NI Investigation: Adult Games around the school olympiads

But how does this affect students?

Ivan Petrovsky

The first invitations to the Olympics began to come to my child immediately after entering the 1st grade. True, you had to pay for participating in it. The modest fee paid off with a pathos diploma and a letter of thanks to the teacher from the organizer of the competition. Soon, the child got tired of such “paid” correspondence Olympiads. A little later came a variety of Spring and Autumn "Olympus" in mathematics, "Kangaroo", "Russian Teddy Bear", "Mathematical Holiday of Moscow State University", "Conquer Vorobyovy Gory", "Kurchatov" and others. In some, participation was voluntary, in others - on the urgent recommendation of the school. It is no secret that the success of schoolchildren at the Olympics add up the performance indicators of the educational organization.

And now let's figure out who and why is interested in school contests. In Russia, there are several types of intellectual competitions that can open serious prospects for schoolchildren: these are Olympiads from universities that are conducted by higher education institutions themselves. Their goal is to identify gifted students. There are still Olympics from the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation. They are carried out centrally in schools. Traditionally, these competitions are held in several stages: school, local, regional, final round (All-Russian Olympiad) and the international Olympiad. Students fall on them in accordance with the level of their performance, they are selected by the teacher. In addition, there are Olympics from various foundations and organizations, paid and free. Winning them will not help the student enter the university, but the letters in the portfolio will not be superfluous. Most of these competitions are supervised by the local department of education.

True, there are olympiads of yet another kind. Their organization and rules are a mystery to the organizer. For example, for the parents of many schools, especially Moscow, it remains a mystery why teachers so strongly recommend their children to participate in the full-time olympiad for the elementary school “Twice Two.” This is not the first year that she has been collecting participants not only from Moscow, but also from other cities. At the same time, both the Moscow Department of Education and the Russian Ministry of Education are carefully rejecting it: they say that this event is not controlled by us. Nevertheless, participation in the mathematical Olympiad “Twice Two” is strongly recommended to schools. Even despite the fact that in recent years it has been accompanied by claims of parents to the organizers and scandals.

The organizer of the Olympics for the elementary school "Twice Two" - "Creative Laboratory" Twice Two. " The one that organizes numerous paid circles and visiting paid camps where children study. “The Twice Two Creative Laboratory positions itself as a“ community of teachers ... concerned about the state of mathematical education in Russia. ” Although in reality, this “community” consists mainly of teachers of Moscow schools No. 1329 and 2086. And many parents of the contestants notice that the students of these two schools are traditionally leaders in the 2x2 Olympics.

In fairness, I must say that the teaching of mathematics in schools No. 1329 and 2086 is indeed at a high level. Elena Ivanova, the permanent chairman of the jury of the Twice Two Olympics and teacher of schools No. 1329 and No. 2086, is also known as the author of one of the most advanced mathematics textbooks for elementary school. And also as a teacher of the grandchildren of the head of the Moscow Department of Education, Isaac Kalina. This is not a secret, information about this can be easily found in the public domain. For example, discussing the advantages of school No. 1329 (technical equipment, a swimming pool, attracting the best teachers of the capital), parents say : “ Kalina’s grandchildren study in this school, her granddaughter in Ivanova’s class, the director is the chairman of the inter-district board of directors, she has influence th ... She always says - everything from Depobro comes down to me, you’ll still deal with me ... ”

In 2019, there was a scandal with a participant in this Olympics, U. from the mathematical class of the famous Moscow school, who remained behind the prize winners. However, the girl somehow managed to photograph her work, although this is prohibited by the rules of the Olympics. By the way, getting acquainted with the works of children after they are tested at the 2x2 Olympics is also forbidden for some reason. And suddenly it turns out that the answers and decisions of the girl, deprived of awards, surprisingly coincided with those that are presented as correct on the website of the Olympics 2x2. As a result of the pressure of the parents, the result was corrected, the girl received a prize.

This year, according to eyewitnesses, a whole group of participants who wrote the "2x2" Olympiad at the Moscow Institute of Radio Electronics and Automation (MIREA), for some reason, the work was selected half an hour earlier. All these guys, of course, did not study where Elena Ivanova teaches. And with the student of the 4th mathematical class of another well-known Moscow school, the winner and prize-winner of many Olympiads in mathematics, L. there was a case and completely ugly. After congratulations on the prize were sent to the girl’s mail, the parents nevertheless wondered: why is the “zero points” in the first task - the child assured that the problem was solved. Another problem with a twofold condition also raised questions. To remove the suspicion, the parents asked the inspector of the original work. The reaction was unexpected. The chairman of the jury Elena Ivanova, having sent a scan of the work, crossed out the points scored by the child, depriving the 10-year-old girl of the prize. The funny thing is that points were reduced even for those tasks that the chairman of the jury marked with the words "everything is right here." During the “double-check” by Ms. Ivanova, the child’s points were reduced to 29 (the prize goes to those who earned 30 points or more). That is, it is demonstrative and indicative - so that it is not inconvenient for parents to ask “uncomfortable questions”. The victim was ultimately a child who suffered a deep psychological trauma. But the question to parents wondered: why does the computer analyzing the scan of the participant’s work stubbornly give the answer: “was the document edited in Photoshop"? The jury chairman stubbornly avoided answering this question...

