Interview with Yana Rathman
Yana Rathman serves as an advisory board member for the Center for Innovation Education ProSvit and as a board director for ENGin, a program that promotes English fluency in Ukraine. She is an instructional designer and education consultant. She was born in Kyiv, Ukraine and emigrated in 1989 to the United States with her parents who were refuseniks. Refuseniks was an unofficial term for individuals—typically, but not exclusively, Soviet Jews—who were denied permission to emigrate, primarily to Israel, by the authorities of the Soviet Union. They had applied to leave the Soviet Union when Ms. Rathman was 9 years old and they were finally given exit visas when she was 20. Her parents suffered the fate of many refuseniks, losing their jobs and labeled traitors; she was impacted by their loss of status as well. Settling in San Francisco with her family, Ms. Rathman began her life anew as an American citizen.
She assisted in bringing the world's best courses for teachers to Ukraine via the Prometheus online platform, helped to adapt the U.S. invention and entrepreneurship curriculum to the needs of Ukrainian students, and was involved with promoting Holocaust education and other innovative educational projects, fostering education reform in Ukraine. She previously managed the education sector programming and later fundraising efforts for NovaUkraine, an NGO based in California.
Ms. Rathman had a professional career in Silicon Valley (PwC, Oracle, E.piphany, Cisco) while volunteering as a community activist in the local Jewish community. She graduated from San Francisco State University with a Master's in Instructional Technologies. This interview was conducted on June 11, 2024, and has been edited for clarity.
JT: When I say ‘Ukraine’ what is the first word that comes to mind?
If you had asked me this question pre-2022, I would have said childhood. Happy Days. Grandparents. Now I would say people fighting and giving their lives for Ukraine’s freedom from Russian aggression and for Ukraine’s democracy.
JT: You are deeply committed to the education of Ukraine’s future generations. What drives your work in this sector?
When my children were growing up, I realized that an education was critical for their future--and it would be what defined their future. I felt it was important to contribute to the education sector in Ukraine, given my understanding of the Soviet education system, where teachers and heads of schools were an authority and nothing could be questioned. Constructive feedback was unheard of. Parental engagement was not permitted. And students certainly were just seen, but never heard. It was definitely not the system needed for the future of a free and democratic country. Here in the United States, it is a very different situation. As my children worked their way through the lower and middle grades, and then high school, I became very involved as a parent and went on to receive my graduate degree in instructional technology. I know how important education is: without a good education, without language skills, doors remain closed to opportunities.
In 2004 I witnessed so many young people participating in the Orange Revolution, and ten years later, the Maidan Revolution. They were volunteering and putting their lives on the line to protect Ukraine’s nascent democracy and freedom. With this drastic change in the country's political culture and values, the new nation needed a completely different education system. It had to be reformed, to support the future of Ukraine and the young people.
JT: What is Pro.Svit? How did you become involved with the effort? Why was it created? What are the challenges the organization faces? What is a success story that stands out to you?
The Center for Innovative Education “Pro.Svit” is a Ukrainian educational organization supported by NovaUkraine, a U.S.-based NGO, that promotes changes to how teaching, learning, and management are conducted in Ukrainian schools through the professional development of educators. It provides quality school-based development programs and empowers schoolteachers and administrators to drive positive change within their schools and communities to improve the quality of Ukrainian education at all levels. Its goal is to form a culture of cooperation with a student-centered focus - an entirely unfamiliar systemic change for the education model which was deeply rooted in Soviet culture.
System-wide education reform in Ukraine could not be achieved just by the traditional top-down process. I began to work with ProSvit, whose mission was to enable school reform from the bottom up. Teachers are the main drivers of education reform. But we couldn’t just work with one teacher at a time, because one could not do it alone. So, we built a system by which the head of the school along with a group of teachers would participate in a training and mentorship program. It consisted of on-site training followed by intensive support to derive systemic reform. For example, this required both communicating and working with parents--realizing that they are important stakeholders in their children's education. Also, it is important to listen to and support students based on their new ideas. For instance, in one school, a student wanted to start a composting program. We raised money for it. We worked with the school and students to set up a composting program which also included education focused on environmental science, the proper type of composting, the uses for composting, etc. The composting program was then adopted by many other schools. But this wouldn’t have happened if the Soviet education system had been in place. It was a huge success. Just one teenager who had a vision and an idea, coupled with a support system that made it possible..
Now, in wartime, Pro.Svit still works with the heads of schools and teachers, but its primary focus is to provide a safe learning environment. This includes placing trained psychologists in the schools to help not only the teachers, but also the students who are traumatized by the war, the loss of a family member, or just the everyday stress of being bombarded by the Russians.
JT: What is the ENGin? How did you become involved with the effort? Why was it created? What are the challenges the organization faces? What is a success story that stands out to you?
ENGin’s mission is to help Ukraine speak to the world using the English language. English, as it is taught currently in Ukraine, does not prepare students for future opportunities in a Ukraine that is westward-focused. Students in Ukraine are taught English - they can read it, they can write it, but they are not confident in speaking. With COVID, the opportunities in Ukraine were further restrained. ENGin changed that.
