History UsefulNotes / PolishEducationalSystem

Thanks to a somewhat overly paranoid education minister, there was a period when Polish schools (excepting universities, which aren't subject to the Ministry of Education) had mandatory uniforms. Due to the some inconsistencies in the lawmaking process, there were no precise guidelines and many principals had little to no experience concerning school uniforms, so many schools ended up introducing [[CheapCostume haphazard vests]] just to fulfill the word of the law. Partly because of this, the next government made uniforms a decision for the principal to make. Before, there wasn't anything such as a dress code - but rather if the teachers found your outfit rather ''too'' daring, you'd get all kinds of unpleasantness, starting with informing the parents what exactly their kid was wearing to school.

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Apart from medical schools, most higher schools don't execute entrance examinations, instead relying on your ''Matura'' results. However, at the end of each semester there are exams in every subjects. They are compulsory and you have to score at least 3 to pass.

While some Polish universities are really good (Warsaw's Higher School of Trade was rated 46th in 2013 global comparison of universities and Gdańsk's Medical Academy has very good international opinion), the popular opinion is that people who finish higher school are overqualified and can't find a job. This is, sadly, quite often true. Many people study just "to have a certificate", as it, frankly, looks better on the CV for employer, not to mention the peer pressure to have a degree. This means they often choose humanistic subjects, such as psychology and management, meaning that Poland has excess of humanists, while, at the same time, finite amount of jobs for them. On the other hand, however, technikums and science subjects at universities are notorious for flunking up to 50% of students after first year, meaning that there's strange situation where newspapers scream about unemployment and high-tech companies are desperately looking for employees.

This is also partly historical problem. After the fall of communism, many people pointed out that Poland has much less graduates that Western countries ('Western' being synonymous to 'better developed' at the time) so many people enrolled into universities thinking that education will automatically improve their living standard. Many of them were right, especially the engineers, programmers and scientists who were in great need during the computerization and technical development performed in the 90s. Many others (lawyers, economists, managers, linguists, journalists, doctors) also found the jobs fitting their education. Then the market was saturated with professionals but the people continued to attend universities. As for now, Poland sports the highest percentage of tertiary education students and graduates in the EU and pretty high unemployment rate among the same age group.

Thanks to a somewhat overly paranoid education minister, there was a period when Polish schools (excepting universities, which aren't subject to the Ministry of Education) have mandatory uniforms. Due to the some inconsistencies in the lawmaking process, there were no precise guidelines and many principals had little to no experience concerning school uniforms, so many schools ended up introducing [[CheapCostume haphazard vests]] just to fulfill the word of the law. Partly because of this, the next government made uniforms a decision the principal makes. Before, there wasn't anything such as a dress code - but rather if the teachers found your outfit rather ''too'' daring, you'd get all kinds of unpleasantness, starting with informing the parents what exactly their kid was wearing to school.
** Some schools actually had a dress code before the uniforms became mandatory. This could range from guidelines such as: skirts shorter than so-and-so many centimeters are not allowed to actually having to wear a uniform.
** On the other hand, good private schools (usually run by the religious organizations) usually have some kind of dress code, more often than not based on the British one.
** In the communist era, school aprons (not uniforms, as they were made of thin material and worn 'over' regular clothes) adorned with the school emblem were mandatory for basic school students. They start to vanish in the late 80s and were universally considered butt ugly.

As a general rule, you need to get a minimum passing grade (2 in all schools up to High Scool; 3 in Higher School) in every subject in a given year in order to pass. If you fail something, which is rather difficult, since the teachers would rather not have to deal with you for another year, you have a bonus round - in August you write an exam to which you have to learn the entire year's material in the subject you failed. If you, however, fail the exam or fail the year in three subjects or more, you get to retake that year along with the class which is taking it the first time. If you continue failing, you continue having to retake the year - until you reach age 18, whereupon you can decide to stop going to school altogether.

* '''Basic School''' begins at age 7 (plans to make it start a year earlier have been technically realized, but there still is huge social resistance - lot of people try to extricate their kids from starting school at age six). It covers pretty much everything the government expects the average Pole should know. On first three years schoolday is divided into general lessons, English, PE, Religion and eventual second language. Children stay in the same class all the time and come home at midday.

* '''Gymnasium''' in accord with Polish honorable [[DeadpanSnarker deadpan snarking]] tradition, also called the repository for misbehaving children, since the attendees are all in a [[KidsAreCruel difficult]] [[TheBully age]]. Most Gymnasiums are public, but a few private ones exist (if you have rich parents).

