A new scandal is taking place in the education system, this time at a college in Buzau, where a Romanian language and literature teacher is accused of illiteracy. We are talking about a conflict between the teacher, students and parents, which escalated the other day with the resignation of the high school management, which could not fire the teacher. This is supported by the County Inspectorate, although he does not speak Romanian correctly and considers the poem “Luceafărul” to be Romanian, the students claim.
Romanian students, the first in Europe in terms of functional illiteracy. Photo source: Shutterstock
The story, in short: a Romanian language and literature teacher, who teaches at the “Bogdan Petriceicu Hașdeu” College in Buzău, is accused by students and parents of not being sufficiently well prepared. This is the reason why they asked the management for the resignation of the teacher. But things are not simple at all. The headmistress complained that she has no control over how hiring is done in the school, nor over possible dismissals. Thus, as a sign of protest to the School Inspectorate, an institution that she considers guilty of everything that is happening, the director submitted her resignation.
“For almost a month I had to look into the eyes of students and parents who could no longer tolerate the situation in the classroom: the fact that a teacher of Romanian Language and Literature is unable to support the class. I'm not saying at a high level anymore, it's about serious errors, confusions between terms, disagreements, which is absolutely inadmissible. I did some research and it turned out that everything the parents and students said was true“, said the director, according to EduPedu. This, given that the teacher has a doctorate in philology.
Even more serious is the fact that it also teaches students from the twelfth grade, who are preparing to take the Baccalaureate and need a competent teacher, they say. “We don't have an opinion on her in class, we're not special (with double quotes), the world doesn't revolve around us, if we tell her something she ignores us, she doesn't want to talk to us, she told us it's not the dictionary ours, that he doesn't want to hand us over, let's search for ourselves. He took care of certain children, made them incompetent, because he didn't care about us, he also addressed a lot of insults to us”. It is the statement of a student who studies at that college and who is dreading the summer exam. “For the lady, “Luceafărul” is a novel. And many other mistakes like this that are not accepted. We give the Romanian Language and Literature Baccalaureate and we should have good knowledge“, said the student. The teacher is also accused of dictating to the students comments she found on the Internet.
The parents, in turn, are also outraged. “It is not possible to have a Romanian language teacher for whom Eminescu's “Luceafărul” is Romanian, not a poem. It is not admissible for a Romanian language teacher who claims to be a doctor in philology to always express himself with «which», instead of «which»… The Romanian language teacher does not speak grammatically correctly: «The work we are learning today». I signed a memorandum to be changed. Change is the only solution. It is not worthy of the “Hașdeu” College. It is not expressed correctly, it is no exaggeration. It is not possible for us to end up having discussions about something like this at a prestigious high school…” are just some of the complaints of parents who insistently demand the teacher's resignation.
The anomaly that proves the rule
What is happening these days is an exception, say many education specialists. An anomaly, an unfortunate slip that, however, confirms the rule. How did it end up in such a situation? What should be done from now on so that such blunders no longer exist? These are questions that several voices in the system have tried to answer.
“You, as a teacher, cannot afford to go in front of the students and make a laughing stock. A little more self-respect is also needed. The job of a teacher forces you to improve yourself, to learn all your life. Things change. You have to keep up. It's a job that keeps you connected to an ever-changing genre of reality“, is the opinion of Ruxandra Achim, Romanian language teacher at “IL Caragiale” College in Bucharest. However, there is another aspect that the teacher emphasizes. “Dit often happens that a certain observation you make to a student is misinterpreted. Therefore, many teachers withdraw, preferring to remain in a neutral zone. We handle our discipline, we teach, hello, goodbye. Because nowadays any gesture could lend itself to tendentious interpretations. And then, good intentions could be perceived as bad intentions. I tell you from my own experience. I, for example, tried to repress certain forms of involvement, simply human. Because I'm afraid it might be badly receivede”, Prof. Ruxandra Achim confessed to us.
The bottom line is sad: we operate in a sick system that no one in 30 years has really tried to revive. “Not that he was perfect before, but now he seems to be sick of everything“, said the teacher.
The teaching job has nothing to do with what happens, most of the time, in the education system today. “I'm not saying I'm going to work. I say I go to school. And for me it is a very important nuance. Because it's not just to be ticked off, so, he says, it's more than that. It is a permanent collaboration with each generation, a mutual discovery, a matter of vocation. You have to keep in mind that there are people in the classroom, not just a list of namesProf. Ruxandra Achim also declared.
The teaching profession, on the verge of extinction
Eugen Ilea, representative of the National Federation of Parents' Associations in Pre-University Education from Bucharest, believes that such a conflict would not have existed if the education system had not faced a shortage of human resources. “It's a problem that we parents have reported almost every year. We don't have enough teachers. The chair is no longer attractive. The job itself is no longer in demand, and the teachers who will retire tomorrow or the day after tomorrow will no longer be able to be replaced. Even now we have, if we look at the statistics, several thousand unqualified people working in the education system. This should not happen“, said the father.
How should it be done? Students coming out of college who want to work in the pre-university system should do more practice. “Moreover, that institution of mentoring should work. Young people should be able to work alongside older, experienced people and learn from their knowledge. And then, when the time comes, to be able to replace them“. On the other hand, such a job must be remunerated accordingly. “Here's another way the state could make it more attractive.”
The father brings up another aspect: the teaching job should be reinvented. A chemistry graduate, for example, is first and foremost a chemist. Even if he goes into education and ends up teaching at school. “Being a teacher means much more than that.”
Indeed, the teaching job means, above all, passion. “If you don't have passion, you'll never get it right“, explains Sorin Hoară, vice-president of the Federation of Parents, who is also a university professor in Arad. But the system has reached a point where the offer to be a teacher is just a job offer. And so. “There are teachers who come to class, teach the lesson and leave. True teachers are, unfortunately, fewer and fewer“. And for the same reason: “The teaching profession is no longer attractive. No one really crowds anymore. Those who will realize that it is a lukewarm job will probably do it. But who do not necessarily have a calling for it. Once you're in the system, the system can't get you out.” says Sorin Hoara. And the workplace becomes convenient, comfortable. As for passion, dedication… these have become more and more abstract notions.
Sorin Hoară admits one thing and does so with regret: “If I could change something in this country, to make it better for us, I would focus on education. Because this is where everything starts. If we want to have a beautiful future for our children in 20 years, we must reevaluate the education system”.
A system, we say, that will educate our children, raise them nicely, make them human. And teachers for whom school isn't just a job, and students aren't robots to deliver dry information to.
“Teachers can be guillotine teachers, who clip the wings of students, and springboard teachers, who help students reach high, very high. Teachers can be teachers-wind, for whom the teaching career is just a stopover to another career, and teachers-sun and earth, who know that the “job” of teaching is the path of their lives and warm the hearts of many generationsi”, is the message posted on Facebook by university professor Ovidiu Pânișoara, and which fits like a glove to the desperate situation in which Romanian education is.
