Standards of Education in US vs Poland

I've always found that Europe has a much higher level of education than the US does. It's obvious that our US national standards should be increased on every level. I have been an educator myself for a few good number of years. I became very much frustrated with the politics of education, and if it were up to me, I would change quite a bit. So out of curiosity, how do the standards of education in Poland compare to the US at the elementary level? For instance, what grade do kids actually learn the basics of algebra? And on the liberal arts level, when are elementary school kids exposed to a band instrument? I'm sure a lot of it has to do with district wide budgeting and all that for the liberal arts programs, unless funding works a lot different in Poland than here in the US? I never experienced going to school in Poland as a kid, but I'd definitely be interested if anyone has any information on the stats.

At the elementary level - I think the US standard is higher. Kids in the US are very busy, usually, with all kinds of interests or educational activities. Elementary Polish students are not so complex about learning at this young age. But it changes in high-school and college/university - the teaching level is stronger than in the US (especially math/physics and foreign languages of course).

but now I`m a porn star..lol

Bet you experienced other things.

When I was 4 years old, my Dad taught me how to fight to prepare me for school..............10 years later aged 14 I got suspended for punching a teacher................I think Dad should have taught me the alphabet instead

you little rascal :)

she hit me first, but she didn't hit me a second time ;)

Ok..I`ll behave myself, Bye

You'd be surprised how many women in the adult entertainment industry are educated. I know of one particular woman who is actually an M.D. and has her own adult website. She is successful at both ends. In addition, I'm sure if you'd research former Playboy playmates you'd find a wide range of higher educational backgrounds. And yes, there are girls out there as well who don't have the smarts but fully take advantage of their looks.

Should anyone ask which particular ends these are?

The US system (from what I know) has the system where if you don't pass a year, you have to do it again, meaning classes become mixed-aged groups. I imagine this could help some people, but hinder others who are not going to do well no matter how many times they are held back. On the other hand, other countries send you through the whole education system whether you're any good at anything or not.

Theres alot of money to be made

I read some of Jenna Jameson`s book, she made a huge fortune in the indrusty.
A very smart woman, and hot too!:)



I was just goofing on ya Barbi, I wish you well:)

They stopped doing that here a few years back.
If the kid is really far behind or has a learning disability they have special
education classes now.

PF is educational.

I'm not sure we can speak of American educational system. It all really varies from State to State, county to county, and sometimes among cities of the same county.

URL ?

I wouldn't agree about the Polish college education system being more advanced than the USA's. I've seen both first-hand, and in Poland it boils down to rote memorization of dry facts, while in the States you are pushed to analyze information and to draw conclusions from it. In Poland colleges produce a lot of walking encyclopedias who don't know how to use the information they have, unless they've learned how to do it on their own.

Don't you need facts as base for any conclusions?

I've also seen both side first-hand, and my experience was a touch different. I was unimpressed with English Lit. undergrads in the US (an Ivy League university) who weren't quite sure why I asked them to compare Ben Jonson (URL) with Shakespeare. They were at a loss what Ben Johnson (URL) had to do with literature, or literacy in general, for that matter.

Lost of funny incidents like that in colleges in the US.

They were probably thinking of the athlete, Ben Johnson.

Well, the Ben Jonson bit is pretty funny, I'll grant you that, though in fact not that hard to understand, considering the relative popularity of both gentlemen.

It's hard to judge personal experiences - mine are evidently different than yours. And mind you, I'm not saying the Polish system is all that terrible - I have seen absolute dipsticks graduate from both systems, as well as some pretty smart cookies. I just noted the differences as I saw them.

To be honest, although I've only got second-hand information on it, I think the British system strikes the best balance between giving students raw information and the tools with which to analyze it. But like I said, that's just hearsay.

Hi Cyg. It's all fine and well to teach students to analyse and use the information that they have at hand.

Pytanie: Have you also seen the rise in reading and learning problems? If you start doing the analysing bit to soon, you neglect the most basic tools that people need to do the analysing bit - reading and math - which (slaughter me if you want) you can only teach them by drilling during primary school education.

So yes, you must teach them to analyse info and then be able to put it into practice, but the memorising tool (part of the basic reading and math skill thing) is equally important, and that is being looked over. Then we want to throw our hands up and ask why people cannot read and spell today...

Well, I didn't go to inner city schools, where the problems are most pronounced. I know functional illiteracy is a problem in many US schools, but I was talking about college-level education, which is reserved for above-average achievers no matter where you go. The problem with US primary and secondary education is the polarization of extremes - while many schools maintain very high levels of education, many poorer schools do not and produce people incapable of functioning in society.
While the Polish system is not quite as polarized as that, many schools in poorer areas do not cut the mustard and let out students who can't even read at a normal level.

Of course you are all right - you do need information to be able to draw conclusions from it. Still, I think that with the broad availability of information today, the value of memorization is declining, but you still have to be able to analyze what's out there to be able to function in most walks of life.

I can't really speak about Poland's education at the present time, but from what I remember, it would have been hardly possible for a secondary school (liceum, technikum) student to graduate without solid skills in reading an writing. At the time, relatively small number of spelling errors on a final test would sent you back to school for another year, and that, regardless of what kind of genius you showed in your essay otherwise (expected 10 pages).

What shocked me in the US were questions some Americans asked me when they saw Polish laborers reading newspapers during lunch breaks: are they really capable of reading? :) (the newspapers had very few pictures, and yes, those Polish laborers, were actually reading the text)



I went to Wroclaw University to study English Philology. The University was on the lower scale among Polish universities offering that degree. I later had a chance to study approximately the same at Vanderbilt (USA) and Brock(Canada). In both cases it was a walk in the park compared to Poland. Strangely, on both sides of the pond my profs. were either Brits or Americans.

Again, the studens in North America were eager to discusss and "solve problems" but many had fairly low degree of knowledge on the topics they were supposed to discuss.

When I was in a secondary school in Poland I always had problems with math. About the highest I ever achieved in math there was at a level of a mild imbecile. In Canada I did much much better at a university level while enrolled in computer science.


I still can't see how you can analyze anything unless your brain has all, or most of the material to be analyzed available without having to google while you're discussing a given topic.

Could you offer some examples?

I was thinking of preparing for a discussion ahead of time - obviously when called up for an impromptu debate, if you don't have the required information, you're baked. Still, discussions are only one reason why you'd want to analyze a topic - most real-world situations would call for writing a report or giving a prepared presentation.

Let me stress this again - I'm not for abolishing rote memorization of selected facts. I just thing the Polish system puts too much emphasis on it.