Quoting: Wroclaw, Post #33
In Poland we have a particular style of education, which does work, but I think could be better.
I think what you are talking about is the strict and too demanding norms within which we are allowed to think. For example I always hated my Polish classes, because the standards that were required in order to express opinions were too high. There were only a few people in my class who were artistic enough to feel free in it and on the other hand, some other polish teachers were focusing on giving information and memorization and did not spare room for discussions and practical approach. Basically the requirements of education are so high, that nobody has time to think, and is just trying to keep up with the material.
However, there were some other teachers, who were constantly making us think in the history and biology class.. so it depended a lot on the teachers.
What is missing is the requirement from the board of education to incorporate more discussions and ditch so much memorization. Right now it's more of an individual approach. However, if a student is creative, I don't think that it's suppressed or not encouraged. For example, I heard that the computer programmers from Eastern Europe are the ones that are most creative as opposed to Chinese and Indians (although they are also very good).