Romanian Heads in the Sand

Romanian Education

Today (Monday) school starts again in Romania – all over the country, schoolchildren will go to school, listen to uplifting, inspiring, vacuous speeches and do nothing … in many schools they will actually do nothing for several weeks as the timetable is ‘finalised’ or the school is repaired – you’d be amazed at the poverty the school buildings exhibit.

Ask a Romanian though how good their education system is and they will tell you it is one of the best in the world.

One sure fire sign of communism and vestigial communist thinking is the belief that the system is OK it is individuals who are at fault.

I heard the sentiment expressed on national television this morning – a man, one of the ‘experts’ came out with the thought almost word for word. It wasn’t an old man either – it was someone who must have completed the higher stages of his education in post-revolution Romania.

The system of education in Romania is good – the problem is the teachers (to paraphrase).

Let me tell you, as someone who has worked within not only the Romanian system but state and private education systems across the world, the Romanian system stinks …the teachers are the way they are because of the system. Of the teachers I know, I can say there is a mix – some remarkable dedicated individuals, many effective at delivering the system, some big hearted and useless, some only in it because they couldn’t think of anything to do with their real-world useless university qualifications: All disgracefully underpaid.

Money is partly responsible for the malaise – there is none: The physical fabric of the buildings, the wages of the teachers, the spending on resources – all are woefully lacking. Seriously greater expenditure would certainly help – at least some children could actually go to school instead of waiting at home ‘til the school building can fit them in.

However, on its own money is not sufficient.

A whole mind set – the communist mindset – that education has locked into for generations (nearly all the teachers, administrators, politicians are a product of that system) has to be shifted.

Romanian Education is poor – it is based on theories of pedagogy dropped in the economically successful countries decades ago.

It is based on assessment procedures that encourage conformity and corruption: the debate over the national baccalaureate this summer, if followed in Europe, will be sending shivers of horror through the institutions which will be responsible for quality control – the real world of business will just refuse to accept a Romanian qualification.

It is based on the decades of lies and assurances about a none existent world beating quality which people are reluctant to accept – after all, it is not nice to know you are not the genius you thought you were but only an average to poorly educated dupe of a system economically and politically corrupt.

There is nothing more symptomatic of the depths and delusions the system takes Romania’s population than the current graduates.

I recently gave a course which included a number of young graduates – their assumption was that they already knew everything about the subject (they had, after all, just graduated from an excellent education system), that they only needed a few ‘tips’ and that they didn’t need to work at incorporating any of the material, or even to seriously think about it.

Setting aside the normal self assurance of youth, they were arrogant in the extreme – subject arrogant. And ignorant – many of them knew nothing of the European Framework for languages (despite graduating with languages as part of their degree), nor of the Cambridge ESL examination system (despite the examinations being commonly taken in the city they studied and both accepted and sometimes requested by international companies employing people here).

Needless to say, most of them are heading for a fall (a serious economic one – their jobs could actually be on the line): It does not matter – they can always get another (better) job – where the pay is higher … or so they think.

Fortunately not everyone thinks that way.

I will be saying goodbye to another graduate this week who, after completing his degree here in Romania has seen the light – and is going to do two more years as an undergraduate in the UK in order to give a bit of weight and meaning to the piece of paper being issued here – he also actually wants to be able to earn a living using the knowledge gained in his studies.

Two younger students have asked for help getting in to the UK and an other European country to start their degrees – cutting out higher education in Romania altogether – with the blessing of their parents – who have seen the failings here at first hand.

There are teachers who know there are other ways of teaching and other aspects of learning … but the system stops them from developing the interests they show.

It really is time Romania and Romanians bit the bullet – your education system is bad … stop trying to change individuals and details, a complete overhaul is needed, from the bottom to the top.

Coda:

One of the tv channels noted last night that in a recent survey of 45 countries, Romania came 37th - for the ability of 16 year olds to read and understand a passage in their own language. The response of the spokeswoman for the education department was revealing - it is the fault of the parents if their 16 year old cannot read ... QED