This all-volunteer effort pairs Ukrainian students and professionals with native-speaking English volunteers. Just one hour a week- that’s all it takes. ENGin provides English speakers with support on how best to engage with students, with numerous materials available on the website portal. The results show that it has changed people's lives- both the students of English and the English-speaking volunteers. For Ukrainian students and learners in bomb shelters, this one hour provided them with a much-needed respite from the war. For the English-speaking buddy, it has provided a window into Ukraine. Friendships have been forged and employment opportunities increased for those looking for jobs. One example I’ll share regards Ukrainian drone operators. They participated in the program to improve their oral skills so that they could communicate more proficiently with visitors from partner countries. Their English-speaking acumen allowed them to converse more concisely and concretely with foreign journalists who are following the war. I hope some of your readers will volunteer for this program! It’s a lot of fun and makes a HUGE difference in the life of a Ukrainian English learner.
Meet Candice and Vitaliia: A Heartwarming ENGin Success Story
For over a year, Candice, a grandmother and dedicated ENGin volunteer, has been working with Vitaliia, a former lawyer from Ukraine now living in Porto, Portugal with her husband, Max. Their journey began with a shared goal: improving Vitaliia's English. This spring, Candice had an unexpected opportunity to visit Porto. Excited to meet in person, Candice, Vitaliia, and Max enjoyed a wonderful dinner at a nice restaurant, savoring Portugal's famous port wine and engaging in lively discussions about everything from tourist spots to politics. During their meeting, it became clear that Vitaliia is now a competent English speaker. With her new language skills, she's successfully running her own business in Porto.
https://www.facebook.com/enginprogram/
JT: How important is English language fluency to the future of Ukraine? Why?
English opens up the world to Ukraine. English brings Ukraine into the global world. We know that non-English speaking EU countries were able to achieve major improvements in employment opportunities, increased investments, increased tourism, etc. once English was introduced and English proficiency improved. So, an English-speaking citizenry is vital for the future of Ukraine and Ukrainians.
JT: You and your parents emigrated in 1989, prior to the breakup of the Soviet Union. How has your perception of Ukraine and Ukrainians changed in the past thirty years of independence or 10 years of war? What changes have you seen over time?
This is such an interesting question- I love it. When I emigrated from Ukraine in 1989, I didn’t have a Ukrainian identity. I spoke Russian, at home, at school, and in everyday life. I had, perhaps you could say, a Soviet Jewish identity- but not a Ukrainian Jewish identity. I spent the next 10 years or so becoming an American without much thought to Ukraine as it emerged from the Soviet Union as an independent nation. But then in 2004 the Orange Revolution (the color used by reform candidate, Viktor Yushchenko’s campaign) succeeded in preventing Kremlin-backed candidate, Viktor Yanukovych, from stealing the Ukrainian presidency and made possible Yushchenko’s election. He was a victim of dioxin poisoning (a chemical found in Agent Orange) in September 2004. That piqued my interest – a presidential candidate poisoned? In Ukraine?
As this was happening, I was getting my news from Ukrainska Pravda, the first Ukrainian online newspaper founded by Georgiy Gongadze, a Georgian-Ukrainian journalist and film director who was kidnapped and murdered in 2000 near Kyiv. Published mainly in Ukrainian with selected articles published in or translated into Russian and English, the online newspaper is tailored for a general readership with an emphasis on the politics of Ukraine. They were looking for volunteers who could translate Ukrainian articles into English to encourage broader readership of Ukrainian news globally. And I applied and volunteered for them for over a year. The more I read, the more invested I became in my Ukrainian roots.
I went to Ukraine for the first time in 16 years in 2005 and met young Ukrainians. They had a mentality 180 degrees different from my generation. They had a Ukrainian identity and were working for a Ukraine based on democratic values. They were enthusiastic and inspirational. Back home in California, I began to host a series of Fulbright scholars from Ukraine and learned more about my country, its language, culture, and history. I realized that I could help Ukrainians achieve their aspirations through my work on language technology and started to design and develop English language programs for Ukrainians.
JT: What is a critical need of Ukraine today?
Everywhere one looks there is a critical need. A critical need for humanitarian assistance. A critical need for medical supplies. A critical need for psychological counseling for trauma and PTSD. A critical need for assistance to the wounded and the veterans. The list is long.
But what I see as a critical need for Ukraine today here in the United States is advocacy, the need to inform the wider American public and address misconceptions about Ukraine and Ukrainians; for example, that Ukrainians are Russian….anti-semitic…corrupt…etc.
These are not true descriptors of Ukraine or Ukrainians. We need to combat those falsehoods because they weaken support for the war effort and Ukrainians who are giving their lives for their country. Americans need to understand more fully what Ukrainians are experiencing…understand that Ukrainians fight not only for Ukraine’s freedom from Russia’s suffocating authoritarian efforts but also for Western democratic values, for global security and world order that many Americans now take for granted.
Educate. Advocate. Speak up. Support Ukraine. Stand With Ukraine.