* For graduates of Gymnasium June is something of a crazyhouse, as they must apply to Intermediary Schools of their choice. What counts are points one gets for various accomplishments: 200 points is the maximum, and this includes 100 points from the competency exam and 100 points from other stuff, such as: your grades in the expanded curriculum subjects; social activities (charity, belonging to school parliament, student's exchanges); successes in national-level sports and scholar competitions; extracurriculars and others (there are schools that give you extra points for another member of your family having had attended the same school before you). 160 points is average result and over 170 is considered excellent.

* '''Intermediary Schools''' offer a lot of variety. There are a lot of private and public Intermediary Schools out there.
** A General Lyceum is mostly an expansion of what one has been learning so far, with maybe some harder Maths (if you choose a school that emphasizes mathematics) and new material in Polish class.

** Technikum is a little less book learning and more job training - at the end of it, you get to take a Technician's exam, which, if you pass, bestows upon you the title of Technician. This is also a kind of school one usually chooses if he or she plans to study on the Technical University or doesn't plan to study at all. It puts more emphasize on practical side of subject, with more practical and lab lessons than Lyceum.

** A General Vocational School is, well, for people who barely managed to scrape by or were interested in experimenting with drugs or the opposite sex a little bit too much. It teaches a job and little else. Standards are very, very low - showing up to classes regularly makes you a star student. On the other hand, main purpose of such school is not general education, but blue-collar professional training. Up to the 80s they were a common choice for people who simply wanted to get a job quickly, but since then they are considered by other a ButtMonkey of education system and dead end in your learning.

** General Lyceum and Technikum end with a Matura exam (very rough equivalent to an A-Level or GCE). This is called THE most important exam, and was in the past the only exam of such caliber one took before Higher School. Passing the Matura exam means you've completed Intermediary Education, and entitles one to apply to attend a university. (You still need to pass the final year of your Middle School, however - there have been examples of people failing one or the other, thus failing to qualify for university at all.

* '''Higher Education''' is the last level of ascension. It can be a decade's worth of vacation, or something that breaks a man's spirit. Public and private universities exist in Poland, the former being theoretically free to attend (but you can rack up quite the cost due fees on class/year resits). Private universities require tuition, but are generally lighter on having to take resits. Rather than being organized by school year, as in earlier schools, universities organize time by semester - this means failing a semester is a serious affair.\\
Generally, Polish higher schools are divided into three kinds - universities, which put more emphasize on theory, technical schools (politechnika) that emphasize practice, and medical schools that take longer and have a lot of practical lessons (since cutting people up leaves little space for rookie mistakes). At each of them you take part in lectures (where you passively listen) and practice classes (where you practice what you've learned). Additionally, if you study something scientific on an university, as well as in politechnikas and medical schools, you get labs and practical lessons, often connected. Moreover, during your studies you must do a predefined number hours of internship in outside company, which is intended to teach you how your work'll look like in RealLife.\\
There are currently three titles one can earn through Higher Schools - Engineer/Licentiate ("inżynier/licencjat", equivalent to a bachelor degree), Magister/Magister Engineer ("magister/magister inżynier", equivalent to master degree) and Doctor (doktor, equivalent of [=PhD=]). The first usually takes about three years, the second about six and the last one, being more academic, varies. There are universities (and divisions) where one gets an Engineer title after four years, and a Magister Engineer title after 5 years. Depending on school, it can also follow the regular 3/5 years curriculum common for most two-tiered Bachelor/Master studies.

Schoolyear starts on the first of September (1st of October in Higher Schools) and ends in the last days of June (between 21st-28th). It's divided in two semesters - winter semester (September-January/February) and summer semester (February/March - June). They are divided by two weeks of winter holidays (''ferie''). Exact date of ''ferie'' varies - different regions of Poland choose different dates to avoid drowning holiday centers with kids. Apart from that, there is one-to-two-weeks long Christmas & New Year break and one-week long Easter break, meaning that, if your lucky, you can catch a combo of Christmas & New Year break + ''ferie'' = four weeks of free time.

At the end of each semester there are final grades given. While in universities each semester is important, in other schools winter semester's final grades are considered rather as guidelines regarding the summer semester. As a general rule, grades in June are better than grades in January.

At universities everything depends on availability of professors and rooms. Lessons can be practices, lectures or exercises and it's notable that you don't have to appear on neither lectures nor exercises as long as you appear on exams. Each lesson can take from 45 minutes to over hour and a half (lectures). It also differs depending on what type of studies you attend - there are day studies, with program and schoolday time similar to earlier schools, there are evening studies where you have two-three lessons in the evening, and then there are weekend studies, when you come to school on Saturday and Sunday every two weeks, but stay there from 9 o'clock AM up to 9 o'clock PM.

In the first three years of Primary School, you have only four or five subjects: general lessons (some Polish, some Maths, some Science Studies - very, very basic), English, PE, Religion (actually, catholic catechism - it's not compulsory) and, if your school practices it, second language (German, French or Russian, depending on region and school). Then, from years 4 to 6, you have the following:
* Polish language

* second language (not in every school; most often German, French or Russian)

Then, in Gymnasium, it's expanded. Your Region goes away, replaced by Social Studies. Nature is divided into Chemistry, Geography, Biology and Physics. Second language becomes commonplace (French is rather rare; most schools teach German as second language). "Education For Safety" (EFS) comes, although this is very loose subject, treated mostly as expansion of Social Studies. EFFL is learned only for four semesters, as is IT. Again, Religion and EFFL are not compulsory, although you need parent's permission not to attend EFFL and you can leave Religion only if you're not Roman Catholic.

* German/French/Russian

Religion and EFFL are not compulsory and it's your choice whether or not you will attend. However, on the second year most of those subjects go away. Those that stay are: your profile subjects, Maths, Polish and English (regardless of whether they are you're profile subjects), second language, PE and Religion. Additionally you have one lesson a week of merged subjects. They depend on what profile you are on. There's usually one lesson of mixed History, EFS Cultural Knowledge and Social Studies for non-humanists and mixed Science Studies under the name Nature for non-biological profiles.

At Higher Schools all depends on course you take and school you attend.

Everywhere except universities and first three classes of Basic School, grades are: 6 (''celujący'' - lit. aiming [at the top]), 5 (''bardzo dobry'' - very good), 4 (''dobry'' - good), 3 (''dostateczny'' - sufficient), 2 (''dopuszczający'' - passing) and 1 (''niedostateczny'' - not sufficient). Most teachers allow grades such as 3+ or 5-, to denote some kind of above or below average score for a grade, but such grades aren't actually legally recognized. It also should be noted that this grading system has been introduced in the late 80s, so people over 40 who do not have their own kids in school may still use 2-5 grading when talking about their school years, similar to university scores.

It must also be noted that each school except for higher schools also evaluates your behavior and gives you a grade for this. Those are (from the top) - exemplary (''wzorowe''), very good (''bardzo dobre''), good (''dobre''), correct (''poprawne''), improper (''nieodpowiednie'') and reprehensible (''naganne''). Behavior grades are given at the end of the year, as well as final grades in every subject. Then, out of final grades, the average is counted. At least "very good" behavior grade combined with at least 4.75 average means you get certificate with honors (called popularily "with stripe", because certificate has white-and-red stripe on the side to mark it's special). Otherwise, you get regular certificate with your grades spelled out.

There are three basic exams Polish student writes.

* '''Basic School''' begins at age 7 (plans to make it start a year earlier have been technically realized, but there still is huge social resistance - lot of people try to extricate their kids from starting school at age six). It covers pretty much everything the government expects the average Pole should know. On first three years schoolday is divided into general lessons, English, PE, Religion and eventual second language. Children stay in the same class all the time and come home at midday. From fourth year up, however, you start to have more subjects, with breaks system and different rooms for different subjects. Funnily enough, if one paid strict attention in Basic School, one'd learn ''nothing new'' in first class of Gymnasium, since much of those is reiteration of what they expected you to forget in Basic School. Basic School ends with a competency exam, which is sometimes considered along with your grades to determine what Gymnasium you can be accepted to. Called Sixth-Grader Exam, it's treated rather casually, as Gymnasiums pay more attention to one's final grades than SGE.

* '''Gymnasium''' is, in Polish honorable deadpan snarking tradition, also called the repository for misbehaving children, since the attendees are all in a difficult age. Most Gymnasiums are public, but there are a few private ones. Some schools divide classes by subjects (mathematical class, English class), but result of this is often ''slightly'' expanded material. Basically the rule is that students with best grades in basic school go to subject classes, while others go to so-called general classes. Schoolday is divided into subjects (about seven a day), with most subjects taking part in different classes. Gymnasium ends with a competency exam, similarly to Basic School, but this exam is SeriousBusiness, as it counts towards meeting prerequisites of any Intermediary School one would like to attend.

* For graduates of Gymnasium June is something of a crazyhouse, as they must apply to Intermediary Schools of their choice. What counts there are points one gets by various variables. 200 points is maximum and this accounts 100 points from competency exam and 100 points from others. Among others are: grades in the subjects class of your choice teaches in expanded curriculum; social activities (charity, belonging to school parliament, student's exchanges); successes in national-level sports and scholar competitions; additionals some schools practice (there are schools that give you extra points for having other member of your family attend this school before you). 160 points is average result and over 170 is considered excellent.

** A General Lyceum is mostly an expansion of what one has been learning so far, with maybe some more complex Maths (if one goes to a school that emphasizes mathematics) and new material in Polish class. There are exceptions, though - if you go to a real hardcore school, you might start learning the cool stuff, like Latin, Basic Philosophy, and so on. School is divided into subject classes, so-called profiles: traditionally, there's at least one Mathematical-Physical-IT class, one Biological-Chemical class, one Humanistic class (History and Polish; ButtMonkey of Polish Lyceum in the eye of general public), and variations on Maths and Biology plus something. In first year most classes have similar curriculum, but then most subjects that aren't in your profile name are left out or merged into one lesson. In Lyceum you're expected to make notes on your own, check for additional information after school and be generally an active student.
** Technikum is a little less learning and more teaching people a job - at the end of it, you get to take a Technician's exam, which is if you pass, entitles you to title yourself a Technician. This is also a kind of school one usually chooses if he or she plans to study on the Technical University or doesn't plan to study at all. It puts more emphasize on practical side of subject, with more practical and lab lessons than Lyceum.

* '''Basic School''' begins at age 7 (there are plans to make it start year earlier, but there is huge social resistance. Right now, starting at the age of six is voluntary). It covers pretty much everything the government expects the average Pole should know. On first three years schoolday is divided into general lessons, English, PE, Religion and eventual second language. Children stay in the same class all the time and come home at midday. From fourth year up, however, you start to have more subjects, with breaks system and different rooms for different subjects. Funnily enough, if one paid strict attention in Basic School, one'd learn ''nothing new'' in first class of Gymnasium, since much of those is reiteration of what they expected you to forget in Basic School. Basic School ends with a competency exam, which is sometimes considered along with your grades to determine what Gymnasium you can be accepted to. Called Sixth-Grader Exam, it's treated rather casually, as Gymnasiums pay more attention to one's final grades than SGE.

Generally, Polish higher schools are divided into three kinds - universities, which put more emphasize on theory, technical schools (technikums) that emphasize practice, and medical schools, that take longer and have a lot of practical lessons. On each of them you take part in lectures (when you passively listen) and trainings (when you make exercises connected to the subject). Additionally, on scientific subjects on universities, as well as in technikums and medical schools, you have lab lessons and practical lessons, which are often the same. Moreover, during your studies you must work defined hours of practice in outside company, which is intended to teach you how does your work look in reality.\\

!Subjects

!Passing and Failure

!Electives

!Resits

In universities, it's rather harder. You still have to pass everything to pass the semester. If you fail, your first choice is to pay a fee (can be anywhere from an inconvenient amount to a totally absurd amount of money) to retake a failed class in a year's time, while continuing to study everything else normally - there are also strict rules on with how many classes you can do this (typically two or three classes at any given time). If you fail the second time, you get bumped down a year or even a few years (depends on university policy) - paying more fees. If you fail a third time, your final option is to write a 'commission exam' to pass the class. If you fail that, you're thrown out. Due to the large number of students and lax admission policy (at least in comparison to pretty difficult exams of the past) some universities or departments have very strict policy during the first semester or a first year - some do not allow freshmen to retake the failed tests, some state that more than one failure means expulsion. This results in crazy amounts of students flunked after first year - Gdańsk's Technikum kicked out over 50% once in one course.

Everywhere except universities and first three classes of Basic School, grades are: 6 (''celujący'' - lit. aiming [at the top]), 5 (''bardzo dobry'' - very good), 4 (''dobry'' - good), 3 (''dostateczny'' - sufficient), 2 (''dopuszczający'' - passing) and 1 (''niedostateczny'' - not sufficient). Most teachers allow grades such as 3+ or 5-, to denote some kind of above or below average score for a grade, but such grades aren't actually legally recognized. It also should be noted that this grading system has been introduced in the late 80s, to people over 40 who do not have their own kids in school may still use 2-5 grading when talking about their school years, similar to university scores.

** On the other hand, good private schools (usually run by the religious organizations) usually have some kind of dress code, more than often based on the British one.
** In the communist era, school aprons (not uniforms, as they are made of thin material and worn 'over' regular clothes) adorned with the school emblem were mandatory for basic school students. They start to vanish in the late 80s and were universally considered butt ugly.

At the end of each semester there are final grades given. While in universities each semester is important, in other schools winter semester final grades are considered rather as guidelines regarding the summer semester. As a general rule, grades in June are better than grades in July.

Then, in Gymnasium, it's expanded. Your Region goes away, replaced by Social Studies. Nature is divided into Chemistry, Geography, Biology and Physics. Second language becomes commonplace (French is rather rare; most schools teach German as second language). "Education For Safety" (EFS) comes, although this is very loose subject, treated mostly as expansion of social studies. EFFL is learned only for for semesters, as is IT. Again, Religion and EFFL are not compulsory, although you need parent's permission not to attend EFFL and you can leave Religion only if you're not Roman Catholic.

* '''Matura Exams''': oh, dear, Maturas.

!Grading

Everywhere except universities and first three classes of Basic School, grades are: 6 ("celujący" - lit. aiming [at the top]), 5 ("bardzo dobry" - very good), 4 ("dobry" - good), 3 ("dostateczny" - sufficient), 2 ("dopuszczający" - passing) and 1 ("niedostateczny" - not sufficient). Most teachers allow grades such as 3+ or 5-, to denote some kind of above or below average score for a grade, but such grades aren't actually legally recognized. It also should be noted that this grading system has been introduced in the late 80s, to people over 40 who do not have their own kids in school may still use 2-5 grading when talking about their school years, similar to the mentioned below.

In universities, the scale is similar: 5.0 (very good), 4.5 (good plus), 4.0 (good), 3.5 (average plus), 3.0 (average) and 2.0 (fail). Some teachers also use 2.5, but it's not a legally recognized grade - it still fails. The only exception is the Medical University that uses the 1-6 grading, similar to one used in basic and intermediary schools.

!Mandatory Uniforms

First of all, the Polish Educational System is based on the eastern model. This means that usually, it's ''no electives, must pass everything, FINAL DESTINATION''. This has been changing of late, however, but it's slow in coming. Education up to age 18 (legal age in Poland) is mandatory. Yes, the government ''will'' hunt you down if you don't send your kid to school.

'''Basic School''' begins at age 7, but parents usually send their brats to some sort of pre-school earlier, where they'll be kept under professional care, rather than interfering with Mommy's or Daddy's career too much. It covers pretty much everything the government expects the average Pole should know. Funnily enough, if one paid strict attention in Basic School, one'd learn ''nothing new'' in Gymnasium or most of Middle School, since much of those is reiteration of what they expected you to forget in Basic School. Basic School ends with a competency exam, which is considered along with your grades to determine what Gymnasium you can be accepted to.

'''Gymnasium''' is also called the repository for misbehaving children, since the attendees are all in a difficult age. Most Gymnasiums are public, but there are a few private ones. Gymnasium ends with a competency exam, similarly to Basic School, and this exam counts towards meeting prerequisites of any Middle Schools one would like to attend.

'''Intermediary Schools''' offer a lot of variety. There are a lot of private and public Intermediary Schools out there. A General Lyceum is mostly a reiteration of what one has been learning so far, with maybe some more complex Maths (if one goes to a school that emphasizes mathematics) and new material in Polish class. There are exceptions, though - if you go to a real hardcore school, you might start learning the cool stuff, like Latin, Basic Philosophy, and so on. Technikum is a little less reiteration and more teaching people a job - at the end of it, you get to take a Technician's exam, which is if you pass, entitles you to title yourself a Technician. This is also a kind of school one usually chooses if he or she plans to study on the Technical University. A General Vocational School is, well, for people who barely managed to scrape by or were interested in experimenting with drugs or the opposite sex a little bit too much. It teaches a job, and little else. Standards are very, very low - showing up to classes regularly makes you a star student. On the other hand, main purpose of such school is not general education, but blue-collar professional training. Up to the 80s they were a common choice for people who simply wanted to get a job quickly.

