One of the big problems of Romanian pre-university education is the thinking behind the existing framework plans, which we will briefly define as compulsory subjects or subjects of study in public education.

If we expected to have open access to the scientific research and highly academic debates that led to the creation of the current framework plans, we would likely be surprised by what we would see: scientific support for the proposals that became the letter of the Law (which regulates the work slightly more than 200,000 teachers, as well as the student’s daily schedule, from preparatory class to the last year of high school) is weak, and in many moments of crossroads and reforms in the public education system, it is completely absent. In addition to the talk of a politician, tiresome by the redundancy of key words like flexibility, change or development opportunities, vague enough to tolerate any real meaning (or even none), we can find the whims of a politician who at some point began to impose on school frameworks what he saw fit to suit his humor and frustration at the time . childhood and secondary education. He did not like mathematics. The decision arises spontaneously, by itself: “I propose to reduce the number of hours in high school for all technical profiles” or “We diversify the types of the bachelor’s exam, because not all of us can understand mathematics, and it is also useless with such unrealistic requirements.” In the report card of someone who proclaims his misfortunes like this, we usually find small, disturbing grades in mathematics. Mr. Gow became the nation’s political representative.

If, on the contrary, we come to the opinion that students of the homeland can spend even half a day on physical education and sports classes, then we immediately discover the motivation: the deputy or senator spent a significant part of the time allotted for the school schedule in the yard of the educational unit, playing friendly football “with the boys” and accumulating passes and nerves in other classes. What does it matter that Romanian schools and gymnasiums don’t all have gymnasiums or, when they boast such marvels of modern technology, they already look shabby, poorly equipped at the level of 2005, when most of them were built? Do we somehow have free swimming pools, athletics stadiums, gyms available to students in our country? Of course not, they are just gold mines for the few of us who tend them. Where else to take into account the fact that they are so rare that their value increases in proportion to the demand for such places for recreation and health maintenance? No rational argument matters in the maelstrom of decisions inspired by political shrewdness.

Mr. Gow is tired of suppressing his psychological grievances: not only is there nothing wrong with smoking on the train and pressing the “alarm signal” when the mood strikes, but who has not done this at least once in his life, especially in Romania, is not a real politician. Being a fool is a virtue. Repeatedly remain the achievement of a novice carnivore. Corsetness and German correctness spoil the physique and doubts in the career. The rule-breaking and sovereign transgression of the law soothes deep emotional wounds, but also leaves us suspecting what kind of scum comes out of that same granny girl box.

How did the academic environment contribute to clarifying the real social demands when the framework plans were changed in Romania in the last decades? It seems that there were voices that were critical or articulated alternatives to the dominant opinions, but who took them into account? We do not believe that in practice there is much scientifically reasoned opinion for or against framework plans. Take a close look at the mock public debates surrounding a proposed new education law over the past year and mentally fill in the rest of the missing landscape. Civil society has been reduced to the corridors of the ministry and the activities of the few non-governmental organizations in the field of education that have accumulated enough symbolic and relational influence to have their say. Were there public consultations with trade unions? Were appropriate surveys conducted among teaching staff? In no case, mon cher, because this is how democracy goes on the edge of Europe, fence by fence with militant regimes that are not quite democratic. We decide, perhaps, with closed doors and a paid microphone at the entrance, but people are to blame.

How do Romanian students and teachers respond to these coercive political interventions? There is, however, a muted opposition, but also a reserved acceptance of the context. Silent protest is expressed in disturbing formulas: not all of us knew about the huge and uncontrolled fund of absenteeism in the last years of high school in Romania. “Unimportant” subjects, i.e. subjects without a final exam, from the Romanian student’s point of view, motivated only by limitations and nothing else, become those that lack or are not worked on to the proper quality and exacting standards. These subjects are not compulsory, but the Romanian high school student perceives them as a means of passing and obtaining high marks, sufficient to compensate for additional or immediate results in exam subjects such as Romanian language and literature or mathematics, the only subjects with which they can intimidate students, but especially parents, requirements and consequences. How else can we explain the high consumption of drugs and other similar activities, if not the lack of interest of Romanian high school students for at least half the hours included in the existing framework plans? When you skip class without an excuse (or find an easy legal excuse, not necessarily true, but in the literal and permissive spirit of the latter Regulations on the organization and activity of units of pre-university education), there is no doubt that a young man of 17 or 18 should spend his time and energy in such a way as to bring him pleasure, from which the libido no longer causes stress in itself (the Tate brothers, heroes of many Romanian teenagers, I can explain why).

Most teenagers succumb to the temptations of the neighborhood, the city, the nearest commune and become aces when it comes to betting on sports, billiards, competitive prices for alcoholic beverages, mechanical games and other activities related to the most serious entertainment. Why don’t serious, hard-working, applied high school students protest against the irrelevance of school subjects, an irrelevance that begins with the way these subjects are taught? It is known that we also have such people, despite the fact that they are a minority, only they consider the existing system – no matter how dysfunctional it is presented – convenient in many aspects. If we attended all classes and had to seriously prepare for each one, when would we have time to prepare for two foreign language exams or many thoughts about entering a medical, law or polytechnic faculty? When will we do physical education if we want to become policemen or gendarmes someday? The answer is not difficult to guess. Even undergraduates who go for higher education abroad do not attend the entire school schedule from the last years of high school, but the practice is so established that no one feels the unnaturalness and anomalies of the framework plan. Despite the fact that inspections on the territory can control and monitor these disturbing practices, which often threaten the health and physical safety of the Romanian student, nothing is done in this regard. Thus, and this practice has long been common among 8th grade students, it is not surprising that deliberate absenteeism contributes to a large extent to the “meditation industry”, the prosperity of private sports clubs, and the well-being of sports. gymnasiums, to the amount of alcohol and tobacco sales, etc. The dream of a Romanian politician, disillusioned with the opportunity to have fun as he wanted during his playful adolescence, came true: the framework plan was highlighted on paper and almost completely crushed in reality. Now any teenager can quietly, casually, metaphorically speaking, enjoy the benefits of a lambada during school hours, and the best place for that, of course, is not at school. The truth remains that we do not have the material base in the school to provide Romanian students with activities other than those provided for in the framework plan. What can you say when the facilities and facilities do not allow even what is in the school curriculum? Read the whole article and comment on Contributors.ro