An anecdote goes that, exasperated by the claims of intellectuality and worth exhibited by some Romanian newspaper intellectuals, Ion Luca Carajale, that consummate expert on Romanian morals, once asked them rhetorically: “What do you oxen know about Moten?” No matter how clever Carajale is – and no doubt that is the way things are going – a tough Romanian, and we do not lack a cheerful spirit, he would ask in reply: “But, please, what does Montaigne know about us?” I sat with him at the table?” The intellectual level of the answer itself would confirm the content of Caragiale’s question.The direct result of this way of thinking is the wide, if repetitive, range of social practices that respond.

A bad part of our Romanian customs, which, in fact, have nothing special (in general, do state affairs go better in Bulgaria, Paraguay or, what will happen, Russia?) unwittingly indulged in the way of functioning of some institutions in our state. If we look at education and the Ministry of Education, the connection between global culture and local ethos becomes clear. Let us not forget that the former Minister of Education, Daniel Funeriou, about whom, let’s say, we can afford any polite opinion in terms of his political activities or his public persona, he was criticized for not having a diploma of completion of the Bachelor’s examination in education system of Romania. Many people laughed more or less comically about this, calling the former minister not only the gallery names, but also accusing him of being a bad Romanian, in the incomprehensible meaning of “one of our own”. What else did it matter that Daniel Funeriu had a Nobel laureate in chemistry as his PhD thesis coordinator, or that he studied at institutions of far higher quality than the Romanian equivalents? ,,Who is this? Did he correspond with us in undergrad?” – that’s what it all boils down to. The ominous truth is that, in reality, it is not enough to have international recognition in Romania. For nothing you studied at Stanford, played in the Royal Shakespeare Company or won the World Cup, if the seal of the Ministry of Education does not approve you on a diploma obtained at the university in Crevedia, another at the summer theater in Mizil and, last but not least, one with the logo of the Football Federation Romania. Provincialism is not a big problem, but aggressive stupidity, camouflaged in a primitive nationalist discourse without practical substance, is frankly backward and laughable against the background of the glaring deficit shown by the experienced Romanian, who, often through combinations or through a financial scam, he ended up dealing with with and dictated laws, emergency orders, government decisions. A freed slave is always a better man, because he has received his right to dignity, but a slave who has suddenly taken the place of an evil master is always more cruel, more destructive, and fiercer in everything from resentment and thirst for revenge. There is no moral difference between this slave who has reached the top of his society and the half-doc who did not have time to graduate from high school at the right age because of proven intellectual incapacity, not because of poverty or psychosomatic condition, but who agglomerates with a duium of academic titles, chairs and books without readers only in a few years, as soon as he sees that he will be given a high government position. This is the state of Romania today.

But if we have clarified the recognition of the educational merits of those who have achieved all kinds of achievements or simply studied in other countries, then “we are not among ourselves” either. Well, only recently, in OM with n. 4224/06.07.2022. was regulated until now Framework methodology for ensuring the quality of programs of continuous professional development of pre-university teachers and the accumulation of transferable professional credits. What does the line of words just mentioned mean to an uninitiated person? The meaning of the above names is directly related to the poor ratio that exists in our country between the university and pre-university levels of national education. The problem is old, and as such will always be new. A middle and high school teacher must have an academic degree, not necessarily a bachelor’s degree. As things stand now, with the current shortage of students, a master’s degree may become necessary in a few years for pre-service teachers, at least in the high school teaching cycle. These studies are part of the effectiveness of teacher training. Academic degree, bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees are issued and certified by the university, which is a fundamental institution for higher education. However, due to the neglect and indifference from the top of the university environment as a whole in relation to their pre-university “colleagues”, bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees are based on exclusive on a series of European credits (ECTS – European Credit Transfer System), related to the Bologna system, valid in the member states of the European Union. Therefore, as an economic solution, pre-university teachers can attend courses, webinars, workshops, etc., but the obtained diploma must have a credit system that confirms real efforts and its official compatibility with the entire education system. As I said, our university system ignores de facto pre-university, as if a high school teacher lives in a different world, made according to completely different rules, than the one who teaches in a college. And in order for the chasm that artificially separates each other to have a name, a system was invented in the pre-university system kind of for the calculation of educational programs, systems ad hocwhich bears the name transferable professional loans. These CPTs have nothing to do with ECTS. Instead of looking for a form of harmonization of what is higher with what is lower in the hierarchy – as proof that we live in one country – we sought to widen the differences between educational cycles. We cannot say whether this division was intentional or whether it arose naturally, following the Brownian movement in the Romanian state, but we all know the result first hand.

The result is funny, sometimes absurd noir grotesque: Let’s say you got a Ph.D high praise at Babesh-Bolyai University. You teach philosophy at the most prominent school in Cluj-Napoca. In vain you were heard by a commission consisting of university professors, some of them really prestigious, and you published your work in a publishing house with national recognition. Needless to say, you are already receiving this doctorate allowance, which the whole society, from small to large, shouts that it is a “privilege”, although the final amount is 950 lei gross per month (minus 45% of contributions to the state, the final payment 500 lei, i.e. 100 euros per month). A happy European society where the “benefit” costs one hundred euros a month! We overcome all this. What is unusual is that the Ph.D./Master’s/Bachelor’s degree must be converted to CPT, i.e. high school/high school/kindergarten equivalent, etc. by a committee consisting of other teachers. Until a few years ago, this work was paid for by the houses of the didactic corps in each county of Romania. We can bet that none of the rectors of major universities in Romania knew that the diplomas they print are re-checked, according to a parallel work system, to meet the educational needs of pre-university teachers. If universities are not even engaged in teaching Romanian society, what can we say about the rest of the professions? Read the whole article and comment on Contributors.ro