General Lyceum and Technikum end with a Matura exam (very rough equivalent to an A-Level or GCE). This is an important exam, and was in the past the only exam of such caliber one took before Higher School. Passing the Matura exam means you've completed Intermediary Education, and entitles one to apply to attend a university. (You still need to pass the final year of your Middle School, however - there have been examples of people failing one or the other, thus failing to qualify for university at all.)

Ah, '''Higher Education'''. It can be a decade's worth of vacation, or something that breaks a man's spirit. Public and private universities exist in Poland, the former being theoretically free to attend (but you can rack up quite the cost due fees on class/year resits). Private universities require tuition, but are generally lighter on having to take resits. Rather than being organized by school year, as in Basic School, Gymnasium or Middle School, universities organize time by semester - this means failing a semester is a serious affair.

There are currently two titles one can earn through Higher Schools - Engineer/Licentiate ("inżynier/licencjat", equivalent to a bachelor degree) and Magister/Magister Engineer ("magister/magister inżynier", equivalent to master degree). The former usually takes about three years, the latter about six. There are universities (and divisions) where one gets an Engineer title after four years, and a Magister Engineer title after 5 years. Depending on school, it can also follow the regular 3/5 years curriculum common for most two-tiered Bachelor/Master studies.

Now, what is putting yourself through all this good for? You've got a shiny diploma or three. Will it net you a job? Hell no - you're by now overqualified. The way to get a career going is to start attending a university, get a job on the side, ensure the boss likes you enough to keep you, and then quit going to university. ( - if you finish Uni, chances are your employer will NOT extend your employment, because you've begun to be a threat to their own position, not to mention entitled to a much higher salary. In your place, they'll hire some student who wants to earn some money on the side... and who is only marginally less qualified than yourself.)

Then, you ask, why would anyone want to attend? There are a few reasons - for example conscription dodging. It is nowadays obsolete - going to school, any school, excused you from being drafted, until the local Uncle Sam decided to get rid of draft altogether. If not conscription, then, well, not wanting to work - getting into a university that uses mild measures against failure can ensure that one doesn't have to lift a finger for up to a decade. To extend this, one can always apply for a job as teaching assistant.

There is also another, historical facet of this. After the fall of communism, many people pointed out that Poland has much less graduates that Western countries ('Western' being synonymous to 'better developed' at the time) so many people enrolled into universities thinking that education will automatically improve teir living standard. Many of them were right, especially the engineers, programmers and scientists who were in great need during the computerization and technical development performed in the 90s. Many others (lawyers, economists, managers, linguists, journalists, doctors) also found the jobs fitting their education. Then the market was saturated with professionals but the people continued to attend universities. As for now, Poland sports the highest percentage of tertiary education students and graduates in the EU and pretty high unemployment rate among the same age group. The idea of getting a job after Matura and enrolling into University or specialist courses as needed for the career advancement (lifelong learning) is still a rare concept among young Poles.

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'''Miscellanea'''

''Grading''

Everywhere except universities, grades are: 6 ("celujący" - lit. aiming [at the top]), 5 ("bardzo dobry" - very good), 4 ("dobry" - good), 3 ("dostateczny" - sufficient), 2 ("dopuszczający" - passing) and 1 ("niedostateczny" - not sufficient). Most teachers allow grades such as 3+ or 5-, to denote some kind of above or below average score for a grade, but such grades aren't actually legally recognized. It also should be noted that this grading system has been introduced in the late 80s, to people over 40 who do not have their own kids in school may still use 2-5 grading when talking about their school years, similar to the mentioned below.

''Mandatory Uniforms''

Thanks to a nutjob education minister, Poland's schools (excepting universities, which aren't subject to the Ministry of Education) have mandatory uniforms. As of right now, there is already a legislation in progress to abolish this, making uniforms a decision the principal makes. Before, there wasn't anything such as a dress code - but rather if the teachers found your outfit rather ''too'' daring, you'd get all kinds of unpleasantness, starting with informing the parents what exactly their kid was wearing to school.

** After novelization of law in 2008 uniforms in schools are not mandatory.
** It's more complicated. Due to the some inconsistencies in the lawmaking process, there were no precise guidelines and many principals had little to no experience concerning school uniforms, so many schools ended up introducing [[CheapCostume haphazard vests]] just to fulfill the word of the law. The idea was promptly abolished. On the other hand, good private schools (usually run by the religious organizations) usually have some kind of dress code, more than often based on the British one.

