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.
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Monday, October 23, 2006
My Life is a Password...
I often wake up in the morning, switch my super-pc on and wonder and gaze at its chaotic contents. Sometimes I am filled with awe about the system-monster I created and at other times I doubt how contructive this "creativity" is.
The Desktop is filled with folders and subfolders, with files and images, documents and program shortcuts. The C partition must have around 1 GB left and there I really must add space to it. Half of my files are lying within a silver box that hides an external HD and half of them are in the second partition. And the silver box is lying somewhere between the "zone of the black cables" and the "lost books" of viruswitch's room.
But nothing so far is alarming enough, the real danger lies within the hidden RAM and the workings of my mysterious CPU. The BIOS is like a sleeping monster in a dormant state yet ready to rise and produce sound waves through the atmosphere. BEEP! BEEP! Black screen... A TFT that changes its wavelength? Or could it be the grafic card that was never meant to have its drivers? A weird fate for ATI. Will it ever end up there where it really belongs?
Speed was the pride of this pc that opened and closed windows in a microsecond. Now I have to wait 5 seconds for the desktop menu to open. The 5 seconds are the dreaded messenger of FORMAT C which I would do right now if only my life was not a password. If I wouldnt have to back up my emails from C, if I hadnt stored 20 email accounts in there, if the magic wand of opera would not store more than 50 user name and passwords for very important sites (which passwords I forgot), then I would format C now. If I could store all these 100 accounts in my brain (email, sites, university, messengers, voIP etc) I would surely format right now. But the temptation is too great, the internet speed makes up for the system speed and the case is postponed "until further notice" . Lets just find out for how long it takes for windows to die on its own...
The Desktop is filled with folders and subfolders, with files and images, documents and program shortcuts. The C partition must have around 1 GB left and there I really must add space to it. Half of my files are lying within a silver box that hides an external HD and half of them are in the second partition. And the silver box is lying somewhere between the "zone of the black cables" and the "lost books" of viruswitch's room.
But nothing so far is alarming enough, the real danger lies within the hidden RAM and the workings of my mysterious CPU. The BIOS is like a sleeping monster in a dormant state yet ready to rise and produce sound waves through the atmosphere. BEEP! BEEP! Black screen... A TFT that changes its wavelength? Or could it be the grafic card that was never meant to have its drivers? A weird fate for ATI. Will it ever end up there where it really belongs?
Speed was the pride of this pc that opened and closed windows in a microsecond. Now I have to wait 5 seconds for the desktop menu to open. The 5 seconds are the dreaded messenger of FORMAT C which I would do right now if only my life was not a password. If I wouldnt have to back up my emails from C, if I hadnt stored 20 email accounts in there, if the magic wand of opera would not store more than 50 user name and passwords for very important sites (which passwords I forgot), then I would format C now. If I could store all these 100 accounts in my brain (email, sites, university, messengers, voIP etc) I would surely format right now. But the temptation is too great, the internet speed makes up for the system speed and the case is postponed "until further notice" . Lets just find out for how long it takes for windows to die on its own...
Friday, October 06, 2006
How to Create an Extremely Bad Website
To create an extremely bad website is a difficult task. It might seem easy at first sight, but it is not at all. And one has to try very hard to achieve this noble goal.
One of the most difficult parts to ruin, when designing a website, is the NAVIGATION.
The difficulty of a chaotic navigation lies in the ability of the webdesigner to go against that which we call "Common Sense". So one has to employ all ones strength and intelligence to become... dumb! Logic has got to be abandoned and complete surealism has to take over...
The famous webdesign rules
1) KISS (Keep it simple stupid)
2) The 2 clicks rule (the user must be able to access all pages from the main navigation in 2 clicks)
have got to be reverted and avoided.
If you want to completely confuse and agitate your visitors they must not find what they are looking for at no cost! Your success is proved when they wonder countless hours clicking through the hundreds of useless links you provide to many pages that promise the same information!
Another very important thing is that your contact information is not valid. By no means place a valid telephone number or email and use different pages with different contact info! Let the user have a little adventure! Allow the visitor to go through a life-quest, allow him to develope his psychic abilities to guess your contact info!
Still, you will not have created an extremely bad website if you keep your content up to date. Thats something that has to be avoided. Keep your content preferably one year old or even more. Nobody will be interested in last years meeting, when they are looking for the time and place of this years meeting.