But the most interesting thing was later. According to paragraph 5 (Verification and scoring) of the Regulation on the Olympics , the teachers of the girl who suffered from the actions of the chairman of the jury sent an appeal to the specified address, and the parents turned to the Organizing Committee of the Olympiad. But silence was their answer. Only the machine answered. Day, other, week, month...

Prior to this, another significant incident occurred. On April 13, Anatoly Bronnikov, one of the leaders of the Twice Two Creative Laboratory, received an appeal and appeal from the parents of a 10-year-old child who was deprived of a prize and did not understand what actually happened. On April 13, Anatoly Anatolyevich reassured the parents of the injured child with the answer: “C E. Ivanova I will try to talk, because I think it is very important that children do not feel offended. "On April 30, Anatoly Anatolyevich again confirmed his determination to understand what happened in the letter to his parents:" I will raise this issue at a general meeting of leaders. A copy I sent the calls to everyone. ”However, on May 11, in a letter signed by Anatoly Bronnikov, the surprised parents of the child read the following:“ Directly to the Creative Laboratory “Twice Two” with written addresses ... none of the parents (the child - approx. editorial board ) have so far addressed".

After that, the parents of the injured child turned to the editorial office of Novye Izvestia. We sent a request to the Twice Two Creative Laboratory, from where the answer instantly came. No, not on the form and not from the “community of teachers”, but personally from Elena Yurievna Ivanova, who urgently demanded to interview her at a convenient time for her. Although the editors did not send a request for an interview. We asked not for Elena Yuryevna, but for the “2x2 Creative Laboratory”, i.e. the "community of teachers" and the Organizing Committee of the Olympiad give an official written response to the questions asked in accordance with the specified articles of the Press Law.

The question arose: does there really exist in reality a structure called the Creative Laboratory “Twice Two”? Or is she represented in all cases by one single person - Elena Yurievna Ivanova, admitted to the education of relatives of the head of the Moscow Department of Education?

In response to a request to Rosobrnadzor, we received an interesting answer. It turns out that the "Twice Two" Olympiad is not regulated by orders of the Ministry of Education and Science and for clarification it is necessary to contact the Organizing Committee of the Olympiad. However, as practice has shown, “the community of teachers concerned about the state of mathematical education” does not come down to communication with parents.

Another thing is interesting. According to the inspection of the Federal Service for Supervision in Education and Science “the possible facts of the educational activities of LLC“ Creative Laboratory “Twice Two,” which do not have a license ”were revealed. That is, it turns out, the numerous Twice Two circles, visiting camps - was all this illegal? Or with the personal permission of the head of the Moscow Department of Education? But how then to explain the turbulent financial activity of this structure? After all, all ongoing educational activities were paid.

A careless attitude to checking the work of the participants of the Olympics “Twice Two”, a biased assessment of their work, incorrectly formulated task conditions - all this overflowed at some point the patience of parents and became the subject of their appeal to the Moscow City Duma. Based on the complaints received about the 2x2 Olympics, the Minister of Education of the Russian Federation S.S. Kravtsov and the prosecutor of Moscow sent a deputy request from the Committee on Legislation.

After all these facts, the question involuntarily arises: are the Olympics necessary at all? Maybe without them it’s calmer - for children, teachers, and parents?

“Olympics, in particular in elementary school, are a useful thing, in my opinion,” said the director of the state educational institution “School No. 109”, Honored Teacher of Russia, Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, Academician Evgeni Yamburg . - The guys are ahead of the program, are competitive. It instills a taste for the subject, helps to identify talents. About the Olympics "Twice Two" I have not heard anything. As for mathematics, I will say this. The guys who are fond of her are special, they need to be approached very subtly, develop interest, encourage, stimulate. At the same time, I recommend that the children from our educational complex only those olympiads where there are transparent rules, where there is an organizing committee, where you can watch the work after verification, file an appeal, where children are treated with care and respect, ”said Eugene Yamburg.

Each Olympiad has its own reputation. And before registering a child for any competition, parents should think carefully. “Any Olympics must have clear conditions. The Olympiad, which does not meet the criteria of transparency, operates according to dubious rules, uses corruption schemes, inflicts psychological traumas on children, and should not be present in the educational field. In general, from experience, we rarely have fair competition at the Olympics. And really talented guys do not often show themselves in this way. Why? Yes, because in our time, the Olympiad is most often a subjective scheme of scoring and distribution of prizes among "their". If injustice was allowed at the Olympics, especially in elementary school, this can inflict moral trauma on the child for the rest of his life, discourage interest in the subject, and ruin his talent, ”said Marina Balueva, co-chair of the Teacher interregional trade union . - If a child, honest and sincere, faces injustice, this can lead to two consequences: to deep psychological trauma and to protest against our reality. We are now wondering why teenagers are beginning to take part in rallies and processions. Everything is just really. Children very early face injustice and draw conclusions from this”.

Please consider this publication as an official request to the Education Commission of the Moscow City Duma, as well as to the Russian Ministry of Education and the Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights.