Tag: education

How I Got Accepted To School Number 30

In my recent historical posts (here and here), I described my situation by the end of the eighth grade: I wanted to transfer to School Number 30, but it was, technically speaking, forbidden because I was already attending another specialized school.

I can’t remember who told me to start attending one more math class at the same school: this one met twice a week and was taught by Mr. Maiselis, the most decorated math teacher in the whole city. He was teaching these classes to prospective students, which allowed him to assess everyone’s skills and pick and choose the best students for his upcoming 9th-grade class. There were always seven 9th-grade classrooms. Two were taught by Mr. Maiselis, two by Mr. Ilyin, two by Ms Kursish, and one by Ms. Klimwitsky.

There was some sort of rivalry between Maiselis’ classes and Ilyin’s classes, and everyone was keeping an eye on the school competition, even more than on citywide olympiads. But I learned about all of this later. At the time I am talking about, I was still fifteen, still attending the eighth grade, and still wanting to transfer. The reason I started to attend Mr. Maiselis’ classes was that I was hoping for his help with facilitating the process.

I think I was not the worst student, and when I got a chance to talk to Mr. Maiselis, he told me that a person in charge of math education on my district school board was a friend of his, and I should get an appointment with him and ask for an exception.

Looking at that situation from today’s perspective, I am unsure why my mom just let me do this. I remember that later she was telling someone that “she told me it’s up to me, and if I want it, I should figure this out.” That’s so out of her character that I can’t imagine why she would do that. Nevertheless, she left me to my own devices, and I went to the district school board, and asked for an appointment, and talked to this gentleman. First, he appeared to be very compassionate, but when he learned that I held several city olympiad diplomas, he exclaimed: why would I let you leave our district! Yes, an additional problem with that transfer was that I wanted to transfer out of my home district. Finally, he told me that he would sign the papers if I could convince my current math teacher and my homeroom teacher to sign a letter of recommendation for me.

I went back to my home school, pleaded with both teachers until they signed all the papers, then went back to the district office, and was finally accepted to School Number 30. I do not recall taking any entrance exams. I believe that Mr. Maiselis’s recommendation would suffice. My homeroom was 9-2. Vadim and Tolya were accepted as well. Vadim was in room 9-4, and his teacher was Mr. Ilyin; Tolya was in room 9-6, and his teacher was Ms Kursish. Can you believe I still remember all of these details?! That’s how important it was for me at that time!

Transferring to School Number 30 was one of the defining moments in my life, one of the events that changed its trajectory. I got an access to likely the best available secondary education, not only it STEM, but also in social studies and literature, even though, looking back, I am astonished seeing how one-sided was this best education. The environment I was immersed into fostered independent thinking (again, to certain extent only, but probably the best I could have at that time). I got to know many people whom I would never get to know otherwise. Most importantly, if not for School Number 30, it would be rather unlikely for me to even think about applying to the Leningrad State University, which means that none of my life would happen. There were very few decisions of life-altering decisions of that magnitude, and transferring to School Number 30 was the first of them.

My historical posts are being published in random order. Please refer to the page Hettie’s timeline to find where exactly each post belongs and what was before and after.

Youth Math School: The 8th Grade

Here is my last post about the Youth Math School. The other day, I thought I should blog about being a teacher at the Youth Math School, but then I realized I hadn’t finished the story of my own studies. Here it is.

I do not remember how I signed up for these classes in school #30. I believe I just walked into the old Math Department building, which was still open for the evening classes, found the ad board, and looked up the classes for the 8th graders. I noted the day and time, and just showed up.

I know it seems wild to students nowadays that you could just walk into a school building during the evening hours, find the room, and nobody would ask you anything. I believe that University students who taught these classes still had to find a janitor to take the key and open the classroom, since I remember us sitting in the hallway and waiting for our teachers. And I also remember looking for someone to open a classroom for me when three years later, I was a teacher myself.

My current self is just wondering why it was assumed that the school should allow these evening classes, why they trusted us, why parents didn’t care where their teenage kids were (most likely, they were happy that their teenage kids were doing math rather than drinking cheap wine on the streets), but my past self didn’t give it a second thought.

