
[Hello educational funds up there!]
Have you ever wondered what the precise attributes for the ideal – most efficient and non-discriminatory – educational system should be? Permanently battling the irrationalities of our own Romanian standard of education, I had to. Or else it would have been unbearable to endure it all not being able to at least rationalize it, compare it to how it could (not in the next 10 years, maybe 50, anyway) or should be; it would have been suffocating not having the conscience of something better out there, or at least the conscience of a model that in my mind could not be corrupted by any failure, mistake, voluntary undermining of rights and so on.
Therefore, I always dreamed of unprejudiced mentalities, of objectivity viewed as an intrinsic necessary goal we put all our efforts into and not just as a stated condition in some ethics’ manual some have never read. Utopia, prevail, huh?
It is commonly known that Romanian education has flaws. Big ones. The literacy level has been brought to a relatively satisfying situation, yet that still does not mean we are properly educated, well-mannered, brought up at a socially acceptable standard. It all begins at small ages, when acknowledging fights, swearing, demeaning behavior around you, maybe in your own family, as a constant of normality. Gradually, with each schooling stage, it gets worse.
Going to primary school, you learn how to read and write and get a better understanding of things surrounding you, from a if you’re lucky enough not so strict, yet not foolishly permissive teacher who tries to instill a sense of elementary right & wrong balance. And if you’re not, you get to be yelled at, be ‘not so severely damaging’ beaten up, most commonly slapped around or hit with a ruler and get your own set of trauma package for the next decade of studying which awaits you. Either way you get to interact with pupils of your own age who share similar interests and be a part of incipient forms of hierarchy. We don’t count nursery school, do we? Usually, you can’t expect much from 6-10 year olds, yet even here the undermining, the self-righteousness and lack of respect for other human beings, or even worse, obscene language and gestures, violent behavior emerge to a certain extent.
Going to gymnasium school, especially to one of the best rated in your city, you slowly start to take note of unusual occurrences such as low IQ students getting higher marks with little effort, the ever-growing favoritism, or teachers way past their retirement age still teaching even though senility took its toll years ago. At first, you like to think that as long as you do what you’re expected to, study at a reasonable level, don’t get into conflicts with the ‘authority’ figures or any type of conflicts for that matter, you’ll have ensured a safe passage through school. Surely, it may work for the next 3-4 years. It might get you to high school as well.
But is it not daunting when you notice that students with significantly less knowledge, coming from wealthy families are admitted at the same high school, in the same class as you? This is the first clear warning of stepping into the mined field of our traditional Romanian Educational System, it involving:
- Lack of interest which manifests itself from the earliest stages, once proceeding into the 9th grade, coming both from teachers as well as from students. It’s safe to say that less than 15% of the curriculum is in fact assimilated or taught properly, in a logical manner.
- Lack of intellect, especially regarding students, which perhaps would be easy to be found in more developed countries as well, but here it inevitably reaches a crisis situation when blended with lack of education within family and entourages of equally intellectual challenged people with simpletons’ tastes.
- Lack of responsibility which inherently comes with lack of full interest, sloppy work, essays easily copied from the internet, not fully understood. Although easy to see through even for the least trained teacher, when their hypocrisy and plagiarism is revealed, they still have the nerve to demand high grades.
- Lack of proper training, to say the least. Younger teachers come every year in a worse package, this being somewhat understandable considering their lousy payment, though still disastrous for students’ preparation for the Baccalaureate exam.
To draw a line here, Romanian High School is a battle you never get through on your own terms; a pointless perpetual struggle for getting the right information from people that are giving it to you the wrong way and then sorting the whole mess out; a struggle for proving that even if some whatshisname teacher doesn’t fancy your face or your voice’s tone, you might still have something conclusive to say. You unendingly strive to make a difference, to state the fact that boredom, impatience or personal preferences DO NOT FORM A DAMN GRADING SYSTEM!
There’s no Romanian Education. Or maybe just 10% of it contributes to personal development for those who truly put an effort into that.
