THE INFLUENCE OF SOCIALIST IDEOLOGY

ON SOJ\/lE ASPECTS OF

EDUCATION IN POLAND

CHRISTINE NASH Master of Education 1975.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I wish to express my gratitude to all those people who encouraged me to study for my Master of Education Degree.

I would also like to express my appreciation to Professor L.M. Brown, Dr. Rae Boyd, Professor Jerzy Zubrzycki, Dr. J.J. Smolicz, Professor George Z. Bereday and to all those people both in Australia and Poland who wish to remain nameless but who gave me invaluable help in the course of my research.

Finally, my heartfelt thanks go to my parents, husband and friends for their devotion and patience.

(ii) SUMMARY

The hypothesis posed in this work is that discrimination exists in the Polish socialist system of education.

In the early chapters it is shown that all through the ages discrimination of one kind or another always assailed the Poles. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries it is demonstrated that due to the partition of Poland by Russia, Prussia and Austria the Poles suffered discrimination on national grounds in varying degrees.

It is pointed out that the Poles' aversion to anything Russian stems from this period.

With the coming of World War II and the "liberation" from Germany by Russia, Poland embarked on a new political system - that of socialism. Under this system there were promises of equality for all, which in effect meant the downgrading of the intelligentsia, the bourgeoisie and the gentry and the upgrading of the working and peasant classes.

It is true that no longer is there any discrimination on nationalistic grounds but class discrimination in educat­ ion continues to the present day only the roles have been reversed. Limited religious practice is permitted but policies of this nature can always be changed.

(iii) The purpose of the educational system in Poland is to build the model socialist man and to this end, certain beliefs, values, traditions and principles are sacrificed. Nevertheless the Polish spirit of individualism cannot be stifled and the policy of sovietization has yet to be a total success.

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(iv) TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE NO. Introduction 1-6

CHAPTER ONE Historical Influences on Education 7-18

CHAPTER TWO The Rise and Development of Socialism 19-27

CHAPTER THREE Socialist Ideology and Education 28-41

CHAPTER FOUR System of Education - 1945-1970 42-65

CHAPTER FIVE Secondary Education - Citizenship Training.. .. 66-89

CHAPTER SIX Discrimination in Education - 1950-1974 .. 90-111

CHAPTER SEVEN Reforms and the Future 112-127

CONCLUSION 128-132

REFERENCE LIST

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

( V) LIST OF TABLES

PAGE NO.

TABLE 1. Development of school network in Polish Territories 1944-1948 .. 45

TABLE 2. Schools in Poland 1937/38-1970/71 48

TABLE 3. Pupils and Students 1937/38-1970/71 .. 49

TABLE 4. Growth in the numbers of children of school-age 50

TABLE 5. Leavers and graduates 1937/38-1970/71 51

TABLE 6. Curriculum of Secondary Vocational schools .. 86-86a

TABLE..1,. Students of basic vocational school, general education secondary schools, secondary vocational and technical schools and institutes of higher education according to their social origin. .. 106

(vi) INTRODUCTION Among Australian students of comparative education there has recently been an awakening to the educational problems existing in the socialist countries. It is very difficult to maintain and develop an interest and enthusiasm in the face of such a dearth of literature on this subject in countries such as Poland, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania and others.

It was hoped that by undertaking this study into the educational scene in Poland some small contribution could be made to the knowledge or lack of it, available to most Australian students. The writer was privileged to have access to books and other documents which would be meaningless to Australian students unless they had some knowledge of the Polish language. The writer hopes to share the benefit of her knowledge by presenting translated excerpts from documents, books and magazines (not to be found on Australian library shelves) in the following chapters.

What do we actually mean by socialist education? One could simply answer that it is the type of education given within a socialist system, which of course leads us onto the next question as to what we mean by a socialist system. In defining this it is necessary to point out that there are about as many definitions of socialism as there are countries calling themselves socialist and in- -2- deed there are real differences between each and every one of these. Thus the definition offered herein can only apply to Poland as it is peculiar to the Polish system.

There seems little point in treading the well-worn path and going over the historical description of the various phases of socialist construction as Marx and Engels and later Lenin saw it. Rather let us examine what the socialist system means in Poland to-day. It is, to start with, a misnomer to speak about the socialist system in Poland. There are in fact three co-existing economic systems there. The dominant one is the socialist system but alongside this are two others: the small producer system and the capitalist system.

The socialist system is based on the nationalisation of property which can be divided into two types: state property and co-operative property. The former came into being as a result of the nationalisation of all industrial enterprise, banks, communication systems and those estates which were not parceled out to the peasants. The co­ operative property is a result of the union of individual proprietors who pool their individual means of production for their common good and work collectively. The various trade and artisan collectives still exist but the coll­ ectivisation of farming was a miserable failure in Poland. Only ten percent of the land still remains in collectives, -3- the rest is privately owned. This brings us to the second economic system that of the small producer. Here although workshops and farms are privately owned they are not allowed to employ wage earners so that there does not exist the exploitation of labour which was one of the principal causes or at least the catch cry of the revolutionaries. However there appears to be an increas­ ing tendency to turn a blind eye on the part of the government to private shops, factories and farms employing labour. The third system in Poland is the capitalist system, which refers to the existence of larger peasant farms, private trade enterprises and small industrial enterprises. Initially between 1948-56 there was a definite effort to stamp this system out but when Gomulka came to power he realised that it is necessary to maintain at least some degree of it to raise the standard of living. (1) With the coming to power of Gierek in 1970 there has been a further revival of it, as there exists the realisation that people achieve and work best when doing it for their own selfish good. It is this selfishness which Suchodolski. hopes will be overcome in the future socialist society and which Szczepanski hopes will be combated by his education­ al reforms which should result in the model socialist man. The question what is socialist education still needs to be answered. In a brochure published by the Red Pen Publications, Sydney, the following is given as the socialist ideal of education. Although the publication -4- is Australian, the model it provides very closely resembles that put forward by the Polish pedagogues: "A socialist education system would play an essential part in building socialist society and would reinforce its values." The Poles also have faith in the power of education to build up a new socialist society. The author of the aforementioned brochure continues: "It would promote: direct control by the people over their own environment and over the direction in which their society is to develop; abolition of all forms of exploitation so that the economy will serve human needs, not profits;

co-operation between people in place of anti-social competition; respect for human dignity and both the right and obligatim to perform socially necessary work;

maximum development of the individual's potential, sensitivity and taste, free of narrow job training and commercialisation;

social involvement as against isolation and loneliness. -5- Further it would encourage ability to apply critical analyses to traditions and ideas and to challenge bureaucratic tendencies. As such education would be continuous throughout life. Education would have changed its nature from one of conditioning human beings for restricted roles into one of freeing people to realise themselves in co-operation with their fellows."(2)

Professor Jan Szczepanski in an article entitled "Reflections on Education" sees education as teaching "the art of effective living" in which the school, family, place of work and the media all must co-operate if the system of education is to be truly effective in the development both of the personality of the Socialist Man and final shape of society as a whole. He concludes by making this important proviso: "In building a socio-political system one is not permitted to introduce divergences between the educational ideal of socialism and the practical activity of socialist institutions; the ideal that the school implants in youth should also be a directive for practical activity in collective life. I consider this to be a basic condition for success of the educational process of Man in a Socialist system." (3)

It is difficult to criticize the theory which is nothing if not praiseworthy but it is precisely because -6- divergences between theory and practice in the Polish educational system and the reality of the Polish socio-economic politic81 system do exist, that thus far this moulding of the socialist man has been less than successful. -7-

CHAPTER ONE

Historical Influences on Education. The purpose of this chapter is to elucidate the present system of education by viewing it through a historical perspective.

Poland has been linked closely with Latin Christianity and Western culture for over one thousand years. Ethnically the Poles are a Slavonic race. They were subject to various nomadic invasions from the Celts and Germanic tribes, but these were only transients, not enough to effect the ethnic character of the Poles. The Polish State came into being as early as 966 but the turning point for education was not till 1364, with the founding of the University of Cracow by the last king of the Piast dynasty - Casimir the Great. However when its founder died in 1370, it virtually ceased to exist but was re-opened in 1400 by King Wladyslaw Jagiello, who modelled it on the Paris Sorbonne.

It is worthwhile to point out that this University made a great contribution to the development of secondary and higher education in Poland from the fourteenth century through to the eighteenth and again from the second half of the nineteenth, to the present day. 150 years were virtually lost for progress in education as during this -8- time Poland was subjected to three partitions and domin­ ation and occupation by the foreign powers Russia, Prussia and Austria. (4)

The Lubranski College founded in 1519 in Poznan was also a centre of the humanities, as was Cracow University. The humanist traditions of the schools were upheld by the Protestants who founded their own schools in 1530. They accepted and taught the latest advances in science, particularly the natural sciences and developed a reputation for scholarship and progress. Very well known secondary schools were the Lutheran gymnasia and the Calvinist schools.

Of great influence and educational importance were the Jesuit schools founded in 1564. These unlike the Protestant schools were more interested in developing linguistic and rhetoric skills, good manners and turning out "Soldiers for Christ". Nevertheless it was the Jesuits who maintained a dominant position in secondary education from that period until the middle of the eighteenth century.

Some schools were founded by wealthy noblemen who did not approve of the overwhelming influence of the Jesuits. One such well-known nobleman, Jan Zamoyski, founded his own college in 1595. Its curriculum included the Polish -9- language, Polish History, Latin, Greek, rhetoric, moral philosophy, politics, economics and Polish common and private law; the students were also required to have some juridical courtroom practice and to know the formulas used in clerical work.

Swiecki writes: "The progressive current in education went hand in hand with a developing Polish educational theory." (5) An early example of this is to be found in the treatise by Szymon Maricius of Pilzno (155l)"De Scholis Seu Academiis". In the same year the work of Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski was published: "De Republica Emendanda" and Erazm Gliczner's "Books on Child Education" 1558. Modrzewski was the most daring progressive of these, advocating a State school system of education accessible to all irrespective of social background and economic position.

In this early historical background to the contemporary system of education in Poland of tremendous importance during the period of enlightenment is Father Stanislaw Konarski. He founded the Collegium Nobilium in 1740. This was similar to the schools for knights in most of western Europe at the time. The important step taken in this school was the placing on an equal footing of the native language with Latin and the inclusion in the syllabus of modern rationalist philosophy, the natural -10- sciences, history of Poland and the world, geography, mathematics, geometry, economics and both international and home law.

In the history of Polish education the date 1773 is very significant. It was then that the Commission for National Education was founded by a group of progressive gentry. The funds of this institution were derived from the now banned Jesuit order. The purpose of the Commission was to set up a uniform system of education throughout the nation, covering every stage of education. Under the supervision of this Commission emphasis was placed on mathematics and natural sciences. Both Cracow and Vilna Universities were reformed along these lines. At this time secular moral instruction was introduced in secondary school. In 1780 the Commission for National Education founded a school at Cracow University training teachers for secondary schools.

A glimmer of light began to shine for education in the central provinces of Poland with the setting up of the Warsaw Duchy l807and the appointment of the Chamber of Education under S. Potocki. It was regarded as essential that every town, townlet and even village have a school. The school Act of 1807 proclaimed that not a single child, irrespective of his background or religion, can be barred from receiving education. In fact school attendance was -11- made compulsory. Very prominent during this period was the great scholar Stanislaw Staszic. It was due to his efforts that primary schools were set up in towns with the purpose of training pupils in crafts and commerce, virtually vocational schools. He also instigated the establishment of Sunday schools where general knowledge and rudimentary instruction in various fields could be taught to future craftsmen. He trained teaching staff for the first Technological Institute in Warsaw which was founded in 1826. Warsaw University was founded in 1816 and played an important part in the advancement of education in Poland.

Unfortunately such attainments as: compulsory education, universality of primary education, teaching of Polish in school, closer ties between school and the community, and the adjustment of the syllabi to the economic and polit­ ical needs of the country, were all lost with the fall of the 1831 uprising. Tsarist Russia embarked on a complete plan of Russification and did away with all the above positive features. Illiteracy rose to such an extent that a course set up for illiterates could not cope with the numbers in 1876.

Galicia which was under Austrian domination in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries achieved some progress in education. The Austrians allowed Polish to be -12- used as the language of instruction and allowed the setting up of a National School Council in 1867 which attempted to expand primary school networks. As a result there was a noticeable drop in illiteracy - from seventy­ seven percent in 1880 to sixty-seven percent in 1890 and to almost nil in the beginning of the twentieth century.

In 1918, when Poland regained her independence she was faced with what appeared to be an insurmountable problem of developing a uniform system of education out of three separate systems which had existed in the former Russian, Prussian and Austrian occupied parts of the country.

The difficulties with which the Polish authorities had to cope in 1919 included the following: ninety percent of all primary schools had only one classroom and one teacher, six percent consisted of two classrooms, an even smaller percentage were three and four grade schools and two percent were fully developed seven-grade schools. Six percent at most had suitable facilities. Forty-seven percent of the country's children were actually attending school. One third of the teachers were graduates of teachers' colleges and fifty-six.six percent of the teach­ ing staff had only elementary education. (6) The Decree on Compulsory Education was issued in 1919. This compelled children between the ages of seven and fourteen to attend the seven-grade primary school. Secondary -13- school was to be of five years duration. The Constitution adopted by Parliament on 17th March, 1921 proclaimed that all schools and educational institutions, both public and private, should be supervised by the State. (7) This however was not to be for a number of reasons. Even though bursaries were offered to gifted children of poor parents, these would still not cover the cost of losing a pair of working hands from the field or the factory. Also the masses were not sophisticated enough to appreciate the benefits of education. This attitude was reinforced when the children came back to work on the field after a few years of primary education and rapidly forgot everything they had been taught even to the extent of regressing to illiteracy. Attendance was not policed and therefore more often than not these children, although enrolled at school, did not in fact attend school. Many could not afford suitable clothing to go out in the cold winter. Often one pair of shoes was shared by two or three children in the family so that they could only attend school one at a time.

Under the military dictatorship of Pilsudski, who staged a coup d'etat in 1926, the Constitutional declaration on free education was not put into practice. Pilsudski died in 1935 but his military group remained in power till 1939 during which time secondary, vocational and higher schools charged fees. -14- The inter-war years witnessed a rapid development in secondary education but it was in fact only accessible to the children of the upper and middle classes. In 1932 Janusz Jedrzewicz, then Minister of Religious Creeds and Public Education, reformed the school system. The effect of this reform was to deprive children of the chance to obtain the same kind of education everywhere. It further discriminated against the children in the villages. In fact peasant children were almost cut off from secondary education. In 1937 only thirty-four percent of all thirteen and fourteen year olds had completed primary schooling and only about fourteen thousand (a small percentage of the total of school-going age) actually completed secondary school in 1937. In fact only three percent of the 16-17 year olds were admitted to lyceums and vocational schools.

An abysmal period in the history of education came in the mid-thirties. Between 1935-36 there were almost two million more children of school-going age than in 1928-29 but the increase of the numbers of teachers was not commensurate with the increase in the numbers of pupils. There were 63 pupils to a class and in the villages one teacher had to cope with one hundred pupils. (8) In this period the Ministry of Education reduced its expenditure on education by fifty-six percent. School attendance decreased and there were actually one million -15- children not attending school.

Yet another negative feature during this time was the attitude of the Polish authorities to the various ethnic minorities. These included ten million non-Polish speak­ ing people. There were Ukrainians, Byelorussians, Jews, Germans and others, all of whom were handicapped as far as access to secondary and higher education was concerned. Notwithstanding the drawbacks of the inter-war years, there was definite progress in higher education. Jv'.fany Universities were either opened or re-opened as well as various Technological and Scientific Institutes. Amongst the most famous scholars to emerge during this period was the twice awarded Noble Prize winner Jv'.farie Curie-Sklodowska, L. Hirszfeld - the co-founder of the science of blood groups, R. Weigl, discoverer of the typhoid vaccine, L. Infeld the associate of Albert Einstein and B. Jv'.falinowEki, ethnologist and founder of functionalism in cultural anthropology. In 1937-38 there were almost 50,000 students attending higher schools - but these were mainly from the elite. Only about nine percent of youth of working background and eight percent of peasant background attended higher schools.

