Polish & American Systems of Education

Since the whole "writing creatively" goal has failed in the last month, I've decided to post a draft of an essay I'm writing for A.P. Lang. & Comp. It's not as fresh as the original draft was and I'm struggling with it more than anything this year; I really dislike this kind of writing.

American writer Sherwood Anderson once wrote that “[t]he whole object of education is...to develop the mind. The mind should be a thing that works.” Indeed, since its implementation as a basic social institution hundreds of years ago, education has come to symbolize the academic and intellectual progress of a nation’s people. Today it is accepted on the international stage as the foundation for and a key variable in determining national progress, as well as a major factor of a nation’s social and cultural character.

However, even though education systems internationally hold similar goals, individual countries approach the education challenge differently. For example, from the mid-eighteenth century onward, most European education systems retained an aristrocatic and class frame of mind. The modern system within Poland is a clear model of that development. In the United States, on the other hand, radical shifts in mentality meant that the public education system would grow to be a symbol of excellence, the open mind, and unprejudiced opportunity, which is why it remains a prime example for the international community today. I am familiar with these differences personally because of the eleven years total I have spent in both countries. On entirely different continents and serving two complex populations, their education systems are vastly different. They epitomize crucial characteristics in their country’s motivation for academic progress as well as their approach to the main institution that defines such progress. Classroom- and school-specific characteristics are areas in which these two systems can be best examined.

            Classroom-specific characteristics are of primary importance to showcasing the differences and similarities between the two systems because they are part of the class-to-class scenario. Encouraged etiquettes and relationships, physical classroom structures and utilities, as well as grading scales are all important to making a distinction. Respective American and Polish cultures also help explain the differences. Etiquette in Poland, for example, requires that students rise whenever a teacher or administrator enters the room, then unanimously greet them, and sit only when instructed to do so. This follows from the “class” mentality; educated figures once stood higher above the uneducated. The crucial difference between the old and modern mentality is that students today respect their teachers, making it no longer a matter of “subjection” but instead tradition, one that is open for debate and discussion. In American classroooms, however, proactive appreciation and respect for the teacher is rare. Instead of beginning a class with a silent, standing group, American teachers deal with a wide array of situations: conversations among friends, the finishing of homework assignments, tardies, questions asked or demands made out of hand, etc. From what I can tell as a student at a U.S. high school, school for most students is considered a joke. Only in the most advanced classes, instead of each and every classroom in Poland, is there significant respect for education and the teacher. This is not to say that there are no exceptions in Polish classrooms, but “acting out” is the very rare exception in Poland. Comparably, the amount of children with detention, suspension, or expulsion in Poland is significantly less because such measures are not necessary. The reason for this difference is that having the American teacher play a more important role in students’ lives would almost be politically incorrect; it’s necessary to leave that kind of relationship to outside of school. For these reasons, etiquette is transcended to also affect relationships between students and teachers.

            A key phenomenon in Polish classrooms is that Polish students form tigher bonds with their teachers and fellow classmates. The key is that students take core classes with the same twenty-five classmates through elementary, middle, and high school in most cities, which makes it easier for the teacher to work with the class because students are familiar with each other’s learning habits. Students interact with other classes during language, music, art, and gym classes, as well as the two-hour lunch schedules, which means they still have access to a wide array of personalities. Approximately six years ago, as a sixth grader, I returned to Poland and spent almost an entire year with the same class I had left behind in first grade. It was much easier for me to interact with them because we knew each other. This emphasis on close relationships means that Polish students invite teachers over for coffee and cake or dinner, and their parents are able to access the teacher for information and progress. In the United States, on the other hand, students do not have trouble developing friendships through constantly changing classrooms, but a larger problem develops: the existence of cliques, which affect the types of students participating in various activities and the success of group or teamwork. Seating charts become a mechanism that separates the talkative groups from each other; in Poland, students know each other so well that there is little need to gossip in the classroom. Having experienced both personally, I argue that the Polish system of education has taken restrictive steps, but it has yielded positive benefits. One of my best friends would not be a classmate from Poland if not for the set-up that system yields. The effects of this relationship are also observed in the physical classroom structure in the two countries.

