Teens from former Soviet Union countries compare freedoms

Posted on Sun, Jan. 28, 2007

Five 16-year-olds studying in area schools
By Russ Keen
American News Writer

Five 16-year-old girls from four former Soviet Union countries engaged in
debate last week in Aberdeen about who has more freedom – Aberdeen-area teens
or teens from their countries.
"At home, we can use cell phones in school," said Marina Pavlik of Russia
and an exchange student at Aberdeen Central High School, where students cannot
use cell phones.
But area teens enjoy more freedom in student-teacher relationships because
they are more casual than back home, the girls said.
Easier clases: Classes are a breeze here, they said.
"I get straight A’s and I don’t study," said Olga Ivasyna of Moldova, a
student at Hitchcock-Tulare High School in Tulare. "I have more fun here."
The girls said most of what they’re being taught here they already learned
in their native lands. At home, classes are more structured and rigorous, they
said. Students rise when a teacher enters a classroom, and lessons require
lots of homework – from three to five hours a night, they said.
"But we do more creative work here," Pavlik said, such as team projects ina
classroom. "It is more fun."
Their U.S. counterparts seem to have little homework, and the studying they
do takes place during study hours at school.
"Kids here don’t have time to study," Pavlik said."They are working,
baby-sitting or playing basketball."
At home, people do not take jobs until they are 18 to 20 years old, the
girls said.
Drinking: Teens in their countries have more freedom to drink alcohol.
Drinking before the age of 18 is more acceptable there than here, they said,
partly because teens cannot drive until they’re 18.
It’s common for 14-year-olds to drink at social occasions, said Yevheniya
Voytenko of Ukraine, a student at Warner High School.
"It is not a big deal," Pavlik said. "It is just a social thing."
In the U.S., it seems many teens who drink do so to get drunk, while that’s
not the case in nations of the former Soviet Union, they said.
Quiet, safe places: The best thing about the Aberdeen area is the quiet and
the relative absence of crime, said Ella Baghramyan of Armenia. Being ableto
leave cars and homes unlocked is unbelievable, said Anna Maksimkina of
Russia. All five students are from cities larger than Aberdeen.
The worst thing about the area is all the fast food, Baghramyan said.
All the girls have studied English for at least three years, and one
has studied it for eight. Their fluency in English is one reason they
are among about 1,000 high school students from former Soviet Union
countries selected from 16,000 applicants to study in the United
States this school year through the Program of Academic Excellence, or
PAX.
The competition was tough, the girls said.
Vickie Moser of Leola, who coordinates PAX exchanges in the area, said she
is looking for host families for the 2007-08 school year. She can be reached
at (605) 439-3656.
Maksimkina is living with the Gordon and Sharon Goetz family of Aberdeen;
Pavlik is with the SueAnn and Gregg Yonkovich family of Aberdeen; Voytenkois
with the Pam and Glen Armstrong family of Warner; Ivasyna is with the Deanand
Holly Bottum family of Tulare; and Baghramyan is living with the Bob and
Kathy Zerr family of Aberdeen.
Ivasyna said she felt somewhat bored when she first came to the
Tulare-Hitchcock area. But the boredom passed quickly.
"We have learned how to create fun with the things we have," she said.
New friends and host families will be hard to part with come summer, the
girls said.
"I don’t want to go home at all," Maksimkina said.