Mention is made of this particular fact as it is well to keep it in mind when reading the later chapter on discrimination in education in contemporary Poland. Per- -16- haps when one reads the state of affairs existing in Poland before World War II it is possible to find some justification for the discriminatory practices against the upper classes in Poland to-day. In some cases however there exists a paradox, where a child cannot gain admission to a higher school because his parents are ranked among the upper class to-day. They are only in that class, however, because they came originally from the working or peasant class, and so were given priority of admission to higher learning. This has led to such absurdities as that of a parent realising that his child may be handicapped in pursuing the vocation of his choice, the choosing to give up his white-collar career to work in a factory or on the roads so that he might be classified as a worker and so that his child's career might not be jeopardised.

To return to the immediate pre-war and war period, September 1939 is an unforgettable date for Poles. It is the date of the Nazi invasion - the official date for the outbreak of World War II. During this holocaust the Nazis attempted to eradicate the last traces of Polish culture. Even though 16,000 teachers lost their lives, all higher schools were closed, professors deported to concentration camps, all research institutes closed as well as secondary schools and in some areas primary schools as well, the Nazi efforts were not altogether successful as within a couple of months underground secondary and higher schools -17- were established and in some parts of the country clandestine primary schools too. The sum result was that one million primary school children received schooling, 100,000 secondary schooling and 10,000 attended higher school lectures.

Karl Marx's statement in 1848 is illustrative of the Polish spirit: "The cause of Poland's liberation became inseparable from revolution and Pole and revolutionary became a synonym." It is well to remember this statement not only with reference to the occupying Powers of the nineteenth century and with reference to the Nazi occup­ ation, but also when studying Poland's attitude to Soviet policies in the twentieth century. Democratic public institutions have little tradition in Poland or to quote Professor Jan Szczepamki on the effect of history on Poland: "These conditions caused the basic political attitude of the Poles to be rather anarchic, characterized by distrust and lack of esteem for government, by a lack of respect for the law and by an individualism in interpreting the governmental political line. The Poles have had little experience with a modern government chosen in a legal election and suff­ iciently competent and efficient in action." (9) This is one possible explanation as to why the programme of sovietization has not been as successful in Poland as -18- it has in the other Eastern Bloc countries. Poland was "liberated" from German occupation by the Red Army and political power was transferred from this army to the workers' party which did not have majority support. A period of nationalization followed and the construction of a socialist society. In order to accept and work within this new form of society, the masses had to be both educated and re-educated in their values and beliefs and it is this process and system which will be described and discussed in the following chapters. -19- CHAPTER TWO The Rise and Development of Socialism.

The origins of socialist thought in Poland are diverse. The revolutionary democratic movement, indebted to the utopian socialism of the first half of the nineteenth century, brought the ideas of the Polish patriotic left nearer to the contemporary criticism of the capitalist system. These ideas were advanced by the Polish revolutionaries who, after 1846 found themselves in France and England: Teofil and Jaroslaw Dabrowski, Walery Wroblewski, Jozef Tokarzewicz, Konstanty Bobczynski and Antoni Zabuski are some examples of these revolutionaries. Their socialism was still of a utopian nature. However the development of the political struggles of the working classes in the West, in which they actively participated, caused those among them who were most determined to adhere to the revolutionary position of the International Work­ ingmen's Association, to establish a Polish section of the International. This adherence was completed through the participation of Polish revolutionaries, led by Dabrowski and Wroblewski in the battle of the French communards in 1871. The death of Jaroslaw Dabrowski on the barricades of the Paris commune and Walery Wroblewski's co-operation with Marx and Engels in the First International marked the beginning of the ideology of the socialist movement in Poland.

In the 80's of the nineteenth century there was an -20- increasing circulation of clandestine literature in Poland. Translations of works of Karl ]l.i[arx, Frederick Engels, Ferdinand Lasalle and of other leaders and thinkers of the socialist movement in the West were find­ ing their way into many homes in Poland. From Russia, the idea of a socialist revolution was brought by Polish students who became acquainted with the nascent socialist thought in Kiev, St, .Petersburg, Moscow and the Odessa. In addition to the ideas of socialism, the future social­ ists found in the teachings of ]l.i[arx and Engels slogans proclaiming the rights of the Polish people to independ­ ence. To a people who had suffered years of subjugation to different foreign powers such slogans were indeed convincing arguments for the adherence to socialist thought. (10)

In 1868 an association of artisan journeymen, "Gwiazda" (Star) was founded in Lvov sponsored by the intelligentsia. When the Lvov printers took over the leadership of this association, the socialist ideology became widespread among the working people of Galicia. In 1879 Ludwik Warynski, leader of the socialist circles in Warsaw fled from the city and came to Lvov. His arrival led to the radicalisation of the socialist movement in Galicia. Public attention was drawn to the ideology of socialism when he, together with thirty-five other socialists were arrested and tried by the Austrian -21- court for clandestine activities in 1880. Socialist activities in Galicia were generally concentrated in loose circles which conducted self-education and carried on propaganda mostly amongst the artisans and students. These activities often led to a distortion of the ideas of socialism. (11)

Socialism in the Prussian-annexed part of Poland came later - in 1881 the leaders of the socialist circle were arrested, shortly after they were denounced by a clerical paper in the same year. Wilhelm Liebknecht and August Bebel were two German socialists who were highly influential in spreading socialist ideas amongst the Poles of Upper Silesia.

The working-class movement developed most strongly in the Congress Kingdom for it was there that a large concentration of workers was to be found. The socialist leaders came from students attending universities in Russia.

The first Marxist revolutionary party, known as the "Proletariat" was founded by Ludwik Warynski in 1882. Its chief slogan was the call for nationalization of the means of production. It also declared that the Polish proletariat is an independent social force opposed to the privileged classes; that in its struggles the proletariat -22- as the exploited class, identifies itself with the international revolutionary movement, irrespective of its nationality and that the working people can liberate themselves from economic, social, political and national oppression only through its own efforts. It also advanced demands for better working conditions and higher pay. In 1883 Warynski was arrested and died in imprisonment in 1889. The last year of the "Proletariat's" activities was in 1886. The work of the party was taken up under a different name and leadership in 1887 and in 1889 another revolutionary organisation came into being, known as the "Polish Working Union". (12)

Of great significance for the Polish Socialist Movement was the formation of a Marxist revolutionary organisation in Russia in 1895. This was the "League of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class" headed by Lenin. In 1893 the Polish Socialist Party was formed but it very quickly split into two: the PPS and the SDKP. The letters P.P.S. stood for the Polish Socialist Party and the S.D.K.P. - for the Social Democratic Party of the Congress Kingdom. The leaders of the latter were Julian Marchlewski, Rosa Luxemburg, Leon Tyszka-Jogiches, Adolf Warski and Bronislaw Wesolowski. The analysis of class contradictions in the Polish capitalist society made by the S.D.K.P. was consistently based upon the teachings of Marx and Engels. The internationalism of the S.D.K.P. was -23- inseparably linked with patriotism. The above-mentioned leaders advocated a struggle with the brutal Germanization and persecution of the Poles. They also proclaimed an uncompromising struggle against the occupying governments­ tsarism as well as the Prussian and Austrian monarchs.(13)

In 1899 the leading Polish socialist was Feliks Dzierz}nski. Under him the Party assumed the name S.D.K.iL. - Lithuania was added to the name. It supported the Russian bolsheviks. The P.P.S. was not so much interested in class reform as in liberation from foreign control. The right wing of this group was led by Pilsudski who took control in 1926. (14)

On September 28 1939 an agreement signed by Molotov and Ribbentrop implemented the partition of Poland. The Russian occupied Polish territory was annexed, Soviet citizenship forced on Polish nationals who were conscript­ ed into the Soviet armed forces, the Soviet authorities ordered mass deportations, arrests and executions, particularly of the intelligentsia. The Polish Government in exile (London) protested in vain. The number of Polish citizens deported to Russia in the period 1939-1941 is estimated at 1.5 million including 230,000 Polish officers and men taken prisoner by Soviet forces in September and October 1939. There was a seventy percent mortality rate from these prisoners. Further arrests and deportations followed the entry of Soviet troops into Poland in 1944. -24- Apart from war casualties about one million Polish citizens who had been deported to Russia either disappear­ ed or failed to return.

On December 311944, the Committee of National Liberation proclaimed itself the provisional government of Poland. It was recognised by the Soviet Union. Although lacking popular support or any mandate from the nation, this government concluded various agreements with Moscow, among them the Treaty of Alliance of April 21, 1945 and the Treaty of August 16, 1945, purporting to legalize the annexation of nearly half of pre-war Poland by the Soviet Union. The puppet regime installed by the Red Army abolished the Polish Constitution and set up a Soviet regime on the Russian model. The Communist Party set up a single party system. The stages in its development were; (1) The formation in the U.S.S.R. of the above­ mentioned Committee; (2) The elections of January 19, 1947, to a single chamber sejm,* the elections being weighted entirely in favour of the Communist-controlled bloc of parties; (3) The Constitutional act of February 19, 1947 which quoted freely from the constitution of 1921 passed immediately by the new sejm and known as the "small constitution". This sejm was to have a life of five years

*sejm - Polish Parliament. -25- and was charged with the task of passing a permanent form of constitution. Several subsequent constitutional amendments further confirmed the government in its power to rule by decree and reduced the sejm merely to a body registering approval. The Polish United Workers' (Communist) Party exerted control over all governmental and administrative bodies, both national and local, by direct membership and by duplicate party organisations. The highest officials, the president and leading ministers such as those controlling defence security, economics and justice became members of the Politburo. According to the "small constitution" in force from 1947 to 1952, the supreme organs of government were; (1) the president of the republic, elected for seven years; (2) the sejm, elected for five years; (3) the state council with the president as chairman, other members being the speaker and deputy speakers of the sejm, the commander in chief of the armed forces in time of war and up to three other members appointed by the sejm and unanimously approved by the state council; (4) the council of ministers under the chairmanship of the prime minister, the cabinet council consisting of the council of ministers under the chairmanship of the president of the republic; (5) the supreme chamber of control under a president elected by the sejm, functioning as a supreme auditing and control authority; (6) the courts of justice, theoretically independent but gradually remodelled into an instrument -26- of the Communist party.

A new Constitution was adopted in 1952 and it appeared that Stalinism was firmly entrenched in Poland until the revolt of the intellectuals 1954-55 and under its pressure came the thaw and then the retreat from Stalinism with Gomulka's victory and the "Polish way to socialism" in 1956. In 1957 the constitution was changed again and with the coming to power of Edward Gierek in 1970 it underwent further change. Out of the single party system, there has emerged over the years an ostensibly three party system: The Polish United Workers' Party, a Marxist-Leninist party of the working class, which numbers 2.3 million members and candidate members or nine percent of the population over 18 years of age. The United Peasant Party numbers about 400,000 members and represents mostly individual peasant farmers. The Democratic Party is mainly composed of white-collar workers, craftsmen and small traders. These are of course all allied parties and have as part of their programme socialist construction. In effect this is only a thin disguise for a one party system.

The official name of Poland's political organisation is the People's Democracy but in a people's democracy there is no place for an opposition party because in principle the system works to realize the vital interests of all labouring people who form the majority of the nation. As -27- a dictatorship in fact it excludes the possibility of giving freedom of activity to the opposition. -28- CHAPTER THREE Socialist Ideology and Education.

In order to demonstrate the permeating effect of socialist indoctrination in Poland, one can do little better than to translate some of the material which is fed to school­ children and students of technical colleges in Poland. The following are no more than a few examples of what the Polish youth is exposed to: Our society is characterised by the friendly co-operation of various classes and levels of working people based on common interest. There are still elements of capitalism in the villages based on small capitalistic properties and to a lesser extent they exist in the cities, but their economic power is very small and they cannot significantly influence our social structure. The definite superiority of socialistic elements in our economy permits the full control over them. This control limits the possibilities of exploitation of labour and does not permit the growth of economic potential of small capitalistic properties.

This is the introduction of what is to follow in describing the position held by the working class, the peasants, the middle class and the working intelligentsia. Certain conclusions will be drawn from these divisions; reference will be made to the constitution; and socialism and democracy; and the content of socialist democracy will be described. -29- Let us take a look at what the authors Bednarski, Kolczynski and Plocica have to say about these various roles in theory and then attempt to relate this to practice.

The working class in People's Poland is in common with the other groups the co-owner of the social means of product­ ion. The social system has elevated the working class to the rank of manager and leader of the State. Thanks to such conditions the social and economic barriers have been eliminated which had limited the advance of the working class. The character of the working class is decided by the worker in large scale industry based on contemporary modern techniques - consequently there have been created the possibilities for advancement of all capable individuals of the working class through the acquisition of relevant education. Thanks to the changes wrought by the govern­ ment (social, educational and economic) the working class now comprise sixty-seven percent of the work force. Before commenting on this it is worthwhile first to see how the other classes are depicted by these writers and then certain comparative comments can be made.

The peasant class has gone through similar qualitative changes. The liquidation of the great private and capitalist properties has freed the peasants from the landlords and the bourgeoisie. As a result of land reform -30- the level of possession by the peasants of the means of production has significantly increased and the alliance with the working class has ensured for them a partnership in State power and has created the possibilities of their playing their proper role in the politics of society. However we cannot treat the peasants as a homogenous social class. Within this social class there exist real social differences that have been formed on the basis of differ­ ences in possessions. A common denominator of all peasant levels is the fact that they comprise the proprietors of productive means, land and tools connected with the agricultural economy.

At the present stage of building socialism there exist also city-middle classes. The State supports private artisans' service and trade industries in those areas in which they constitute an advantageous complement of the socialist sector and ensure the satisfaction of the needs of the market but limits and tries to remove them in areas in which private economic activity has a speculative character.

A separate social group is the intelligentsia which consists of various professional groups occupied with intellectual activity. This section plays an important social role because it comprises trained specialists whose work is indispensable for the correct functioning -31- of the various spheres of the economy, cultural and social life.

In People's Poland the structure of this group has under­ gone dramatic change. Nine tenths of contemporary intelligentsia consist of persons of peasant and working class origins. The intelligentsia is equal to the other classes and is a co-owner of the means of production. Its functions, then, are inextricably intertwined with the position of the co-manager of the State. This fact is not unimportant as it influences the consciences and attitudes of the intelligentsia. To-day there are still differences evident in the degree of education and the executive function of this class but with the course of time these differences will disappear.

As we can see the class structure of Polish society in the present stage of socialist development has not achieved a homogenous character. (so speak the afore-mentioned authors.) This structure will become completely homogenous after the elimination of the remnants of the bourgeois antagonistic elements. The working class can play a leading role in the fight against capitalism because it possesses a scientific ideology - Marxism - Leninism, giving an objective appreciation of social reality. A socialist country is the instrument of political power in the hands of the popular masses which are led by the -32- working class. The aim and idea of the existence of this instrument is the protection and organisation of the realisation of those social forces which constitute the overwhelming majority of the society. It is this fact of basic importance which distinguishes the socialist state from all other state organisations known up to our time. Therefore a socialist state is in essence from the point of view of both its goals and ideas and its class character a State of the People.

The character of the Constitution as a basic law consists not only in its regulation of the basic things connected with the organisation and activity of the State but its character is also decided by the fact that the constitution possesses the highest legal power which means: (1) that its change wholly or in part can occur only on the condition that the particular procedure prescribed by itself is adhered to. (2) that all other legal acts promulgated by any other State organ have to be in conformity with the Constitution. In particular none of those legal acts can remove or change any rule of the constitution or regulate in some other way a problem whose norm is deter­ mined by the constitution. This constitution was promulgated on the 22nd July, 1952 and has legal validity from the date of its promulgation.

The full and consequent realization of the task of building -33- socialism requires political forms that are peculiar to it and correspond to the content of those tasks. The whole political experience thus far indicates that such a political form can only be democratic socialism. Socialism cannot be decreed from above, it can be built only as a result of a conscious activity of the people's masses exploiting the objective laws of social development. Democratic Socialism is an indispensable form and motive force, instigating and developing the initiative of the people's masses, their inclusion into the realization of the tasks of building socialism in their own interest. Hence the problem of the participation of the people's masses in the rule and development of democratic socialism acquires a decisive political meaning, both theoretical and practical. Finally before commenting on all these statements let us glance at how the Polish authorities view the content of Democratic Socialism.

