Recently, a large number of very troubling reflections regarding the future of the educational system in our country have appeared in the media and online. It is being said that the curriculum is too extensive or demanding, and that it should be cut in half. The mandatory mathematics graduation exam for students of grammar schools, technical schools, and lyceums has been postponed indefinitely. There are discussions about abolishing multi-year grammar schools. And, last but not least, there is talk that even graduates without appropriate pedagogical training might be allowed to teach.
We Czechs have repeatedly shown that we are a talented and capable nation. Most recently, these qualities manifested during the coronavirus crisis, when women promptly began sewing protective masks in response to the state’s catastrophic unpreparedness regarding protective equipment, research institutions started producing respirators and other protective gear, and many scientific facilities quickly shifted to testing, among other initiatives.
In some areas, our scientists have achieved global success, yet it is alarming that we have too few highly skilled craftsmen and technicians. There is very little interest in many technical fields, which means that unfilled positions have to be taken by foreigners, delivery times are extended, or companies refuse orders. Technical universities experience high dropout rates because students are not adequately prepared, particularly in physics and mathematics, and secondary school teachers of these subjects complain that incoming students struggle with material from the upper grades of elementary school. The long-discussed and postponed mandatory mathematics graduation exam had to be deferred indefinitely as a result.
These abilities and achievements, however, do not fall from the sky; they reflect the overall level of education of the nation. Czech students have always been among the European leaders in mathematics and other science subjects. Unfortunately, this level has dropped sharply in recent years, and Czech children continue to decline in international PISA comparison tests compared to children from Scandinavian countries, the best of which is Finland. Are they becoming less intelligent? If not, then what is happening? A similar decline has been observed in many other European countries and also in the USA.
At the top of the global rankings are East Asian countries, where education still strongly emphasizes diligence, responsibility, and personal discipline. If millions of Asian children achieve a very high level in mathematics (and beyond), there will inevitably be hundreds of thousands of exceptionally talented individuals among them, and possibly thousands of geniuses.
If they do not leave their countries, how can the Western world expect to maintain its priority in the future? China’s recent successes in science and technology are tangible results of Chinese leaders’ massive investments in education.
And how can the Czech Republic expect to advance among countries with higher educational standards without demanding more from its youth? Where will it find tens of thousands of highly qualified specialists to produce hundreds or thousands of scientists and inventors comparable to the global elite?
With the ever-increasing comfort of everyday life and the constant simplification of any activity, children have gradually stopped being led to fulfill reasonable and formerly obvious responsibilities at home. Moreover, children hardly ever receive homework, as schools are expected to teach them the material without burdening them (or, unfortunately, their parents) with work at home, even though not every child always fully understands everything in class and only grasps or clarifies it through independent work at home.
It seems that there is both a significant debt on the part of our pedagogical faculties in developing better teaching methods and a need to reflect on the general approach to children and youth.
Free higher education is one of the greatest achievements of modern times, yet not all countries enjoy this benefit.
What are the possible solutions?
Above all, all ideas to reduce demands on children or the volume of material must be rejected. Our goal must be to have a broadly and highly educated nation from which future top scientists, engineers, and experts will emerge – not to produce mere “factory specialists” for multinational corporations and retail chains.
All ideas to abolish multi-year grammar schools must be firmly rejected. These schools ensure quality education for at least part of the student population and partially compensate for the often lacking quality in elementary schools.
Focus should be placed on science education and making it engaging and attractive for children. For example, in physics, students should not just memorize formulas but also conduct quality laboratory work, various measurements and observations combined with field trips, and learn about scientific achievements worldwide. In biology, students could be introduced to the medicinal properties of various herbs.
I personally recommend testing for highly gifted children as early as the fifth grade, and that these children be educated in specialized classes. In other words, I propose a completely opposite approach to what seems to be officially promoted: leveling students’ abilities. Only in this way can we identify these children’s talent and fully utilize it for the benefit of the nation. Otherwise, this talent risks becoming the proverbial “buried treasure.”
Ing. Václav Janoušek, MBA
This article is part of the author’s graduate publication activity; the opinions expressed herein do not necessarily represent the views of the CEMI Institute.
