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New changes in
education in South East Europe
When speaking
about school and its sociology in the western Balkans it’s
not so easy. The Balkans, except the fact that it is the
poorest place of Europe, its societies were and maybe still
are violent horizons. The Balkan’s dictators are more
original with their memoirs as the one of the Roman Emperor
of Kaligula. Ideologies and dictatorships have caused
civilizations and many grieves. Among these violated things
were also schools, books, children and teachers.
Five main
points of writing this text are as follows;
1. The first point is that in Macedonia and in South
East Europe the school and education are under the strong
influence of the external as well as economic, political,
integrative and global factors.
2. Schools respond under these influences, they are also
changing and adapting towards any new circumstances, perhaps
not with the right rate.
3. Education under the conditions of postconflict societies
is more critical towards the past and it has a new approach
towards the other especially towards ethnic and religious
minorities.
4. Privatization as a postcomunis trend and intention is
getting greater and greater in school institutions
5. The western Balkans is the borderline where meet both
Islam and Christianity.
1. Countries in
transition and the European intergrating processes
Western European countries or as they recently call
Western Balkans (Albania, Macedonia Kosovo, Serbia Monte
Negro and Bosnia) are postcomunist countries where now are
being called as countries in transition. At the same time,
these countries are in tirades with the European Union since
a decade for an integration and a full membership into this
family. To achieve success by this initiative in the process
of European Intergartion, there must be made radical changes
in the political, economical and in the aspect of developing
the liberal western democracy. Structural changes should be
made in the aspect of the liberal democracy development, as
well as structural changes must be made in the field of
education starting from kindergardens, schools, faculties,
joint projects and also in developing multicultural values.
In the first years
of the transition period in Macedonia the civic society
moved forward with emphasized individual initiatives and
with the outmost competition. All this for some resulted in
a grown-up tendency so they can achieve success in business
and for some others, hereupon, for the grown-up number of
people their existence, survival. The America sociologist
Torsten Veblen in one of his books about docone class,
speaks for the individual as another person in a queue, who
without fail needs to keep his pace with the others and
follow them. This person is being led by the existency of
achieving success in the capitalistic competition and the
imposition to fulfill his existential needs. The school in
Balkans as well as in Macedonia got a meaning of
postindustrial society.
From table no 1 we
can see that only 7.28% of the population has finished the
faculty which is not much in comparison with other central
European countries which have also emerged from the
communist regime. But the figures of the population which
have finished four year high school is so low only 29.45 %.
The social transformation towards integrating processes
cannot be made up by only one human resource which is not
literate as much as it should be.1
2. New Debates
in Macedonia and in Balkans for Education and Globalization
The main debate in the last ten years in the Balkan
countries exposes intentions to promote education on the
basis of tradition and the best Western European and
American practices.
It is being made a
very important question partaining to what exactly presents
European education and there is being inquired an answer and
a practice towards that question. “European education”, is a
term being used more and more in the lexicon of politicians,
scientists, teachers, etc. This concept is based upon actual
progress of the education, culture and science in the
European developing countries, experience, tradition and
material and spiritual values of which are verified and as
such are eligible for postsocial societies.
The new European
and American paradigms of education emphasize more clearly
the meaning and the role of the school in the changing of
the so far social and cultural forms. This continuing
concept of changing ideas, exceeding norms and values and
their substitution with the new ones, more contemporary, is
the composing part of the civic developing society. The new
European platform for the future development of the
education includes the following issues:
1. The new society of information,
2. The new profile of the citizen, thus capable with the
best of knowledge,
3. The education throughout life,
4. The prosperity of the school as a relevant social
institution.
Macedonian Map: around are; Kosovo, Albania,
Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro and Greece
1 In
Albanian population in Macedonia these indicators are triple
low although the number of students of students graduators
in 2005 exceeds the number of Albanian pupils graduators
from high schools only 10 years ago.
The first issue
about the society which is in fact based on knowledge and
information and is the foundation of the civic society. The
Internet network development and the massive computing
eliminate the narrow regional barriers and continually
expand the chance of communication and human activity.
National spheres become incapacious to implement unique
standards of the massive production that enquires a huge
market in which will be realised the efficacity and the
offer of that production. Maks Veberi perhaps was right when
he said in a futuralistic way that the future development of
the humankind will happen in the vast areas of America and
Russia. In the war for profit, individuals and enterprises
are in a competitive competition so they can impose with
their products and services.
The second issue which we talk about more often in the
literature of sociology is the future profile of the citizen
and civilization. What kind of citizen is needed in the
future? – Is postmodern life offering enough chances
to operate in accordance with the postmodern wisdom as said
by Zigmund Bauman (Bauman,Z .424, ) Are the
means for global operation now discredited or lost...? It is
known that the industrial society needs highly qualified and
educated workers as follows: managers, technicians, experts
and people of different profiles. In the beginning of the
new millennium as said by Fukujama, actually, the
postindustrial civilization cannot exist without an
authentic and specialized elite. In the prosperous world, in
great extent the social status is determined by the
level of education. Today, class differences in the United
States of America can be said that are stretched,
essentially, in the differences as far as the field of
education is concerned. Even there may not be difficulties
in the educational progress of any individual but in more
developing degree of education, nevertheless, the
off-balance is involved in the system as the result of
unequal approach in the education: the lack of education is
the safest way to judge and determine the citizens as
second-handed. ( Fukujama, F. 19).
All these questions and a question which is being asked
quite often is the one which has to do with the education.
