Liviu Dragici is a teacher from Ploiesti who uses an innovative method to make students learn. He gives them only five points a year: a maximum score of 12, a reward of 10 in the catalog and a trip to the sea for two nights at his own expense.

In an interview with Radio Romania Actualitàtî, Professor Dragici explained why he resorted to this assessment method and what results his students obtained. Liviu Dragici, Professor of Economic Sciences at “Virgil Madgearu” College of Economics, Ploiesti

“I graduated from high school between 2000 and 2004, but ordinary students are different from us. They are much more tech-savvy, born with gadgets and ready for social media, and less reserved than we are.

They are much more relaxed, but it is true that sometimes the line between soullessness and disinhibition is quite thin. But they also have a big drawback: they literally stop being hungry.

During the 1990s and 2000s, with the inflation that existed and the opportunities that existed then, we didn’t have the money to satisfy our desires. Then we had to look for a solution: some sold the projects, others installed the software, and they lack the motivation to pull for them and do something additional,” says the professor.

I emphasize respect, shirt and presence

“My students get five points a year. The maximum score is 12, the reward is 10 in the catalog and a trip to the sea for two nights, at your own expense. This summer there were five students who received 12 points.

As a teacher, it frustrates me that at first they are very motivated, but then they become demotivated along the way, many get lost along the way. With this scoring, I’ve given the student the freedom to choose what to do and how much to do, because not all of us are good at everything, but I want to hold them accountable for the choices they make.

There are about 20 items that need to be ticked off for a student to get a full mark: I give one point for attendance, one point for clothing (many students bring a shirt in their bag and only wear it in my accounting class).

Another point I give for respect (I don’t want a student to say “kiss my hand” when he sees me, respect is about punctuality, let’s call when needed, the school should have a good atmosphere: I don’t want it to be like in a church, but not like in a stadium)

Final year students come to me and ask what they should do, where to do it, and whether accounting would be the best solution for them. I answer them with a question: how are your clothes in the closet?

Not expecting such a question, everyone looks very surprised. But I tell them, “If your clothes are messy and disorganized, maybe in terms of color or size, then it’s good to try something more dynamic, like marketing.

If you are the meticulous type, then you can succeed in accounting. But this does not mean that a good accountant does not have neatly arranged clothes, but if you are more organized and meticulous, the chances of keeping accounting at the best level are much higher.

I often send students to the bank to ask about a loan. I’ll create teams of three people, they don’t know each other, and I tell them that when they’re hired, they won’t know the colleagues they’ll be working with, and it’s a good exercise.

Everyone has a hypothetical case: they have a certain advance, they request a certain amount from the bank for a certain period, then we centralize the data and see what the impact is. I help them see the big picture and apply for loans only when they need them,” explains Professor Dragici.

I was cheated by students during the pandemic

“To make sure they were paying attention, at the end of the lesson everyone had to answer a short question and I always got the answer right. It wasn’t until the end of the year that they told me that they were actually playing a strategy game during class, and whoever knew the answer was broadcasting it over headphones so all the students could hear it, including the questioner. I appreciate their creativity,” Liviu Dragici smiles.

When asked what he would change now, in the Romanian school, the teacher answered: “I don’t know what exactly is missing in the Romanian education system, but I will say that it has more.

He has a lot of papers that I consider unnecessary. Education turned into a pursuit of papers, became a kind of theory of forms without content. I would first cut off everything unnecessary and then build on solid foundations,” said Liviu Dragici.

At the age of 37, Liviu Dragici worked for a corporation for eight years before becoming a teacher in 2016. He simultaneously studied management and pedagogy at the University of Oil and Gas in Ploiesti, then obtained a master’s degree in management and school counseling and career development. . He owns a cafe-library and is a co-founder of the Ai Carte Association. In 2021, he received the title of MERIT professor.