Satisfaction of rural and urban high school students with the functioning of the general secondary education system

Popov Evgenii Aleksandrovich Doctor of Philosophy Professor, Department of Sociology and Conflictology, Altai State University 656049, Russia, Altai Krai, Barnaul, Dimitrova str., 66, office 520 popovea@mc.asu.ru Other publications by this author     Sterlyadeva Natalya Anatolevna PhD in Sociology Associate professor, Department of General Sociology and Conflictology, Altai State University 656949, Russia, Altai Krai, Barnaul, Dimitrova str., 66, office 520 sterlyadeva@socio.asu.ru Other publications by this author     Akhmedova Angelina Rustamovna Assistant, Department of General Sociology and Conflictology, Altai State University 656049, Russia, Altai Krai, Barnaul, Dimitrova str., 66, office 520 axmedovaangelina@mail.ru Other publications by this author     Koda Egor Aleksandrovich Student, Department of General Sociology and Conflictology, Altai State University 656949, Russia, Altai Krai, Barnaul, Dimitrova str., 66, office 520 kodaegor@yandex.ru Other publications by this author

Kozlova Viktoriya Aleksandrovna Student, Department of Sociology and Conflictology, Altai State University 656049, Russia, Altai Krai, Barnaul, Chervonnaya str., 5, sq. B91M1 viktoriya071103@gmail.com Other publications by this author

The modern system of Russian general education is in a state of permanent crisis. The thing is that during the transition from the Soviet educational system to modern educational standards, all the fundamental foundations of the educational process were changed, while the new standards did not receive due verification. As a result, modern educational standards and programs are regularly adjusted, shifting the vector of study from one direction of school subjects to another. In this case, the most vulnerable element in the educational system is the subject of the educational process – schoolchildren, especially high school students – persons studying from 9th to 11th grade.

The existence of a crisis in the education system is confirmed by a wide range of educational services on the market, ranging from private tutors to online schools for preparing for the Unified State Exam ^[11]. At first glance, there is nothing surprising in the fact that a high school student goes to classes with a tutor or studies at an online school – this will allow him to successfully pass the main state or unified state exam and enroll in a particular educational institution on a budget. But at the same time, this means the fact that the knowledge that is given to the student at school does not satisfy the educational needs of the student, namely the key request regarding the successful passing of the state exam.

It is not uncommon for the educational process in a modern school to involve only the development of the most minimal level of knowledge by an individual for a successful transfer from one class to another. Often such minimalism reduces the general culture of schoolchildren, makes it impossible to form the contours of a holistic picture of the world, which is actually one of the key tasks of the education system.  The modern Russian school education system should not only strive to fulfill a whole list of formal indicators determined by the competent authorities, but also to meet the educational needs of high school students, because in the medium and long term, these young people will become the main productive, economic force of the Russian state. Hence, the relevance of this study is formed, since the compliance of the educational system with the needs of high school students today will be the prototype of the whole country in the future.

The degree of scientific development of this issue is at a fairly high level. The issue of the quality of education in modern Russia was considered by the Russian scientist F.R. Filippov. Satisfaction with the educational process of the main educational subjects was considered in the works of N.B. Fomina ^[17]. The problem field of the research topic is included in the list of questions of the sociology of education. So A.Z. Beridze considered the prospects for the development of education in Russia, as well as the main functions of the Institute of Modern Education. N.B. Avalueva ^[1] and N.I. Bankovskaya ^[2] studied the components that determine the quality of secondary general education. Among domestic scientists, the issue of the crisis of the institute of education, as well as ways out of it, was also considered in sufficient detail. This issue was developed by E.A. Shuklina. As for the phenomenon of satisfaction with the secondary education system itself, as well as indicators of this satisfaction, these issues were considered in the works of M.N. Makarova, and the role of satisfaction of the main subjects of the educational process in the development of the general education system, satisfaction indicators were considered by K.V. Kharchenko ^[18].

The assessment of the quality of secondary general education was carried out by such domestic scientists as O.B. Tretyakov, as well as I.A. Zimnaya, while the issue of quality management of secondary education was not ignored. This issue was actively developed by E.N. Korneeva ^[10]. The role of the assessment of schoolchildren in determining the overall assessment of the quality of the education system was studied by I.N. Yemelyanova ^[7]. The Altai Sociological School also did not remain indifferent to the issues of the study of the secondary education system. Within the framework of non-classical and post-non-classical approaches, the basic structural elements of the school education system were considered, which are the main ones in determining the overall assessment of the education system. Sociologists such as N.A. Matveeva and S.I. Grigoriev dealt with the above question ^[6].