In our conception, democracy has clearly defined limits. In People's Poland those limits are delineated by the fact that it has political form of a socialist state. This gives our interpretation of democracy a clearly class hue which is basically opposed both to the bourgeois and revisionist concepts of the so-called integral democracy. What are those limits? Is their existence absolutely necessary or can they be avoided? Is it possible to guarantee democracy for the overwhelming majority without -34- limiting the rights and liberties of the minority of past exploiters? All the political practices thus far give a negative answer to this question. It is in reality a purely rhetorical question. One cannot create a permanent basis of democracy for the working masses without liquidat­ ing the basic rights of the bourgeoisie. As Lenin has pointed out the content and aims of those restrictions are only the defence against the counter-revolution and a factual removal of everything that is contradicting the sovereignity of the people. These restrictions are expressed in the prohibition of the existence of parties and organisations which act against the programme of the building of socialism.

In summary then democratic socialism creates the conditions for as wide as possible a participation of the people's masses in the exercise of power and rule and guarantees those masses basic rights and civic liberties and their continuous growth. (15)

How is this theoretical material related in fact to practice and how does a teacher reconcile this sort of material which he or she is required to teach with his or her conscience knowing what the reality is? These questions will be pursued in the following pages.

Prof. Bohdan Suchodolski a noted pedagogue in Poland does -35- not turn a blind eye to the reality. He writes that there is controversy and conflict between theory and practice of the socialist society. In theory he says, the society is egalitarian, self-governing and decentralised. But when one looks closely at the reality, one cannot fail to see the great force of factors which tend to keep or even reinforce the process of hierarchy. These conflicts he claims will be evident in many fields in the near future. Suchodolski insists that education must be prepared to fight the growing tendency toward selfishness and egoism of personal success. To fight it, he suggests, some patriotic and social perspectives of development in Poland must be permanently shown in which the individual must be actively engaged. It is necessary to fight the obsolete choice between self-sacrifice and egoism. There is a necessity to consolidate the needs of society and the individual. He continues that one can foresee many educational difficulties not only in everyday practice but in theory as well in solving these anti-egalitarian tendencies. It is a safe assumption that in the near future everybody will not have equal educational opport­ unity regardless of his wealth or social position. For example there is a possibility that there will be a growing tendency to provide separate education for the exceptionally gifted youth (or politically influential) - (own addition) to take them out of the standard education which is available. Should this happen (and there are -36- already signs of it happening) (own addition) this would provide the basis for a new class distinction. (16) In fact in Poland people are bandying around the term the "Red Bourgeoisie". There are apparent signs of a rising upper class from the ranks of the pre-war lower classes - this will be discussed further in the chapter dealing with discrimination in education in Poland.

The second question which was raised was how can the teacher reconcile his conscience when teaching this material, knowing what the state of reality is? The problem of conscience of the Polish teachers consists mainly in the difficulties of explaining the many diverg­ ences between theory and occurrences in real life as seen and felt by any average pupil. For example - teaching about the ownership of state-managed enterprises, which in theory belong to the people - thus consequently to every­ body. In actual practice however everything belongs to nobody. An average Pole does not identify himself so easily with the State as the authors of the reference used in this chapter would have the children believe. From his daily experience he cannot. The incentives are often mmirected or virtually non-existent. Perhaps an example would highlight what is meant by this. A manager of a state-owned restaurant is not really interested in improving the standard of service or quality of food as it will be always fully patronised through lack of competition -37- anyway. His staff may cheat the State by selling liquor to the customers purchased on the free market and not from the restaurant bar. Butchers will sell meat at a higher price to the customer than it is worth and keep the extra for themselves. A bricklayer will steal bricks from the site and sell them privately to someone wishing to build their own villa and finding it difficult to purchase bricks and so prepared to pay a high price. A doctor will see patients privately and earn more money this way than what the State pays him. Teachers are bribed by various means to let children through examinations - especially children of dignitaries (which is facilitated by the fact that many examinations are oral). They may be promised a better flat or one closer to the school or given cash or promoted. These examples are actually taken from everyday life and encountered by both teachers and pupils. How does the teacher explain that if everything belongs to everybody why are people cheating themselves? Or again, how does the teacher reconcile and explain to his pupils that in a socialist state the best rewarded people are those who have nothing in common with this system? In a country where a car is still a status symbol, the best and newest belongs as a rule not to the worker, teacher or technician but to an owner of a private market garden or flower farms if he is not afraid to demonstrate his buying power. The same person can also afford to build his own private villa. The coveted trips abroad are patronised not -38- by researchers or peasants employed on state-owned farms but by the small merchants or craftsmen who operate and own their private shops or small factories. It is also difficult to explain to pupils the merits of a socialist economy in agriculture as collectivisation was a complete failure in Poland whilst private ownership in the villages is thriving and the farmers are selling their produce on the free-market at prices dictated by them.

The slogans relating to friendship with Soviet Russia and other so-called socialist countries are not easily taught either in a country which fought with the Allies when Russia was still living through the honeymoon with Nazi Germany after the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, and attacked Poland from the rear during the Nazi invasion. About one third of the Polish territory was lost to Russia after the war and the generation born in the lost eastern provinces is still alive and remembers the loss of their homes and land to Russia. It is not an exaggeration to say that many Poles live a double life. They are expected to be atheistic if they are party members and want to join the forces or the police and wish to enter the privileged classes. Many however secretly christen their children in a simple baptismal ceremony arranged not in the local church but where they are not known and will not be detected and denounced. -39- In a country with a long tradition of foreign occupation, an average Pole learns to read the paper between the lines and listens to foreign radio broadcasts. What makes matters worse is the heritage of the three different systems of foreign domination. (outlined in chapter one) The Austrian as was shown was perhaps the most benign but the Prussian and Russian are still remembered as ruthlessly cruel and imperialistic. It is certainly one of Poland's paradoxes because for an ill-informed observer, Poland is a country without nationalistic problems at all. Her minorities perished in the Nazi holocaust or were compelled to resettle in the East or West. It is evident that now everybody speaks Polish and is mostly of Polish origin, but old traditions die hard, and anti-Russian feeling was passed on to the next generation and accentuated by such highly unpopular Soviet political actions as the armed invasion of Hungary and Czechoslovakia.

The teacher's task is made even more difficult when he must espouse the virtues of socialist economy. Poland was a country which for centuries was one of the main sources of emigration to the U.S.A., Canada and in the last few decades, Australia. Poland maintained contact with the emigres and with the advent of the jet age many came on visits to the Old Country, exchanging news and ideas with those resident in Poland. What does a teacher say to his pupils when one or more turn up to class full of wond,rous -40- Stories of wealthy uncles in the West, particularly if those uncles are only labourers and yet own their own cars, houses, television sets, washing machines and all modern electrical appliances beyond the reach of the families of these children. Added to the material wealth is the freedom they have of travelling abroad without having to obtain government permission to do so.

A startling example of the Poles' double life was related by a scientist from Britain who discovered that the group to whom he was lecturing on the latest achievements in Britain and in the U.S.A., in that particular specialised field, was already well acquainted and very interested in this information but was either ignorant of or deliberately not interested in those same achievements by Soviet scientists.

One could perhaps partly explain the failure of indoctrin­ ation in the Polish educational system not only by the factors mentioned above but by the fact that this is a reaction to an overdose of the compulsory political syllabus.

A Polish student must learn about the exploitation of the oppressed people in Africa or Latin America. Old cliches about racial oppression in America are still used in political indoctrination but the changes in the last few -41- years in this are not mentioned. Now that Poland is not blocked off from the outside world many Poles receive first-hand reports which contradict much of the official information on these and many other topics. There is a great deal of trade with the third World and with the Western countries and the people are much more prone to believing the tales brought back by the sailors and various specialists than the texts fed to them. Finally, a teacher finds it very difficult to explain to his pupils why they must spend so many years in the army (four or five) when Poland has common borders only with socialist countries. -42- CHAPTER FOUR

System of Education - 1945-1970 "Among the most urgent responsibilities of the Polish Committee of National Liberation there shall be restoration of schools and the provision of free education in the liberated areas. The law on compu+sory education shall be strictly enforced. The Polish intelligentsia, decimated by Nazi Germany, and in particular the men of science and art, shall be the object of particular care. The rebuilding of schools shall begin immediately." (17) July Manifesto 1944.

The new school system was based on the fundamental principles of uniform, free, universal and compulsory education. It is interesting to read in various Polish books on education that the fundamental principles underlying the educational programme during this period were dictated by the desire to rebuild education, to gradually democratize the school system both as to subject matter and form of instruction and to bring about a change in the social composition of the body of pupils and students at all levels. -43- The fundamental principles are true enough but it is difficult to comprehend how it is possible to talk about a democratic system of education when there is strict censorship on political material available to both teachers and pupils, when pupils are limited to one text released by the government printer and when teachers are given strict instructions what they can or cannot discuss with their pupils. For example after the death of Stalin there is virtually no mention of him or the role he played for so: many years up to his death in 1953. As for international politics, the western capitalist countries are forever portrayed as decadent and war-mongering nations. With this sort of attitude it is difficult to understand what is meant by democratization within the school system. Perhaps it is meant to apply to the fact that now schooling is accessible to all irrespective of class, creed or national origin. This is true on the whole for elementary schooling but the perfidious statement "to bring about a change in the social composit­ ion of the body of pupils and students at all levels," means nothing more than that children of certain "wrong" origins (upper class, intelligentsia and other groups) will be discriminated against not on the basis of their ability when applying for admittance to certain secondary schools or even more particularly to schools of higher learning, but on the basis of their parentage. Democratization? This subject of discrimination is only -44- lightly touched upon here but will be dealt with in greater detail elsewhere in the paper.

The development of post-war education in Poland can be viewed in stages. The first stage may be taken from 1945-1950, the second from the 50's through to the 60's, the third stage from the 60 1 s through to 1970. The period immediately following the war years was a particularly difficult one as many teachers had been killed and text­ books and school equipment and buildings all had to be either renewed or rebuilt. In 1945 a uniform system of education was introduced throughout the country. It was hoped to have an eight year primary school and a three year secondary school. However this soon had to be abandoned as a result of all the shortages aforementioned. Instead a seven-grade primary school and a four year secondary school was introduced in 1948-49 and both were actually combined into an eleven grade school. Children of peasants and workers had priority of admittance in keeping with the new Socialist State policies. Scholar­ ships and bursaries were given to gifted children from poor homes. -45- The following table will serve to illustrate the development of the school network in Polish territories after World War II 1944-1948.

TABLE 1

Central Poland Western and Northern School year Territories schools :eu:eils schools 2u2ils 1944/45 14,992 2,510,847 41,839 1945/46 15,552 2,695,069 2,845 309,101 1946/47 15,566 2,747,712 4,553 535,671 1947/48 16,204 2,734,700 5,573 654,700

The second period, the 50's, consolidated the new educational system in which the primary aim was to develop the socialist citizen. One positive feature of this period was the total elimination of illiteracy. Another was that the distinction between village and town schools had diminished, though certainly it had not completely disappeared as some writers claim. Even to-day, according to the Minister of Education, Mr. Kuberski, at a lecture given at Polish Television and Radio 1973, differences still have to be overcome between town and village schools, where the latter are still in many cases one teacher schools. In the late 40's and in the 50's people of all ages attended primary school as well as secondary schools. Adult education continues in Poland to-day at -46- every level. An important date for the re-development of education was 22nd July, 1952. This was the date of the passing of the Constitution by Parliament. Article 61 of this Constitution states that: "Citizens of the People's Republic of Poland have a right to education. This right has been safeguarded by: 1) establishment of universal, free and compulsory education; 2) continuous expansion of secondary, vocational and higher school systems; 3) government contribution to schooling of the employed in both towns and villages; 4) availability of grants and facilities, student hostels and other forms of financial help for children of workers, working peasants and the intelligentsia." (18) Vocational schools were greatly expanded during this period and a special government agency - the Central Office for Vocational Schools - was established to administer it. The purpose was of course to meet the economic-technical needs of the nation, so there was definite co-ordination between the numbers admitted to certain types of trades in these schools. During the 50's special research institutes in the field of education and teacher training colleges were established. The development of extra-mural higher education for working people was actively promoted. -47- In the 60's the curriculum was broadened and in fact the school system re-organised. Primary school was extended to eight years and the school programme was modernized. Higher education and teacher training also underwent certain changes. During this period too, the idea was born to mark the thousand years of the Polish State to build a thousand schools, this was to be done by public donations which came from both home and abroad. In fact 1,300 schools were built as a result of this campaign.(19)

As in other parts of the world, so too in Poland the 60's and 70's were and are scientifically and technologically revolutionary. This means that schooling has to be further modernized and made more flexible. The present system and future planning will be described and discussed later in the paper. The rate of change of the Polish school system as to numbers of pupils TABLE 2 and schools will be illustrated in the following four tables. Schools in Poland in the years 1937/38-1970/71

Specification 1937/38 1946/47 1957/58 1967/68 1970/71

Kindergartens 1,659 3,738 7,302 8,443 8,906 Elementary schools 28,778 20,119 24,502 26,563 27,126 urban 3,114 2,200 3,334 4,163 4,128 I -r:-· rural 25,664 17,919 21,168 22,400 22,99S

*) including secondary and grammar schools I

J-

'°

498.2

401.3

209.8

805.4

135.5

330.8

5,256.7

2,533.5

1970/71 2,723.2

1,710.7

491.6

306.1

288.8

825.8

136.9

178.l

5,706.3

2,756.7

1967/68 2,949.6

1,500.5

50.6

351.1

491.2

313.6

195.1

117.5

162.7

2,239.8

1957/58 3,924.2

1,684.5

thousands)

86.5

86.5

43.2

44.9

228.4

201.5

286.7

965.5

(in

2,317.9

3,283.4

1946/47

49.5 83.3

- 49.5

10.0

221.4

207.5

4,865.3

3,541.2

1937/38

1,324.1

1937/38-1970/71

years

schools

the

Education

in

studies

working

secondary

secondary

Higher

people

schools of

schools

students

secondary

full-time

for

and

J

which

which

Specification

Institutes

of

of

schools

Vocational

already

Gen.-education

General-education

urban

rural

Kindergartens

Pupils

Elem~ntary

TABLE TABLEl±. Growth in the numbers of children of school--ab0

School year Population by age groups

3-23 3-6 7-14 15-18 19-23 0, total years years years years years ?

in thousands

1946/47 23,640 9,686 1,648 3,772 1,960 2,306 1950/51 25,035 9,705 1,927 3,480 1,902 2,396 1955/56 27,550 10,571 2,705 3,714 1,796 2,356 1960/61 29,795 11,691 2,871 5,114 1,525 2,181 1965/66 31,551 12,623 2,455 5,615 2,506 2,047 1968/69 32,426 13,187 2,295 5,420 2,725 2,747 TABLE 2 Leavers and graduates in the years 1937/38-1970/71 (in thousands)

Specification 1937/38 1946/47 1957/58 1967/68 1968/69

Elementary schools 127.1* 143.7 274.3 607.4 663.0 urban 90.7 - 122.2 306.4 320.5 rural 36.4 152.1 301.0 I - 332.5 \.)1 I-' General-education secondary I schools 14.0* 12.3 28.0 88.9 66.0 Gen.-education secondary schools for people already working - 6.4 6.2 23 .5 18 .4 Vocational schools 41.1* 40.9 67.0 409.2 399.6 of which secondary 2.4 8.4 46.8 166.6 168.0 Institutes of Higher Education 6.1* 4.1 18.5 37 .4 47 .1 of which full-time studies 6.1 4.1 14.8 22.8 28.4

*) Figures for the school year 1936/37 -52- 0rganization of the system of education. All education is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education. The Minister exercises his power through the intermediary of the school administration authority and the boards of the People's Councils. Although the Minister of Education is in charge of most educational institutions the medical colleges are under the wing of the Minister of Health and Social Welfare, art, drama, music and film are under the Minister of Culture and Art. The Minister of National Defence is in charge of the higher military colleges and the chairman of the Main Committee on Physical Culture and Tourism is in charge of the higher schools of physical culture. (20)

Children attend kindergarten from the age of three to the age of seven. Attendance before the age of seven is however not compulsory. Many mothers are forced to send their children to nurseries however as the majority need to work in order to make ends meet from one month to the next.

