are adept at this type of test taking. If a student fails to pass, or fails to receive the desired "10," in June, he/she may retake up to four examinations in late September. If an unsatisfactory grade is still on the record, more limited opportunities to retest are available in December or the following May. The student must pass all classes to graduate. If, following the September testing, there are several classes not passed, the year must be repeated. Only one year may be repeated. Thus it is possible, but difficult, to flunk out. As a part of the student revolution that became the universal revolution bringing down the communist government, a compromise was reached. Students felt it inappropriate to require attendance. Now in most departments attendance at lectures is optional, though absence from 25% or more of the seminars may result in not being allowed to take the final. (In the language faculty, all classes fall within this 25% rule.) This causes great difficulties in lab courses as there is no sense of group participation and projects often get stalled because a participant has not appeared. Even 75% attendance is not enough in these situations. Efforts to require full participation in these situations meet with departmental approval, but not with student acceptance. In part because there is no money for textbooks, lecturers are seen as "walking textbooks." This is relatively normal among all of the less wealthy "third world" countries; complicated here because the materials to be taught have been changing so rapidly in the past five years. (Ellis) Students expect lectures to be given at dictation speed. A few students will show up and take notes for the others. Those attending but not assigned to be taking notes are probably talking, and not very quietly. This is one of the less endearing Albanian traits. We assume that it's a carry-over from the "concert in the park" idea where discussion around the edges of the audience is acceptable. Or perhaps it's a function of rebellion where people are in essence saying "you can get my body here, but you haven't captured my mind." Either way, Albanians are most impolite about talking in lectures, concerts and other public situations. One student explained what is expected from a seminar. The professor will read three or four pages of material that is to be copied down. He/she will then quiz the students one by one on the material read out the previous week. Students are expected to respond with a word for word rendition of the original. This explanation was carried further in a conversation with one of the younger Albanian instructors. He tells me that generally evaluations are made on the basis of expecting perfection and adjusting for errors. He was completely amazed when I explained the grading process I had for the oral history (make- good) examinations that I had given. In my example when asked the cause of the Civil War a "5" or "6" student probably would mention "slavery." I expect a "9" or "10" student to provide a more complex answer considering industrialization and the general economy, besides the South's use of slaves. He had never thought of the possibility of a cognitive difference in students. Fall semester,1995 I was assigned to teach American History to second year students and "stylistics" to third year students at the University of Tirana, Faculty of Foreign Languages, English Department. My husband was a Fulbright Lecturer in Journalism in the Faculty of History and Philology. My observations are through those departments primarily, confirmed through discussions with other American professors. When I first met with the Vice-Dean I was told that he's glad to have me and promised me a free hand in teaching. This turned out almost to mean "set her loose and forget those problems." There is very little communication among faculty or visible support for each other, though officially all 30 plus of us share an office. American History is a required course for second year students. I was originally told this would be a one hour lecture for 60 students and three hour seminars for 15-20. (It turned out that I had 93 students for the lecture and two one hour seminars with sections on alternate weeks.) I was to arrange with USIS for text books. They print An Outline of American History in Vienna and multiple copies were promised by the Public Affairs Officer who had returned to the States. Eventually I was able to arrange about half enough copies that could be checked out long term from a library. This proved to be adequate as they are accustomed to sharing. "Stylistics" seems to be left over from the previous regime, a class to teach writing in the "proper" Hoxha style. It is usually now taught by a foreign teacher, when one is available, as some sort of writing class. Fall semester I was to have four sections, 2 met for one hour, the others for two hours, again on an alternate schedule so I saw each group for three hours in two weeks. In the spring each section met for one hour, but I was to give lectures for one hour on alternate weeks. Though these were third year students, they've never had any instruction in writing (in English or Albanian) so I was told to start with the very basics. When I announced that a research paper would be required I set the students into a panic which I at first didn't understand. They then explained that they had never done a research paper and didn't even know how to begin. Initially the history lecture was scheduled for 11:30 Thursdays I with the seminar sections on Wednesdays at different times. The stylistics sections started also to be Wednesday simultaneously with the history sectionals, so I'd guess the schedule man hadn't any indication of which instructor teaches each subject. The first week I had two history and a stylistics all at the same hour. History was sorted out reasonably quickly, but it was almost a month later before I just arbitrarily told that group of stylistics that they were to meet with me Tuesday morning before their other classes because I'd found a room. Several times I found two or three sets of students in the room I'd been assigned and had to go find space elsewhere. The first history lecture was a disaster! The students told me (after it was over) that I talk too fast and it had been boring-- but