Despite the sufficiently detailed study of this issue, the certainty of the main methodological approaches to the study of satisfaction with the system of general secondary education, there is no single list of indicators that should be taken into account when studying satisfaction with the system of general secondary education, the list of requests of high school students to the education system is not defined. There are also no real comprehensive local studies of the comparative nature of the satisfaction of rural and urban high school students with the system of general secondary education. The question also remains open about the correspondence of the rational nature of high school students' requests to the education system and the real picture in the educational system. The above explains the novelty of this work. The aim of the study is to study the satisfaction of rural and urban high school students with the functioning of the general secondary education system. Moreover, the subject of this work is directly the satisfaction of rural and urban high school students with the functioning of the general secondary education system.

The theoretical and methodological basis of this work is based on a combination of structural functionalism and symbolic interactionism. According to the authors, it is precisely such a methodological set that will allow us to fully investigate such a complex phenomenon as the satisfaction of high school students with the system of general secondary education. Based on the social interactions of high school students among themselves, teachers, representatives of other educational institutions, a certain image of the educational system is formed that meets the needs. That is, within the framework of symbolic interactionism, the image of an ideal educational institution will be formed based on interactions with the social environment. And the components of satisfaction themselves represent a certain structure within which each element has its own functional purpose.

Satisfaction with the functioning of the general secondary education system turns out to be a twofold social phenomenon. On the one hand, it is worth noting that satisfaction itself positively correlates with the indicator of the quality of secondary education that an individual receives at school. That is, the higher the satisfaction with the functioning of the general secondary education system, the higher the quality indicators of secondary education, which are reflected not only in the direct academic performance of students, but also within the competence approach. On the other hand, satisfaction shows the real picture regarding the effectiveness of the functioning of social institutions of education, in this case we are talking about a secondary school ^[12].

 The peculiarity of the phenomenon of satisfaction lies in the fact that it is possible to track the correspondence of the requests of high school students and the real state of affairs in the system of general secondary education. Literally 30 years ago, the phenomenon of satisfaction as an element of assessing the effectiveness of the functioning of the secondary education system was practically out of the question, the basis of the assessment was metasubject, subject results, as well as indicators related to Olympiads and a number of elements of extracurricular activities ^[5]. At the same time, when assessing the effectiveness of the functioning of the secondary education system, the indicator of satisfaction with the education system by schoolchildren is taken into account. All this indicates that the education system is acquiring a customer-oriented approach, because currently education is positioned as a service, and orientation to the interests of the main consumer of services will be the basis for further development.

The methodological complexity of satisfaction research lies in the fact that it is necessary to combine both psychological and sociological approaches for a comprehensive study of this phenomenon. The researcher is forced to pay attention to the assessment of the social well-being of a particular class, an individual, to consider a subjective assessment of the comfort of staying in an educational institution. The student's personal performance will also be an important indicator, since high performance indicators are often interrelated with a high level of inclusion of an individual in the life of an educational institution and vice versa. Social interactions are an important component of satisfaction with the functioning of the secondary education system, namely, how students interact with classmates, school administration, teachers, social educators, etc. ^[9].

Satisfaction in general should be understood as a stable and long-lasting positive attitude of an individual to a certain object of social reality, namely, the system of general secondary education. If we focus on the satisfaction of the functioning of the general secondary education system, then we are talking about a set of characteristics of the socio-evaluative type that are formed by schoolchildren as the main subjects of the educational process regarding the course of the educational process, the results of this process, as well as the system of interactions within this process. Satisfaction arises only if there is a systematic sense of satisfaction of needs (social demands) within a particular social system ^[4]. In reality, satisfaction can be investigated if we compare the requests of the subject of the educational process and the existing school realities. Satisfaction assessment cannot be carried out only within the framework of the list of objective parameters, since an important subjective component of the perception of the reality of individuals escapes. The value of the subjective component of satisfaction is great, thanks to it it is possible to differentiate social requests to the education system by regions, educational institutions, and so on. And also thanks to the subjective component, it is possible to form a list of elements of the educational process that needs to be improved or added to the current process of education. If we talk about the indicator of satisfaction with the functioning of the secondary education system, it also turns out to be useful, not only when evaluating the activities of an individual educational organization, but also when assessing the state of affairs in the entire secondary education system, naturally with proper coverage of educational institutions ^[17].

The concept of requesting high school students for a general assessment of satisfaction with the functioning of the secondary education system has been repeatedly noted above. The request is a kind of ideal construction of the individual, addressed to the most diverse aspects of educational activity. In any case, a high school student compares his own ideas about what the education system should give him and the real state of affairs in this very system. This explains the large number of various services in the education market, so that schoolchildren can meet their needs. At the level of common sense, it is clear that not all requests of schoolchildren can be satisfied by an educational organization, the researcher should differentiate requests for those that are within the competence of an educational institution and those requests that are in no way related to the competence of an educational institution ^[15]. As an example, we can compare two requests from schoolchildren. One will be to prepare for the final exams, for example, the OGE or the Unified State Exam. Such a request can be fulfilled by the school, as it is included in the list of competencies of the educational organization. At the same time, a request related to the provision of online courses or expensive manuals from the school cannot be fulfilled, including because it is not included in the list of competencies of an educational organization.

The set of indicators of satisfaction with the functioning of the general secondary education system includes eleven parameters directly related to the needs of schoolchildren and a number of basic competencies of the student ^[18]. The first parameter implies the fact that the school should give good knowledge, skills, certain skills necessary in society. We are talking about satisfaction with the knowledge that the student received in the process of mastering the educational program. Particular attention within this parameter should be paid to the possible passing of the Unified State Exam and OGE based on the totality of the knowledge gained.

The second parameter has a social orientation, it consists in the formation of communicative competencies that allow an individual to easily communicate with other social subjects in various situations ^[1]. Including business communication skills, the basics of discussion, the ability to express your point of view as fully as possible, the ability to show both leadership qualities and the qualities of a subordinate in a given situation.

Comfortable and safe learning conditions are the third parameter of satisfaction with the functioning of the general secondary education system. Within the framework of this parameter, the characteristics associated with the individual level of comfort, a sense of security, etc. are considered. Including the quality of the medical office, the condition of the school restrooms, the quality of food and the condition of the canteens. The third parameter is aimed at considering processes that support and ensure a comfortable and safe educational process.

The trend of humanization of the education system is considered within the framework of the fourth parameter, namely, how much the educational institution, teachers pay attention to the needs and interests of students. As for the fifth parameter, we are talking about how general education disciplines are taught, how clear, accessible and interesting the material is. The sixth parameter is directly related to the professional orientation of the graduate, which is especially important for students of grades 9 and 11. Educational institutions should form certain learning trajectories aimed at shaping the image of the future profession, including the choice of subjects, profile classes and other ways to support career guidance ^[16].

The seventh parameter includes the respectful attitude of the staff of the educational institution to schoolchildren, which will allow creating a favorable and working atmosphere, preventing all kinds of deviant behaviors of high school students ^[3]. The eighth parameter represents the development of students' leadership qualities, the ability to achieve the planned results on the part of the educational institution. The competence of goal-setting is one of their key when choosing a future life path, while the task of an educational institution is to form and strengthen this competence. It is worth noting that it is extensive, since it also includes time management, as well as the ability to prioritize short-, medium- and long-term prospects ^[8].

The ninth parameter includes the need for a clear organization of training sessions and leisure activities of a high school student. The educational load should be formed in such a way that a high school student can master the educational program without problems, and also have enough free time for creative self-realization, participation in school self-government and other life options directly related to the full secondary socialization of the individual ^[13].  The tenth parameter is aimed at minimizing the likelihood of conflicts among classmates, supporting friendly and mutually polite relations between students. This will allow each student to reveal their potential without aggression and other deviations that often occur in the school team.

Ensuring the possibility of using the available information resources of the school and the quality of these very information resources is the eleventh parameter. It is very important for a modern student studying under the significant influence of the trend of informatization to have access to the Internet even in an educational institution. It is also worth noting the use in educational practice of demonstration, interactive whiteboards, various tablets, electronic versions of manuals, etc. It is impossible to exclude from view the traditional information resources of the school, namely textbooks, which should be in normal condition ^[14]. Libraries in schools should have in their catalog various kinds of books directly related to certain educational disciplines, although the paper version of educational literature is not as popular as the electronic one for the modern student.

The need to apply the above parameters in the study of satisfaction with the functioning of the general secondary education system is explained by the fact that this set of indicators allows us to bring to a certain common denominator the existing competencies of students, the needs of students and the real state of affairs in the educational organization. There is also a practical aspect of the application of the above parameters, namely the possibility of identifying deficiencies in a particular educational organization, which is important and valuable for regulatory authorities. The combination of eleven parameters makes it possible to identify zones of socio-educational well-being in the educational institution under study, that is, those zones in which there is a high rate of coincidence of requests and the real state of affairs, as well as to identify areas of social and educational disadvantage, where there is a separation of requests and the real state of affairs in the educational institution.

A set of quantitative and qualitative methods presents the methodology of this sociological research. A mass survey in the form of a questionnaire is a quantitative methodology of this study, and a focus group is a qualitative methodology of this study. The survey makes it possible to identify the main components of students' satisfaction with the functioning of the general secondary education system, to determine the presence of zones of well-being and disadvantage. The survey was conducted both in person, on the basis of six schools in the Altai Territory, three of them urban and three rural schools, and in an online format. Given the similarity of the problems, the peculiarities of the educational process in rural schools and urban schools, the selected amount will be enough for possible extrapolation of the results to the entire Altai Territory, especially since rural schools were located in different municipalities, namely in Pospelikhinsky and Loktevsky districts. The city schools were selected in such a way that they were located in different districts of the city of Barnaul, namely: the Central District, the Railway District and the Industrial District. The sampling was carried out by the cluster principle with elements of spontaneous selection. 45 students were interviewed in each school, that is, 15 people from each parallel of grades 9, 10 and 11. The students themselves were selected spontaneously on the principle of accessibility. Thus, 270 students of grades 9-11, that is, high school students, were selected for the questionnaire.

Focus groups were also conducted on the basis of the above-mentioned educational institutions. The focus group made it possible to identify the factors that most affect the phenomenon of high school students' satisfaction with the functioning of the general secondary education system. They were attended by high school students (grades 9-11), two people from each parallel. A total of six focus groups were conducted, with six respondents participating in each focus group. The composition of the focus groups was not repeated. The total sample of this study was 306 high school students, 36 of them were participants in focus groups. The combination of two methods – quantitative and qualitative - makes it possible to increase the heuristic of sociological research, and also such a combination increases the reliability of the empirical data obtained.

The phenomenon of satisfaction with the functioning of the general secondary education system consists of a whole list of components, including general satisfaction with how the educational process as a whole is going. So, the following answers were received to the question "Are you satisfied with the way the educational process is going on in general?". 37% of respondents are satisfied with how the educational process is going on in general, and every fifth high school student surveyed noted that he is more satisfied with the educational process than not satisfied – 20%. One in three respondents noted that they are rather dissatisfied with the educational process – 31%, and 12% of respondents are definitely not satisfied with the way the educational process is going on in general. It is worth noting that the phenomenon of general satisfaction largely depends on the correspondence of the real state of affairs in an educational institution to the existing needs of a high school student. Moreover, the satisfaction with the educational process among urban and rural high school students varies. It turns out that village high school students are more satisfied with how the educational process is going on in general, this is due to the inability to compare the state of affairs at the school of study and, for example, gymnasiums or lyceums, other schools, as well as a number of advantages of studying in a rural school. So, 54% of rural schoolchildren are definitely satisfied with the educational process as a whole, while 30% of the surveyed high school students are rather satisfied with the educational process as a whole. 6% of respondents are definitely not satisfied with the way the educational process is going, and every tenth respondent is rather not satisfied with the way the educational process is going. As for urban high school students, only 16% of the surveyed students are satisfied with how the educational process is going on in general, while a quarter of the surveyed urban high school students are more satisfied with the educational process than not satisfied – 20%. 19% of the surveyed high school students are definitely dissatisfied with the educational process, and 45% of the surveyed urban high school students are rather dissatisfied with the educational process as a whole. There are much more requests from urban high school students to the system of secondary general education, and there is also a real opportunity to compare conditions in different educational institutions, as a result, their overall satisfaction is lower than that of rural high school students.

Table 1. Correlation of respondents' answers to the question "Are you satisfied with the way the educational process is going on in general?" and the location of the educational institution

An important component of satisfaction with the functioning of the system of general secondary education is the quality of satisfaction of the request of schoolchildren regarding preparation for final exams, namely the OGE and the Unified State Exam. So, to the question "Do you think you are given enough knowledge at school to successfully pass the OGE and USE?" – the following answers were received. The absolute majority of the surveyed schoolchildren believe that knowledge for passing the OGE and USE is not enough in a modern school – 53%, while a third of the surveyed high school students indicated that knowledge is rather not enough than enough – 30%. An absolute minority of respondents noted that the school provides enough knowledge to prepare for the OGE and USE – 7%, while all these respondents study in specialized classes, and every tenth respondent notes that a modern school provides enough knowledge to prepare for the OGE and USE. There is no significant difference in the answers between rural and urban high school students to this question, therefore, the problem of the relevance of knowledge regarding final exams is equally relevant for both rural and urban schools. The modern education system is built in such a way that the key task of a student is to successfully pass the Unified State Exam or OGE, there is practically no question about the quality of knowledge. It is worth noting that the sufficiency or insufficiency of the material for preparing for the OGE and USE from the point of view of schoolchildren is in no way related to their academic performance. In general, it can be noted that the academic performance of modern high school students is at a fairly good level. Almost every sixth of respondents is an excellent student – 17% of respondents, 53% of respondents are percussionists, 28% of respondents study for three, are triples, and only 2% of the entire sample do not succeed.

One of the important requests of schoolchildren is the content of the educational process, so that every lesson, every lesson is beneficial for the individual. So, to the question "Do you agree with the following statement: "At each lesson I learn something new for myself, classes are meaningful?", the following answers were received (see Table 2) 37% of respondents say that they definitely learn something new at each lesson and classes are meaningful at the same time, every fifth respondent notes that classes are more meaningful – 21%. 40% of respondents noted that lessons are not sufficiently meaningful and there is rather no opportunity to learn something new. A minority of respondents noted that classes are held without any significant content - 2%. It is worth noting that rural high school students, due to the often lack of additional educational opportunities, value each lesson at school more, because 65% of rural high school students noted that each lesson is definitely meaningful, 15% of respondents noted that rather each lesson is meaningful, and every fifth rural high school student noted that classes are more likely not meaningful. As for urban high school students, 8% of respondents believe that classes are definitely meaningful, 42% of respondents are rather satisfied with the content of classes, 6% of respondents are definitely not satisfied with the content of classes, and 44% of respondents are rather dissatisfied with the content of classes. Indeed, there is a certain problem with the content and quality of the educational process, as evidenced by the fact that 62% of respondents have tutors that they take in the framework of the OGE and USE, and 5% of respondents even have tutors in subjects that they do not take in the framework of the OGE and USE. Consequently, the request of high school students for the content of classes, as well as for exam preparation, is not adequately satisfied. This fact is confirmed by the respondents' answers to the question "Can you say that you are ready for the upcoming final exams?". 42% of respondents note that they are rather not ready for the upcoming final exams, their level of preparation is not good enough to successfully pass the OGE and USE, and 13% of respondents even noted that they are definitely not ready for the upcoming final exams. Consequently, half of the respondents, one way or another, are insufficiently prepared for the upcoming final exams. Only 8% of respondents – an absolute minority noted that they are definitely ready for the final exams, there is confidence in passing the exam quite successfully, and 37% of respondents have a certain level of readiness for the upcoming exams, but knowledge should be tightened. Accordingly, a modern school should pay more attention to preparing students for exams.

In addition to passing final exams, an important request of schoolchildren is to conduct career guidance work so that it is easier for the student to decide on the choice of further professional path. In fact, competent career guidance work at school allows a high school student to choose one or another educational trajectory in advance, to take preventive measures for development in a given direction. So, to the question "Are career guidance events held at your school? (career choice events)?" – the following responses were received (see Figure 1). The majority of students noted that career guidance events are held at school quite rarely – 62%, every tenth respondent noted that no career guidance events are held at their school (mainly representatives of rural small schools) – 10%, and 28% of respondents, almost every third respondent noted that activities related to professional high school student orientations are conducted regularly. Such events are the "Kaleidoscope of professions", excursions to various institutions, for example, banks, registry offices, courts, employment centers, social protection institutions and other events. Regular practice of career guidance work is carried out mainly in urban schools, since they have more resources and opportunities to conduct really useful activities. Consequently, according to the parameter of the availability of career guidance activities, urban schools are more in line with the needs of high school students than rural schools. Often, rural schools simply do not have a competent teacher who could organize really high-quality events related to the choice of a future profession and professional path.

Fig. 1. Distribution of respondents' answers to the question "Do career guidance events (career choice events) take place at your school?"