Section A. Elementary Education. Elementary school is compulsory, has a universal character, is uniform and secular and of course free. Professor Jan Szczepanski writes that it would be better to start children in primary school at the age of six and a half and keep them at school either for eight years or until -53- they turn seventeen. The present minimum leaving age is fifteen. The rationale behind the extended period of schooling is to be able to inculcatel,them :j.r1 the socialist ideals and to instil in them the idea of the superiority of the socialist system over the capitalist and to arouse in them a respect for work and property which belongs to the whole nation. This last point has already been touched upon in the previous chapter. One of the weak­ nesses of the present system according to Szczepanski is the narrowness of material taught, the imbalance in the depth and width of the programme of subjects between the first four years and the next two, when many new and difficult subjects are thrust upon the child. In fifth class he is suddenly introduced to Russian, biology, geography, history, physics and chemistry. This is off­ putting to children who find it too much to cope with. Were these subjects to be introduced gradually the pupils would be better able to grasp them.

Aim and Method of Elementary Education - Szczepanski. Everybody should work hand in hand - parents, school and the media. Apart from book learning there should be more emphasis on acquiring and solving practical problems. Szczepanski. also writes t:iat an emphasis should be placed on the understanding of the socio-political problems. Children should take a direct and active part in trans­ forming the conditions of the environment. He also -54- criticises the role of the Parents and Citizens Association as being presently unsafisfactory. They should play a bigger part in the educating of children both in and out of school. Szczepanski also criticises the media, stating that there should be a better selection of television and film programmes of an educat­ ive nature. He also suggests that some change in teaching method would not be amiss. More deductive as against inductive teaching is urged. An improvement in qualific­ ations is also desirable. He writes that in theory all teachers are expected to have completed higher education training but in practice a large percentage have only completed secondary school and some elementary teachers have not even completed this stage. (21)

Andrzej Zak' writing in Kultura, Paris September 1973 picks up the point in the Report that in 1970 five million people out of a population of thirty-three million were without even primary education and about ten and a half million had received only primary education. The survey was carried out on twenty-four million people over the age of fifteen. Compulsory education is in fact realised not in one hundred percent of the school age population but ninety-nine.five percent but in another survey it was shown that in 1967 children of five different ages were all admitted to first grade~ Not a very satisfactory state of affairs. From the working force in the state- -55- owned economy or in the co-operatives sixteen.four percent did not have primary school education and four hundred thousand personnel were either illiterate or semi-literate. So much for the boast of eliminating illiteracy from the country. Zak' criticises various aspects of education in Poland. He states that education is free only in theory as in fact the expense of putting a child through school is a growing burden on the parents. He takes it from the Report that in some towns and cities the parents and citizens association spend as much on schooling as the State, where in fact they purchase the various educational aids and equipment. This means that the future "intelligentsia" class is shaped by the economic factor of those parents who can afford to bear such expenses. As twenty-four different departments have their say in educational matters this results in various groups of conflicting interests. (22)

The influence of the Catholic Church is still very strong on youths and adults alike and in many cases its educat­ ional policy is in direct opposition to that of the State. This too causes confusion in the minds of the young.

Section B. Secondary Education. This section will only be briefly treated here as it is proposed to devote the entire next chapter to secondary education as this is the stage on which the present study -56- concentrates.

When children or adults complete primary education they may move on to secondary schooling. This can be in a four year general education secondary school, a four or five year vocational or technical secondary school or in a two or three year basic vocational school training skilled workers. A pupil who has passed from a two year or three year basic vocational school can continue education in a three year general education or technical secondary school and so complete his secondary education. This system is in the process of being changed as a result of Szczepanski's Report. The committee proposed a number of different concepts. Either that there should be general secondary high school or vocational schools or schools already directed toward certain professions: in other words, the type of system already in existence. The idea of doing away with this variety of secondary schools had the greatest appeal and so the general second­ ary school was chosen. Szczepanski finds various weak­ nesses with this variant, particularly that students who do not intend to enter tertiary institutions, leave after twelve years of schooling with no occupational preparation and so have difficulties in choice of vocations unless they attend University or other Higher School. He also criticises the textbooks used, stating that in spite of the fact that Polish instruction is based on dialectic -57- materialism the books do not emphasise this and another major fault is that teachers and pupils have access only to the same texts, in other words there are not enough books especially written for teachers.

Vocational Schools. These are divided into: (a) the practical farming and trade school; (b) the basic agricultural school; (c) the basic trade school. These are the lowest level of vocational schools. The second level is classified as the secondary vocational schools which are the technicums and lyceums. Training here is in fine arts or education and varies from three to four or five years. The highest level in this category are the post-secondary schools which train highly qualified technicians and experts for various branches of economic and social life. These include: (a) schools of technology; (b) schools of medicine;

( C ) courses for cultural workers and librarians; (d) teachers' courses. The last have now been terminated as primary school teachers now receive their training at Teachers' Colleges. -58- Szczepanski finds that the vocational schools are inadequately equipped, the poorest being the agricultural schools. The best equipped are the technical schools as these are attached to factories and other industrial plants so the apprentices can work and study at the same time and the equipment is supplied on the job.

Many authors on education in Poland, such as Januszkiewicz or Swiecki like to boast that one of the greatest steps for democratization in education, is the institution of adult education. It is true that there is an ever increasing demand for this type of education at every level but again according to Szczepanski's Report these are absolutely at the bottom of the educational ladder. His main criticism is that as they do not have their own buildings, facilities or books: they must make use of those available for school children which obviously are not mature enough. The teachers are also not specially trained for this group and there are no audio-visual aids used in this teaching.

As for the post-matriculation level schools the Report admits to finding a negative side here too. On the one hand it states that they are superior to the others because students entering these usually have a higher level of general education so the whole standard is higher, but on the debit side the students often leave -59- after one year and go to University if they are successful. Others drop-out and so the schools are not being properly used. They are often only a transit place for people really wishing to do something else but not gaining admittance elsewhere. Szczepanski remarks that it is a pity that these schools are not more popular as there is a great need for people with para-medical qualifications and the type acquired in these schools. In every field there is a greater demand for people with better general and vocational education.

Section C. Higher Schools The clue to the attitude of the Polish Government towards its youth and the respective role of the various classes existing within its supposedly classless system is found in the aim of higher education as expressed in the Szczepanski Report. It claims that the aim is to increase the number of students of labouring and farming background­ this priority given to people of these origins is what Januszkiewicz refers to as the "process of democratization of education". (22) The report bemoans the fact that the rate of increase of people of farming background to higher education is very slow. It goes on to state that the attempt at decentralisation of Higher Schools was not successful as the smaller towns do not have the essential facilities for the proper functioning of such schools. The aim of decentralisation was to encourage the farming -60- youth to enter tertiary or higher studies. What the Report and the official writers on education in Poland do not point out is that the attempt has failed not merely because of lack of facilities but because this group of people do not have a tradition of learning and culture behind them and have no particular desire to acquire one. Yet another reason is that in their present agricultural role they are much better off financially than those with higher education so it is very difficult to ask them to give this up for ideals or prestige of a higher position which will give them a smaller financial return. The idea of socialism has obviously a limited appeal. Nevertheless the number of institutions of higher learning are flourishing in other parts of the country. There are in all eighty-five such institutions which include: 10 Universities - with the only Catholic University in the entire Soviet Bloc - the University of Lublin. 10 Technical Universities. 8 Colleges of engineering. 7 Agricultural colleges. 3 Higher institutes of pedagogics. 6 Teacher training colleges. 5 Higher schools of economics. 10 Medical academies. 7 Schools of music. 6 Art colleges. -61- 3 Drama schools including the world famous Film school at Lodz. 6 Colleges of physical education. 2 :Maritime colleges. 2 Theological academies. (23) These numbers may have slightly increased in the last couple of years as these are the figures for the academic year 1970-71 taken from Januszkiewicz. Fourteen military schools could also be added to this list' five of which have the status of academies and the remainder are on a par with higher vocational schools. These have a much smaller enrolment than civilian institutions.

Section D. Special Schools These schools are for the physically and mentally handi­ capped children. The number of pupils attending these total about 80,000. Szczepanski writes that the aim has been to develop their potential as much as possible using the normal school curriculum. (24) This is of course failing and recently there have been attempts to use books especially suited to these children. However only children from the bigger towns have access to the special schools. His criticism is that not enough use is made of diagnosing and treating these cases and thereby using appropriate methods to develop their potential so special teaching is not available to many who could reap some -62- benefit from it. The Report also criticises the stand­ ards in the boarding schools. Children mainly from rural areas attend these. Teachers are badly trained to deal with this group. A city teacher does not understand the problems of country children and so is not able to develop rapport with them. The schools are built like barracks, not exactly an inviting environment for attracting children to live and study there. Szczepanski feels that the positions of the house masters and mistresses must be~lev~~ed to the same status of those of the teachers. At present their status is lower which also makes for disciplinary problems with the pupils. He feels that these people should have higher and more specialised training to enable them to deal with the youths. There are also schools which are classified as part-time boarding schools. These are for children of working mothers or from broken homes who may be threatened with bad peer influence. In these schools children remain for the length of the day or evening that their parents, parent or guardian happen to work and are picked up on the way from work. They may also be weekly boarders. According to the Report more of these schools are needed particularly for the increasing numbers of the "latch-key" children. It is not expected that these schools will take the place of parents but· it is hoped that they may lessen the drop-out rate and lower the level of juvenile delinquency. -63- Section E. Youth Organisations. No general discussion on education in Poland would be complete without mentioning the political-ideological influence of the various Youth Organisations in that country. The following is a list of such organisations: The Socialist Youth Union, The Rural Youth Union, The Polish Pathfinders' Union, The Universal Polish Student Association, The School Red Cross Organisation, The Circles of Military Youth and the various school co­ operatives. All the organisations are united by common traditions, (if thirty years is long enough to be called a tradition) goals and educational ideals; they all recognise the ideological leadership of the Party but not all are devout adherents of these ideals. The purpose of these organisations is to shape the attitudes of the young and to prepare them for active participation in social and political life and in the building of socialism. However Jan Janicki in "Quality not Quantity" wrote that "An investigation of the youth organisations in primary schools conducted in Lodz, shows a notable discrepancy between active and passive participation in youth organisations. Though a great number of pupils belong ------to them the educational influence of these organisations exist only in the adults' imagination." He concludes that"the activities of the youth organisations should be evaluated by qualitative not quantitative results." (24) Why then are there over four million members? Membership is -64- voluntary but only to a point.

Certain factors work on children and students to join. One is the pressure of the peer group. All over the world children generally wish to conform. In Poland it is the accepted practice to belong to one or more of these organisations. At the more senior, secondary school level, any student interested in gaining admission to any form of tertiary study would stand a much greater chance of acceptance at such an institute if she or he had been an active member of one or more such organisation. They actually gain extra points on their Matriculation Certif­ icate for playing this role.

Professor Bereday had this to say on indoctrination through education in Poland: "All school systems indoctrinate politically, but the example of Poland is of a special order. Like the colonial system and conquered cou~tries, Poland,_a Soviet satellite must cope with an indoctrination imposed by a foreign power. Furthermore the allegiance demanded was to Communist ideals a stern and exacting doctrine of self-denial. This imposition was aimed at a people placed geographically at the cross-roads of Europe and historically devouted to staunch defence of exiguous and always threatened national and cultural identity. In such circumstances the operation was bound to run into problems •.•..••.•.•.••..... The experience of Poland could raise the question whether the wider political considerations -65- are not more important than the pedagogical calibre of schools in determining the final commitment of its pupils." (25) It is hoped that Professor Bereday's claim that perhaps political considerations are more important than pedagogical ones has already been demonstrated, but it will be further demonstrated in the following chapters. -66- CHAPTER FIVE

Secondary Education - Citizenship Training The organisation of secondary education is very different from that which we know in Australia. When talking about elementary school in Poland we do not mean classes from first to sixth class but we refer to a span of eight years. This means that the last two are equivalent to the first two years of our secondary school. Thus attendance at elementary school only, is compulsory, which means that children may leave school at 15 or 16 as they start elementary school at the age of seven. There is now an attempt however to keep pupils on at school longer. Many factors account for this. First of all there is a desire to raise the general level of education. It is almost a question of pride with the Poles. Secondly in this modern technological world a higher level of education is essent­ ial to cope with new machinery and various innovations. Thirdly in a country which has to provide full employment, on the basis of its socialist economy, the longer one keeps children at school the longer one can stave off the moment for providing employment for thousands of youths. Unemployment is at the moment a world wide problem, a result of various international economic and political crises and has definitely not bypassed the socialist countries. The difference is however that jobs have to be artificially created and official statistics manipulated in order to maintain the belief in full-employment in a -67- socialist economy. Thus a longer period of school attendance partly solves the problem whilst at the same time increasing the general level of education.

After completing the eight year school, there are three choices provided for those wishing to continue onto secondary schooling: the four year general-education school, the four or five year vocational or technical school or a two to three year basic vocational school. This last group can continue its education in a three year general education or technical secondary school and thus acquire a full secondary education. About ninety percent of those completing elementary school go on to one or other of these secondary schools. Most authors on education in Poland are at pains to point out that school­ ing in that country is uniform and universal. This in fact is not so, as was pointed out in a speech by the Minister for Education - Mr. Kuberski in May, 1973. In his address given to Polish Radio and Television, he stressed that there is a disproportion in the realization of the school programme between urban and rural schools, with the rural schools suffering obvious disadvantages. This he said had to be levelled out. His speech was based on the findings of the Szczepanski Report.

All schools are co-educational but definitely not uniform. There are certain privileged schools which have very good -68- teaching aids and teachers and others where the resources are appalling. There is a different emphasis in various general secondary schools; for example some stress mathematics and science, others the humanities. Pupils graduating from the more famous schools, Reytan's in Warsaw for example (which the writer visited) have much easier access to higher schools, e.g. universities or polytechnics than those emerging from the less celebrated schools, From an interview conducted by this writer with an eighteen year old girl who attended Reytan, it was interesting to discover that part of their English lessons was spent listening to the B.B.C., which again according to this same person, consisted of any programme the teacher happened to catch on the radio, seemingly uncensored. This evidence has not been confirmed. The other subjects offered in this school as indeed in all schools of general education, were Polish language and Russian language - these two were compulsory, yet surprisingly, many teen­ agers have a very poor grasp of the latter. Perhaps it is yet another piece of evidence of the attitude of the Poles to "Big Brother". English was an optional language being offered together with French, German or Latin. One of these had to be chosen. The most popular is English, then French. History is not divided into Ancient and Modern as in Australia but everyone must study History from ancient to modern times as one continuous subject. Marxism-Leninism is incorporated into history and hammered -69- home in Citizenship Training. Excerpts from the material taught in this subject will be given below by way of illustrating the indoctrination that goes on in all secondary schools. Science is divided into the following subjects: Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Astronomy. This type of division went out in Australian schools or at least in New South Wales with the Wyndham scheme and the incorporation of Messel's Science for Secondary School. Hygiene is lectured by a nurse, doctor and dietician once a week for one period. It is essential in the villages, where until the post-war years it was badly needed. In fact if one wishes to find something positive to say about the work of the young socialist movement, it could be that through their social work, they have not only attempted to bring Marxism-Lenism to the villages but have taught the peasants the basics of hygiene. Geography is yet another subject which everybody studies but many of the books used are very much out of date. Generally the text-books used by the school students have a sing­ ularly uninviting appearance. There are no colour plates, the paper is of poor quality and the photographs used are ten or even twenty years old. Because of the co­ educational nature of schooling both sexes also study Manual Arts and Technical Drawing and undergo Technical Training which includes driving and typing. Finally there are physical training and military training. The last includes both theory and practice. The youth organisations -70- meet after school (school hours are eight a.m. to two p.m.) and from amongst the members, guards are chosen to stand every day and night at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The memory of the war dead is kept alive within the school grounds as well, as a pupil stands guard at the Honour Roll hanging in the hallway of each school. The names of ex-pupils who gave their lives in World War II are inscribed here and there is no school in Poland which existed prior to World War II that would not have someone who had died in the war. The work of the youth organisations is not entirely political. The leaders may invite guest speakers from all walks of life to tell them about their work and experiences. This rather like the General Studies course as taught in certain schools of New South Wales, aims to extend pupils' general knowledge.

