"The Educated Poor"

[Carl Remick]

[From the current Central Europe Review.]

"Culik's Czech Republic"

The Educated Poor:
The erosion of intellectual elites by low pay

By Jan Culik

It was Communism that brought the levelling of people's pay, regardless of 
their position on the social ladder and it was the fall of Communism that 
skewed the pay differentials in the Czech Republic badly in disfavour of the 
Czech university-educated elite.

Just as in many other post-Communist countries, in the Czech Republic, the 
fall of Communism turned into a free-for-all for unscrupulous operators who 
managed to asset-strip formerly state-owned businesses. Like in most other 
countries of the world, the business class is now the most affluent strata 
of society in the Czech Republic. But affluence does not necessarily mean 
education or wisdom. The atrocious state of the Czech media is one of the 
direct results of the pauperisation of the Czech intelligentsia. The most 
successful and the most highly paid "journalists" on the staff of the 
profit-making private newspapers and television station are semi-literate 
youngsters with huge egos, due to their inflated salaries. It is the 
primitivism of these highly paid idiots that sets the standard of the 
national public debate.

It is true that even in the countries of the West, people in "intellectual" 
professions, such as university lecturers or employees in those sectors of 
the economy which do not directly generate wealth, do not belong among the 
richest people in the country.

Nevertheless, the intellectual elites in countries such as Great Britain 
have managed to preserve a respectable portion of wealth. Take British 
doctors, for instance. According to the information from the British 
Department of Health, the average pay of a British medical General 
Practitioner is now GBP 50,000 per year (USD 80,000 dollars). The average 
pay in Britain is around GBP 20,000 pa. It is a sobering thought that a 
British doctor is paid approximately 23 times more than his or her Czech 
equivalent. This tells us all about the diminished role of the Czech 
intelligentsia in Czech society.

The Czech intellectual elites are all impoverished - doctors, university 
lecturers and schoolteachers. This has serious repercussions. Intellectuals 
cannot buy books and specialised journals. Scholars and scientists cannot 
devote themselves properly to research, because they often have to earn 
extra money by other means of employment.

In the West, the intellectual elites are in a minority, but their strong 
purchasing power means that their views are being taken seriously. There are 
minority radio and television channels which concern themselves with 
intellectual matters. These channels are often commercially viable because 
even though they are followed by a small percentage of the population, its 
purchasing power is often greater than that of the general public. The 
Western intellectual elites are usually economically relatively strong: they 
impose their standards on the rest of society. Even though the less educated 
strata of society might not necessarily always listen to all the complex 
arguments presented by the elites, the elites nevertheless set the tone of 
the nationwide debate. They are listened to by decision-makers and by 
commercial operators alike.

In the Czech Republic, the intellectual elites do not command such 
attention, due to their low pay levels. They are demoralised and 
disenfranchised. Students graduate from Arts Faculties of Czech Universities 
but they do not go into teaching; they could not support themselves with the 
limited pay which is on offer. Arts graduates end up in the advertising 
agencies. Thus the quality of the Czech education further deteriorates.

"Bureaucracy is slow and non-efficient and the technical equipment and 
financial conditions are really miserable," said Dr. Jiri Holy, Senior 
Lecturer in Czech Literature at Prague's Charles University to the BBC 
recently. He added that university lecturers' pay is even lower than the pay 
of doctors: on average they receive GBP 109 pounds per month (USD 174 
dollars),after tax, as salary. The average rent for a flat in Prague is 
currently between 8000 and 10,000 crowns (USD 240-300) per month.

Jan Kyncl, a lecturer at the Electrotechnical Faculty in Prague, described 
his university work as follows:

In the last university session: I lectured for 152 hours and conducted 238 
hours of seminars; I taught six undergraduate subjects plus conducted a 
seminar for PhD postgraduates; I individually tutored students from abroad 
in English; and gave lectures to colleagues about my work on some 
mathematical software.

The professor who used to lecture in these subjects has retired. Even if 
there was money for a new professor, there is no new person qualified in 
these subjects in the Czech Republic and in Slovakia (we would have to 
headhunt colleagues from Ostrava, Kosice or Plzen, which is not realistic). 
We cannot even think of employing someone from abroad because we simply 
could not pay him. So I am lecturing in these seven subjects myself. This 
situation is absolutely typical, certainly for Czech technical universities.

During the past session, I gave papers at five conferences. One of them was 
international. I worked in the organising committee of a Czech-British 
conference. The problem is that I can rarely go to international conferences 
where I have to pay 800 euro for participation (not to speak about travel 
expenses).

I also work in the academic senate and for an independent, specialised 
organisation. I leave work at 9.10 pm. (the university building is locked at 
9pm, but the janitor is willing to wait for me for ten minutes). I do it all 
because I like my work.

In the past few years, I have learned from (former Prime Minister) Vaclav 
Klaus that "scientists are people who are trying to fool the public into 
giving them money for their doubtful projects".

Some time ago, one Deputy Education Minister wished to introduce a standard 
staff-student ratio which would apply to all schools, from creche to 
university. There have been more such degrading projects, I do not wish to 
bore the readers with them. Fortunately, the Education Ministry is no longer 
trying to insult us; it just keeps cutting our budgets.

In real life, students ask me at parties after their graduation: "And, Jan, 
what are you going to do when you grow up?" They are right, my life does not 
somehow work out these days. In order to be able to feel confident, I would 
need some verbal support and hope. Perhaps someone could lie to me and tell 
me that my situation would become better and I will manage to get a place to 
live in a high-rise on the fringes of Prague. I would be extremely grateful 
just for a single room without any amenities - that would be enough to give 
me privacy.

Jan Culik, 11 October 1999

The author is the publisher of the Czech Internet daily Britske listy.

[end]

Carl

______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com