There is a crisis in the educational system of Greece... again.
The politicians have been trying for many years to create a just and effective educational system. They have changed the system several times and the students have protested several times. Also the teachers have gone on strike and protested against what they thought was an irrational way of judging the knowledge of a person.
So what have we achieved so far? I remember that we (the students of 1997) closed up our high school by force for 3 months and stayed in there, as a way of protest. We forbade the entrance of teachers as a drastical and desperate way to be heard.
"The System Sucks. Do something Now!"
Ten years have passed since then, the system changed and changed and changed. Governments came to power and left. Ministers of education appeared and dissapeared.. And the students of 2006, after 3 months of teachers going on strike, are closing the schools again.
"You achieved only a hole in the water, dear Politicians. You simply ALL FAILED."
Our problem, ten years ago, was the unfair way of entering the university. It did not matter how good one was at school, as long as one could pass the examinations on a set of four subjects. The problem was that one could finish high school with an A grade but this grade did not correspond to the real knowledge. Students of A failed in the university examinations because
1. The had not really learned (by heart) the material
2. The teachers did not really teach the material and allowed students to advance to the last class of school by giving high grades
So I have certificate of graduating highschool with an A+ grade. BUT I cannot be accepted to university. How does this make sense? An A student, who has passed successfully all subjects at school with an A is not suitable for entering the university? How is that sane? How is that logical?
Another fault of the educational system at that time was that as long as you did not take the exams immediately upon graduating for high school, you could never again apply for a university. Never again. Unless you wanted to go through the last class of high school again... A fault which probably still exists in a slightly different way though.
A year after I graduated from high school they changed the system. Into something that finally proved to turn the already unflexible system into something very very hard. The four subjects now became ten, only they were reflected in the grades of the last two classes as well. That was a desperate effort to plant the university exams and associate them with real school. A greek student would go to school in the morning and spent his whole afternoon taking extra classes in maths, physics, ancient greek etc to be able to really learn and pass the examinations for the university. Not only do you have to sacrifice all your youth in learning, but you also have to have a pair of rich parents to pay for extra lessons in english, german, physics, chemistry, maths, ancient greek, piano, music, dance etc etc etc ..... And that is what we call "Free Education for All".
I wonder how all these intelligent politicians have not yet grasped the core of the problem (or have they?). The problem is the procedure of entering a univerisity. The reason to this problem is a chain of events that takes off in primary school. A student is permited to advance from class 1 to class 2 with the base grade from primary school all the way to high school. This system takes for granted the fact that one is able to follow classes and learn the material of a next class by having achieved the base grade of the previous one. Shouldnt that mean that a student with the base grade in the last high school class should have the right to continue his studies in university? Then why do you block A students from the universities???? Instead of this, the system demands A+ grades in seperate exams and deprives the right for higher education to a very great percentage of students, that is 45% of those who apply.
It is funny, because a Greek high school graduate, could study in any university of Europe he wanted, whenever he wanted, with only the highschool certificate. And yet in Greece he just cant. That is the reason that leads a great percentage of high school graduates to universities in the UK, Germany and Italy.
So, change the system from primary school! Make it effective, make it real! Graduating from highschool is now a mere ritual with no meaning. Everybody graduates. Very few go to a university. We need teachers that know how to teach. A flexible and modern system of teaching, flexible and modern ways of examining knowledge. We need a system that promotes free thinking, creativity, the ability of COMBINING INFORMATION and NOT the ability of STORING INFORMATION. The educational system nowadays trains students into parrots, while it should train them into independent, mature and thinking humans.
The solution is simple. But the solution is worthless without an honest will to solve the problems, as well.
3 comments:
I think education is in a shambles in many places, although it is the most important cornerstone of a country's future success.
In America, there's the SAT test that you take in your last year of high school - which universities and colleges use as their entrance requirement. It's the high school's job to prepare students for that. But the public schools have gone downhill since the 70's, parents with money sent their children to private schools, and now the trend of home-schooling, which I know little about.
Germany agonizes over their strange school system, mit recht, whenever the Pisa results are made known. But nothing ever changes.
It's ironic that a place like Greece, that we associate with philosophy and the highest learning has so many problems in their system. I hope all these problems will finally be sorted out.
I heard of the SAT test but I not sure what that includes. How many subjects are being examined in that?
I was talking to a pair of german highschool teachers the other day and I was taken aback with surprise from what they told me. They also said that there are several problems in their system. It is being tried to make a law that will allow everyone to pass, even those who fail a class. Although the process of entering univerisity seems a bit more fair to me with the Abitur. They also told me that they are not allowed to go one strike (!) as government clerks.
Unfortunately, Greece is not what it once was 2000 years ago. Even I, as a greek, realise that it means very little nowadays to be a greek. Maybe we should be less proud of our origin and look how all other countries have advanced in fields of science and art.
I am being a bit mean but lately I ve benn hearing a lot of Greeks claim superiority to other nations, which I really despise!
I have always looked up to your nationality - maybe it's the mythos of Greek culture.
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