As this paper is mainly concerned with the ideological influences on secondary education in Poland the only subject which will be discussed at length is Citizenship Training. The material which will follow is a free translation made by this writer from two articles con­ tained in the Gazette "Wychowanie Obywatelskie"­ (Citizenship Training) September 1971 No. 7-9 for Third year secondary school - equivalent to the Australian fifth year. These articles are chosen, as they more than any other material, illustrate the process of indoctrination and bias to which every secondary school child is exposed. -71- The Ministry of Education sends a copy of the gazette to every teacher who is involved in the teaching of this subject and the teacher is expected to use this material. At one stage when this was not yet published, teachers were in the dark as to the sort of material they were supposed to teach in this course and so there was a wide discrepancy between the sort of things taught in each school. In some there was even an obvious anti-soviet attitude, or at least that is how it was labelled if a teacher told the objective truth to his class about Russia's rear attack on Poland instead of calling it "liberation from Germany".

The first illustration deals with the way the philosophy of Marxism-Lenism is explained to Polish teenagers whilst the second will serve to illustrate the political attitude which is instilled into these students towards the rest of the world - two topics basic to our discussion.

Philosophy of Life and Ideology - Jozef Grudzien ~rxism-Leninism ••••• is performing essential social functions in generalising by means of a specific method the results of scientific knowledge and the principal ideological aims and outlook on the world of the working class which have been formed in the course of class struggles. Firstly it defines our cognitive possibilities, methods and ways of realising objective truths which are -72- closely connected with the processes of change in the world around us. It expresses precisely a general view of this world which is constantly enriched by the development of human experience and scientific investig­ ations, explains its structure, innate characteristics and the laws governing its development. We can say therefore that it fulfils a scientific and ideological function. Secondly it defines from a class point of view, the place of man in the universe and in collective life; it discusses the possibilities, chances of success and methods of his activities aimed at a reform of the existing reality.

Comprising the general programme of how to change the world, to be consistent with the aims of the revolutionary worker's movement and socialistic humanism, it is fulfill­ ing the function of a scientific ideology in relation to the working class and all men devoted to work. Thirdly comprising the sum total of the scientific achievements of mankind it is what we call the scientific outlook on the world. Consequently it is also fulfilling the function of a comprehensive philosophy of life.

Grudzien then goes on to explain what the Marxist-Leninist world outlook is: The world outlook which forms an integral part of Marxism­ Leninism is called the Marxist outlook on the world. Its -73- methodological and scientific basis is dialectical materialism. In taking up an enquiry into a set of problems connected with a world outlook~ Marxist philos­ ophy considers it from the point of view of the real needs and the factual (real) situation of man within the world. It is aiming at moulding the practical, ideological and moral attitudes of people, it proposes values worthy of realization, points out the aims towards which we should aspire and shows us the practical means by which those ends could be realized.

A world outlook based on dialectical and historical materialism is a rational outlook because it uses scient­ ific method in justifying its main statements, it is based on the constantly growing achievements of the natural and social sciences.

Thus far Grudzien seems to have caught himself up in a tautological argument and one filled with a lot of big empty words which would most probably be meaningless to any average seventeen year old. Let us nevertheless glance at his explanation of the Marxist socio-political ideology. He continues: Another group of problems raised and analysed by Marxism and its philosophy are questions directly concerning: (a) the place of man within the society and culture, his essential needs and perspectives in life, human -74- relationships and, (b) the role of social classes, the relationships between social classes, the ends and means of co-operation between them and the perspectives of social development (evolution). This whole complex of ideas and views on man and social life, which is a reflection of the social situation of the working class and all workers and which serves to express and to defend their essential interests, being the theoretical tool of the struggle against capitalism and a guide towards the building of socialism - we call the social ideology of Marxism.

Since we distinguish, within the framework of Marxism, two spheres of problems (the problems of world outlook and thase of ideology) we have to realize that in living theoretical reflections these theoretical problems are interpenetrat­ ing ...•...•.• The distinction between the two domains of thought, therefore, does not aim at a division of Marxist philosophy into separate parts. Such a division would be definitely unsuitable to the actual structure and function of Marxism. Since Marxism is a consistent and homogeneous theory and vision of the world, it is also at the same time a revolutionary social theory and a scientific out­ look on the world.

Grudzien then attacks the Church for emphasising the wrong -75- part of socialist doctrine. He claims the Church only wishes to point out the "godlessness" of socialism with­ out pointing out its revolutionary transformation of the world for the benefit of the masses. Grudzien spends some time discussing the role of the Church and it is apparent from this that the authorities are aware that they still need to convert many people and are attempting to do this by actually trying to show that there is little conflict between religion and socialism. In fact Grudzien actually writes that many religious people are staunch supporters of the socialist doctrine. Further he adds, in an effort to win over the Catholic youth, that the Vatican decided that they may accept socio-political conditions, which they have selected, including socialist ones. He adds that the Pastoral Constitution concerning the Church in the contemporary world contained the following statement: "all followers of Christ in the direction of temporal matters shall admit a permissible plurality and diversity of opinions".

Grudzien also stresses that Marx said the question of religion should be subordinated to its principal task, that is to the development of the class war of the exploited masses against the exploiters. He concludes that Lenin regarded the construction of the unity of both believing and non-believing workers as one of the fundamental conditions to the victory of socialism. (27) -76- The article is here presented in an abbreviated form but for the most part it is repetitive and obviously attempt­ ing to overcome the difficulty of dealing with a largely Catholic population. When reading the language in which it is couched for the benefit of school children one ceases to wonder why indoctrination has been less than a total success in Poland. It is typical of most of the dull, repetitious and empty slogans and statements which are thrown daily at the youths and adults alike in every walk of life in Poland.

These were excerpts which attempted to explain the Marxist-Leninist1doctrine to children whose home back­ ground would be Catholic on the whole . The next excerpts which follow are on a different plane, political as opposed to philosophical. The extracts are from an article by Marjan Kruczkowski entitled "The World in Which We Live." The reference is the same as for the previous article, illustrating again the politically biased way children are taught current events:

We owe the post World War II peaceful development of Europe to the politics of the U.S.S.R., Poland and the other socialist countries. The guidelines of this political attitude were, and still are: the assurance of security to the peoples of Europe; the creation of a climate of d~tente and conditions suitable for the many- -77-- sided co-operation between countries of differing socio­ political organisation.

Note how conveniently the invasion of Hungary in 1956 and the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 are forgotten.

A further example of deceptive teaching is to be found in the following paragraph: - The steady application of this political attitude has led to the liquidation of the "Cold War" imposed upon Europe and other parts of the world by the U.S.A. and its Atlantic allies. The U.S.A. attempted to turn the problem of Germany into a focus of permanent stress and unrest on our continent, thus making the G.F.R. the principal tool of its cold war politics. - (e.g. the refusal of the G.F.R. to recognise the post-war frontiers and the existence of G.D.R. as a socialist German country).

Conveniently again no mention is made that it is just as much, if not more so, in the interest of the European socialist countries that this state of cold-war is maintained. Further, since Brandt signed the Moscow­ Warsaw treaties the G.D.R. no longer seems so keen to end the cold war with the G.F.R.

In reading the next paragraph it is necessary to keep in -78- mind that we in the West have access to the media of the world, it is just as easy to buy a communist paper in Australia as any other paper. In Poland and in the other socialist countries (other than Yugoslavia - which enjoys greater freedom and contact with the West) the children do not get a chance to ever really read or hear the other sideof the story. People listen to B.B.C. radio broad­ casts but these are not the average families and the broadcasts listened to by the class mentioned earlier certainly would not be of a political nature. Thus this unobjective portrayal of the world situation, mostly based on untruths or twisted facts can rightly be called indoctrination particularly as this material is presented as truth.

Kruczkowski continues in this vein: - We are undoubtedly witnessing an evolution towards an East-West dialogue. This dialogue could develop much better if the main imperialistic country, the U.S.A., could draw the appropriate conclusions from the lack of success of its global strategy. This global strategy has involved the U.S.A. in the Korean War. The ruling clique dictated the armed intervention in South Vietnam and the consequent escalation of its war activities in the whole Indo-Chinese peninsula. The premises underlying this strategy have led the U.S.A. to support Israel whose policy consists of aggression towards its Arab neighbours. -79- Two dangerous centres of the fires of war (note this is written September, 1971) now smouldering in our world, Indo-China and the Middle East have resulted from the imperialistic policy of the U.S.A. which is attempting without success to apply brakes to the national freedom movements in the countries of the Third World. - (28)

No mention of course is made of Chinese intervention in Korea or the Russian and Chinese encouragement of North Vietnam; nor of the Russian supplies of arms to the Arabs. There is not a word that it was and is the flow of arms and other supplies from Russia (and China) that enables the various People's Liberation armies to continue fighting in Laos, Cambodia and South Vietnam. No attempt is being made here to whitewash the role payed by the U.S.A. but at least there and in Australia moratorium marches were legally permitted, people are not afraid to write letters to the press on the subject or to give personal television and radio interviews. Such freedom in the countries regarding themselves as the protectors of the Third World is not permitted; in fact very little criticism is tolerated. Solzhenitsyn was expelled from his o·wn country - Russia - for dissident writing, Sinyavsky and Daniel sent to prison for the same reason. Medvedev sent to a mental hospital for his criticism of the treatment of Russian scientists. Other people held in prison camps include Gorbenevskaya who dared to -80- demonstrate against the invasion of Czechoslovakia, Ginzburg (who wrote an underground account of the trial of Daniel and Sinyavsky) and Larisa Daniel wife of the writer is in a Siberian lumber camp. This is not to mention the millions who have already perished there and the thousands unknown to us who are still there. In all fairness one could hardly expect a Polish school text to mention such details but it is a sad realization that millions of Polish youths will continue to go through life labouring under the illusions created during their formative years, in a setting, the school, which by tradition should attempt to present the world in as objective a light as possible. This is not to say that in our system there is no propaganda and indoctrination. Some may be deliberate, some inadvertent, but at least teenagers in the West, as mentioned earlier, do have the possibility of studying both sides of the question.

One final extract is worth quoting to further demonstrate the one-eyed approach to world problems.

------A general disarmament, postulated by the socialist countries would permit the solution of the most urgent problems of to-day and above all it would be the safest guarantee of a lasting peace, the elimination of the threat of a large scale war which, due to the development of contemporary war techniques and particularly -81- nuclear rocket weapons would mean the end of civilization. (29) The article ends with the expression of optimism that pacts concerning the limitation of experiments with nuclear explosions, the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons etc. represent concrete steps towards a general and complete disarmament as do the continuing Russo­ American talks concerning the limitation of strategic wea­ pons (SALT). Progress in such talks, as well as the extinction of centres of conflagration in Vietnam and the Middle East are to-day~ most important problems.

Again no mention is made of the fact that the U.S.S.R. is contributing to the general unrest with its policy of establishing footholds in the Mediterranean, Indian Ocean and other parts of the world. It would be fallacious to give the impression here, however, that the expansion of Russian influence throughout the world is necessarily due to communism. Already Imperial Russia had made many attempts to dominate the Straits of Gallipoli, for example. What is more Russia is still keeping its vast colonial empire (apart from Alaska which she sold to the U.S.A. for $7,200POO.OO in 1867) while the European countries have lost theirs. True, European Russia and Asian Russia are one continuous land mass and this somewhat confuses the issue. As for the talks between Russia and America (SALT) which Kruckowski seems to approve of so highly, -82- what he does not write is that the U.S.S.R. did not facilitate such talks by its constant refusal to permit an effective control of armaments. (At least that is what the U.S.A. would have us believe.)

It is truly ironic after reading the content of some educative material for teenagers, to come across state­ ments of the kind made by Mikolaj Kozakiewicz, an educational sociologist in his article "Character Building" contained in the Monthly Review Polish Perspect­ ives: "Youth also has evident short-comings: a proneness to one-sided judgements, inexperience, disregard for objective necessities and problems in tackling their plans •..••••. " (30) Who or what is responsible for this? In chapter three and four of this work some inequalities were illustrated and discrepancies between theory and practice. In the light of those statements made earlier, one is inclined to view with certain cynicism statements such as " •..• if our schools are avowedly wedded to the principles of egalitarianism and justice, they can succeed in their task only if in the entire organization of social life, in the opportunities open to all, in the treatment of the individual by the state, in the allocation of housing, rewards and honours, in the system of appoint- (31) ments, these ideals are, and are seen to be, practised." -83- Perhaps the greatest irony in what Kozakiewicz writes is to be found in his quotation of Makarenko: "Teaching citizenship through participation at work and in public life was conceived in the same one-sided manner as a matter of complying with the patterns laid down by those who "knew better" and not as a kind of feed-back between leaders and led, whereby the latter learn civic responsib­ ility not only by obedience to the wishes of "them" but also by showing up where "they" have gone wrong and making their behaviour conform to what they regard as just and proper. The teaching of public-mindedness should not - to paraphrase Makarenko - be confined to drilling people to stand in line, but also to encourage them when necessary to step out of it." (32)

Certain names have already been given of those people who dared to step out of line in the U.S.S.R. and their fate cited in this chapter.

At the opposite end of the school system is the vocational school. Thus far only the general secondary school has been discussed, although there is some overlap in the subjects taught. The difference lies in the depth and width at which the humanities are taught at these two types of schools. At the general secondary school some forty-two percent of the time is spent on the humanities (languages, history, sociology - this last subject is part -84- of citizenship training as are also economics, philosophy and ethics.) Thirty-five percent of the classes are set aside for mathematics and natural sciences which apart from physics, astronomy, chemistry, biology, hygiene also include geography. Only nine.five°' ~ percent has been set aside for technological schooling. Finally thirteen.five percent of classes have been set aside for artistic subjects physical culture and military training. (33) Sosnovskii in "Soviet Education" May, 1972 gives the following break down of the vocational schools' curricular and organizational principles: In the first stage, schools training for the following vocations will be organised: mechanic; toolmaker and instrument manufacturer; automobile mechanic; precision equipment mechanic; mechanic for automatic equipment; mechanic for office equipment; optical mechanic; foundry pattern-maker; plater (engraver); installer of electri­ cal systems and industrial automatic equipment; installer of radio and television equipment; electrician; automotive electrician. In addition provision is made for the training of workers in more broadly grouped vocations that are increasingly in demand. Various occupations such as fitter and turner, metal worker and draftsman are named.

Sosnovskii goes on to say that graduates of this type of school acquire a broad range of knowledge which enables -85- the future worker to improve continuously within his vocation. The training period, after completing eight years elementary school consists of four years and for those already employed four and a half years. Admissions will be based on entrance examinations as for the general secondary school but with greater stress being placed on mathematics and sciences. He proceeds to discuss the principles in the programme which he writes correspond to the technicums as far as the general educational subjects are concerned in relation to the number of hours and subject matter. Thus it is possible to use the same programmes and texts. (34) The vocational schools enjoy the greatest popularity among the children of the workers and peasants - particularly boys. More girls (by far the larger percentage) attend the general secondary school and also more children from the intelligentsia as these wish to go on to University or Polytechnic study. Access to this form of education is easier from a general secondary school particularly one where the emphasis is on mathematics and science if the student wishes to gain admission to a Polytechnic or school of medicine. Irena Nowakowska conducted a survey into the educational /,( c; ' ;;' aspirations of the young and discovered that twenty-nine. two percent of women had full secondary education as ,;_ '3 . 'j against twenty-three.seven percent of the men but there were twice as many men with vocational education which is regarded as of a lower standard than general secondary.(35) -86- The table below shows the total number TABLE 6 of hours as well as the proportion of individual sections in the programme. CURRICULUM OF SECONDARY VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS

Vocation: Automotive Mechanic

No. Subject of Weekly schedule Total hours instruction by year Weekly During I II III IV period of instruction

1. Polish lan- guage 4 4 J 4 15 466 2. Russian lan- guage 2 2 2 2 8 248 J. History 2 2 2 6 188 4. Civic studies 3 3 90 5. Economic ge- ography 2 2 60 6. Mathematics J 4 4 4 15 462 7. Physics 2 2 2 2 8 248 8. Chemistry J 3 102 9. Special draft- ing 3 2 5 162 10. Technical me- chanics 2 2 60 11. Machine- building 3 3 90 12. Electrical en- gineering 4 4 120 lJ. Principles of automation 2 2 60 14. Science of materials 2 2 60 15. Technology 2 2 5 9 278 16. Industrial au- tomation 2 2 4 120 17. Automation lab- oratory (shop training room) 4 J 7 210 18. Practical ex- ercises 12 12 8 32 1008 19. On-the-job training J68 20. Safety engi- * * * neering 2 2 60 21. Economics of production 2 2 60 22. Physical cul- ture 2 2 2 2 8 248 -86a- TABLE 2 (cont.)

