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What we do know in terms of comparison is from the OECD's PISA ratings at 14 and 16 years, crude as they are. These show Hungary as generally average or below-average on all subjects, with no great advantage in either maths or science. I had a memorable conversation with someone once who was adamant that this was due to the inclusion of Roma children... there goes Greater Hungary...
I can well believe that Hungarian education starts off as excellent at kindergarten, is actually quite good at primary level up to 10, and then rapidly tails off for many (most?) students afterwards, in a sea of repetition, lack of depth, autodidact teaching and absence of genuine rigour. By the time they are 15 or 16 many students are disillusioned and unchallenged. As an ex-teacher I would have to concede that the introduction of school inspectors by the Hoffmann-Orban act is not something I find intrinsically offensive, as long as it is used to help the teacher develop. Oh, and fraud is absolutely endemic, with a thriving black market in false exams and third-party essays.
Daily Mail [UK]: Maths 'too hard for students and dons': Universities drop subject from science courses
Universities are dropping maths from degree courses because students - and their lecturers - cannot cope with it, a report warns today. ... Universities are being forced to dumb down degree courses requiring the use of maths, including sciences, economics, psychology and social sciences. Students are unable to tackle complex problems and their lecturers struggle to teach them anyway, it is claimed.
...
Universities are being forced to dumb down degree courses requiring the use of maths, including sciences, economics, psychology and social sciences.
Students are unable to tackle complex problems and their lecturers struggle to teach them anyway, it is claimed.
Here is the same story on EducationNews.org.
In any case, how can it be that every country is below average in the quality of its education? There are three stories about the euro crisis: the Republican story, the German story, and the truth. -- Paul Krugman
I emphasize again that I was speaking about the situation 25 years ago, and don't know much about the present one first-hand. All I know that the curriculum did change, if only because politicians wanted all the communist-era school books replaced. (I was aware of the rankings in PISA studies, but I can't compare that to anything 25 years ago.) Teachers also count, and even if the old Prussian model of strict teachers doing instruction (that rigidity you describe) was not good and there were attempts to change that, I know at least that much that teacher quality decreased, too. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
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