The school itself has its task to enable pupils so they can
be updated with the time development and successfully face
with the future challenges. However, education systems in
different countries have their specificities, which change
and which are special rights of their local choice and
according to the self order. European dimension together
with the joint institutions of education involve for
egalitarian working conditions, curricula standardizing,
standardizing the evaluation in education, insuring the
quality of the higher education etc.
As the third element can be taken into consideration the
issue that the education gained at one time can enable
career and success during the whole life. Unfortunately,
this thing is hopeless today. Knowledges should be
uninterruptedly acquired and successively new sources of
information should be gained. Theoretically, this phenomenon
was illustrated by the American theorist of education Çarls
Miçel throughout the example of the obligation we have
towards “sharpening the blade”. (Mitche,Ch)
The fourth element of the European model for education in
the beginning of the millennium is the distinctness of the
school as a strong and very important institution. This
element goes with the state budget because how much from the
financies will get the schools for the teachers, for the
scientific renovation, for the maintenance of the
inventory, etc, depends from the fact how much means will be
portioned from the budget for education.
Main postulates of such concepts are based upon these
aspects:
1. The third millennium needs a solid
theoretical preparation which should be applied into
practice, so it can have its profit and realization
2. New generations of pupils, students
and teachers need to gain new knowledges from as many
sources of information as possible and they need new
alternatives for development.
3. The preparation of the new generation
is made because it is needful to live a new way of life, new
way of work, new professions and new products.
3. Education in postconflict societies – education for
peace
Apart from other postsocialist societies, in the central and
eastern Europe which even after the downfall of socialism
equally continued to function as a territorial integrity,
ex-Yugoslav federation tore to pieces in the worst way
possible. This deepened into economic, social and political
crisis, in countries which were dissociated from this
federation. The war destroyed the economy and the collective
market which was in a chain way related having in mind their
mutual work for decades in a row. All this is being
emphasized and it has its influence in schools and in the
young generations.
As a consequence of war in the postwar societies is being
developed a rashed process of desideologism of teaching
contents and the development of new teaching curricula
covering topics from the field of peace, conflicts resolve,
multiculture, human rights, respecting the diversities and
discriminated ethnicityes. Projects in these fields are
being applied from Japanese donators in Mostar in Bosnia
from Americans, Swedish, Dutch. Germans in Serbia Kosovo and
Macedonia.
Ministries of education with their organs, in these areas
where wars were present 4-5 years ago, work with the great
deal so the education for peace become the main part for
many subjects and school activities.
The idea is as much human and visionary as possible. Wars
and conflicts shouldn’t be repeated anymore, on the contrary
in these societies should be built new civic prospectives;
peace, safety, ethnic tolerance, religious and language
tolerance.
4. The decade and the education of Gipsys - Inequality in
Education
Gypsies are an ethnic group present in the whole Europe. It
is a population living under poor life conditions and their
integration in the social life is poorly developed. Gypsies
are the best examples of inequality in the society, which in
essence are impacts of inequality in education.
Inequailities should be combated by the countries. The state
as such doesn’t have to only create lawful and political
preconditions but its greatest task is to enliven this
inequality into practice. Perhaps European countries have
failed in this way with the example of Gypsies. How does
Sartre explain this issue?
He claims that the ideological shape of the knowledge
specialists is clearly determined by a topdown built system.
The same idea has got also Hannah Arendt. That system is
recognized by the state as primary, high, and university.
This system should mandatorily be selectiv. The ruling class
fixes the education in that way so it gives to the pupils:
1. The ideology which considers as
suitable for its interests.
2. Knowledges and experiences which
will make them able to drill their different functions
(Sartre, Jean – Pol 104-106).
Therefore, they become able for two social roles: research
specialists and hegemonious specialists., thus tradition and
state overlookers.
These techniques of knowledge, Weber’s bureaucrates or
Paretos elite who use the knowledge to combat ideas of the
others. Therefore, they become bearers of the ideological
particularization with or without authorizations for this
activity.
Gypsies in Europe are half nomadic tribes which derive from
Asia in the early history and who are a synonym for unhoused
people, poverty and other negative stereotypes and who are
unequal in all societies.
They are known by the term gipsy, gypsy. This means a
member of a roaming race (which by themeselves are called
Gypsies) with the origin Hindu, who for the first time
appeared in England around the beginning of the XVIth
century which by that time it is thought that they came from
Egypt. They have a yellow-brown color of the skin and black
hair. They survive by making buckets, trade with horses,
etc. Usually it causes doubt because of their nomadic life
and their customs. Their language (their language which is
called Roma) is one of the very inflective Hindu dialect,
with the huge number of words taken from different European
languages. Therefore, except the word “rom” got its
meaning also for ‘loser’. Today this word is used to
under-estimate any individual who often changes his
place where he lives.(Fraser.A,7)
Table.no.2 Qualification and Education of Gypsies in
Macedonia
From table 2 we can see that 2% of Roma people are qualified
and only 0,3% have finished higher education.
The whole thing becomes actual in contemporary tendencies,
which timely appears any racial discrimination. The social
and economic and educational situation itself as far as
Gypsies are concerned which is the most undeveloped society
in Europe tells more for the ethnic discrimination and about
lost impacts in towards the other in a long period of time.
The purposes of the Gypsies decade which focuses on the heap
of economic, political, social and educational measures and
it will occur from 2005-2015. The activities are ran from
the governments with their organs and non-governmental
organizations as well. In the western Balkans with its
activities runs the foundation Open Society I belonging to
the humanist Georg Soros.
5. The Future of Ballkans
The future of Balkans and its countries is in European
Union , in Democracy and peace. The future of Education, too
Thank you |