No. Subject of Weekly schedule Total hours instruction by year Weekly During I II III IV period of instruction

23. Civil defense 1 2 2 5 154

Total 36 36 38 37 147 4922

Elective: second foreign language two hours a week in each year.

*On-the-job training for four weeks after the second and third year of training. In the first year, 34 training weeks, and in the second through the fourth year, 30 weeks. -87- Szczepanski is in fact very upset that the two are not regarded as equivalent and recommends that this sort of recognition be given to the various types of education and that in fact it be all uniform and of the same standard. His recommendations will be given in detail in Chapter VII when the future of Polish education is discussed. It is interesting to note that in a socialist society which is aiming towards becoming a classless society, Nowakowska discovered social background made a distinct difference to aspirations. She writes that the model most frequently regarded as the best for a boy is a secondary technical education but because of the financial need of the family this aspiration is modified to an elementary vocational school so that he can go out and earn money as quickly as possible. Only children of the intelligentsia obtain the optimum type of education. (36)

This is only touching on social discrimination (planned and inadvertent - a result often of individual and society's needs, values and beliefs). The following chapter will discuss in detail discrimination based on social, national, ethnic and religious origin. Lest it would appear that there is nothing to recommend the system it may be appropriate to add here that from the writer's observation and personal communication with a number of Polish school pupils, it was a pleasure to hear such articulate youths. They are so articulate partly because -88- so much of the work in class is oral and all the human­ ities and languages have oral examinations right through the school system. Many of the youths are also very interested in politics as this forms such a major part of their lives partly through geographic necessity and partly through historic tradition which of course is related to Poland's geographic position. The urban youths are also very well read - reading being virtually a national past­ ime - equivalent to swimming in Australia. This is facilitated by the fact that all literature, be it novels, travel books, documentaries or magazines and journals are extremely cheap and printed in abundance to suit every taste. Various cultural centres such as the theatre, opera, concerts, museums and galleries are frequently visited by the urban youth particularly those living in the big centres such as Warsaw, Krakow, Katowice and Lodz. Again because all these are fully subsidised by the State the prices of tickets are accessible even to the poorest people and the schools organise frequent visits to these. Travelling abroad as long as it is within the Communist bloc is also very cheap so the students learn a lot about other countries first hand - travel to these places is also cheap as the government gives special concession tickets to youths who are engaged in study. Some even travel to England and the Scandinavian countries for working holidays and when they return can often afford to buy themselves a car from the money earned abroad. -89- Another outstanding and possibly positive feature of the school system in Poland is that the pupils appear to hold their teachers in much higher regard than do Australian pupils and treat them with a great deal of respect. Perhaps that is just part of the custom, for example standing up when spoken to by the teacher and politely answering, "yes mam" or "yes sir". There are many teachers in the avant garde group who perhaps would be repelled by such deference. Nevertheless it is easier to teach a class where one does not need to worry about disciplinary problems. -90- CHAPTER SIX

Discrimination in Education - 1950-1974. Buhler in "Discrimination in Education in the People's Democracies", writes that education in the Communist People's Democracies is being used to achieve two basic goals: (1) the fundamental transformation of these countries ... of their traditions, outlook, society and way of life and (2) the training of a new class of leaders to carry through the ambitious plans of the national indust­ rial programme. (37)

It is possible to take issue with Buhler on the first point as far as Poland is concerned, for it is not alto­ gether relevant to that country. The Polish people's sense of history is too strong. Instead there is an attempt to weave their traditions and customs into the framework of the present educational tendencies. The second point is applicable to all the countries in the Soviet Bloc and to accomplish this specific aim, thousands of schools and educational institutions have been opened up in these countries and student enrolment has increased markedly. The Mechanics of Discrimination Article 61. Paragraph I of the Constitution of the Polish People's Republic states that "Citizens of the Polish People's Republic have the right to education".* This is *refer to chapter four. -91- true asfar as primary school is concerned and to a degree safeguarded through secondary education but no longer so in admission to higher education and in the allotment of scholarships for higher education. One has only to read the various Decrees issued between 1945 and 1950 and compare them with those issued in 1973 to see blatant examples of discrimination which has not undergone any change in thirty years of socialist rule.

It is apparent from the decrees that before a student is admitted to higher education, he has to undergo a screen­ ing process. Those of the "wrong" political or social hue will find it very difficult to gain admission or receive a scholarship for higher education. The Decree issued 31st December, 1949 is testimony to this: Concerning State Scholarships for University Students: Para. 4: Decisive criteria in awarding scholarships are: 1. Social Class Origin 2. Progress in study 3. Ideological stand of the student Similar evidence is found in the Decree of 7th March, 1950: The State Scholarships for Tertiary Students Article 2. The aim of the State System of Scholarships is planned acceleration by way of State aid in the process of forming the People's intelligentsia especially from the youths of working class and peasants of small and middle landholdings as expert cadres and research and academic -92- workers for the needs of the national economy. (39) Again one is confronted with political bias and hence discrimination in the Decree issued29th April, 1950, particularly paragraph 8 of section six. This decree deals with the admission of students to first year University in 1950-51. Section three is translated and quoted herein as it is obvious, from the construction of the committee, which social and political groups of students will be given preference in admission to Univers­ ity. Sec. 3. The admissions committee consists of the follow­ ing members: i) The Dean of the Faculty ii) Delegate of the Ministry of Education iii) Executive Member of the Council of the Faculty iv) Executive Member of the District Council of Trade Unions v) Executive Member of the District Council of Peasants' Union vi) Executive Member of the District Committee of the Polish Youth Organisation (40) The composition of this committee - four out of six non-academic members, makes it patently obvious that it is not the student's academic record which will win him a place at the University but his political and social origin and stand. This is confirmed by Section six, subsection one of the same decree: -93- The admission is decided by the Committee as a result of the entrance examination and the personal qualifications of the candidates. (There are no two ways of interpreting the last.) Para. 7b) The school graduates who have qualified as leaders in study and social work are exempted from this examination. Para. 8: Priority is given to those candidates who have passed their examinations with satisfactory results and who are: 1) children of labourers and peasants of small and middle landholdings; 2) children of working intelligentsia and persons referred to in the Decree 23rd July, 1945; 3) other candidates in order of merit (41) according to their examination results. The Decree of 23rd July, 1945 as amended on the 5th September, 1950. Concerning assistance and aid for the survivors of the members of the underground and partisan movements killed in the battle for the liberation of Poland from the Hitlerite invasion.

Sec. 1 The persons who are survivors of the participants of the democratic underground or partisan movements killed in the battle for the liberation of Poland and for the -94- securing of the People's power. (42) The key word here is democratic in the socialist inter­ pretation. In such an interpretation the children of the underground army-fighters, the AK (Armija Krajowa - the Country Army) would be, in practice, ruled out from receiving assistance or from gaining admission to a University or other forms of Tertiary education. This group received orders from the Polish Government in exile in London and was regarded as right wing by the A.L. (Armija Ludowa - The People's Army) which received its orders from Soviet authorities. That this group was discriminated against is confirmed by Section seven of this Decree, where it is stated that the above persons have priority providing they qualify in other aspects to obtain employment, licenses, housing, scholarships and admittance to educational institutions, students' hostels and medical institutions. It is a generally known fact that the survivors of the A.K. and their families did not qualify in the eyes of the new socialist government in any of these aspects. Many had to flee the country and those who stayed had to endure hardships and in some cases were guests of the government prisons for a number of years. Discrimination based on Social Origin. In 1951 it was declared that the reason for the creation of the Social Qualifications Commission was to "weed out candidates on the basis of class criteria". Any illusions which one may harbour that this has all now been changed -95- are quickly dispelled on reading the Decrees on this subject issued in 1973 which still show favouritism to the labouring and peasant classes and those with the "right" political ideology. Further the bold statement issued by the Minister of Education and Higher Education on28th May, 1968 concerning the social structure of Higher School Students, No. B-8 Item 63 leaves no doubt as to the social discrimination officially encouraged in this group: In the last ten years the percentage of pupils of working class (urban and rural) origin in high schools diminished; the present social structure of higher schools does not corr­ espond to the social structure of the country. The situation must be corrected; the follow­ ing means are recommended: 1) Increase the number of children accepted of working class origin to higher schools in the year 1968/69. 2) Children of working class origin should be given preference in the distri­ bution of places in boarding schools. 3) Increase the number of grants for children of working class origin. 4) Organization of additional classes and extra-mural activities for these pupils. 5) School youths organisations should offer all kinds of assistance to these pupils. 6) Educational and tutorial work should be more devel- oped. (43) -96- There is of course no inconsistency between these recomm­ endations and Marxism, whereby power is to pass into the hands of the working class and the vehicle for this is education. It is also consistent with Marx's view that whilst the workers were gaining political and economic control there would be a period of greater or lesser duration, when the rights and freedoms of the former "exploiters" would be subject to certain restrictions. Further it is indicative of the fact that socialism at least in Poland has not reached the phase of a classless society when the State can "wither away". One could argue no doubt, that the constant emphasis on the preferential treatment of children of the working and peasant classes is in point of fact democratic, as these comprise the majority of the population. However in a democracy, the minorities must also have equal rights and what is more, :in practice, the majority group is also discriminated against. For example peasants who have middle landholdings (as against small) or who have not entered collectives thereby refusing to support State farms (now only about ten percent of land remains in collectives) are arbitrar­ ily labelled the "village rich" while small and medium peasants who have refused to join the collectives and display a "negative attitude" are labelled "kulaks". The attitude of the government in recent years has had to relent, as the discrimination practised against the children of these groups, in denying them the peasant -97- classification and thereby depriving them of their rights and preferences, had very little effect in making them change their attitude. As mentioned in an earlier chapter these peasants are now amongst the wealthiest people in the country and make their own prices for their produce. If the prices are not met they just do not deliver the goods to the towns. Similarly children of workers who before the war were involved in anti-Communist political parties or non-Communist trade unions, are also stigmat­ ised as being of "unhealthy origin" and are not considered of worker origin.

Children of middle class origin formerly comprised the majority of students in institutions of higher education. However the middle class is the bourgeoisie in Marxist terminology, the very term a malediction and former members of the middle class are assigned the "left-overs on the socialist table". By now it should be abundantly clear that children of bourgeois origin are not wanted in the universities and other tertiary institutions of People~ Poland. Interestingly enough, many still get there by making up for their "unhealthy social origin", by sheer ability, their own zealous performance in youth organisations, the denial of their social origin and other means which do not stop short of bribery. Discrimination based on Religion. Denominational schools were closed in Poland until the -98- 6O's when some Catholic boarding schools (Aloyisius Order) were re-opened. In a country where ninety percent of the population was Catholic prior to the Communist take-over it would have been very bad politics not to allow some semblance of religious toleration. To "prove" that the government was tolerant, Lublin Catholic University was allowed to survive. Until the 6O's it was the only private denominational institution in Poland and indeed the only Catholic University in the entire Soviet bloc. A further argument may be put forward that the Polish government allows the existence of a huge and wealthy Catholic organisation "PAX". To the uninitiated it may appear that this confirms that there exists religious tolerance as this organisation is allowed to infiltrate many walks of life. It produces its own newspaper, brochures and books and in fact supplies much of the necessary school material, including ink. When one examines its activities closely however, one discovers that its leader Piasecki is an "independent" member of Parliament and that the te.xt in one of its journals

"Catholic Life in Poland" is tinged with a deep shade of pink. One could turn to any page in this journal and find articles exhalting socialism, but the following example shouli suffice: There is in socialist ideology a general dictate to produce optimum conditions for meeting the material, spiritual and cultural needs of everybody in -99- a given society and everybody in general. (44) Wojcik, the author of the above statement, is a member of the Secretariat of PAX. He continues with a quotation from the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers' Party for the 30th anniversary of the Polish People's Republic (1974) - Our basic goal is the good of man the meeting of his material and spiritual needs, the compre­ hensive development of his individuality and the creation of conditions for creative involvement in productive civic, political and cultural work. (45) It is Wojcik's comment which reveals the purpose of the existence of PAX: "Thus socialist ideology demonstrates its humanism." (46) Not only do such organisations work hand in glove with the Party but there is even a term for a certain group of priests who, it is believed under the guise of their clerical collar are in fact helping the Party to dissem­ inate socialist teaching. These are referred to as "patriot priests", used in this context the term is derogatory.

On the whole, graduates of non-State schools stand a lesser chance of admission to tertiary education than the graduates of State schools: they must excel in their studies to make the grade. However as far as the few -100- remaining Jews in Poland are concerned even excellence in study in the years 1952 and again 1968 (the height of the anti-Semitic campaign - the latter date bound up with the Middle East War - in which the Poles naturally had to support Russia against Israel) could not help them jump the hurdle of their "unhealthy religious background". Jews who hardly knew the meaning of the word Zionist, were accused of Zionist activity and affiliation and on this basis were precluded from higher study. Not only was admission denied to many but those already engaged in some field of study were refused re-admission for the next semester. This has not been officially written up any­ where but the author of this paper visited Poland in 1973 and was told of the 1968 situation by a variety of people confirming the tales heard in Australia from the mouths of those who were more or less forced to leave Poland between 1968 and 1970, either because they could not gain admission to study or because they had lost their jobs - all because of their Jewish origin. It is now claimed that the Polish Government deeply regretted this action and that now the Jewish problem no longer exists. How can it, when in a country of some thirty-three and a half million people it is estimated that there are less than one thousand Jews left?

Other minority groups of the various Protestant Churches, particularly the Lutherans and Calvinists of Silesia were -101- given the option of accepting German citizenship after the war and moving to Germany. Many of them did so shortly after the war so they ceased to be a problem. Those who remained, on the whole, were not very religious and were quite willing to toe the Party line. There does exist, in Warsaw a school of foreign languages of high repute "The Methodists" but it is Methodist in name only.

Positive Discrimination The largest privileged group, in relation to educational preference, consists of those students under the special system of preparatory study which qualify selected young workers for university study. Selection of these candid­ ates is entirely in the hands of the Party organisations at the place of work. In the first decade after the war many of the candidates who were accepted had only six to eight years of schooling. There is even a rumour that a certain well-known University Professor did not even matriculate, yet was given the post for being a loyal Party member. These students underwent one or two year courses and an examination before being admitted to the university. This system is perhaps no more worthy of criticism than the Australian system of adult matricul­ ation whereby a person over the age of 25 may gain admission to the university. However more leeway is allowed in the entrance examinations for these special students than for regular candidates and worker-students -102- receive greater financial aid than non-worker.

Membership in the youth organisations, besides being a plus factor in the selection of student candidates for higher study, carries certain specific privileges as well. Student activists are allowed leave from their studies or even from their universities to carry out party tasks, and it would appear that they are treated with particular leniency at examination time. Leadership in these organ­ isations carries with it the occasional privilege of a trip abroad to attend some Youth Congress or other meetin~ Perhaps even more important than this is the question of foreign study. A student returning from the Soviet Union is virtually assured of the finest position and is invar­ iably guaranteed whatever prestige careers are available for young graduates.

