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WHAT KIND of POLAND? Exploring the Role of the National Education

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WHAT KIND of POLAND? Exploring the Role of the National Education WHAT KIND OF POLAND? Exploring the Role of the National Education Reforms (1999-2015) in the Neo- colonialist Expunging of Polishness and the Production of a New European-Unionized Subject. By Julita Pacholczyk A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of Social Justice Education Ontario Institute for Studies in Education University of Toronto © Copyright by Julita Pacholczyk 2015 WHAT KIND OF POLAND? Exploring the Role of the National Education Reforms (1999-2015) in the Neo- colonialist Expunging of Polishness and the Production of a New European-Unionized Subject. Julita Pacholczyk Master of Arts Department of Social Justice Education University of Toronto 2015 Abstract This thesis examines the role of Poland’s post-communist national education reforms (1999-2015) in the reproduction of (neo)colonial relations within Polish society. By focusing on Polish literature education in public high schools in Poland, this study investigates how literary curriculum reform contributes to Poland’s neo-colonial subjugation through Western, European-Union-centered postmodern hegemonic constructions of nationality/citizenship, fracturing Polish society into an Enlightened colonial elite, and Poland’s backward internal Orient, demystifying the post-communist transformation as neo-colonial oppression versus independence, and the current III Republic as a neo-communist construct, rupturing continuity with the self-governing I and II Republics. In proposing a colonial view of Polish education and society, past and present, from the 19th century partitions, 20th century Nazism and communism, to present-day EU liberalism, this study inducts Poland/Central Eastern Europe into colonial discourse. In its call for decolonization, both educational and social, it propounds modernization based on indigenous Polish traditions versus imported Western models. ii Acknowledgments I would primarily like to extend a gracious thank you to all the anonymous Polish teachers who offered their generous time, openness, honesty, care and courage to share their thoughts and reflections on the situation in Poland despite the threat of sanctions, as well as openhandedly granted me the opportunity to speak with their students undergoing the education reform, whom I also thank for sharing their opinions. I am forever indebted to the devoted efforts of teachers like them in making me a proud Pole and dignified human being, which forms the basis for this work. A special thank you goes to my Thesis Committee, Professor Grace Feuerverger and Professor Njoki Wane for opening the gates for this project to manifest into reality and their complete trust in me and patience with the process, as well as to Prof. Rinaldo Walcott, contemporary Department Chair for facilitating the connection between us three. I would also like to thank all those professors from Poland whom I was in contact with throughout this project, whose work provided the foundation for this endeavor and who offered encouragement, wise counsel and guidance in the research process, as well as all those individuals from the various educational institutions I visited in Poland that kindly made available the many resources essential for this study. I owe gratitude to my former teachers and mentors Dr. Stanley Doyle-Wood, Dr. Paul Adjei and Professor Paul Hamel for laying the groundwork for the pursuit of justice in the academy, especially following my transition from the sciences. Thank you also to the staff at the Petro Jacyk Central and Eastern European Resource Centre for their bountiful help with ordering materials from Poland indispensible in this thesis. I would also like to thank the Canadian Polish Millennium Fund and the Wladyslaw Reymont Foundation, as well as OISE Student Services for financial support with this project. A loving thank you to my precious soul-sister Silmi whose shining example inspired me to aim higher and do for my country what your trailblazing courage propelled you to do for yours. I would also like to acknowledge Eugenio for his input and our intellectual discussions that contributed importantly to this work. Thank you Danielle for your groundbreaking strength and moral support, Debbie for your undying spirituality, Askari for your faith in me greater than I have in myself- they all sustained me on this journey, and all the unnamed others who have been my silent strength over the years, of which this thesis is a culmination. I am eternally grateful to Christine for fasting me forward light years in life knowledge and Akram for providing physical nourishment, iii political debate and words of wisdom and being my substitute family in Canada. To my family in Poland for being my endless Polish connection, my Mother - pioneer role model I always look up to and my Grandmother - the epitome of a resilient woman survivor whom I know supports this in spirit. To my sister for being the yin to my yang. To Peter, Anna, Mrs. Ewa, the Alex family and all other members of the Polish community for being the oil in my lamp and the light in my Polish path. Roma - for being my Eastern brother and fellow soulja. To Tupac Shakur who taught me the true meaning of sacrifice for your people. And finally I bow before God for bestowing the duty of this project onto me and making it all work out perfectly in the end, despite the hurdles, which only made me love You more. iv Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction ........................................................................................................ 1 A Bird’s Eye View ................................................................................................................... 1 Aims of the Study ................................................................................................................... .5 Personal Location .................................................................................................................. 10 Critical Sociology in Polish/CEE Context ............................................................................. 12 Theoretical Framework .......................................................................................................... 16 Methodology .......................................................................................................................... 23 Chapter 2: Theorizing (Post)colonial Poland .................................................................... 38 Post-colonial Theory in Poland - the Debate ......................................................................... 38 The Poor Cousin of Europe - Poland as Europe’s Other: (partitions, Nazism, communism, Western domination) ............................................................................................................. .47 From Backward Peasant to Mohair Grandma - Poland’s Internal Orient ............................. .66 Russia as the West - Poland as Space of Two Interlocking Colonialisms ............................. 76 Chapter 3: Re-formation or De-formation of education?. ............................................... 88 Part 1: The Education Reform Document - a CDA Analysis ............................................... .92 Part 2: Indigenous Voices of Resistance - the Interviews ................................................... .118 Chapter 4 - Towards Decolonization: Polish Indigenous Knowledge ........................... 171 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 188 v In honor of all those who sacrificed their lives for a free Poland. “Lest We Ever Forget About Them, May God in the Heavens Forget About Us”. Adam Mickiewicz (1798-1855), Poland’s greatest national poet. vi List of Acronyms: CEE = Central and Eastern Europe EU = European Union OECD = Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development UNESCO = United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization vii List of Tables Table 1. High school literature canon (1990 versus 2012) .................................................... 94 viii List of Figures Figure 1. Fairclough’s Three-dimensional model of discourse ............................................. 27 ix 1. Introduction: A Bird’s Eye View: I gripped the edge of my seat in nervous anticipation as I looked out the small window of my airplane getting ready to descend through the crisp winter clouds onto my homeland Poland. It had been nearly a decade since I had been back to my birthplace, and while the Internet and having my some of my relatives still there allowed me a line of connection to my people, I did not know exactly what to expect in a country that had been undergoing dramatic changes in the past time. And here I now was, putting my research travel plan into fruition and keen to discover what I would find. Already stepping foot at the airport in Warsaw the capital told me just how much had transformed since I had left. The city dazzled my eyes with the most modern infrastructure - a newly constructed state of the art international airport, shiny glass skyscrapers that have spurted throughout, expensive cars that filled the streets, all crowned with the biggest pride: a freshly built world-class soccer stadium just recently completed for the World Cup. I looked with great interest at people roaming the streets of the bustling capital who sported the latest Western fashions, fully equipped with up-to-date technologies, cell phones and gadgets, busy spending at the new gaudy
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