Be extra careful when publishing essential information. You do not want the visitor to access it directly and quickly! You want to torture your visitor and you want this torture to be slow and painful... Use at least 10 links that will lead to a page with the desired information. Then don't be silly and spoil it! Attach a word document with the information and let the user download it. Let them wait, search for a place to download the precious .doc , let them scan it with the antivirus and finally allow Word to open. A triumph! You want your visitors to do something, dont just feed them with the information quickly and easily!
Even better! Publish different documents for the same subject and update only one of them! Let the visitor download all of them, compare them, study them and arrive at a logical conclusion.
The visitor might as well open the window and scream due to frustration. And when the visitor is heard miles away or seen pulling out his hair then you know you have succeded your goal.
Promise the information, create a labyrinth, keep it as complex and complicated as possible, never update your content unless you have material more than one year old and lead your visitors to insanity.
Well done, you have created an extremely bad website.
Post dedicated to the website of my university.
One of the most difficult parts to ruin, when designing a website, is the NAVIGATION.
The difficulty of a chaotic navigation lies in the ability of the webdesigner to go against that which we call "Common Sense". So one has to employ all ones strength and intelligence to become... dumb! Logic has got to be abandoned and complete surealism has to take over...
The famous webdesign rules
1) KISS (Keep it simple stupid)
2) The 2 clicks rule (the user must be able to access all pages from the main navigation in 2 clicks)
have got to be reverted and avoided.
If you want to completely confuse and agitate your visitors they must not find what they are looking for at no cost! Your success is proved when they wonder countless hours clicking through the hundreds of useless links you provide to many pages that promise the same information!
Another very important thing is that your contact information is not valid. By no means place a valid telephone number or email and use different pages with different contact info! Let the user have a little adventure! Allow the visitor to go through a life-quest, allow him to develope his psychic abilities to guess your contact info!
Still, you will not have created an extremely bad website if you keep your content up to date. Thats something that has to be avoided. Keep your content preferably one year old or even more. Nobody will be interested in last years meeting, when they are looking for the time and place of this years meeting.
Be extra careful when publishing essential information. You do not want the visitor to access it directly and quickly! You want to torture your visitor and you want this torture to be slow and painful... Use at least 10 links that will lead to a page with the desired information. Then don't be silly and spoil it! Attach a word document with the information and let the user download it. Let them wait, search for a place to download the precious .doc , let them scan it with the antivirus and finally allow Word to open. A triumph! You want your visitors to do something, dont just feed them with the information quickly and easily!
Even better! Publish different documents for the same subject and update only one of them! Let the visitor download all of them, compare them, study them and arrive at a logical conclusion.
The visitor might as well open the window and scream due to frustration. And when the visitor is heard miles away or seen pulling out his hair then you know you have succeded your goal.
Promise the information, create a labyrinth, keep it as complex and complicated as possible, never update your content unless you have material more than one year old and lead your visitors to insanity.
Well done, you have created an extremely bad website.
Post dedicated to the website of my university.
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Lessons in Writing
I have been attending a "Creative Writing" course since yesterday that is quite interesting. I met people who are into writing and are familiar with the writing "culture" so to say. I ve only been writing for myself without bothering much with the writing scene but it is quite interesting to exchange ideas.
Just a quick summary of what the seminar has covered so far:
- The importance of the first page of a book
- Practical tips on characters, themes and plot
I would have to write very much to go into details here, the gist is that we learned some very very practical tips about starting and planing a book (synopsis). About plot driven and character driven books, how to sketch and link the bits of plot and the different characters in a complicated web but still keeping an overview.
We had to write 2 exersices today. The first one was to write a story of 250 words in 20 minutes that had a certain theme. We could choose among 5 of them. And the second one was a lesson in Scene Setting and descriptive writing. We had to keep the scene setting in the background but still strong enough, so that the reader absolutely knows where the hero is. We had to combine emotion and the five senses in relation to the scenery.
I ll spare you with the first exercise so here is what I wrote for the second one:
Scene Setting: A sleepy village
"Bobbin climbed down the hill and tried to orientate himself towards his village. He knew he had to pass through the cementary with the weeping willows to find himself at the gate of the village.
But the hour was late and he could barely see anything apart from the eyes of flying owls and black cats that lingered around.
As he was approaching, the awful smell of smoke from the baker's chimney reached his nostrils. A few fires were still burning secretely under those heaps of red and black coals he could make out from the distance.
When he finally reached the gate he was afraid to open it lest he would disturb the quietness of the night. The village was deeply asleep and not a sound could be heard apart from the very faint bark of a distant dog."
