Polish teacher, students provide different point of view for college
Brooke Curry and Kelsey Savolainen
Issue date: 3/5/10 Section: News
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Education in Poland Starts for students at seven years old with a six-year primary school, then a three-year middle school, three-year high school, and can eventually on to a university.
Unlike American students, students in Poland cannot change their major after the age of 15 and will not change their major once they start at a university.
Monika Biblis, 37, Polish English teacher who visited Grand View, said, "When students are in their first year of high school they must make a serious decision about what they want to do in the future and it is very difficult for them to change their decision."
Students on average attend college for five years and medical college for six years. State universities are free, but private universities are not. Students must pass an exam at a high level to even be accepted into college.
In Poland, students must have five hours a week of English, but may also take German, French and Spanish. According to Biblis, foreign language is essential in Poland, unlike the U.S.
"You don't have to learn a foreign language because everyone else in the world speaks yours," Biblis said.
Teachers also differ in Poland than in the U.S. Biblis said she rarely arrives to school early and leaves as soon as possible, but American teachers arrive early and stay late. She also said that tardiness, taking off jackets in class and cell phone policies are different.
"Phones in Poland are strictly forbidden," Biblis said. "I don't even let my students look at them, but here everyone has a phone sitting on their desk."
From a cultural standpoint, one of the hardest things for Biblis to get used to is the way people eat in America.
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