Brian S. Ebers 26

D.E. Campus Life Editor

Problems with implementing social programs in Russian schools brought Elena Yeremina across the Atlantic Ocean to Carbondale, where she can closely monitor America’s social adaptation of similar problems.

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Yeremina, president of the Togliatti Social and Economic College, Togliatti, Russia, returned home Thursday with information she hopes will better the frail social condition of her country.

The United States has experienced drug dependence and the mainstreaming of the disabled, Yeremina said. We will look at (America’s) experience and try not to make the same mistakes (America’s) systems made early on.

The group attended presentations made by professors in the School of Social Work about disabled school children and substance abuse.

The 10 Russian administrators and educators visited SIUC for five days to examine existing social systems in America. Members of the group represented different geographical areas of Russia.

Connie Baker, instructor and undergraduate field coordinator for the School of Social Work, made a presentation on youth substance abuse to the group. Baker worked at a local treatment facility for five years and teaches about substance abuse to graduate students.

Baker focused on youths ages 12 to 18 who have abuse problems. Baker said the Russians are interested in how schools can intervene in the lives of troubled students.

We taught them that there are ways to handle these types of problems, Baker said. At different points in the progress of the illness there are different intervention stages such as psychological help or inpatient or outpatient care.

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Martin B. Tracy, professor and director of the School of Social Work, said social solutions to problems are just beginning to scratch the surface.

Social services, the type (Russia) is looking at, did not exist during the Communist period, Tracy said. For 70 to 75 years, they didn’t have those services. They are getting back to where they once were.

Tracy said the social models the Russians are studying have to be re-tooled so the models can adequately transfer from one society to another. This visit marks the third year the group has studied with the School of Social Work.

Yeremina said every trip to SIUC reinforces information already learned.

This is not a one-shot visit. We are mutually learning from each other, she said. These programs are developing. They need nurturing to expand.

In a paper titled Problems and Perspectives, Panov A.M., doctor of science and deputy minister of Social Protection of the Population of the Russian Federation, explores the social tension in the Russian Federation and how it needs a social buffer to prevent outrage by the population.

A social buffer is a compensation mechanism used to prevent social tension from growing into social out-burst on regional and national levels.

More than 30 percent of the citizens of the Russian Federation live below the poverty line and government support for families with children is not ample, Pavlov states in his paper.

Baker said there is a significant problem with poverty in Russia, and that poverty leads to various social ills, such as alcoholism or drug dependence.

Russia traditionally has had an attitude that there’s not much they could do to help these problems, Baker said. Now, they are eager to learn how to better their system.

Our system isn’t perfect, but we do have tried and true methods. We can teach them what we know works for us.

Yeremina said the most important functions of the Russian government are to provide education, health service and defense.

Defense includes social defense defense of education and social protection for the weak, she said. And there are a lot (of weak) in our society.

The decline in living standards such as the homeless population and neglected children has created increased dependence on alcohol and drugs.

Five or six years ago you did not see this problem with alcohol in schools, Yeremina said. Today it is a problem.

Yet Yeremina was reluctant to say that substance abuse is a growing problem facing Russian children.

I am sorry to say, it does exist in our system. Quite a lot of it has been published in the media, Yeremina said. I would say our problems fall somewhere between the low and high estimates.

Panov’s paper states that from 1991 to 1992, 1.5 tons of drugs were consumed by Russians and the real amount is many times more. The narcotics business offers a 1,000-percent profit, making it appealing to potential dealers.

A program called ALPHA, which stresses the importance of peer role models in schools, was presented to the group Wednesday.

In ALPHA you train peer leaders who lead healthy lifestyles because everyone knows that adolescents respond better to each other than to adults, Baker said.

Many social services, like youth counseling, home care for abused individuals and facilities for emotional problems, are not quickly accessible to Russian school children, Tracy said.

The (Russian) teacher feels overwhelmed because they have to teach children values, good habits as well as instruct them, Tracy said. The Russians would like to have social facilities in school buildings. Immunization and child health care in the schools would mean that families and schools would have an expanded role in the lives of the children.