People who have been observing the developments\nin education for many decades, and in particular in the area of the\neffectiveness of education, noticed a big shift after the fall of the junta\n(1974). This dichotomy became stronger and stronger, and we think that it has recently\nreached its peak. There is some justification in the reasons that created such\na dichotomy: the oppression during the junta repressed free thought and the\nexercising of political and social rights. It is certain that the reactions\ntowards finding a reasonable balance after this oppressive period were negative,\ndisproportionate and asymmetrical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ever\nsince the liberation of Greece and the creation of the modern Greek State in\nthe period leading up to the 1960\u2019s, our educational system succeeded in not\nonly fixing illiteracy, which was predominant in our country, but it also\nmanaged to build national conscience among the diversified students attending\nthe Greek public schools. Teachers of all levels were able to harmoniously combine\ntheir national duty to educate and guide their students but also to vindicate\ntheir professional labour rights. The proper functioning of schools of that\ntime produced positive results which benefitted society in general. The\neducation system produced upright citizens who possessed not only national\nconscience but also displayed self-constraint in their claims for labour rights.\nThey did not pursue unrestricted claims of \u201cguild\u201d privileges.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n After the return of parliamentarism in\n1974, a new tendency started to develop, which was aiming to balance the long\noppression during the years of dictatorship with a new extreme permissiveness\nin the performance of duties towards society and towards the state in general. One of these tendencies was the extreme\ndemands of all members of the educational community (both students and teachers\nof all educational levels). Unfortunately, the politicians of the time, who\nwere mostly interested in being reelected, eagerly legislated many of these\nunreasonable claims. <\/strong>With very few\nexceptions of the rare periods of better governance, the situation kept getting\nworse as the decades went by. Unfortunately, since the education system breeds\na country\u2019s future citizens, many of these tendencies continue to survive\ntoday. A small improvement was observed because of the changes that were\nnecessitated during the recent deep economic crisis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A mark of a cohesive society is the extent\nof solidarity among its members, particularly the solidarity towards those\nfellow countrymen that we do not personally know. When solidarity is present,\nself-centredness and extreme egotism are diminished. The empathy and the\ncapacity for individual growth for everyone who practises solidarity more than\ncompensate for the potential loss of personal interest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n During the first period of the pandemic,\nsolidarity was practised mainly by our health professionals. In unprecedented\ncircumstances, the vast majority of them provided excellent support to the\ninfected patients, who could not enjoy the support of their own relatives due\nto the nature of the disease. Unfortunately,\nnot all citizens understood why the tackling of the pandemic in our country was\nso successful. Some groups of professionals and many young people thought that\nthe low numbers of affected persons was not due to the preventive measures enforced\nby the government and the strict adherence to the thorough action plan, but instead\nto the low morbidity of the virus. This view held by some citizens led to\nlaxness in complying with the necessary preventive measures and to the recent increase\nin COVID-19 cases.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Based\non the above, we can conclude that unfortunately Greek society has learned to\nfunction according to the negative tendencies in our educational system that\nwere formed during the years after the fall of the dictatorship in 1974.\nStudents of all educational levels during that period learned to become\nextremely relaxed in applying the ideas and complying with the institutional\nresponsibilities that all citizens of cohesive societies have to obey. <\/strong>Many of these students later became teachers in the public education\nsystem and they made the laxity that already existed in the education system\neven worse. This kind of mentality led to the high external indebtedness of the\ncountry for many years, the scandal of the Stock Exchange (1999) and the\nscandal of the Structured Bonds (2005). Irresponsible and damaging behaviours\nsuch as these caused the inflation of the already high national debt, which unfortunately\nwill have to be paid by our descendants, the young people of the present and\nthe next generations. The current reaction\nof the youth to the restrictions, which are enforced so that the pandemic does\nnot spread further, is just another example of the slackness that our young\npeople have been accustomed to. It is also a reaction to the national debt that\nhas been transferred to them by the previous generations. However, this kind of\nreaction is not constructive and does not solve any of the current problems;\ninstead it only makes societal impasses even worse\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Our country needs reorientation. We believe\nthat our society needs to be redirected, and that solidarity is the only\neffective way. Of course, this kind of reorientation has to start at the base \u2013\nat our education system\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n THE EDITORIAL BOARD<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" THE IRRESPONSIBLE ATTITUDE OF YOUTH TOWARDS THE NEW CORONA VIRUS PANDEMIC IS A RESULT OF OUR EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM People who have been observing the developments in education for many decades, and in particular in the area of the effectiveness of education, noticed a big shift after the fall of the junta (1974). This dichotomy became … \u03a3\u03c5\u03bd\u03ad\u03c7\u03b5\u03b9\u03b1 \u03b1\u03bd\u03ac\u03b3\u03bd\u03c9\u03c3\u03b7\u03c2 <\/span>