Education, Education, Education

Recently I was commenting on how things are not always worse in Poland as they are in other EU states (namely the UK). It is true that wages are higher and the relative cost of living is lower however the UK has it's problems (last time I gave the example of street violence). It would now also appear that the Polish education system is in a better condition than it's British equivalent. A report published by the International Student Assessment Programme ranked countries in terms of the educational performance of 15 year olds in reading and maths tests. The UK, perhaps not surprisingly, was among a group of countries ranked as average in both maths and reading. What might surprise some people though was that Poland was in the top 10 countries in the world in terms of reading, putting it above average. In fact the only EU states above Poland were Finland and Ireland. So like I said before, the idea that everything in the UK works better than Poland is far from true.

Polish people

I noticed that one of the comments on my blog asked that I write more about my views of Polish people. This is will inevitably lead to generalisations based on my personal experiences, so if you disagree with anything I write on this subject, feel free to let me know.

Having only lived here for 3 months, I'm not yet in a position to give a detailed analysis of how Polish think on every issue. However on one issue, the future of Poland, I have some initial impressions that are worth highlighting. When it comes to the present state of Poland and the future of Poland, I find Polish people quite pessimistic and disillusioned. This is something I have noticed in all the generations. In very few countries do people love their politicians but in Poland people really don't have faith in them. Not only do people not like the current bunch but no-one (at least no-one I have met) has concrete ideas, that they are desperate to bore you to death with, about how to change the situation. No-one talks passionately about politics, about what Poland must do to change the situation. Most people seem to accept that this is how things work in Poland, like it is some law of nature that can't be altered. It is probably not surprising that many people feel this way, particularly the older generation. After all, Poland has a pretty brutal history. I would however, expect young people to be a little more passionate about the future of their country.

On this very point, I had a conversation class with a business man last week. This guy has a very good job, he is the regional manager of a huge supermarket chain. He is a man I would expect to take an interest in Politics and have opinions on the future of Poland. However when we got onto the topic of Politics he had little positive to say. It ended up with me convincing him that not everything was so bad. The geographical location of Poland (in between Germany and Russia) which has been a curse for Poland for hundreds of years, can now be seen as an opportunity. European Union membership has made Poland a key state in linking Eastern Europe and Western Europe. Poland is in the unique position of being both a Western EU state and an Eastern European state and can surely combine these two sides of itself to become a gateway economically and politically between the business's of the EU and the vast market of Eastern Europe. Poland also has a large, young, educated labour force ,most of whom are currently abroad but many of whom plan to return. Upon returning, this generation will surely bring new ideas and practises back to Poland as well bringing new skills (e.g. language skills) which will be attractive to any business looking to invest in a country.

Like I said, it's impossible not to make generalisations about a whole people but my initial impressions are that I am more enthusiastic about Poland than most Poles. Then again, there might be a whole community of young, politically active Poles with lots of ideas and enthusiasm that I just don't know about.

Update

I have been asked by work to run a conversation/debate class once a week. The debate is of course in English and I chose the topic. This is completely voluntary so all those who attend come of their own accord and usually have something to say. So this is a great opportunity for me to get the views of some more Poles. It's a bit like the BBC show Question Time, with me playing David Dimbleby. The class has only been running for two weeks but already we have spoken and debated the topics of Climate Change and Immigration/emigration.

I chose climate change because it's one of the most talked about topics at the moment. That discussion went well and a good debate started between an older more cynical man and a younger, less cynical girl. Although that was good, the second topic was much more interesting and relevant. The topic of immigration is one which effects Poland in a completely different way than it effects Scotland. So we had an interesting discussion about why young Poles are leaving in their thousands and what impact this is having on Poland. I was surprised to find out that Poland will probably have to start bringing in labourers from China and Vietnam to help them build the stadiums they need for Euro 2012. Most people in the class also admitted that they plan to leave Poland at some point in the future, with a quite a few saying they would like to settle abroad permanently. The most popular destinations, not surprisingly, are the UK and Ireland. The reasons? Money, it's that simple really. There is also a general feeling that life is easier in the UK and Ireland. That you can keep more of your money and things are just better. I suppose this is what my blog is all about, comparing life in Scotland with that in Poland. My gut instinct is that some people have too idealistic an impression of life in the UK. Sure, wages are higher and relatively, the cost of living is cheaper. Many things are also easier and less frustrating, see my article on queueing theory. However, not everything is rosier in the UK or should I say, worse in Poland. One thing which is certainly not rosier and arguably worse in the UK is the level of street violence. Krakow has it's bad parts but it's got nothing on Glasgow when it comes to serious crime. It is slowly beginning to become noticed here the number of Polish people killed or seriously injured in violent assaults in the UK. A feeling of safety is something that you really appreciate when you have it and I certainly have more of it here than I did in Glasgow.