This post is the first in a series called “Teaching Against the Odds” on my observations and experiences as a foreign language teacher in a public school in the Mongolian countryside. Each post will look at a different topic or issue within the Mongolian education system that has influenced my work, the outcomes of my students, or the working conditions of my co-workers.
The aim is to provide an outsider’s inside perspective. For the past 1.5 years I have been working as a “real” teacher in the public school system. I write real in the sense that unlike when I was a Peace Corps volunteer here 10 years ago, this time around I have my own classroom, spend the majority of my day speaking Mongolian, am 100 percent responsible for the students I teach and their grades, have the privilege of filling out the dreaded attendance and grade journal, and am expected to be a full participant in all teacher related meetings, trainings, and presentations. Although I don’t have a degree in education, I do have years of experience working in the Mongolian education system which has afforded me the unique opportunity to observe, experience, and understand the system from the inside. To begin the series, let’s ask a surprisingly difficult question to answer: What grade is a 15 year old in?
In an effort to match education systems in other countries, Mongolia has been transitioning from a 10 year1 to a 12 year2 system since the mid-2000s. In the past students attended school from ages 8 to 18 (with some living in ‘Lord of the Flies’ style dorms the entire time), but the target for all students in the future is to attend school from ages 6 to 18.
Although the easy way to make such a transition would be to start a group of kids in first grade at age 6 and 12 years later have them graduate 12th grade, the transition has been much more convoluted in practice. For example, the current class of 11th graders that I am teaching all skipped 6th grade, and although they are technically in grade number 11, they will have only gone to school for 10 years when they graduate in May 2013. Tenth grade is even more confusing. One of the 10th grade classes in my school will graduate in 2014 with 10 years of education, but the other one will be the first class to continue onto 12th grade and will graduate in 2015 having completed only 11 years of school. And, in case you are not confused enough, the current 5th grade class was the first in my school to start school at the age of 6 and will be the first to actually graduate from 12th grade having completed a full 12 years of schooling.
So what grade is a 15 year old in? Well thanks to grade skipping, grade adding, early enrollment, and parents in the countryside not getting the memo to send their 6 and 7 years olds to school, I have 15 year olds in 9th, 10th, and 11th grade. In fact, in those three grades I have students ages 13 to 18. The age spread makes teaching a challenge, and students are receiving varying levels of education. It is a bit late now, but one can’t help but think the transition could have been executed more smoothly than it has been.
Footnotes
1. 4 years primary, 4 years required secondary, and 2 years optional secondary.
2. 6 years primary, 4 years required secondary, and 2 years optional secondary.
About the Author
Sarah “Sadie” Munson currently lives and works in Umnugobi Province as an English teacher. She holds a bachelors degree from the University of Montana and a Masters of Human Ecology from the University of Wisconsin. Her professional interests and experiences include primary and secondary education, child development and family education, and community development. She can be reached at sarahmunson@gmail.com.