we survived it and things got better once I got over my bronchitis and they learned to "hear" American. I think I enjoyed teaching stylistics more than I did history as I've never appreciated the giant lecture hall. This surprised me as I'd never thought of teaching writing, though I'd taught history in Alaska. About a month into the year one of the other English teachers mentioned that the group who were then second year (the history students) are an unusual class in that only about 45 were accepted based on exam passage. Somewhere another 40 plus were added before the first day of classes. Now I know why there are so many that seem unable to understand what I'm talking about! Several of those "special admittances" have dropped out, but many of those remaining just plain don't have the background for the work. When I asked for a typed class list they presented me one alphabetized by first names. This was an interesting idea. Calling roll was always a challenge as Albanian has 10 more letters than English; most of which seem to show up in hard to pronounce names. Calling roll was necessary as attendance is monitored and students will "sign in" for absent friends. The first history "take home" was enlightening-- more for me than for them I fear. I read at the first lecture, and then posted in the British Resource Room (more convenient for ALL the students) a series of 5 questions. "Who discovered America?" elicited 1 of 3 answers: Christopher Columbus; a brief response about the Norse taken mostly from the lecture; or (about 75% of the papers) a word for word paragraph length quote (unattributed) from the text about crossing the Bering land bridge. Not a student managed a good answer to the "why" question about Indian/English relationships at Jamestown, though they'd all heard (and I guess not listened to) a half hour cassette on the subject in the seminar sessions. I knew that Albanian students mostly memorize facts and aren't as good at synthesis as Americans, but I hadn't realized the full impact of that. I realized quickly that I needed to talk about the idea of plagiarism, at least so that it's in the heads of the ones who hope to study in the United States that this is NOT acceptable at the college level. (See the discussion on academic standards.) The writing students have more individualization, and more ability at English if not in writing. The interactive "journals" weren't a great success; they were written in daily, but almost never responded to my comments of carried on the "conversation." They have, however, elicited several interesting vignettes. Initially there were a few that have some idea of "word pictures," but not much idea of paragraphing. Most had mastered that idea by the end of the year. Part of my early research at the British Resource Room between classes involved discovering the Practical Handbook of Language Teaching by David Cross in which he suggested a relatively non-time consuming method of grading papers. It worked well to skim and make piles, good, better, best. I tried to add a note (encouraging ones) to each. I never set terribly rigid standards, initially not knowing what could be met, so those who bothered to do the assignments generally had good grades. Other research into the subject gives the discouraging impression that it may not really matter how things are graded. In a study of 217 American University students (both native English speakers and ESL students) Andrew Cohen found that whereas most students read over all or most of a paper returned to them and attended to all or most of the corrections, still one-fifth of the students surveyed reported doing so only sparingly or not at all. The self-rated poorer learners were also less likely to read through the paper and attend to the corrections. . . With regard to strategies that students used for processing the feedback, the most popular by far seemed to be that of simply making a mental note of the teacher's comment. The rewriting of papers reportedly limited and more prevalent among students who rated themselves as poor writers-- apparently because these students had more surface errors that their teachers required them to fix up. (170-1) This may be even more true in Albania where written assignments are unusual and editing an unacceptable idea. It is far too reminiscent of the censorship of earlier eras. Work is only revised and resubmitted when the original is not accepted for a grade and thus the student perceives that he/she lacks any option. Still, it's in my American programming to try to point out errors and potential changes, and some students did show significant improvement. Academic standards, in the normal sense of that term, are very low. Only the "agronomy" and "veterinary" diplomas are accepted at face value in Europe or elsewhere in the world. (Kotori) Albanians must prove themselves as competent if they hope to work abroad. Students, very conscious of this situation, are asking for greater intellectual value for their diploma, but change happens very slowly. This statement of standards is made more believable to me by the fact that I feel like I'm teaching a high school class rather than teaching a college class. The intellectual development has been hampered by the communist curriculum and what might be considered the other definition of "academic standards." In that sense, "academic standards" in Albania are unbelievable. Cheating is beyond rampant to be a way of life. People that seemingly would never dream of cheating in other parts of their lives think nothing of cheating in the academic setting. The first essay that I required of 93 registered students in the history class, 69 bothered to turn one in-- actually that was 67; two turned 2 in each, or at least that name turned up twice, I didn't think to check to compare handwriting. Of those, 35 were exact duplicates of another one (15 individual papers) spelling errors and all. When that happened I graded the paper and divided the score by the number of people who turned in that essay. The students weren't very happy with me that day-- and some didn't even understand why I was upset. Part of the problem is that the class is simply too large. After a year there were still students for whom no name comes to mind. This year's class is about 15 larger.
