"School – whenever I think of you, my eyes fill with tears..."
Julian Tuwim
Introducing young people to the objectively existing cultural, social and economic reality is an obvious duty of the adult generation. The responsibility of parents, teachers, priests, politicians and people of goodwill. Also that of the state and the professional institutions it has established.
A child-friendly school plays a special role in the process of education and upbringing. This is where childhood and youth pass, character is shaped, knowledge is acquired and views are formed. Are there still schools filled to the brim with love for children, whose memory years later brings a tear of emotion to the eye? In the complicated world of change and political transformation, do they constitute an oasis of genuine peace – if not happiness – where a pupil feels safe and well? Does the slogan written many years ago at the entrance to one of Bolesławiec’s educational institutions, “Smile – you are among friends,” still have the power to make a difference, meaning more than a decorative accent in the ornamentation of a wall fresco? Does the harmonious educational triad – as in pre-war times: family – school – church – remain free of cracks and fissures and achieve its intended goals? Does pedagogical reflection rise to the heights of intellectual flight and gain full and universal civic rights in a democratic country?
It is difficult to answer such questions unequivocally. The facts seem to contradict the optimism essential to educational work. The reform of the education and upbringing system, equal to the challenges of the new twenty-first century, is still far from ideal. Cosmetic changes to the Teachers’ Charter are not enough. The concept of the child’s welfare as the highest value has been devalued, and there are also fewer Korczaks and Siłaczkas. The drab, gray austerity of indebted schools has replaced the wealth of colors so beloved by children. Grayness and blandness kill the joy of life and enthusiasm, thwart progress and lead to stagnation. Children have no decision-making voice, yet their rights—ennobled even by a UN resolution—must not be taken away. These are genuine human rights and true civil liberties that must be honored and respected. Let us not quote them all—the document is exceptionally extensive. Let us mention the right to love, respect, freedom of expression, and psychological and physical safety.
Meanwhile, children are besieged by anxiety, psychologically destructive fear and school stress. They are exposed to aggression from their peer environment, negative television education based on a cult of strength, violence and rape, and loneliness in a world of adults who have no time for them. The lack of friendship, warmth, a range of tender feelings and ordinary interest in the great problems of little people takes a cruel toll and leaves them scarred. Temptations lurking all around are an easy barrier to cross. Sometimes there is no longer any way back to those closest to them: the process of going off the rails leads to terrible, truly unbelievable devastation. It is worth realizing this, considering it and analyzing it within the family on this beautiful, sunny and festive day, when we recognize all children as important, as ours and as loved. When we embrace them on the International Children’s Day. Let us always love them and not be ashamed to show them every day this wonderful and essential feeling. Also in our local-government schools
An old educator, a holder of the children’s “Order of the Smile”
P.S. Below I present the dramatic consequences of the lack of educational care for children on the part of adults. We all—adults—share responsibility for this gloomy picture of contemporary Poland. This is an exceptionally serious warning: things may get even worse.
Criminal acts committed by minors
Police statistics
In 1995, minors committed:
26 homicides,
166 rapes,
1,104 fights and assaults,
2,205 bodily injuries,
7,790 robberies,
25,413 thefts, -28,810 break-ins.
Central Statistical Office data
According to the Central Statistical Office,
On September 20 of the previous year, 11,345 children were not fulfilling their compulsory schooling obligation. Of these, 9,300 did not attend school with the consent of the educational authorities (deferments and exemptions). 2,064 children were absent from classes without cause.
Under the Education System Act of September 7, 1991, primary education is compulsory. A child is required to attend school from the age of 7 until completing the eighth grade or reaching the age of 17. For young people held in prisons and correctional institutions, juvenile detention centers, and rehabilitation and care facilities, the upper school-age limit is 18.
According to Article 18 of the Act, parents must enroll their child in school and ensure that the child can attend classes regularly and prepare for lessons.
Protecting children in schools
From the next school year, 5,500 unemployed people will find work protecting primary schools. The entire undertaking is to be organized jointly by the police, employment offices and the fund for the rehabilitation of people with disabilities, which is to finance the training of future security guards. From September, today’s unemployed people will watch over the safety of pupils at more than 3,500 primary schools (IM, PAP)
A Leap Toward Death
On April 2, “Gazeta Robotnicza” reported: “Yesterday, during a mathematics lesson, a fifth-grade pupil jumped from a first-floor window at Primary School No. 15 on Chojnowska Street in Legnica.
‘How did this happen? We investigated the matter together with the parents in front of the entire class,’ says Ewa Tyrkowska, principal of No. 15. ‘During the break, the boy kicked a female classmate hard. At the beginning of the lesson, the girl was crying. The teacher shouted at the pupil and then entered a reprimand in his school diary. When she began reading a mathematics problem, she looked at the boy after a moment. She was shocked. He took a step forward and fell down.
According to the principal, the eleven-year-old’s act was not proportionate to the punishment he received from the teacher. Yesterday afternoon, after a complicated operation, the boy was in serious condition at the Surgical Hospital on Murarska Street; he had suffered severe injuries to his arms, legs and vertebrae.
At the age of several or a dozen years, receiving a failing grade, being shouted at by a teacher and getting a note in one’s school diary are the most tragic events in a pupil’s short life. Some cry to their parents, others begin skipping school, and in the end there are those like the boy from Legnica who no longer want to live. The stress and injustice he experienced at school, together with his parents’ lack of patience, mean that young people increasingly turn to other forms of help.”