As “unfair”, “inhumane”, “cruel” and “unreliable” he characterized the system higher education with the method of Panhellenic the Emeritus Professor of Linguistics and former Rector of the University of Athens, George Babiniotisproposing its radical overthrow, with a decisive role in the introduction, the High Schoola proposal which “coincides” with those planned by governmentchanges.
Speaking on the First Program of Hellenic Radio, Mr. Babiniotis noted that “Already since 2009 when we held the national dialogue on Education, I have been saying that this system with the Panhellenic women is no longer working. It’s unfair, it’s inhumane, it’s cruel, it’s unreliable.”
“You can’t judge a child in a 3-hour exam that something can happen. However, we should look at the potential that a child has in his three years of performance and his high school performance. This is how all of Europe works. This is how large universities operate abroad. In other words, they ask you for your high school diploma and your grades in the last classes of the Lyceum, in the three classes of the Lyceum. So there they have an image of you and the schools which have a very limited number and cannot open it and do an additional examination in some subjects, if necessary. In most schools you don’t need this and the way you enter the university is your identity, as shown by the academic, let’s say, high school diploma.”
“So what I propose is to have an admissions system based on the high school diploma, which will be based on the overall performance of the student in the three years of high school.”
Topic Bank upgrade
“It is a fact,” he continued, “that a high school has been disused and all the courses, you know, of the Lyceum no longer count, that is, no one counts them, they look at when they will be absent, how they will read something more to take exams. So those of us who have an understanding of what is happening in education, we are living this thing and it is the worst thing that has happened to us. Now one will say yes, but there will be pressure on the professors to give marks etc. There is the safety valve called subject bank. So there, from time to time in the school they are given the same with correction by the teachers, subjects from the subject bank for which objectively you now have a grading. That is, if the professor has put 19 and in the exam with the subjects from the subject bank, he goes to 14 from there and then there will be an intermediate grade and then again. So, we are talking about a parallel upgrade of the theme bank, which must be something substantial for justice to exist. And I think that the Lyceum will be set up again educationally in this way. Therefore, in order for there to be a resurrection of the Lyceum, decisions must be made which may have a reaction from some people who profit from the current system, but the government, the Ministry of Education, must venture into this solution, which will be for the good of of the students themselves and will slowly lead to the abolition of entrance exams”.
Finally, when asked if he sees immediate changes being made in the education system and in the way students are evaluated, Mr. Babiniotis emphasized that “anchorages and distortions that have created some interests, some people who have become comfortable in this way or earn money must be overcome. These, if you have the courage to overcome them, you can provide solutions. Otherwise you stay in the establishment and go through what you go through, that is, you have three years lost from education. And we are all constantly told that it is a question of education or a question of education that. Which education? An education that actually stops at high school? An education that has now ceased to have character and training? Because, when you talk about forms of behavior, about values, about rules, about principles, you are considered right-wing, conservative, Juntic and I don’t know what else. In other words, when will the teacher be freed to do both his education and his lesson and have a comfort and a respect from the people but also a good salary? That is, to be able to stand in society without having to have two or three jobs? (…). School is not just information and knowledge. School is also education. It is a way of life, behavior, education, character. And that second piece is lost.”
The above statements coincide with the information that is beginning to see the light of day, according to which the new University admission system will provide for the following:
- Establishment of the so-called National or Academic Baccalaureate
- For the determination of the grade of the High School, the grades of all 3 classes of the Lyceum will be added together, with a special rate per class.
- Establishment of written promotion exams from class to class for the entire High School, with a selection of subjects from the Subject Bank of graded difficulty.