''Passing and Failure''

As a general rule, you need to get a minimum passing grade in every class in a given year in order to pass. If you fail something, which is rather difficult, since the teachers would rather not have to deal with you for another year, you get to retake that year along with the class which is taking it the first time. If you continue failing, you continue having to retake the year - until you reach age 18, whereupon you can decide to damn it all and stop going to school altogether.

In universities, it's rather harder. You still have to pass everything to pass the semester. If you fail, your first choice is to pay a fee (can be anywhere from an inconvenient amount to a totally absurd amount of money) to retake a failed class in a year's time, while continuing to study everything else normally - there are also strict rules on with how many classes you can do this (typically two or three classes at any given time). If you fail the second time, you get bumped down a year or even a few years (depends on university policy) - paying more fees. If you fail a third time, your final option is to write a 'commission exam' to pass the class. If you fail that, you're thrown out. Due to the large number of students and lax admission policy (at least in comparison to pretty difficult exams of the past) some universities or departments have very strict policy during the first semester or a first year - some do not allow freshmen to retake the failed tests, some state that more than one failure means expulsion.

''Electives''

As a general rule, you get to decide what school you attend. The curriculum and the classes are decided by the Ministry of Education and the school in question. This also applies to universities, though you do get a limited choice of some groups of classes you'd like to take (note that in some the actual decision may be "made for you" by the university's higher-ranking staff, restricted to specific subjects or years, or even combinations of all three at once). Yes, you still have to pass everything in order to pass. Isn't this nice?

''Resits''

Generally, failure on your first try is common and to be expected of at least a large minority. Resits of pretty much everything are commonplace and nobody is surprised when 90% of test takers show up for a resit. Or the resit of a resit. Or the resit of the resit of the resit. Et cetera. There is typically at least one chance to retake any of the major exams at a later time either to improve your result or to pass.

** It varies depending on the subject, school and professor. From what I've seen, the actual rates tend to be around 40%, usually for a mixture of both causes mentioned above.

'''Intermediary Schools''' offer a lot of variety. There are a lot of private and public Intermediary Schools out there. A General Lyceum is mostly a reiteration of what one has been learning so far, with maybe some more complex Maths (if one goes to a school that emphasizes mathematics) and new material in Polish class. There are exceptions, though - if you go to a real hardcore school like This Troper, you might start learning the cool stuff, like Latin, Basic Philosophy, and so on. Technikum is a little less reiteration and more teaching people a job - at the end of it, you get to take a Technician's exam, which is if you pass, entitles you to title yourself a Technician. This is also a kind of school one usually chooses if he or she plans to study on the Technical University. A General Vocational School is, well, for people who barely managed to scrape by or were interested in experimenting with drugs or the opposite sex a little bit too much. It teaches a job, and little else. Standards are very, very low - showing up to classes regularly makes you a star student. On the other hand, main purpose of such school is not general education, but blue-collar professional training. Up to the 80s they were a common choice for people who simply wanted to get a job quickly.

There are currently two titles one can earn through Higher Schools - Engineer/Licentiate ("inżynier/licencjat", equivalent to a bachelor degree) and Magister/Magister Engineer ("magister/magister inżynier", equivalent to master degree). The former usually takes about three years, the latter about six. This troper attends a university (and division) where one gets an Engineer title after four years, and a Magister Engineer title after 5 years. Depending on school, it can also follow the regular 3/5 years curriculum common for most two-tiered Bachelor/Master studies.

Then, you ask, why would anyone want to attend? There are a few reasons - for example conscription dodging. It is nowadays obsolete - going to school, any school, excused you from being drafted, until the local Uncle Sam decided to get rid of draft altogether. If not conscription, then, well, not wanting to work (like this troper) - getting into a university that uses mild measures against failure can ensure that one doesn't have to lift a finger for up to a decade. To extend this, one can always apply for a job as teaching assistant.

Thanks to a nutjob education minister, Poland's schools (excepting universities, which aren't subject to the Ministry of Education) have mandatory uniforms. As of right now, there is already a legislation in progress to abolish this, making uniforms a decision the principal makes. When this troper was in school, there wasn't anything such as a dress code - but rather if the teachers found your outfit rather ''too'' daring, you'd get all kinds of unpleasantness, starting with informing the parents what exactly their kid was wearing to school.

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