Anyway, I was in a math class again. Once again, I was the only girl in the class. Our teachers were Misha Chepovetsky and Borya Goldberg. Since they were teachers, we addressed them with their patronymics (and later, when I was a teacher myself, I learned that it was very important to address other teachers in the same school using their full names with patronymics). We practice addressing each other that way even during our university classes, with surprised looks from our classmates. Misha was Michail Anatolievish, a second-year student in the Department of Mathematics and Mechanics at Leningrad State University, and he taught at the Youth Math School for the second year. Boris Michailovich was a first-year student of the same department.

Since the classes were very interactive, and everyone could see who was the first person to raise their hand so that the teacher could stop by and check their problem solution, it was immediately obvious “who is the smartest,” and as I mentioned earlier, the idea that each individual student’s achievements and what is not, should be private, didn’t exist.

Vadim was definitely “the smartest one,” and Tolya Korobkin was “the second smartest.” Surprisingly, I was not trailing and sometimes would come in third, so the teachers started to pay attention to me. It was somehow assumed that all of us wanted (or should I say “should have wanted?”) to be admitted to the 9th grade of school #30. Also, all of us participated in the Math competitions in our respective school districts, and a lot of us made it to the city competition.

The City Math Olympiad had taken place in the old Math Department building (they were still reluctant to send the kids to compete at the out-of-town campus), and to my (and everyone’s else) surprise, not only did I receive a third degree diploma (remember, I never had any before that), but also, I was the only person of our Youth Math School class who got it :). During the awards ceremony, my whole class was cheering for me, and once again, I was the only girl who received any diploma… until we saw one more girl who was called out to receive the award. All of us watched closely a miniature figure of a pretty, subtle brunette walking to the podium. That was Elena K., my future classmate and my best friend for many years to come.

To be continued.

My historical posts are being published in random order. Please refer to the page Hettie’s timeline to find where exactly each post belongs and what was before and after.

DePaul Industry Night

On Wednesday, March 11, our non-profit Pairie Postgres participated in the  Business & Data Analytics Industry Night at DePaul University as a resource for students. I was pleasantly surprised that our communications with DePaul are deepening, and they actually do all they can to include us in any events we might be interested in. It was great to talk with students directly. Yes, it might feel like a very modest outcome: one student registered for our June conference, and one student emailed us to tell us he wants to volunteer, but it’s so much better than nothing (which we had before!).

Carlos, the only local Board member except for me, was able to join me, and another organization member, Robert, also joined us. We had a great time at the event and appreciate the opportunity to connect with students and share that learning about databases can benefit their future careers.

I saved the last copy of our book from being silently taken 🙂

Eureka Day

On Wednesday, I went to see the first show of the year of my Broadway subscription: Eureka Day.

This Timeline Theater production was performed at the Broadway Playhouse by the Water Tower. I have mixed feelings about this venue: it’s further from the Loop, so I need to plan for an almost 40-minute commute, including the wait (or walking for approximately the same time), and also, it is often very cold inside, but I really like the house layout (a better view from virtually any seat), and faster commute back home.

The plot is as timely as it can be. A private school in California, based on principles of consensus and inclusion, where no decisions can be made unless all Board members agree, faces an outbreak of mums. The events take place during the 2018/19 school year, when Zoom is still new and largely unfamiliar, and a quarantine decision is not taken lightly. And then comes the contradiction between parents who want to change the school rules to make vaccinations mandatory and anti-vaxxers, some of whom have deeply personal reasons to refuse to vaccinate their children.

I really liked how the Zoom message exchange was displayed on a big screen, revealing very common conversation patterns between the parties.

For those who have time to read the Behind-the-scenes booklet for Eureka Day, here is the link. There is a lot of interesting information about the history of vaccination in the world and in the US specifically. The most interesting part is that the play was actually written in 2018, before the pandemic, and now it’s hard to believe the choice of dates isn’t intentional!