A modern school should be a place for self-development and self-improvement in the minds of schoolchildren, appropriate conditions should be created for the harmonious development of the personality of any student. If a student identifies an educational institution as a place of self-development and self-improvement, then there will be no problems with attendance, and the request for comprehensive personal development by an educational institution will be fully satisfied, which cannot be said if the school is associated with an individual with some responsibility that must be systematically performed by visiting an educational institution, doing homework and So, to the question "Do you agree with the statement: For me, school is a place of self-development and self-improvement?" – the following responses were received. It is important to emphasize that for most modern schoolchildren, due to the lack of coincidence of requests and the real state of affairs in the secondary education system, school is not a place for self-development and self-improvement. 54% of respondents noted that school is rather not a place for self-development and self-improvement, and 12% of respondents are sure that school is definitely not a place for self-development and self-improvement. A minority of respondents define a modern school as a place for self–development and self–improvement - 8%, and slightly more than a quarter of respondents rather define a modern school as a place for self-development and self-improvement - 26%. Despite the fact that for the majority of respondents, school is rather not a place for self-development and self-improvement, one of the key requests of schoolchildren regarding the safety of being in an educational institution is almost fully satisfied. So 76% of respondents feel safe when they are at school, and 9% of respondents feel rather than do not feel safe, every twentieth respondent definitely does not feel safe – 5%, and every tenth respondent rather does not feel safe. In general, the emotional background of a modern school is quite favorable, there are practically no different forms of bullying in high school, there is a low probability of conflicts with teachers and school administration, so most of the respondents feel safe at school.

An important component of high school students' satisfaction with the functioning of the general secondary education system is the state of the school infrastructure, those basic elements that ensure a comfortable stay for schoolchildren in an educational institution. So, to the question "Evaluate the following elements of the school infrastructure on a 5-point scale, where 1 is very bad, 5 is very good", the following answers were received. The assessment of the school canteen is quite ambiguous, so 22% of respondents rate the school canteen at 5, that is, they note a very good condition, 35% of respondents rate the state of the school canteen at 4, and 25% of respondents rate the state of the school canteen at 3. 13% of respondents rate the state of school canteens as unsatisfactory, and every twentieth respondent rated the state of school canteen as very bad – 5%. In general, the assessments of rural and urban high school students regarding the school cafeteria turned out to be similar. As for the medical office, the absolute majority of respondents rated it 3 – satisfactory – 70%. At the same time, 7% of respondents rated the state of the medical office at 5 (all urban schoolchildren), and 5% of respondents rated the state of the medical office as very bad at grade 1 (all rural schoolchildren), every tenth respondent rated the state of the medical office as good, at grade 4 – 10%, 8% of respondents rated the state of the medical 2. Consequently, medical offices do not fully meet the existing requests of the student. It is worth noting that the medical office is an important element of the school infrastructure. The condition of the school territory, in general, meets the needs of students, 92% of respondents rated the condition of the school territory as good, for a score of 4, every twentieth student surveyed rated the condition of the school territory for an assessment of 5 – 5%, and 3% of respondents rated the condition of the school territory as satisfactory. Most of the latrines in schools have been recently renovated, so they have received quite high marks among schoolchildren, moreover, both rural and urban. 30% of respondents rated the state of latrines as "3", 5% of respondents rated the state of latrines as "2", 55% of respondents rated the state of latrines as "4", and 10% of respondents rated the state of latrines at school as "5". In general, it can be stated that the restrooms meet the needs of modern schoolchildren.

Table 2. Distribution of respondents' answers to the question "Evaluate the following elements of the school infrastructure on a 5-point scale, where 1 is very bad, 5 is very good:?"

The system of teacher–student interactions consists not only of interpersonal relationships, but also of a system of working relationships, that is, how well the teacher presents the material, as well as how well the student learns this very material. Given the current trends in the democratization of education and the formation of inclusive education, it is worth noting that a modern teacher should find an approach to each student so that the material is understandable to the student. 18% of respondents say that teachers in general are attentive, devote time to each student and pay enough attention, as a result of which everything becomes clear and understandable. It is worth noting that 70% of such answers were given by rural schoolchildren, where the number of students is noticeably less than in urban schools. 52% of respondents noted that modern teachers are attentive, but it is not always possible to find time to devote it to each student, the material in the lessons is not always fully understood. This situation is typical for urban school students when there are too many students: 62% of urban high school students answered this way and 38% of rural schoolchildren. Every tenth respondent noted that the material is completely incomprehensible, and teachers are not attentive – 10%, besides 75% of schoolchildren turned out to be urban, respectively, in rural schools teachers pay more attention to students. Moreover, in rural schools, teachers are more necessary for the student, because there is often no other way to get information. Every fifth respondent noted that teachers are not attentive enough, treat only selected students well, and the material in the lesson is difficult to understand – 20%. Moreover, again, this situation is more common in urban schools than in rural ones: 65% to 35% of respondents, respectively.