Loyalty to the teacher or the education system falls far below loyalty to family or friends (fellow students) and these students know where their "duty" lies. Under the Hoxha regime failure to provide the correct answer could lead to very serious penalties. When we got to the midterm I knew I was in for trouble. Even in classrooms where there is all the room in the world they clump together on one bench-- and more tightly so when copying is going to be needed. The test was all groups of "matching" and short answers, but I made 4 different layouts putting things into different order. As I expected, there were many eyes right and left, some even openly turned around. There was a low grade whisper throughout the hour-- except when it became a major rumble. About 10 minutes into the test they began to realize that "something's wrong" and a few traded papers back and forth to figure out what I'd done. Others were simply copying with some very funny results. General "Cotton Gin" rode through Texas. Dred Scott turns up both as a Confederate General and as a pro-slave Senator. Robert E. Lee was identified as a Negro from Missouri. In Alaska it never occurred to me to worry if the work turned in was not the student's. Now all too often I find myself assuming that it's not and wondering what level of proof do I need to do something about it. I had two students who don't know which section they are in and I wonder if they had someone else take their tests. I assume that they did but, as I couldn't prove it, they passed. A small group of students thinks I should only grade on class participation because "you never know when someone else has done the homework." Others, generally the "A" students, request more homework-- essays specifically-- and less class work that they know will be copied. Ironically, the only time they don't work together is when I tell them to work in groups of 2 or 3 -- then I get individual assignments. While neither Rich nor I have been approached, we know that it is common for teachers to be offered bribes in exchange for good, or at least passing, grades. An American teaching in Elbasan tells us that there teachers are approached by an intermediary "friend of the family" who gives the teacher $50 from the family "in appreciation of all the efforts that you have made on behalf of their student." The teacher is to understand that the grades are to be improved significantly either immediately or at the next testing session. As an academic question he found this interesting. But our American friend was incensed that anyone would think that a Yale Man could be bought for $50 when it became something other than academic. Discussions in Tirana confirm that specific details vary but this sort of bribery is a very common procedure here as well. Why so much cheating? In the past it was only important to have the RIGHT answer, it didn't matter how the students got the answer. (Note Birzea's second point of a communist education.) To have the wrong answer prompted major difficulties for the student, and potentially for the student's extended family. "Good" students report that they frequently received instructions from their parents to "help" certain other students (give them papers to copy or arrange to sit next to them in examinations) because they came from families that could help the good student's family. They don't like it. They think it's imminently unfair that they must study while the others get to go to discos and have coffee with friends and then take advantage of their studies. But they generally comply. There is also some "favoritism" shown to students active in the politics of the Democratic Party. The Elbasan teacher was told to allow two students who arrived in June, previously unknown, to take the examination. They'd been told that since they had been working for the party they would be allowed to take it. Against his judgment, he followed instructions and allowed them to take the exam. They failed it. Now the question is whether to pass them, implicit in the instructions, or to fail them. Other instructors suggested that to fail the two was, potentially, to put himself in physical danger. Eventually he followed the suggestion from the Embassy to fail them, but turn the grades in on his way out of the country since he was on a one year contract. Generally I think that the brighter students get a pretty good education here, but it's more in spite of the curriculum than because of it. A Peace Corps teacher who taught at the University of Tirana for two years after taking an early retirement from the University of California has a theory of Albania students; what he calls the 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 theory. The ones who care to (the top third) are really well read (usually in several original languages.) Obviously their coffee shop discussions range a lot farther than fashion, football scores and friends. The middle third are the football/fashion set. They do what they have to, but their minds are really elsewhere. Some of them are the not-so-brights. Some of this group are the super-brights that can't fit themselves into the standard (Albanian) academic pattern. Others could be the academic "superstars" except they're working, or a couple of my students have babies that take up their time. A few are also full time students in another faculty. "Double majors" are much more difficult here in that it's a complete double. You don't get any credit for work in the other faculty but must at least test every course in both programs, even if you received high grades in essentially the same course in the other faculty. I don't know where the bottom third are. Some of them sleep in class, others I have never met. Rich had 2 boys from Kosovo return from working abroad for 3 months the week before his final. The Dean "suggested" he pass them. Fortunately for Rich's conscience, another instructor decided that neither they nor 9 others had attended enough philosophy seminars to be allowed to take the final. This created a much bigger problem and Rich waited for that to be dealt with. They weren't allowed to take the test until September, a political problem as that postponed graduation for 11 of the initial graduating class of 26 in the journalism school. The