Mention has been made a number of times during the course of this chapter of the preferential point system, without fully explaining how it operates. Nowhere is such a clear explanation of it given as in Dr. J.J. Smolicz's work from which the following is taken: -103- The Preferential Point System Dr. Smolicz writes that the following was the procedure in order to gain admission to Warsaw University in 1972: Each candidate had to take examinations in two core subjects •..•.• If he scored particularly highly( .... ) he was admitted without taking other criteria into consideration. But if his core marks fell below the "ceiling", a complicated computing of points took place according to the following scheme (maximum possible points are indicated below): Points Two core subjects@ 12 points 24 Foreign language 4 Bonus for "labour", including military service, after finishing secondary education (minimum two years) 3 Bonus for "very good" (5/5) grades for the core subjects entered on the Certificate of Maturity (certificate of completion of secondary education) 3 (Matriculation Certificate) (own definition) Bonus for social background (working class or peasant origin only) 5

Total (Maximum number of points) 39 (47)

Dr. Smolicz goes on to show how the university quota in particular subjects is then filled. He puts this down in four steps and it is the fourth step as set down by him which confirms all that has been said in this chapter. To briefly summarise his points, the university quota is filled as follows: i) The Lycees Medal Winners, that is the best student. ii) Candidates who reached the ceiling in the entrance -104- examinations in their two core subjects. iii) The remaining places, that is ninety percent are then filled in order of merit (and social back- ground!) •...... In cases of doubt a working class candidate is normally preferred even though his score already includes bonus points for social origin. iv) The remaining ten percent of places constitute the Rector's List which is specially reserved for candidates of working class and peasant origin. (or political influence) (own addition). If these students fail to qualify under (i) (ii) and (iii) they can still do so under (iv) provided that they have passed the university entrance examinations at all tolerably. (A candidate fails outright if he gets a mark less than 3 out of 5 which cannot be reversed by an oral or some subsequent examination. Thus a "2" in a written examin­ ation in a foreign language may be reversed by a good oral). In all other cases a working class child with very mediocre results who, despite the points bonus of 5, failed to get through under category (iii) may now get ahead over an intelligentsia child with, say "good" grades in all subjects but who was just cut off under (iii). Despite all such Party strategy, some departments still remain "lilly white" in terms of their intelligentsia membership. For example in 1972 among twenty odd admissions in music there was only one successful candid­ ate from a working class background." (48) The following table serves to demonstrate why all this juggling is necessary to achieve socialist aims and confirms Dr. Smolicz's implication that no amount of man­ ipulation is going to appreciably change the composition of the student body. The peasants and workers in many cases feel that the prestige which accrues from highly qualified jobs is not commensurate with the amount of money they can make on their farms. The workers still find it difficult to accept that learning can be important for its own sake - it is more important for them to get on the job training so that they can earn money as quickly as -105- possible to help supplement the family income. Many other sociological reasons may be advanced. -106- TABLE 7 Students of basic vocational schools, general-education secondary schools, secondary vocational and technical schools and institutes of higher education, according to their social origin.

GO 70 80

. I

II Ill IV

I II Ill IV

I II Ill IV

0 JO 20 30 40 50 ~o 70 80 30 100 I Basic vocational school II General-education school III Secondary vocational and technical schools Key: IV Institutes of higher education. ~~, .•.•.•. Workers I· l ...... Peasants I l ...... White Collar Workers ~ ...... Other Occupations Source: Polish Educational Statistical Yearbook 1970/71. -107- Dr. Smolicz argues that the inadequate representation of students of working class and peasant origin at universit­ ies and polytechnics has important ideological and economic consequences. He continues; "In the realm of ideology it undermines the belief in the socialist road to social and educational equality and makes the vision of socialism a very much less convincing one." (49) The consequences of this credibility gap have already been demonstrated by examples in chapter three. It is possible to demon­ strate further the injustices suffered by the various categories of students by referring to a work called "Cena Dyplomu" "The Price of a Degree" compiled by Zdiz:·_slaw Grzelak. These examples strengthen the conclusions drawn from reading the original sources, such as the Decrees or Ministerial Instructions and personal communications and observations of the author. A section of this book deals with the influence of the socio­ political conditions on the fate of working students. It is a critical analysis of more than 400 memoirs written by students who received their degrees when already employed. Grzelak divides the twenty-five year period of post-war Poland's history roughly into three main political trends in educational policy.

The first according to him was in the years 1944-49 when the war was coming to an end, and the immediate post-war period. During this time he writes, people who were -108- really engaged in rebuilding the destroyed economy did not bother about academic qualifications. "The time for study has not yet come" cried the party and state functionairies - yet the members of the youth organisations and young party members were keen to start studying. The period 1949-50 was a time of great inducement to the peasants and young workers to get their degrees. However as in the previous period, writes Grzelak, so still in these years, no formal education was needed to hold down jobs in state or party apparatus. The same applied to various industry leaders and managers as long as their political stand and social origin was "right" it was considered sufficient qualification to do the job. This period is marked by various courses, the purpose of which was to give the greatest number of people some basic on the job training in the shortest amount of time. According to Grzelak the prestige of the professional revolutionary faded away and gave place to a revolution­ ary with professional qualifications. These people were desperately needed. He cites one man who recalls that when he applied in the first post-war year for permission to study he was simply told; "Comrade, when we will elect a President of the Republic, we all will start studying." "Learning is not so important, the revolution and people's power is what matters." And those, he sighs, who were marching in the forefront of revolution have now been left behind. Grzelak cites many other examples of people who -1O9- were discouraged from furthering their education for the sake of the Party but this attitude clearly changed in the fifties. In fact people were pressured into study whether they wanted to or not. A case in point was a particular factory which had been chosen to send five candidates for extra-mural studies. Only four volunteered for these free places and so a fifth had to be persuaded to join. That was in 1955.

One example which substantiates the arguments put forward earlier about the position of the people whose parents were members of the A.K. is that of Maria Ossowska who recalls the plight of one young girl who admitted that her father belonged to the A.K. and was promptly denied the right to study. She was considered to be public enemy number one and the only job she could get was that of a telephonist in a factory.

Mention was made earlier of the position of the peasants who were labelled kulaks. An example which brings out the injustice of the system is that of the young boy who ~anted to study geology. His father had died when the boy was four, his mother, after a prolonged illness became a cripple when the boy was seven, their farm was thoroughly destroyed during the Nazi occupation, and could not even provide a bare living for the owner. However the boy was barred from studying notwithstanding these facts, because -110- the farm had an area of 10 hectares, which under the current regulations automatically put the owner into the category of the despised Kulaks. One can do nothing else but concur with Grzelak, when he expresses the opinion that in Poland, the young people never had it easy when trying to obtain a higher standard of education. First the elitist system of pre-war Poland (1918-1939), then the dark years of the Nazi regime, followed by the Communist slogans first of climbing the social ladder without formal training, then finally the social origin barrier all did not facilitate education for the young.(50)

What here has been described as discrimination in education in Poland, Dr. Smolicz refers to as inequalities in education in Communist Poland.* The class bias constantly referred to in this paper is supported by his observations: "The Social stratification system now crystallising in the East is not unlike the social structures that have developed in the industrially advanced countries of the West." (51)

It is interesting to compare his conclusion with that of Bohdan Suchodolski. Both bemoan the lack of altruism and public mindedness of the elites in a socialist society.

*Social Structure and Educational Inequalities in Communist Poland. - 46th Anzaas Congress Canberra 1975. -111- Dr. Smolicz concludes in rather picturesque terms that " ••• the spirit of the "man of capitalism" still lives within the framework designed for the "man of socialism"." Finally a thought which occurs to most observers outside Poland of the socio-economic-political situation there, what in fact was "the purpose of all the sufferings of the population laid at the altar of the building of socialism, if after three decades of such construction social inequalities have not been eliminated while economic hardships in many areas of life continue to grow." (52) Perhaps it is the changes which are still to take place as expressed in the following chapter which will answer this question. -112- CHAPTER SEVEN

Reforms and the Future. In chapter three of this work, mention was made of the recommendation of the Committee, headed by Professor Jan Szczepanski, on the future planning of education in Poland. In this chapter it is proposed to elaborate on the committee's findings.

In 1971 a Committee of Experts was set up to work out a report on the present state of education and to prepare a plan for a complex system of national education. The system was to embrace all elements of education and upbringing, beginning with nursery school and ending with education on a higher level and graduate studies. It was also to embrace learning outside school as well as various forms of adult education, institutional as well as extra-institutional. The work finally culminated in an account entitled "Report on the State of Education" published in March 1973.

Obviously it will not be possible to give a full account of this report as it is 480 pages long but we are not concerned with all aspects of the report. The part with which this work concerns itself is mainly that dealing with secondary education and excerpts will be quoted or paraphrased regarding this section, in a free translation. -113- The Committee put forward four solutions for the structure of the educational system. They classified these as Variant lA, lB, IIA and IIB. As they declared themselves in favour of IIB this is the only one which will be discussed herein. The system, state the experts, should fulfil four basic principles - universality, permeability, elasticity (flexibility) and a broad educational profile. It has to guarantee talented pupils full possibility of development and a high educational level, while weaker pupils and mentally handicapped or disturbed children ought to be provided with all-round care during their schooling and be prepared to work and live in such a way that they can manage on their own in the future and find themselves a place in society. For this to materialize there must be an extended system of pre-school education. The universalization of kindergarten is a sine qua non condition for balancing out the educational start of each child. Proper intellectual and physical development would be stressed and all children would have access to cultural activities. In an interview conducted by Bogdan Gotowski in Polish Perspectives June, 1973, Professor Szczepanski is recorded as saying that the aim of the reform is to produce a new model man - the socialist man who set store not by acquisitiveness but by cultural values. In order to do this it was necessary to have a grasp of Poland's socio-economic development by the year 2000 and the changes in the structure of the society. Professor -114- Szczepanski says that the committee asked itself how can education in the broadest sense be best made to serve the pursuance of Poland's socio-economic and political objectives, and conversely what social, cultural, polit­ ical and economic forces inherent in a socialist society will be shaping the system of education. (53) There is the criticism in the Report that in the present system all educative forces are not pulling together.(54)

Thus it is recommended that the school be considered only as the most important part of the education system to which other systems are wedded, such as the family, place of work where there is continuing education. Also in the present system there are definite divisions between pre­ school, elementary and secondary school and post school or higher school education. Szczepanski and his committee recommend that the system must be considered as a whole. The gradation should only exist for the purpose of facilit­ ating organisation and administration. He warns however that the principle of continuity must be considered with flexibility. (55) On this same point Szczepanski went on to say in the interview that the committee recommends a policy involving not merely the school system but the whole of the "educative community". What is needed is a system supported directly and in a co-ordinated manner by a network of extramural teaching institutions, and harmonized with the parallel forms of education. The actual suggestions which are made include the forming of the -115- neighbourhood school (this idea is strongly reminiscent of Dewey's Community School) linked with cultural institutions - not to make culture a schoolroom affair but to make the schoolroom a cultural affair. (56) The Committee has taken this approach one step higher by suggesting that universities be reorganised so that they will become not merely the professional schools which (57) they are at present but centres of modern culture as well. One is reminded of the universities of the Renaissance but the difference is that during that glorious period only the elite had access to the portals of such lofty places whereas it is hoped that by the year 2000 all citizens of Poland would have equal rights of access to higher learning.

What then are the actual proposals of Variant IIB? Put in a nutshell this variant foresees a generalization of an eleven-year general education school. Its lowest rung would consist of grades I to III. These would be known as preliminary grades and ought to be combined with kindergarten. These first three grades must be located close to the pupils' homes so that time and effort are not wasted on travel. From grade four on, the children would attend so-called collectives which would have a uniform programme for everyone whether in the country or the city. Up to eight grade there would not be any deviations but in the eight to eleventh grades the schools -116- would be divided into four differentiated groups; these would be mathematical, physical and technical, chemical, biological and agricultural courses and finally socio­ economic and humanistic - cultural courses. Depending on their skills and interests the pupils would be able to choose one of these groups. For those not showing an interest in any of the abovementioned fields, the schools would be able to organize vocational courses or classes geared towards learning foreign languages and physical education.

Upon completion of this general eleven year secondary school, each student would either be prepared for higher studies, for continuing his education in schools for highly qualified workers or for practising a profession after completing a brief period of training. An important change to take place in the new system is that the entrance examination will no longer be the sole and most important factor in admitting students to higher learning but the result of the final three years of schooling plus the teachers' and counsellors' opinions would all be taken into account. The committee also recommends that there be a special programme provided for the dropouts and mentally retarded or otherwise handicapped. There should be vocational training for these at the place of work or in the handicraft centres. Participation in these courses and training for a profession would be compulsory for all -117- those under the age of 18 who have not completed a normal course of study.

The Committee feel that the major burden for professional training should fall on employment institutions. They should be obliged to organise all types of schools, courses and other forms of training on the job. As every­ one will have a general education before the on the job training the general level of education will be upgraded - a very important element in the further professional training. Also where necessary there will be retraining. Alongside the training programmes for workers of all types of categories, it is predicted that the higher educational system will be complemented by three-year higher vocational schools. These would not entitle students to a university degree, but they would prepare highly qualified, technical, medical, economic, agricultural workers and others of this kind. As was customary up till now, the four to five year universities would educate the most highly qualified personnel. Finally the most promising potential candidates for post-diploma research work would be able to take up a two year individualized course of studies upon graduating from the university.

The Committee also recommended open universities so that all would have access to them. They write that there is only one ideology which should apply to adults and youth -118- alike. This of course refers to educational opportunity. There is a plea made for those adults who missed out on higher learning to go out and get it now. In fact in his lecture to Polish Radio and Television May, 1973 the Minister for Education, warned that those teachers between 35 and 40 who did not have full qualifications would have to complete them and if they do not they will no longer be classified as a teacher. Eighty-two percent of teachers are under forty and so it would appear from this that the eighteen percent over this age will by virtue of their years of teaching experience be allowed to stay in their jobs whether or not they complete their studies. Some of the eighteen percent will of course have completed their studies anyway. Not only does the Committee recommend upgrading teacher qualifications but also pro­ poses certain changes to take place in the syllabus and the method of teaching. For example they recommend that grammar be no longer taught in the traditional manner. Teaching must be conducted in such a manner that the fundamental problems of national life, moral ideals and beauty in the arts be clearly understood.

The teaching of history must be strongly related to the needs of the nation and society. No longer is it to be just names and dates. The pupils must be taught to think historically, that is they must see consequences of the past, present and future for the nation. (Perhaps it is -119- this constant reference to the nation as against the Soviet idea of internationalism, which is one of the contributing factors to the strong criticism of the Report in the more conservative Party circles and the reason for its partial shelving.)

Further along this national line we find this suggestion that the history of the world must present the way of life of foreign countries and their role in the develop­ ment of human society. All the teaching must be connected to the history of Poland. The people's fight for indep­ endence and social justice must be shown.

As far as geography is concerned it is recommended that topics should be studied such as, how some countries mastered their environmental problems, how they organise their economic and cultural life and how they protect their environment against destruction. Obviously ecology is considered just as important in Poland as here in Australia or in the U.S.A. and possibly in most parts of the civilized world.

In relation to foreign languages, the Committee uses an interesting term - "the citizen of the world." They write that the teaching of foreign languages is very important as the "future citizen of the world must be able to have direct and indirect contacts with the representatives of -120- other countries. They go on to say that out of five foreign languages, three are of the utmost importance: Russian, English and French and add that German also has an important role in international life (note how carefully: Chinese as the fifth language is omitted). Two foreign languages are to be taught, commencing in fourth grade with one language and introducing the second one in seventh grade. Prior to that, including kindergarten, languages may be learnt on a voluntary basis.

The school of the future is supposed to develop "an active patriotism" in the young. Without overlooking Poland's past glories, achievements and defeats, a feeling of responsibility must be created in the young for the future which is dependent on their actions and sentiments. Further they must be made to take an active part in social­ ist democracy. Thus now the teaching about society must include some elements of sociology, economy, law and ethnography. These teachings must be translated into the actual problems of the country, region or locality. If youth is made to feel responsible for its own school and backyard then it may feel responsible for the district and the country as a whole.

Practical knowledge of some moral and legal norms of social co-existence will be achieved this way. The problems of philosophy, ethics, morals and history and -121- philosophy of religion must be considered as separate subjects.

Further on, they write that there should be some specialisation in the general secondary school, such as the teaching of computer science. Technology they write, must convey to the average pupil the fascinating possibil­ ities offered by the modern world. Education through work and for work is very important.