Unfortunately, I didn’t find any video clips from this play. If you find any, let me know, and I will add them to the post!

Time Magazine: Can School Boards Save Our Democracy?

This article seems a little bit “off track”: with so many pressing issues, everyday challenges, and people’s rights under attack, talking about school boards might seem obsolete. Still, I think, it’s just the right time for this topic. Since I arrived in the US, I have been fascinated with how the American school system works. I think it is deeply under-appreciated by those who were born and raised here and think that any other country in the world provides better education. I maintain that the best thing about American schools is the civic values they teach, and how they help the children of newcomers become American citizens, regardless of their actual legal status.

Full article text below.

Continue reading “Time Magazine: Can School Boards Save Our Democracy?” →

School Lunches

WBEZ program

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Knox Commencement

Yesterday, when I chatted with a Knox alumnus, Governor Pritzker’s commencement address came up again. I shared how I wanted to go to Galesburg and how that didn’t happen, and he said, “It’s online; you can watch it!”

Indeed, I completely forgot that I meant to watch it! And yes, it’s not the same as being there in Galesburg, but still much better than not seeing it at all!

I watched it today, and cried a little bit (more than once), and listened to almost the whole ceremony, but to Pritzker’s address especially.

His closing remarks were: How do you know you are on the right side of history? The wrong side of history wants you to be afraid. The right side of history expects you to be brave.

Our country needs us to be brave; all of us, not just Knox graduates.

I do not know any of the 2025 graduates in person; still, I watched the ceremony and looked at their faces with hope. Watched until the last note of “For the long, long road to Alma Mater.” And it was inspiring.

We Will Always Be Knox!

Learning that Governor Pritzker was chosen as a Knox Commencement Speaker was terrific! In general, news from Knox these days sounds very encouraging. With so many colleges bending to Trump’s ultimatums, it’s great to see those that stand their ground.

Also, the header of the Knox website page is more meaningful than ever: When history calls, be prepared to answer.

I really want to make a day trip to Galesburg on June 8 and listen to the Governor’s speech!

Copying the announcement from the Knox website here.

Continue reading “We Will Always Be Knox!” →

Educational

Igor’s recent article discusses a now-high school principal who is a former immigrant student. As such, Julie Lam experienced firsthand the difficulties of navigating the American school system and is forever grateful to educators who helped her along the way.

A couple of days after Igor sent me his article, I caught the ending of an episode on BBC, where they talked about Finnish schools and Finland’s leadership in education. One statement specifically caught my attention. They said that if we compare the highest students’ achievements in Finland and the rest of the world, there is no significant difference. What is different is the average student’s achievement level.

Here is why I think these two are related. I often observe that recent (and not so recent) Russian immigrants, as well as immigrants from other authoritarian countries, judge American education based on the level of difficulty of the school courses offered to gifted students (because all of their kids are obviously gifted). I haven’t heard this kind of opinion for a while, but there are a lot of such parents in my current company. I hear a lot of conversations that are very critical of American education in general and Chicago Public Schools in particular, to the extent that “if they will close the selective enrollment schools, we are moving out of here.” Many of my co-workers enroll their children in the private school so that “they could have a proper education.”

I would be the last person to say that CPS does not have any problems. However, the American school system, with all its deficiencies and varieties that are sometimes difficult to grasp, is incredible. I want to say that it is a great equalizer, but there is much more than that. No other institution in this country is close to “equal opportunities for all.” Even schools that are severely underfunded teach their students important civic values, collaboration, and acceptance.

American schools make American citizens. Good American schools make good American citizens. People who scream, “Why do I have to pay taxes to fund schools that are not good enough for my children” are the same people who are upset with homeless people sleeping in their parking lots, panhandlers on the street corners, and unruly teenagers breaking the shop windows. And why don’t they see any connection?

WBEZ: Sex Miseducation

I forgot that I wanted to blog about this WBEZ episode, Comparing notes on sex miseducaiton .

It was aired at the end of March, and the name of it is very telling. The WBEZ guests discussed what they were taught at their sex education classes at school, and what should be taught. Absolutely worth listening!