Head of the Department wasn't happy, but lacked control over the philosophy instructor. To everyone's dismay, there is much "politics" in the university. Theoretically admission is strictly by passage of examination. Actually about half the students are admitted by passage of the entrance exam. Several additional students are "foreign" Albanians from parts of what was once Yugoslavia. There are also as many as 1/4 of the class that are admitted by special permit. The system was established to allow for children of political prisoners to catch up with the opportunities that should have been available to them but weren't. Educationally, this has proven to be a bad idea and the "slots" for political prisoners were abandoned after the class entering in the fall of 1994. However, the opening has been corrupted to allow for many admissions by bribe. I'm told that it's a $2,000 to $2,500 admission to the English Department in Tirana, with admission to medicine running as high as $5,000. This in a country where the average monthly salary is still less than $100. Albanian students have a terrible time with deadlines. They make the "normal" American college student look like a rank amateur at procrastination. I assume that part of it is based on the fact that their grades are normally based solely on the end of the year exams so there is no real "practice" at it. One of Rich's students says it's "because we're Albanian." While I don't see anything in the Albanian personality to explain it, I don't see any better reason either. Of 93 listed in my history class, 15 managed to get the major research paper in at the class in which it was due and another 13 later that afternoon. Eighteen were left for me the next day. The rest trickled in over the next two weeks, loosing points for each day late. There is no conception of "choose a topic that interests you." I provided a list of 30 potential topics for the history and the Albanian version of any of the history ideas or about 20 others for the stylistics research papers. Every paper turned in was a variation of one of the topics "assigned." In Alaska the idea of identifying someone else's ideas and documenting sources begins in the third or fourth grade. Every elementary school graduate knows how to deal with these questions. It never occurred to me that Albanians weren't similarly indoctrinated, though it should have given the other copying problems. In general the history students turned in better papers than did those in stylistics. I'm guessing it's because of earlier essays (which required sources) that they did while the stylistics students had been working on other forms of writing. My original history syllabus was thought out as "teaching writing through history," and apparently it's not such a bad idea. I should have spent more time discussing documentation. Of all the stylistics papers (there were 74 in that class, which I corrected first) there were only three that had the concept almost right. I turned back almost a quarter of them as having no documentation at all. On the other hand, I was impressed with the general quality of what they'd turned in. If I can just get the documentation vs. plagiarism problem straightened out, a few of them might turn out to be excellent English writers. That is one of the main reasons that I'm teaching that group again this year, to pick up the things that I didn't get done right last year. The last month of close out was interesting. For about five weeks after the last class students take final exams at four or five day intervals. Initially I was sorry that I had been assigned a late final; eventually I was happy to have had a chance to see the project through. I know I wouldn't have continued to wander over to the university (a mile and a half each way at 80 degrees and warmer) otherwise. I had several students do the mad last minute bit-- most finding me at school, some dropping papers at my apartment. It's not a surprising collection, mostly the 9's wanting a 10 and the 4's wanting a 5. Dennis, a 4, dropped 2 essays and a research paper off with my son about 2 weeks into the month of examinations, giving him just enough points to squeak by. He stopped me on the street a couple of weeks later to see if he'd passed and explain the handwriting difference. Apparently "his wrists were tired," so he had his girlfriend do the research paper for him. Erald was a different situation. He showed up at the very last minute with a research paper and a quiet, hopeful "better late than never," and a story about Dad in the hospital. I'd already filled out (but not yet turned in) the official registrar's form. I changed it from his previous 4 to a 5 and he left with tears in his eyes. Maybe I shouldn't be so cavalier about how some don't care. Is his father REALLY in the hospital? Who knows? Maybe it's just an "I don't take the test in September" and maybe it's an "I don't flunk out" as this would require the second repeat of a year when only one is allowed. He IS slightly older, but many of the guys are. Either way, he was certainly happy that he had found me. My last day on campus as a part of the faculty, I was able to sit in on some of the oral presentations of the "diploma work" (the extra work done to graduate "with honors.") It was an interesting process and somewhat reinforcing as they had done a good job. Maybe something is being accomplished here. Certainly most of my second year students couldn't turn out that kind of work; they must be learning something after all. What have I accomplished here? I've learned a lot. I come closer to understanding Albania and Albanians, though I can't yet say I fully understand them. I've also learned a lot about the ethnocentricities of both the American and Albanian education systems. In a documentable form, though, there is not a great deal to show for the year. Perhaps my most significant achievement is simply regular contact with 150 students, half a dozen faculty, and a large handful of other Albanians. They've learned to understand my Minnesota/Alaska accent. The students have also been exposed to a very different teaching style, based on a different value system. After I turned the grades in, several of them expressed an appreciation for the exposure to this different world.
