print‘Un-teachable’students as a social phenomenon in Universities:
Far Eastern case
Denisova-Schmidt E.V.
Network Fellow at Harvard University, Cambridge, MASS, USA elena.denisovaschmidt@unisg.ch
Leontyeva E.O.
Dr. Sci. (Sociol.), Prof. of The School of International Studies and Diplomacy (elvira.leontyeva@gmail.com). Both – Pacific National University, Khabarovsk, Russia. elvira.leontyeva@gmail.com
Denisova-Schmidt E.V., Leontyeva E.O. ‘Un-teachable’students as a social phenomenon in Universities: Far Eastern case. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. 2015. No 9. P. 86-93
This paper describes selection of less qualified students by non-elite Russian universities as an institutional trap. Using examples from the Russian Far East authors show that non-elite Russian universities are currently more interested in students than students are interested in universities. This leads to a group of students with a low demand for quality education appearing more important to universities than students with higher demands. In spite of formal strategies for increasing quality of education, universities create a friendly environment for un-teachable students. Authors describe the term ‘un-teachability’, its criteria and recruitment channels of such students to non-elite universities.