THE COLLEGE (reminiscences)
Posted: Friday, January 06, 2012
by IvanPetryshyn
Ivan Petryshyn
It was an unexpectedly shocking new environment- many new faces, nobody knew you, you knew nobody, and they all seemed to know as much as you, more or (rarely) less.
A double shock- they were demanding and tough, I mean the professors but also they made us, the students, know what was supposed to be known to speak, read and write, to use English, a very close approximaty of the British variant. They did give you many chances: you could take the same test 2 times and make the corrections, and, then, pass long lists of words you might not have known before. And you had to be proud- you knew many American and British authors, their translations into the native languages. Every student had a feeling he/she knew something nobody else on the streets of the town could know. You were happy and you believed in freedoms and many other liberties other students who didn't study the English Language could not even think of. You had the power of feeling the unlimited.
You had to be very active. The knowledge without some certain patriotism could not be real knowledge. You were allowed to read "The Morning Star" and were supposed to read "Moscow News" (the only Soviet English-language newspaper, a unique one, which seemed to know all the answers to all the World's questions, problems and issues). We were expected to address those issues the way we were expected to, the way the society wanted the students to react: any question should have had an expected and predicted answer. The question most often asked was easy: "are you ready?" - "you should be ready!" /"pioneers are always ready!"/.
There were, naturally other subjects, especially those from the so-called "social cycle": the History of the Government, the Philosophy of the "greatest", some Philosophy of the less greatest, Political Economy and the over-charged ideologically Ethics and Esthetics, Physiology and Anatomy (which was very interesting and even today important- a subject for ever), Civil Defense Training that had some feeble austerity of Germanism and of Military-like training which very few students of our Teacher College (now- University) had had- they usually went to rural zones, worked there as teachers till they were old enough not to go to the Army. and Labor safety, etc., etc... And of course, nice courses of English and American Literatures, and the Country Lore, and the Translation, and the Linguistic Research, and what not.
We worked hard as we were on an accelerated syllabus: 5 years in 4. You can only imagine how many classes we had every day!
The word "English Studies" had obtained a wider meaning: the History of Language (an interesting and very appealing course that thaught us to think and to be able to decode, to encode and to analyse the old, the oldest and the new) loving the Language more and more...
One cannot forget Phonetics, Grammar, Theoretical Phonetics and Grammar (never taken by soem of my American supervisors), Lexicology, Stylistics (an interesting academic must-be done approach)...
And, of course, the Theory of Education, and the Methods of Teaching...
And not a single student could forget the Novebmer and the May parades, the real expression of every student's maturity and political apprenticeship- all friendship, the truth, love and righteousness, and - no Religion. Instead, the Atheism (as one of my fellow-students used to say :" believe in God and say it is wrong, and you are sure to be an A student in Atheism").
There were many rightthings and many wrong ones - and what did you expect from those times and the students of those by-gone days?
And, then- the course papers, and diploma papers, and clubs and circles: Polish language, Poetry, translation, a must-to-be done Physical Training...
I was lucky - I had very good grades but graduated without an Honor Diploma, as I was not active politically: as it appeared, only politically active and dedicated to the ideals of the country students had a chance to get such a diploma. So, dear reader, all those who studied in the '70-s and now boast with their Honors were all devoted patriots of their socialist country. If you were not a young communist leader you had no chance to have thos honors. What else made you worse, you could not guess- maybe, some low heritage or some unknown to you "bad events in the biographies of your ancestors, or some specific unacceptable blood particles, or who knows what else. But it all had no importance: you, the student knew that you were sure of the knowledge in your Major, you had nothing to be ashamed of, you could be proud of your Alma Mater, thankful to your best Professors and Teachers being ready to use the Language and to teach it to the kids, and not only.
I remember I helped 2 Jews to translate a letter they received from the USA (which was a very dangerous assignment at that time- you could have been even expelled from the University!) So, actually, we had a chance to use the Foreign Language. And we were encouraged to write foreign students all over the world. Of course, we were sure ours was the best country, we had the best opportunities, we were the happiest people in the world. Now, I know why it washappening: we were still very young and believed in many things that were not worth believing.
I cannot forget the course of German. We had an excellent professor, a nice person who was not a bore, whose native language was German, who lived and spoke it naturally- a fresh attitude to complete a romantic picture of the students epoch of those who were born just some 20 years ago.
We had to be responsible- it was expected by the State: w didn't have to pay any tuition, on the contrary - if one studied well, he/she was paid a scholarship. I was really thankful to my College Administration as they awarded me a scholarship for student research results.
But there were, naturally, less liking periods. We were sent to remote regions of the country where pupils had no English teachers for about a year, and our assignment was a "military one" - to complete the course of the Language within 3 months. We had sometimes 9 or 10 classes a day! You may not believe it but it was so. Also, we were paid. Was that bad? The muddy region had its romantic charm: new people, new attitudes, even new Grammar and pronunciation, new friends and new understanding of the realities, different from those we got used to.
Early adult romanticism- that's how I would call the attitudes of the students, though, that time, we had to hear a lot: "you should be a patriot! so, what's the question?". And you, a student did what you had to do. You believed in your abilities and in the possibilities, in general Now and then, you were recieving some vague messages about possibilities to work in other countries for the benefit of others and your own country, and, then - a resolute "no!", as you had no military experience.
Gratitude, experience to be loyal, tollarant and demanding. And tons of paper of notes of the works of the classics of socialism and of the prominent politicians of the time, and many a chance to watch many movies in the movie theater, of all the nations of the world, the ones that were considered to be beneficial and educating for a citizen of that dissapearing country.
And one can easily tell the happiness and the readiness of taking another step in your career - becoming a teacher which seemed to be vey appealing, as you thought you would be doing what you were supposed to do - to teach the Language you knew, loved. And you had a feeling that that would be the chance to emplemet your independency and talents to the most. You were anxiously waiting for the new period in your life career, being a teacher.
Ivan Petryshyn
This Article has been viewed 220 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
No comments yet.We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.