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.'.:::::::`. Petros Katiforis (Πέτρος Κατηφόρης)
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; | C ..\ Feel free to contact me! <pkatif@mail.com>
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\ | / \ This post was published on the 28th of August, 2023
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I only recently graduated from my local public high-school in Athens and all I have to say is that my experience was torturous. Although previous classes were in fact similarly disappointing, it all culminated quite brutally during the last unofficial year of mandatory education. The data is concerning: I was only one of the few (four?) students in my whole grade of a hundred pupils to not attend private lessons during the afternoon.
The situation is certainly complicated but I will attempt to summarize the important bits: Greek students need to attend exactly 12 years of mass education before being able to participate in the nation-wide exams that will in turn allow them to enter an underfunded public university based on their performance. Greek corporations have acknowledged the flaws of this reality and have invested in lucrative propaganda that further enlarges our country's disparity. The Greek ministry of education has identified these efforts and instead of investing on proper learning material, safe buildings and well-paid teachers among others it has since long ago accepted its shortcomings. Corruption mingled with listlessness and lack of innovation has practically turned education into a field of insidious investment and inhumane exploitation.
My family couldn't afford private lessons and that's why I had to search for free material online. I had to endure a whole year of forced studying in an environment of unfair advantages and overall wrath-inciting behavior. My classmates didn't pay attention during the public classes because they were simply propagandized to consider them inferior. They would usually make noise, chat with each other and straight-out scorn the teacher...
It was indeed a soul crushing experience. By carefully following my public teachers' advice, by studying some decades-old books that the ministry still refuses to update and by searching throughout the internet for all sorts of useful resources, I did miraculously manage to enter my preferred university. You do have to keep in mind though that my journey would have been considerable easier if my family had cash. What if my randomly assigned public teachers just weren't good enough? What if my living conditions were worse, inhibiting me from staying focused so as to study more effectively? This is nothing more than an official educational paywall that has relentlessly been filtering out the poor since the beginning of this nation!
Public Greek education should frankly stop being called "public". It's safe to say that what I described in detail earlier is here to stay. My parents some forty years ago were given the same exact high-school books and they both attended private lessons just like most of their friends and teachers! "Lucky" students dawdle up for about six hours at the public school, then take a quick lunch break just so they can then start their private lessons schedule which in most cases occupies some additional five to six hours of their free time! That leaves about three hours for them to complete their homework (both public and private), have dinner and meet with their friends. Doesn't this sound barbaric?
Making a change would require brave investments followed by strict state regulations. However, with the private lessons industry being such profitable, a law that would impose further taxes on them or restrict their working hours would be met with severe criticism and pressure.
The solution is a complete overhaul of public education that is bound to be expensive. The only way to exterminate private agents is to gradually improve public facilities with plans to serve all students regardless of wealth, status and special cognitive abilities.