The importance of the role of the family is stressed. Compare this with the early Stalinist era when there was an attempt to do away altogether with the idea of family as a social institution. Education for recreation is to (58) be included in this new syllabus, as is also sex education. These new inclusions are certainly not unique to Poland. In fact in many parts of the Western world, including Australia, they have either formed part of the syllabus for some years or at least have been much debated by all those concerned with education. An interesting feature of the Report is that it does not withhold criticism of the Ministry of Education. So we find that it criticises among other things, the decree issued by the Ministry on 11th February, 1970 which called for a reduction in the role played by the school·coancil (self-government­ literal translation). The Report stresses the need for further development of this institution. In the higher -122- or more senior grades the youths can express their criticism of the curriculum or teaching methods. The progress of some individuals or groups can also be discussed. Further discussions should be organised by the schools with prospective employers taking part in the discussion. One could no doubt compare this to Careers Night in the schools of New South Wales.

These are just some of the proposed reforms. The Committee envisages that the overhauling of the system of education will at best start in 1980. The emphasis in this initial stage will be to upgrade education particul­ arly in the country areas and to increase teaching qualifications. It is hoped once the reform is put into practice that by the year 2000 it will have moulded a truly socialist society. They argue that because of these new ideas youth will become more rationally guided by the school according to their ability, interest and potential. This in consequence will result in diminishing the number of people dissatisfied with their jobs which is a source at present in many cases of poor quality workmanship and various conflicts. School education will be strictly linked with the practical functions of society. As one reads the envisaged effects of this reform, one cannot help but feel that the Committee whilst talking about rational development is hoping for an unreasonable degree of change and improvement as a result of suggestions which by our -123- standards are not at all revolutionary or even partic­ ularly innovative. They go on to claim that social discipline will be improved as well as people's ability to educate their children, thus decreasing the numbers of misfits. There will be greater co-operation with leaders in the national economy and a positive change in morals relating to work and professional ethics. It is interesting to see that they write about the various classes and groups being able to better fulfil their functions in the national economy in the year 2000. What ever happened to the socialist idea of a classless society? Surely if it is not achieved by the year 2000, it has little chance of being achieved. They continue in this vein: the socialist society will be strengthened and developed, every citizen will have the same equal chance for education and fulfilment of his aspirations. As the vast percentage of citizens will be educated they will be better equipped to understand State policy and co-operate with the administration. Councils will be better able to function with the co-operation of educated citizens and the ideology will be understood. Less people therefore will be ignorant of the media and therefore more will have a grasp of the political prop­ aganda and information.

Possibly the greatest reform of the whole programme, if it can be put into practice, is the idea of equality of -124- educational opportunity and from this of course it is expected that all the changes will flow.

It would be wrong to leave the reader with the idea that this report has been accepted without criticism. There has been a lot of discussion in every serious newspaper, magazine and journal ever since the report was given an airing. In fact almost two years later it is still not known how many of the recommendations will be put into practice. What then are some of the criticisms expressed? Variant IIB which proposes a uniform eleven year secondary education raises some doubts. For example, is it a real­ istic concept as even now the eight year elementary schools are showing signs of difficulties related to such problems as young people dropping out, teacher shortage and inadequate equipment, as well as the difficulty of transporting pupils to collective schools when the one teacher schools are abolished and pupils will have to travel great distances. Another criticism is related to vocational training. Teachers in vocational schools claim that employment institutions will shirk their new duty of giving young people professional training as they them­ selves are not prepared for this role. Moreover education will take second place to production and so the vocational system of the past thirty years will be'W:lsted. Universities also do not feel up to the tasks expected of them. Despite all the government aid for the expansion of -125- higher educational system and development of research centres it will take several dozen years to work up to all that is necessary in order to conduct the elaborate research and didactic experiments predicted in the report.

Other doubts expressed are related to the syllabus: Whether in fact the linear system is better than the concentric arrangement of courses. In relation to the creation of special care centres for the handicapped and misfits they feel that as there are inadequate trained personnel more harm than good could result from these. The recommendation which met with great enthusiasm was that all teachers be university graduates and was put into effect immediately. The first 16,000 teachers already engaged in teaching have been directed to take extra-mural courses which have been specially set up in all Polish higher educational institutions. So a reform of the Polis:i educational system has begun.

Andrzej Swiecki in his book "To-day and Tomorrow" appears to be one of the supporters of the report. He writes:- "There exists the necessity of adapting the system of education to the demands of the future. The basic condition for that is not so much the institutionalor formal treatment of matters of ideological education but a down to earth pragmatic -126- and general educational activity whose aim is to prepare the young generation for the acceptance of the 21st century. We do not know what the model of the system of education would be but it is clear that it would have to undergo constant changes and modif­ ications. The school reform in an epoch of a rising flood of scientific information must go on continuously." Swiecki supports the idea of a general secondary education for all on the grounds that a generally high level of educat­ ion of the total society will ensure a further dynamic development of the country.(59) As for those teachers who object to shortening the period of vocational training Swiecki feels they are missing the main point of this reform. They do not take into account the fact that a modernisation of the school system would not change any of the characteristics and perhaps many of them would be solved better than thus far .• The period of schooling only would be shortened. The syllabus ofwcational training itself would not be changed­ only a wider knowledge would be gained by the pupils at the general secondary school which would give them a better grounding in both theoretical and practical work. It would give the children of peasants and workers who normally would not have this opportunity from the basic vocational school to go on to higher studies if they so desired. The longer period (10 years as against 8) of

compulsory schooling would according to Swiecki better -127- prepare pupils for the choice of a vocation and the choice would be more mature. Therefore there would be a smaller loss to the economy through job-changing. As for those who continue their studies in the general secondary school prior to entering tertiary institutions Swiecki finds a positive feature is that now more attention is being paid to individual differences in abilities. For example, those who are particularly talented in the fine arts have a greater opportunity to concentrate their studies in that direction and so develop their talents. The same applies to a musical education or some other talent. ( 60) Another praiseworthy feature is the introduction since September, 1970 of seminar classes, four periods per week in mathematics, physics, the humanities, geography, economics and languages for those wishing to study these subjects at the university. Prior to this, there had been the criticism made by the Committee of experts that there was too big a hurdle to be jumped from secondary school to university as indeed between elementary school and secondary school. In Australia we are faced with the same problem but in Poland it would appear that as a result of the findings of the Committee something is already being done about this. -128-

CONCLUSION

"A totally inhuman regime, like ours, lacking the skill to produce creatures cap­ able of building a humane society, molds in its likeness everything that is subordinated to it; the oppressed as well as the oppressors."

Simone Weil .

Poland has a long tradition of learning, dating back one thousand years.

However during that lengthy period the country has been subjected to domination, occupation and partition by the neighbouring powers. The effect on the standard of education has been disast~rous. Galicia, which was occupied by Austria was more fortunate than the Congress Kingdom which was under Russia and Wielkopoloka which was under Prussia where the Polish language was disallowed and the foreign authorities did nothing to encourage the education of Poles. Thus the standard was not uniform. In the Austrian sector illiteracy decreased to virtually nil by 1914 whilst in the Russian and Prussian sectors it continued to increase until only about fifteen percent of the Poles were literate, at the outbreak of World War I. Poland suffered great losses in every sphere including the area of education in the Wars and so when the socialist government began to govern in 1944 it was faced with a -129- momentuous task of rebuilding the nation.

Its educational policies were clearly enunciated. Compulsory, free, universal, secular and uniform education for all was the aim. As with politics generally one thing is said yet another meant and practised.

Education is compulsory yet somehow not all school age children attend school. It is free but the financial burden of raising money for school equipment is placed on the Parents and Citizens Association. It is secular but slowly more denominational schools are being opened up - particularly Catholic. Universality has not yet been achieved as indeed neither has uniformity. The standard of country schools is not equivalent to the city schools and many peasant children attend school for only a couple of years and so regress to illiteracy. In fact there are five million illiterates in a population of thirty three and a half million and some ten and a half million have only completed primary school. All this may be overcome if the recommendation of the Szczepanski Report are put into effect, which may be by the year 2000. However a negative feature which will not be overcome is that of discrimination in higher education towards certain groups in the community. This will not be overcome as it is consciously and purposely being perpetrated. There exist great discrepancies between the theory and the -130- practice of socialism.

In Poland as no doubt in all socio-political systems it would be a mistake to divorce the problem of education from that of the economic, social and political situation of the whole country. Dr. Smolicz in his paper "Social Structure and Educational Inequalities in Communist Poland" concludes that •••• "Education may hold the key to the future evolution of social structures in the communist lands. Designed for the purpose of the consolidation of the communist rule and perpetuation of the privileges of those in control of the state and Party apparatus, it may lead instead to the fuller realization by the deprived of the economic and cultural inequalities built into the existing form of (61) "state socialism'' ••••• ~ This is of course a possibility, on the other hand one could perhaps draw the conclusion from the foregoing material that there is a definite effort through educational policy to change the stratif­ ication of the intelligentsia in Polish society which if successful will achieve nothing more than a reversal of roles of the various classes. It certainly will not achieve the socialist dream of a classless society.

However a paradox will arise should this policy succeed. Most of the members of the new intelligentsia would probably try to forget their lowly origins and in any case their children could no longer very well be classified as -131- being of peasant or working class origin and so the new intelligentsia will soon show all the characteristics of the one it was supposed to supplant. It is quite possible that within a few generations the colour of the new "bourgeoisie" will fade into various shades of pink rather than remain red and so become again a sort of white bourgeoisie. This thought seems to underlye Chairman Mao's theory of a continuous revolution.

While the Marxist-Leninist ideology has changed the direction of the educational philosophy in Poland, there may be two pitfalls in this method: One the biased presentation of the humanities may create an intelligent­ sia that would be more and more fanatical and averse to any new ideas from the West. This tendency would be at least partly counteracted by the influence of the Church and partly by the inclination of the Poles to follow Western examples rather than Russian ones.Added to this is of course the traditionally rebellious, nationalistic and individualistic nature of the Polish people.

The second danger is that the emphasis given to technolog­ ical subjects will in time make the intelligentsia less interested in humanistic studies and therefore less critical of the enforced ideological foundations of the educational system. This emphasis still exists in the proposed reform of the system of education as there is a -132- fear of staying behind in technological and scientific achievements in relation to the rest of the world particularly the U.S.A.

Notwithstanding these criticisms one would still have to agree with Professor Bereday when he wrote in the 60 1 s thatr. "The quality of education in Poland continued on balance to be satisfactory. Communist education introduced the obvious restrictions in the field of history and literature. It filled the extracurricular time with the obligatory activities of youth organis- ations. It permeated the schools with militant orthodoxy. But apart from these changes, the schoolofferings suggest a reasonable degree of vigor and high calibre. Whatever its shortcomings, Polish education on the whole has succeeded in combin­ ing the pre-war scholarly traditions with the new post-war dynamic

expansionism." P 59 (62) -133- REFERENCES

1. Arnold Rose (Ed)· The Institutions of Advanced Societies Article by Jan Szczepanski - Poland Pub. Minnesota Press 1958 P. 254. 2. Red Pen Publications - Towards a Revolution in 1974 Education. p. 1. 3. Jan Szczepanski Reflections on Education State Publishing Institute Warsaw 1973 P. 31. 4. Stanislaw Arnold Outline History of Poland Marian Zychowski Polonia Publishing House Warsaw 1962 Most of the historical data in this chapter is obtained from this book. 5. Andrzej Swiecki Education in Poland Ksiazka i Wiedza 1969 Warsaw P. 34. 6. Ibid P. 44. 7. Ibid P. 45. 8. Ibid P. 49. 9. Jan Szczepanski op . ci t . ( 1 • ) P . 23 8 10. Stanislaw Arnold op. cit. P. 149-150 Marian Zychowski 11. Ibid P. 151 12. Ibid P. 153 13. Ibid P. 155 14. Ibid P. 158-160 15. Bednarski, Kolczynski The Economic & Political & P3:ocica System of P.R.L. Pub. Panstwowe Zaklady Wydawnictw Szkolnych 1973 P. 61-102 (free translation) -134- 16. Bohdan Suchodolski "Perspectives for the development of education in the Polish People's Republic." Kwartalnik Pedagogiczny XIII N'o. 3 1968 P. 15. 17. July Manifesto 1944 Education in Poland op. cit. P. 58 18. Polish Constitution Own translation. 19. Franciszek Januszkiewicz Education in Poland pub. Interpress Publishers Warsaw 1973. P. 24. 20. Swiecki Andrzej op. ci t. P. 70. 21. Report on the state of education hereinafter referred to as The Szczepanski. Report. 22. Zak Andrzej Kultura - Paris Sept. 1973 Article on the Szczepanski Report. 23. Franciszek Januszkiewicz op. cit. P. 20. 24. Jan Janicki Quality Not Quantity

P. 52. 25. Professor G. Bereday Comparative Method in Education pub. Holt Rinehart & Winston Inc. P. 56. 26. Januszkiewicz op. cit. P. 32. 27. Jozef Grudzien Gazette - Citizenship Training September, 1971 No. 7-9 28. Marian Kruczkowski same as above - different article. Ibid 29. t' 1 j _(' 30. Mikolaj Kozakiewicz Polish Perspectives No. 9 1971 Article "Character Building". -135- 31. Ibid 32. Swiecki, A. op. ci t. P. 3 6. 33. Sosnovskii Soviet Education May, 1972 Article'~ocational Schools in Poland." 34. Ibid 35. Irena Nowakowska Polish Perspectives 1974 Article "Educational Aspirations". 36. Ibid 37. Buhler - Discrimination in Education in the People's Democracies. 38. Decree - 31st Dec. 1949 own translation - from Monitor Polski 39. Decree-7th March, 1950 - op. cit. 40. Decree 29th April, 1950 - op. cit. 41. Decree-23rd July, 1945 as amended 5th September, 1950 op. cit. 42. Decree - 25th January, 1973. 43. Ministerial Circular May, 1968. 44. J. Wojcik in Catholic Life PAX Publication 1975 P. 17. 45. Central Committee of the Polish United Workers' Party - 1974 in Catholic Life. 46. Wojcik op. cit. 47. J.J. Smolicz Education, Ideology & Society in a Socialist State - The Case of Poland

p • 3 7 • ' . ! ~ I r , ' .L.' ' ·~'} ,; ; 1 ~ -~ ~. • ( ! :' ..., ~.J .C ,_. -r ~ / ,··~ -1J6.:.. 48. Ibid 49. Ibid 50. Grzelak,Z. The Price of a Degree P .150 51. Dr. J.J. Smolicz "Social Structure & Educatioral Inequalities in Communist Poland"- paper presented at 46th Anzaas Congress Canberra 1975 52. Ibid 53. Interview by Bogdan Gotowski with Szczepanski in Polish Perspectives 1973. 54. Szczepanski Report P. 197. 55. Interview by Bogdan Gotowski with Szczepanski in Polish Perspectives 1973. 56. Szczepanski Report P. 246. 57. Szczepanski Report 58. Ibid

59. A. Swiecki To-day & Tomorrow (Free translation of entire book paraphrased and summarised here). I~~;_, 60. Ibid

61. J.J. Smolicz op. ci t. ·.·'.·(J' 62. G. Bereday op. cit. P. 59. -137- TABLES REFERENCE

TABLE 1. Development of school network in Education in Poland Polish Territories 1944-1948 Januszkiewicz,F. P. 23. Interpress Publishers Warsaw 1973. TABLE 2. Schools in Poland 1937/38-1970/71 op. cit. P. 26.

TABLE 3. Pupils and Students 1937/38- op. ci t. P. 27. 1970/71

TABLE 4. Growth in the numbers of op. ci t. P. 29. children of school-age

TABLE 5. Leavers and &raduates op. ci t. P. 28. 1937/38-1970/71

TABLE 6. Curriculum of Secondary Vocation- Farmerie, S. (Ed) al schools Vocational and technical training in secondary ed­ ucation - Sosnovskii Soviet Education 14:3 107 May, 1972. TABLE 7. Students of basic vocational Education in Poland. school, general education sec­ Januszkiewicz F. ondary schools, secondary P. 34. vocational and technicalschools and institutes of higher education according to their social origin. -138- BIBLIOGRAPHY

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