Just a quick summary of what the seminar has covered so far:
- The importance of the first page of a book
- Practical tips on characters, themes and plot
I would have to write very much to go into details here, the gist is that we learned some very very practical tips about starting and planing a book (synopsis). About plot driven and character driven books, how to sketch and link the bits of plot and the different characters in a complicated web but still keeping an overview.
We had to write 2 exersices today. The first one was to write a story of 250 words in 20 minutes that had a certain theme. We could choose among 5 of them. And the second one was a lesson in Scene Setting and descriptive writing. We had to keep the scene setting in the background but still strong enough, so that the reader absolutely knows where the hero is. We had to combine emotion and the five senses in relation to the scenery.
I ll spare you with the first exercise so here is what I wrote for the second one:
Scene Setting: A sleepy village
"Bobbin climbed down the hill and tried to orientate himself towards his village. He knew he had to pass through the cementary with the weeping willows to find himself at the gate of the village.
But the hour was late and he could barely see anything apart from the eyes of flying owls and black cats that lingered around.
As he was approaching, the awful smell of smoke from the baker's chimney reached his nostrils. A few fires were still burning secretely under those heaps of red and black coals he could make out from the distance.
When he finally reached the gate he was afraid to open it lest he would disturb the quietness of the night. The village was deeply asleep and not a sound could be heard apart from the very faint bark of a distant dog."
Saturday, September 02, 2006
The Engelados awoke
I am thinking to turn this blog into a Corfu-Earthquake one... Half an hour ago, at about 12.10 midday, we had another earthquake. It must have been about 3.5 Richter I believe. It shook for about 10 seconds.
PS: And for those unfamiliar with the greek mythology, the Engelados was the leader of giants and responsible for the earthquakes in ancient Greece. He was the son of Tartaros and of Earth, killed by Athena who threw Sicily over him and covered him. He now suffers in his grave and moves and causes all these earthquakes and volcano erruptions.
Source: http://lemnos.geo.auth.gr/
EDIT: If it was this Earthquake, which was 3.9 Richter then I was pretty close!
PS: And for those unfamiliar with the greek mythology, the Engelados was the leader of giants and responsible for the earthquakes in ancient Greece. He was the son of Tartaros and of Earth, killed by Athena who threw Sicily over him and covered him. He now suffers in his grave and moves and causes all these earthquakes and volcano erruptions.
Source: http://lemnos.geo.auth.gr/
EDIT: If it was this Earthquake, which was 3.9 Richter then I was pretty close!
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Another Earthquake
Today 18/08/06 I woke up from deep sleep at 13.13 exactly from an earthquake.
I was too tired to get scared or get up and I just kept on lying there counting the seconds the earthquake lasted. From the time I woke up I counted 8 seconds. A long but weak earthquake I thought! The USGS site has not updated yet (last update 18.8) but the EMSC has and it was again in Albania 4.1 Richter.There were actually 3 earthquakes from 13.12 until 13.23.
I was too tired to get scared or get up and I just kept on lying there counting the seconds the earthquake lasted. From the time I woke up I counted 8 seconds. A long but weak earthquake I thought! The USGS site has not updated yet (last update 18.8) but the EMSC has and it was again in Albania 4.1 Richter.There were actually 3 earthquakes from 13.12 until 13.23.
Saturday, August 12, 2006
Lost and Found
Five years ago I forgot on the train two posters that had accompanied me since I was in high school. It was a frustrating experience because I had spent almost my entire teenage time looking at these posters on the walls of my room. There was nothing great about them actually. They were just regular space posters, my favourite one depicted the solar system.
For a long time I remembered them but knew that it was impossible to get them back.
Lately I decided that I have finally settled down in a place (!), feeling a bit like Odysseus who reached Ithaka... and I thought I have to get some cool stuff to decorate my room. My speciality is to fill every spare corner of the walls with posters but in this house my room is so empty. Unfortunately there is nothing worth buying on this island and, well, thank god we have the internet :))!
While searching for space posters I actually found a copy of the solar one that hung in my room!
Click to view it.
For a long time I remembered them but knew that it was impossible to get them back.
Lately I decided that I have finally settled down in a place (!), feeling a bit like Odysseus who reached Ithaka... and I thought I have to get some cool stuff to decorate my room. My speciality is to fill every spare corner of the walls with posters but in this house my room is so empty. Unfortunately there is nothing worth buying on this island and, well, thank god we have the internet :))!