It is worth noting that an important component of students' satisfaction with the educational process is the visibility of the taught material. It is achieved either with the use of appropriate posters, demonstration materials, or with the help of an interactive whiteboard. So, the following answers were received to the question "Are demonstration materials, interactive whiteboards used in lessons?". It should be noted right away that the frequency of use of demonstration materials and the use of interactive whiteboards in rural and urban schools is about the same. Moreover, the absolute majority of the surveyed schoolchildren noted that visual material is used literally every lesson – 83%, and 11% of respondents noted that demonstration materials and interactive whiteboards are used from time to time. There were no respondents who would have noted that interactive whiteboards and demonstration materials are not used at all, since visibility is an important pedagogical parameter, 6% of respondents noted that demonstration materials are used very rarely. Consequently, a modern school does everything possible to interest the student, both within the framework of urban educational institutions and within the framework of rural educational institutions.

Urban schools, in general, do not have serious limitations in certain resources, which cannot be said about rural schools. Moreover, rural schoolchildren are well aware of the limited capabilities of the educational institution and are more lenient about the assessments of the pedagogical process as a whole. So, to the question "Do you agree with the statement: My teachers are doing everything possible to ensure that everyone is motivated to study, they are trying to interest everyone in the subject?", the following answers were received (see Table 6). 54% of respondents note that their teachers are doing everything possible to ensure that students have motivation to study and there was a real interest in the educational process, and 63% of such respondents are representatives of rural schools, and 37% are representatives of urban schools. Every third respondent noted that teachers are more likely to do everything possible to interest a student – 32%, and 48% of them turned out to be rural schoolchildren, and 52% urban schoolchildren. Every tenth respondent notes that teachers rather do not do everything possible to ensure that students have a certain motivation to study – 10%, and among them 20% of rural schoolchildren, and 80% of urban schoolchildren, and 6% of respondents note that they do not agree with the above statement, and 90% of such schoolchildren are urban and only 10% rural. In urban schoolchildren, in general, the level of requests to an educational institution is much higher, as a result, urban schoolchildren are more critical of the teacher's activities, put low marks on his activities.

Table 3. Correlation of respondents' answers to the question "Do you agree with the statement: My teachers are doing everything possible to ensure that everyone has motivation to study, they are trying to interest everyone in the subject?" and the location of the educational institution

It is also important to consider the existing, already formed competencies of schoolchildren, which also affect satisfaction with the quality of the system of functioning of secondary general education. Moreover, the degree of formation of the competencies discussed below indicates the successful or unsuccessful functioning of an educational institution. In general, it should be noted that the results among rural and urban schoolchildren are about the same. Most of the surveyed schoolchildren are quite good at planning their time, but, of course, there are some difficulties – 52%, while 21% of respondents, almost one in five plans their time very well, without any difficulties, 19% of respondents do not plan their time well enough, often do not have time to do everything they have planned, and 8% respondents do not know how to plan their time. Anyway, the school has formed certain competencies that allow students to plan their time competently. The situation is similar with the ability to plan your work, as well as control the process of doing this very work. 23% can objectively correct, control and evaluate their work done, and 37% of respondents are more likely to control and evaluate the work done. Moreover, 40% of respondents rather cannot objectively control and evaluate their work, and one in ten respondents definitely cannot control and evaluate their work. In fact, it is quite difficult to do this even for an adult, not to mention schoolchildren, teenagers. In general, there are some competencies directly related to the objective assessment and correction of the work done. Students also demonstrate the presence of competencies, which consist in the ability to successfully distribute efforts between short-term and long-term goals. 30% of schoolchildren note that such a skill is definitely about them, 25% of the surveyed schoolchildren note that such a skill is more about them, 35% of the surveyed schoolchildren note that this skill is rather not about them, and every tenth respondent notes that such a skill is definitely not about him. Naturally, not all schoolchildren have this, but such competence is more characteristic of university undergraduates than schoolchildren.

