Oh Happy Day
While I am having a wonderful time here in Moldova myself, I hope that the great experience that I am portraying does not minimize what it means to be a Moldovan, what it means to be a longtime aid worker here, or some of the other experiences my fellow PCVs and I are having. Not everything is rainbows and kittens.
If I had grown up in Moldova, I would be just as frustrated as many Moldovans are.
For one, the country is built on cheating. Kids cheat on all of their tests, and are blatant about it since the teachers seemingly don’t usually care. Additionally, many kids/parents just pay off some of the teachers to have their grade improved! Generalizations of course. I’m sure there are kids that don’t cheat and teachers that do care. Not cheating, however, will put you at a disadvantage no matter how well you know the material. It is a vicious cycle and I feel really bad for the idealists who actually do care and want to do the right thing and achieve things fairly and on their own. They can do well on their own merit but maybe not receive marks as high as people who cheat/bribe their way and then will suffer when they apply for college. It frustrates me knowing that this goes on as I *hate* cheating. I hate when people do dirty things to get ahead.
And this is just one problem that Moldova faces, and there are many for sure. Coming from social work we have the “strengths perspective” where we focus on the strengths of people/organizations/etc, so you might not read so many of the negative things about Moldova here from me.
Viața Mea: Cu Capul în Nori 