While searching for space posters I actually found a copy of the solar one that hung in my room!
Click to view it.
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Another Earthquake in Corfu
Scary. Another earthquake occured two minutes ago and the lamp is still swinging in the air. It was again loud but not that loud as the previous one. It shook a bit more I think though. The exact time was 12.20 AM
There is much seismic activity lately, I hope we should not expect greater earthquakes.
Edit: The first site to have info on this earthquake is emsc-csem.org. I was 4.8 Richter strong.
There is much seismic activity lately, I hope we should not expect greater earthquakes.
Edit: The first site to have info on this earthquake is emsc-csem.org. I was 4.8 Richter strong.
Sunday, August 06, 2006
Peace in Lebanon
I first heard about Lebanon when I was reading the book "The Book of Mirdad" by Mikhail Naimi. It is an excellent book, with an interesting spiritual story, filled with many symbolical and mystical hints. Mikhail Naimi came from Lebanon and I read in the introduction of the book that he also knew Kahlil Gibran. That was another author and poet I loved, who came from Lebanon! His "Prophet" let me dream and carried me away in a world of peace and brotherhood. Where the mystical is the answer to all unsolved mysteries of our universe. Where love is the key to heaven's door. Gibran's Letters to friends, and his own illness and personal suffering touched me in a peculiar way.
A couple of years ago I met someone from Lebanon online, a meeting that flourished into a long lasting friendship. He is an artist who has also deep knowledge of computers. One of our common interest was also the objective study of various religions.
Last summer I also met an Israeli student who was touring through Greece in the airport of Athens. We had a 4 hours non-stopping chat and I almost missed my plane! He was a nice guy!
Now I usually dont watch tv, nor read the news online. And yet one pleasant sunny day I switched on the tv and saw something which made me look pale from the shock:Israel is bombing Lebanon, many people die and others are leaving the country. I saw israeli soldiers stating with fanatism that they will win this war. I saw death and fear in bombed parts of Lebanon!
As I was watching the news I remembered both of my friends and for a moment I got lost in a daydream. The tv screen blurred and I saw the cute student from Israel throwing bombs at the intelligent artist from Lebanon. Immediately I brought myself back to reality, shoke my head and tried to decided what was sicker and more absurd: my imagination or the real facts?
A couple of years ago I met someone from Lebanon online, a meeting that flourished into a long lasting friendship. He is an artist who has also deep knowledge of computers. One of our common interest was also the objective study of various religions.
Last summer I also met an Israeli student who was touring through Greece in the airport of Athens. We had a 4 hours non-stopping chat and I almost missed my plane! He was a nice guy!
Now I usually dont watch tv, nor read the news online. And yet one pleasant sunny day I switched on the tv and saw something which made me look pale from the shock:Israel is bombing Lebanon, many people die and others are leaving the country. I saw israeli soldiers stating with fanatism that they will win this war. I saw death and fear in bombed parts of Lebanon!
As I was watching the news I remembered both of my friends and for a moment I got lost in a daydream. The tv screen blurred and I saw the cute student from Israel throwing bombs at the intelligent artist from Lebanon. Immediately I brought myself back to reality, shoke my head and tried to decided what was sicker and more absurd: my imagination or the real facts?
Sunday, July 30, 2006
Spammers and Frauds flourish in Greece
"A new program that has a database of over 40.000 emails and faxes that you can use to promote your products!"
I received today this fax at work and was alerted. I am 99% sure that if my director saw it, he would not understand the gravity of the situation and dismissed it at once.
It is illegal to sell email adresses.
This program has features to send mass email and snail mail.
It is illegal to send mass email for advertising products, without the written consent of the receiver.
And yet, these people sent open emails and faxes to all major greek companies advertising their illegal program. And nobody does anything?
Why?
Because we live in a country with no internet consciousness, where the law does not seem to apply anywhere, even if it exists. Greece is something like China for spammers and frauds.
I received today this fax at work and was alerted. I am 99% sure that if my director saw it, he would not understand the gravity of the situation and dismissed it at once.
It is illegal to sell email adresses.
This program has features to send mass email and snail mail.
It is illegal to send mass email for advertising products, without the written consent of the receiver.
And yet, these people sent open emails and faxes to all major greek companies advertising their illegal program. And nobody does anything?
Why?
Because we live in a country with no internet consciousness, where the law does not seem to apply anywhere, even if it exists. Greece is something like China for spammers and frauds.
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