I am not so certain that Americans have all the right answers or that I would ever tell these young people that they must follow my ways of thinking or teaching. I do, however, feel that it is necessary for them to understand the ways of the Western World if Albania is truly to become a part of Europe. Once exposed to a smorgasbord of ideas, they will find the ones that fit their needs and with which they can move forth into the future. One of my "side" projects is to work with the new Department Chair on the revision of the curriculum. The changes to be made are still under discussion with the central administration (which moves even more slowly than American University administrators), but there are several potentially very significant changes on the horizon. Perhaps the students entering this month will, before they graduate, have some choices in their program of study. The translators may not have to take methodology of teaching. The students who enter fully capable of simultaneous translation may be able to skip basic "listening" and move on to subjects of more substance. Am I suggesting making the university even a tiny bit more responsive to the real world? certainly. The current government is aware of the power of the student demonstration. Many of them were part of the student revolt that brought down communism. They are more than a Little leery of what the students might do next. The academic leadership constantly tries simultaneously to facilitate and to control, both in Albania and the U.S., but the techniques are so very different.
* Albanian Human Development Report. 1996 United Nations Development Project. Tirana, Albania, 1996. * Birzea, Cesar. Educational Policies of the Countries in Transition; a Secondary Education for Europe. Council of Europe Press, 1994. * Brown, H. Douglas. Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall Regents, 1994. * Cohen, Andrew D. Language Learning; insights for learners. teachers. and researchers. (School of Education, Hebrew University of Jerusalem) Newbury House Publishers, 1990. * Cross, David, The Practical Handbook of Language Teaching. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1992. * Crump, Terence. map design. Blue Guide: Albania. James Pettifer, ed. New York: WW Norton, 1994. * Cashku, Kujtim, Vice Chair of the Albanian Helsinki Committee from a series of personal interviews in Tirana, September- December, 1993. * Ellis, Richard E. and Diane I. Hambley. "Introducing Advanced Pedagogical and Adrogogical Teaching Methods into a Developing Country: the Albanian Example" a paper discussing their summer seminars circulated bye-mail in July, 1995. * Gjergji, Bashkim (in discussion with Rich McClear) calculated the statistics for the Journalism Department for the 1995-6 year. * Hibbert, Sir Reginald "The Fascist Invasion and the Transformation of Albania," included in Blue Guide: Albania James Pettifer, ed. New York: WW Norton, 1994. * Hoxha, Enver Paqes from the Selected Works. Shtepia Botuese E Librit Shkollor, Tirane, 1977. This is an English text prepared by Selim Beqiri. * Jacques, Edwin E. The Albanians: An Ethnic History from Prehistoric Times to the Present. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1995. * Kontos, Joan Fultz. Red Cross. Black Eaqle: A Biography of Albania's American School. East European Monographs, Boulder; distributed by Columbia University Press, New York, 1981. * Kotori, Kreuza "Albanian Education" an unpublished student paper prepared May, 1996. * McClear, Rich, unpublished report on Rural Press Seminar, Tirana, Albania, April 10, 1996. * McKeachie, Wilber J. Teaching Tips: Strategies. Research. and Theory for College and University Teachers (9th Edition) with chapters by Nancy Chism, Robert Menges, Marilla Svinicki and Claire Ellen Weinstein. Lexington, Mass.: D.C. Heath & Company, 1994. * Munns, Steve. map design Albania: A quide and illustrated journal. by Linda White and Peter and Andrea Dawson, The Globe Pequot Press Inc, USA, 1955. * Pelikan, Jaroslav. The Idea of the University; a Reexamination New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992. The opening quotation came from page 137. Pettifer, James. Blue Guide: Albania. New York: WW Norton, 1994. * Stoianovich, Traian. Balkan Worlds: The First and Last Europe. Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe, 1994. End Notes 1 There is some consideration that the Ghegs and Tosks may be ethnically two different peoples. Not only is their language different but there are cultural and physical anthropological differences. (Stoianovich 129) return 2 Recent experience as an election monitor has shown me that this law was not fully enforced. Hoxha was a Moslem from the south and never fully trusted the (Catholic) mountain people. They were discriminated against in many ways and today a surprisingly large number of them, especially the women, are not sufficiently literate that they can vote unaided. return
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