Mr. Hearn, in your opinion, have students changed since your days as a student?

The following is on interview with Professor James J. Hearn who comes from the USA. Mr. Hearn has worked around the world (the USA, South America, Belarus and other places) and he is currently a visiting professor at the Plekhanov Economic Academy and the Moscow International School of Business.

What are the main differences in the system of education between Russia and the USA?

- There is one important difference. In America I feel that students have more opportunity to develop themselves. In Russia many students are intelligent, but they are passive. Russian students are trained not to take initiative. They are good listeners, but most of them are reserved Last year I had a student, who always took initiative and gave responses to my presentations. And I really appreciated that. Students must be more than just listeners. Education for me is when I present something and then students discuss the topic end share their ideas.

How can you characterize Russian students?

- Many Russian stu­dents write and think well. For me, an aver­age Russian student writes in English as well as American student do. For example, this year 1 asked my students to write a paper on the film "A Civic Action" And many of them wrote some really sophisticated and interesting ones. Russian students are educated really well, but they miss the feeling of openness, as they are taught to study in a discipline

Is a foreign professor In Russia restricted in what and how he teaches?

-1 feel no pressure here, I feel very free. Nobody has ever criticized me or told me how I should teach.

However, I know that I’m in another country, so I try to be tactful in presenting issues. When I speak about my or your country, I try to be fair. I give articles to the students that express the reality from different points of views. Every country has its own understanding of some problems, so I try to be intercultural in discussing the issues with my students.

Mr. Hearn, in your opinion, have students changed since your days as a student?

Two things have changed: students today are more worldly - they use the Internet and they know a lot, and the second thing that changed, is that students today have lots of ambitions. Students today have a lot of opportunities that, for example, I didn't have, when I was a student. IT systems are available how and the internet is very helpful. Students ate more global, they are more understanding of cultural differences.

- Speaking about yourself, did your university unite students? Did you make a lot of friends then?
- In America we make friends wherever we are. Classmates are not as close as they are in Russia. We study subjects by individual choice, so the groups always change. It's not like in Russia, where students study together in the same group for a few years. So I made relations with different people according to where I was: in Law School, in Oxford, (where I stud­ied in summers), in California, in Wash­ington, where I’ve lived for 45 years, and on different foreign internships.

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