How do public schools rank in Greece relative to the rest of the world?

Answer 1

I personally do not know where they rank but I don't know of any other country that has to pay so much money for extra lessons at evening schools.

It already costs me 250 euro extra a month and she's only 8! I dread to think what I'll be paying out for when she hits her teens!

Answer 2

I actually think Greek schools tend to do ok relative to the rest of the world. I can't find any data right now (perhaps you could search through this http://www.oecd.org/topicstatsportal/0,3398,en_2825_495609_1_1_1_1_1,00.html#498370) but I've seen stats in the past and Greece is not too shabby. The phenomenon of the "frontistiria" (after hours tutors) may have less to do with the quality of public education and more to do with: (i) parents having more disposable income than in the past, and wanting to use it to help their kids, (ii) parents valuing education more than in some other countries, and (iii) parents recognizing the difficulties of the current job market, and realizing that the few secure jobs out there will be given to only those with certain types of university degrees, so any edge the parents can give the students in getting to university will be helpful.

Having said all that, there's no doubt that education has fallen to a low in Greece, as it has in most of the western world, relative to, say, the 1950s. On the other hand, graduation rates (not surprisingly) have gone up. There's a fine balance to be struck there (and countries do not always strike it). You want to have sufficient graduates to be able to staff the complex workplace of today, but you don't want to make it so easy to graduate that education becomes meaningless. I don't think we're in that doom and gloom scenario yet, but without vigilance we could easily get there.

Answer 3

What people are saying about frontistiria has some truth in it, but no you don't need to go to frontistiria to get good marks. You just need to studey A LOT!

The thing with greek schools is, you have to take the same courses as everyone else. In Canada for instance, you don't need to take math or science courses after grade 10. You don't even have to take geography or history, or foreign languages. You can just take English, art, gym, or any other course you find easy and fun.
You can graduate highschool, and know close to nothing. In Greece that's impossible.
That may be the reason people go to frontistiria. School in Greece is more difficult. But people do learn more. Especially if they want to.

Answer 4

As far as I know, there isn' t any kind of ranking about public schools in Greece. And as asimenia said, I don't think there is anywhere else in the world things like "frontistiria". Many parents forced to send their children for extra lessons (frontistirio), coz they want their children to have proper education. Greek teachers are trying to do their job under difficult circumstances. They have very low salaries and most children, since they will go after school to the frontistirio, they don't pay attention to the class. Moreover, the same teachers who teach in the school, in order to raise their monthly income, they teach to the the frontistiria, too. Greek administrations don't give a descent amount of money for the education, so they maintain the above situation. But all these doesn't mean that Greek educational system is awfull. If we compare it with developed countries (for e.g. like US) at least children do not drop school.

Answer 5

I went to school in Greece until beginning of grade 7, and the rest in Canada. What people are saying about private lessons in Greece is true. The system makes it hard to get good marks without private lessons.
I never actually had any, and my marks weren't really too high. My average was about 75. In order to get into university you need more than that. I do have to admit though, I didn't study as much as I should.
When I left from Greece and went to school in Canada, my marks jumped from 75% to 90%, even though I spoke no English. My knowledge in Math, Geography, Biology, and History was much better than the people in my class. And I was never top student in Greece. In fact I hardly ever studied.
So I came to the conclusion, that in Greece, we are a couple of years ahead.
This is just my experience. I also find that people that have gone to school in Greece, usually know more about the world in general.

Answer 6

I cannot tell you exactly what the public schools are doing BUT I can attest with all sincerity and judging from the young Greeks I examine every year, (about a thousand or so) that they are every bit as clever, intelligent, resourceful and informed as their counterparts in the USA, UK, Australia and in some cases more so. Despite the whining that is going on about the system, with very few exceptions, young Greek kids are wonderful.

Answer 7

We have to know the education system in more than one country to answer this question, haven't we?

But I can safely say that, in my country (Turkey) the share that education gets from the annual budget gets less and less and this inevitably affects the quality of education in public schools.

These days, it all depends on the teacher. If you are lucky enough to find a good teacher for your kid, your kid will be OK. Else, well, you can guess...

Because of the lack of standard, private schools are so very popular.

You do the comparison.

Answer 8

Greeks prioritize education to the max. If the schools in the USA were as serious about learning as the Greeks, American kids would all be geniuses. Like it or not, Greek kids who plan on going to college spend inordinate amounts of time on study, homework, tutors, and learning in general. The average Greek kid who chooses to learn English, spend at least 10 years in either private or public English studies. Most Greeks I know who have studied English quote the rules of grammar far better than most Americans I know. No joke.
I Cr 13;8a

Answer 9

There is not any ranking method used, so all the answers are subjective.

Answer 10

Well I can only tell you what I think from my point of view.Greek schools when it actually comes to what we learn are way better than schools in most other countries of Europe and maybe even the US.Things we do in the first two grades of elementary school my cousins in Holland did those things in the third or fourth grade.Things we learn in the last two years of high school(lykeio) in most countries those things are only teached in university(especially when it comes to math,physics,chemistry etc).I know this,since I have family in other countries of Europe and I know what they do at school and what we did.When it comes to the buildings and equipement,sadly we must be one of the last on that list....I know so many schools with no proper informatica/chemistry lab...mine included.
Now when it comes to the after schools.I don't agree with those saying they are necessery.I only did some private lessons(2 hours every week) in physics because I didn't understand it in general and needed more time to actually get it than we had in school,but other than that all the rest I did at school and I got into the university of my choice and with the best grades.I never had English lessons outside school and I think i talk and write it relatively good(often better than people who did go to frontistirio).I don't tell you all this in order to brag about my accomplishments but simply to show you that it can be done.But effort must be made,you have to pay attention to the teacher at school,when I went to any of my teachers(even those characterized as really bad teachers) to ask them for extra help/exercises to do at home after hours they all were really willing to help and very happy somebody actually paid attention to them and was using their skills in order to learn something.But when you go to a classroom year after year and there are actually children doing their homework for the frontistirio in the class during the lesson or talk to each other,or simply ignore the teacher than how can you not expect of those teachers to lose interest after some years?The frontistiria are something that is forced on Greek parents but not because the schools are not good but because it is self understood that when the kid reaches a certain age it will have to go to frontistiria.Most parents don't even give the "only school" thing a go before they decide to send the child to the frontistirio so how can they possibly know that the child wouldn't be well educated if they didn't send it to the frontistirio??