Professor talks about teaching in a foreign country and how his college Russian language lessons paid off.
“Russia isn’t really that different,” Ken Macro said as he leaned back in his chair.
Macro, a graphic communication professor who recently returned to California after a six-week stay in Russia, taught about the American printing industry at three universities.
Macro began his studies at Penn State where he majored in Russian technology translation, which began to nurture his love for Russia. But his college career took a different turn with the fall of Soviet Russia, and years later he found himself sitting in his “eclectic” office in the Graphic Arts building.
“Once communism fell, there wasn’t really a need for the major, so it disbanded,” he said. “But I still have a love for the language.”
Two years ago on a trip to China, Macro met the president of the Moscow State University of Printing Arts, and worked out a program in which he could teach in the country by which he was so enamored.
He set off in September, and taught for two weeks at Moscow State University of Printing Arts, one week at Kiev Polytechnic University and one week at St. Petersburg State University of Technology and Design.
“My lectures focused on the American industries of marketing and printing,” he said.
Though Macro is proficient in Russian, the universities preferred for him to speak English.
“All the students there were nearly fluent in English,” he said. “They start learning it so early on in the education, it’s really impressive.”
Of his Russian students, Macro said they aren’t much different than the students he has at Cal Poly.
“They’re really quite similar,” Macro said. “They’re the same age, they like the same things, they follow the same celebrities. The only thing that’s really different is that they are really unfamiliar with technology.”
Macro described a day in which he singled out a student with an iPod. He was the only one in the room who had one.
“And he was so embarrassed when I called him out,” he said. “Over there, that puts you in a different class, and he didn’t want his peers to think he had that kind of money.”
Macro also said his students were taken aback by the PowerPoint presentations he used during his lectures. His students were accustomed to older professors reading straight from textbooks.
“It was a major culture shock,” Macro said. “I didn’t expect it to be so hard to assimilate.”
There are so many aspects of life Macro took for granted that Russia lacks. He found the poor quality of the roads most surprising.
“I found myself saying over and over, ‘This would never happen in the U.S.,’” he said.
The biggest contrast between Russia and the U.S., Macro said, was the difference in social norms. The students he taught were well read, eloquent and fluent in multiple languages.
“I’m not saying that American students aren’t well-read or anything, I’m saying that it’s much more common there,” he said. “I think students here need to start learning languages early, like they do there.”
Overall, Macro is happy to be back, and his students are happy to have him back.
Graphic communication freshman Andrea Hernandez said her lab and lecture classes with Macro are the highlight of her week.
“He’s a really great teacher,” she said. “One of the best in the department.”
Hernandez is a student in Macro’s binding, finishing and distribution processes class, and works with him on tasks like binding and di-cutting.
Graphic communication freshman Kathryn Zeltner said she likes how Macro’s class keeps her attention.
“I didn’t think I’d be that interested in the subject,” he said. “But he makes it really entertaining.”
Macro said he hopes to someday start a program in which he takes graphic communication students to Moscow for a two-week program.
“I wouldn’t recommend studying abroad there (because of the big culture shock),” he said. “But I would love to create a program so I can go back with students.”
Macro’s “love affair” with Russia is nowhere near over.
“I will go back, that’s for sure,” he said. “But for now, I am happy to be back, and to be at Cal Poly.”