            The physical structure of a class adds to the way students and teachers interact. Having desks lined up in a particular order is the exception, not the rule, in Poland. Polish classrooms intensely focus on hands-on learning and discussion, while more hands-on engagement, versus the continuous lecture and note-taking settings, is critical in American art, science, and math classrooms. Though the physical structures may hold more similarities than differences, one main similarity between the two systems is the way the teacher engages the classroom. As a student in many different settings, including Canadian elementary schools, I haven’t witnessed a teacher teach in a much different way: Teachers sit up front and lecture from a podium above the students’ height; that position speaks of control and domination on their part. There are also many classes and situations in which the teacher engages with the class at an equal level. These kinds of settings open up the varying degrees in which students and teachers can interact with each other on the classroom level and were developed in different ways because of the different kinds of academic and philosophical thought that developed over time. Engagement has a large effect on the grading scales within these two countries as well.

            Grading scales are another part of schooling that reveals the different mindsets of these two countries when it comes to education. America’s standard grading procedure, most often based on a percentile-based scale that is transferred to a letter grade scale (A, B, C, D, F) in as objective a form as possible. In America, an “F” grade constitutes failing. Poland instead encourages a 6-point grading scale (6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1) that is given to each assignment, then added and averaged at the end of a semester; instead of using a more objective scale based on the final assignment, the teacher does take into account various variables to give a grade based on what is deserved. In Poland, the “3” is a passing grade; anything below a “3” as a final grade means the student must retake the entire year, including all classes passed. Less than five percent of all students ever get a “6” as their final grade. Though the system can be cheated in both countries, Polish students will benefit less because final abilities will be tested by an exam, the matura. This test is of multiple proportions. Students are tested in given subjects, both verbally, on paper, and in hands-on form. Some schools require the submission of papers and research projects, which means that less students are put at a disadvantage; American students, on the other hand are forced to work within the realm of college applications, essays, and their G.P.A.; any familial circumstance in the United States may drop an A grade to an A-, therefore destroying a 4.0 G.P.A. and likely hopes of acceptance to an Ivy League school, for example. The American system is also fragmented because teachers, schools, districts, and states all require different standards, so no grade is ever a perfect symbol of how much the student knows, which hurts the students because the grade is one of the final gateways into college. The grading systems, therefore, create the largest difference between the countries when it comes to classroom-specific distinctions. The distinctions are also present in school-specific arenas, of which there are fewer.

            In general, the most profound similiarities and differences can be made on a classroom-specific level, but school-specific areas such as graduation requirements and taught subjects also help to distinguish the Polish system of education from the Polish one.The graduation reuirements are affected, to a degree, by the grading systems and classes offered. According to Polish standards, American graduation credit requirements are invaluable due to their ease—they are basic core standards. Polish students, for example, take classes such as Chemistry, Physics, advanced art, mathematics, language, etc., from the elementary school level, so by the time they graduate they are fully rounded and able to participate in more activities than the average American student, which is the clearest distinction that can be made between the two countries’ graduates. Apart from the basic class structure, their university schooling is also far more intense, due to the absolute focus on knowledge, instead of standarized testing. These subjects are taught extensively in Poland; any immigrants to the U.S. find it much easier to get accepted into higher level universities in the U.S. [In order to be accepted at a university in Poland, however, students must pass a test of tremendous proportions. It can be considered equivalent to passing with a 4 or higher all applicable Advanced Placement tests offered. This test is offered in May of these students’ senior year and they dedicate an endless amount of hours to passing it. The U.S. education system, on the other hand, looks at an entirely overexessive amount of variables (interviews, G.P.A, various test scores, recommendations, etc.) that Polish society considers unimportant in finding people who are able to provide good, solid work. Regardless of the focus, though, it is true that both countries seek out mechanisms and programs that will create a strong and able workforce, even though the international stage accepts that the American system is slowly becoming destabilized in its attempt to remain at the forefront. The overall structure and motivation for schools on a general level are similar in these two countries, even though they enforce different specifics within the classroom and encourage different relationships among teachers.

In conclusion, the education systems of two countries on entirely different continents display their differing social and cultural values. From a system that promotes a simple relationship between the students and teachers to one that enforces grades and discourages tight relationships, the Polish and American systems share few similarities that their varied and effective differences easily amplify.