An important element of students' assessment of the quality of the functioning of the secondary general education system is the atmosphere in an educational institution. So, to the question "Is it possible to call the atmosphere in your school favorable and working?" – the following answers were received. More than half of the surveyed schoolchildren are more likely to call the atmosphere at school working and favorable than they cannot – 54%. Also, 14% of respondents can definitely call the existing atmosphere at school favorable and working. Such an atmosphere is achieved from a set of parameters: the relationship of schoolchildren among themselves, as well as between teachers and schoolchildren and the school administration. At the same time, every third respondent notes that the atmosphere at school is not favorable enough and working – 30%, and an absolute minority of respondents notes that the atmosphere is definitely unfavorable – 2%. It is also worth noting that rural schoolchildren consider the atmosphere in their school to be more favorable and working in general than urban schoolchildren. This is due again to the system of interpersonal relations described above. The attitude of the students themselves to the educational process also affects.

Sometimes in the system of general secondary education there are various kinds of conflicts, both students with teachers and students with representatives of the school administration. All of them differ in different severity, but it is worth noting that very rarely such conflicts have certain positive consequences, often such conflicts only exacerbate existing problems. The fewer such conflicts arise, the more stable the system of secondary general education works, and the absence of conflicts indicates the overall level of satisfaction of students in a modern school. So, to the question "How often do you have conflicts with teachers / with representatives of the school administration?" – the following responses were received. Given the fact that schoolchildren interact extremely closely with teachers, conflicts are inevitable. 33% of respondents note that conflicts with teachers occur very often, and 25% of respondents note that conflicts happen often. Moreover, 35% of respondents say that conflicts happen sometimes, and an absolute minority of respondents believe that conflicts happen rarely – 7%. It is worth noting that rural schoolchildren are somewhat less likely to conflict with teachers, since the authority of a teacher in a rural school is much higher than in a city school, and the features of existential relationships of the village, where everyone knows each other, play a role, but there is no such feature in the city, which is why students try to defend all possible their rights and openly go on the conflict with the teachers. Also, rural schoolchildren are much less likely to conflict with representatives of the administration of an educational institution. 8% of respondents note that conflicts with representatives of the school administration occur very often, and every tenth respondent notes that conflicts occur frequently, while the absolute majority of respondents characterize the frequency of conflicts as rare – 62%, and every fifth respondent notes that conflicts sometimes occur - 20%. As a rule, there is no direct interaction between schoolchildren and the school administration, as with teachers, as a result of which the number of contradictions that arise is much less, as a result, the frequency of interpersonal conflicts is also less.

Thus, a sociological study was conducted on the satisfaction of rural and urban high school students with the functioning of the general secondary education system. The phenomenon of satisfaction consists of a combination of objective and subjective factors that directly affect students' assessments on this issue.

1.                 Based on the fact that the absolute majority of respondents consider the level of preparation for passing the OGE and USE insufficient, and schoolchildren rely on an educational institution as a direct element of preparation, it is necessary to increase the number of hours in the school curriculum of grades 9 and 11, which will be directed directly to preparation for final exams. It is possible to take hours from the load of non-core subjects of schoolchildren or reduce the load on general education subjects in favor of preparing for the OGE and USE. It is also worth noting that the main request of schoolchildren to a modern school is the successful passing of exams, it is necessary to continue to spread the system of specialized classes around the edge so that, going to grade 10, the student focuses on those subjects that he really needs and is interested in.

2.                 Modern schoolchildren belong to generation Z, therefore, they are characterized by clip thinking and striving for high technology. Modern schools should include in educational practice the introduction of training videos with a length of 1 minute, which will tell students about certain rules in a bright and colorful form, and taking into account the peculiarities of the student's thinking, such rules will be easily and quickly assimilated, as well as remembered for a long time. It is reasonable to expand the practice of using online learning services by the type of Agi.ru, as well as to transfer the training system to a hybrid format, for example, non-core subjects can be conducted in remote asynchronous mode.

3.                 To date, the load on schoolchildren is simply enormous, in addition to 8-9 hours of daily mental work at school, modern schoolchildren are forced to do homework for 3-4 hours every day. It is necessary to reduce the hourly workload in a number of subjects, and to focus on the quality of lessons, not on their quantity. With the most effective use of 40 minutes of the lesson, it will be quite possible to reduce the number of full-time school classes by at least 25%, which will give students 3-4 hours of free time every day for full-fledged homework preparation, preparation for final exams, and also this time can be used for a full-fledged rest of the individual.

4.                 A modern school should pay special attention to the existing requests of schoolchildren to the educational institution in particular, and the education system in general. Those requests that really contribute to improving the productivity of schoolchildren should be fulfilled as far as possible, so, for example, it seems quite possible and reasonable to upgrade school furniture to comfortable chairs and modern desks as far as possible and budget allocation.

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