The students began the meeting with standard questions: what does the minister’s work involve, and where does she get her ideas for changes? Then the questions became more interesting.
“Do you think education is efficient? Parents pay quite a lot for it,” one of the students asked.
Joanna Kluzik-Rostkowska replied that teachers effectively pass knowledge on to students, as shown by various rankings, but that a weak point is that schools cannot cope with the most talented students. “We do not know how to deal with talent,” the minister said. “The education system also has problems introducing soft skills and adapting to the new labour market. Today, a teacher should step out from behind the lectern, stop pretending to be infallible and allow students to learn how to cooperate with one another rather than compete. It is now worth teaching young people to take risks and draw conclusions from failures.”
The students applauded the question of “why the matura exam is passed with a score of 30%, while a vocational exam must be passed with 70% to count as passed.” The minister replied that she did not know and would have to consult someone competent.
Kluzik-Rostkowska spoke at length about the matura exams. First, she argued that this year’s mathematics exam would not be difficult and appealed to future graduates to read texts, word problems and all instructions carefully and with understanding. Second, she said that the matura exam must carry weight and cannot be too easy, because it also serves as an entrance examination for university. “We cannot educate you merely for show,” she told the students.
The students asked why they could not specialise. They asked: why do chemists and physicists need to read set texts, and why does someone who wants to become a translator need advanced mathematics?
“A person who wants to obtain secondary education is required to acquire a specific intellectual package,” the minister said, admitting that she also disliked reading some of the compulsory texts, but did not reveal which ones.
After meeting with the students, Joanna Kluzik-Rostkowska was invited to refreshments organised by ZSOiZ at Komuny Paryskiej.
During her visit to Bolesławiec, the education minister visited two upper-secondary schools (ZSOiZ and ZSM) and toured Zakłady Ceramiczne Bolesławiec.
