Work / I have a "zero" chance to succeed in Poland - I do not have a degree! [93]

There was when I lived in Poland. Lots of things to learn, and yes, memorize. I can't remember one single test or exam where I was expected to enumerate things I memorized. It was always some kind of analysis and problem solving based on what I had to memorize and understand. I still can't see how you can discuss issues and work on projects in disciplines where you have no idea about, or where youy are missing a lot of critical facts. Yes, facts first. Then you can tinker with interpreting them - this would be the proof the brain is actually working and connecting the dots. But again, you need to know about as many dots as possible. Otherwise the picture is only an approximation of reality.

I think some foreigners are thrown off by the curriculum and the method of teaching. What about the exams? Are they really just a list of questions where a set of facts, dates etc is sufficient to pass a test? It certainly hasn't been my experience in my 18 years in Polish schools.

Work / I have a "zero" chance to succeed in Poland - I do not have a degree! [93]


These are great skills. Once you have something to say. Otherwise you end up with politicians. Great and uplifting speeches, disastrous results of their actual work. Mission accomplished anybody?


They did, with whatever meager resources they had available to them during communism. Some designs were actually pretty good but were squashed by politicians i.e. commies.

Poland hasn't been exactly free to do what it wanted in the last few decades. They are picking up the pieces and moving on with some great designs. If you prefer smaller vehicles then a car described also on this very forum may be of interest to you. Pricey though.

Also, look at Korea and Japan where the educational system is more like Polish than American. Well, the US auto industry is pretty not far from being defunct. The Japanese and the Koreans beat the Americans in their own game.


What food industry? You mean the bread with 6 months of shelf life? Food is food and I don't think Poland has any problems with that.


news.poland.com/result/news/id/1789 - Yes, they do

Or if you prefer helicopters consider buying one of those.

As for the jet liners, how could a small country like Poland even afford the enterprise. That has nothing to do with education in this case. It took multinational effort to build a new jet liner bigger and (better?) than US made jet liners.


Memorization is only a foundation. I went to schools in Poland, US and Canada. I have some real life comparison, and in some cases in exact same fields of learning. Back in Poland it had been a wailing wall indeed. In the US and Canada a walk in the park for the most part. And that included project and group work. See, I actually knew things useful for the project and I was not limited to a little chapter of a manual or a small list of reading recommended for a given project.


Something doesn;t jive in this picture. They had been conditioned to be yelled at and then they start yelling? Apparently the view you present is not very well thought through, eh?

Work / I have a "zero" chance to succeed in Poland - I do not have a degree! [93]


Let's see:

more rough treatment of children, teachers can get away with short temper - somebody has to win. In the US and Canada kids rule. In Poland that's teachers. I fail to see a problem with that.

The level is cranked up by fear and memorizing a lot of material. - like kids actually have to learn and remember what they learn?! Unbelievable! And to think that in the US and Canada you don't have to actually know much and still get the diploma.

Parents are expected to teach at home helping with homework (lots of) - damned if you do, damned if you don't. I'd say parents working with their own kids is a good thing. You know, quality time, the family values and "stuff". Better than kids being taught by Nintendo or Playstation 3 while the parents plow through six packs, no?

very little is project based - these projects were always something I absolutely abhorred when my daughter was in the so called "high" school. It's basically a forced labor where one or two kids work their asses off while another 2 or 3 do squat and everybody in the group gets the same mark.

There is strong rivalry among children and "friendly" is not easy to find. - you mean like real life? Oh no! We need to protect children from reality. Let their butts be kicked by life when they leave school and they realize the world does not consider them cute and smart until they prove they actually are.

Btw. I work in IT and I do have a degree. Without it I could clean a neighbor's computer from spyware, or open my own business. Wherever I applied, successfully or not, one of the requirements was ALWAYS a university diploma in Computer Science. I worked in the US and Canada.

Here is a sample of requirements from place I just found for this post, where you would actually like to work. That sample is not an unique:

IT Security Architect

•University Degree in Computer Science
•CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate) designation preferred.
•CISSP or SSCP Certification preferred.
•Formal training in project management.

Looks like they are looking some credentials, doesn't it?

Heck, a friend who came to Canada wanted to get a job in construction. No problem if he had a "diploma from a recognized school". Yup, 20 years of experience meant little.

Does anybody know what Google, Dell, Siemens etc looked at when they decided to open facilities in Poland? They were not looking for expats without degrees. They were interested in solid academic base, especially in IT, which in Poland doesn't appear too shabby.

History / Taras Bulba - the movie [115]

The movie is based on a under the same title, by Nikolai Gogol. There were two versions.

In short, Taras Bulba is kinda like American Rocky Balboa.
Bulcrap then, bullcrap now.

News / Poland..wake up to a multicultural world [1059]

This is funny how people from some countries are so very open and accepting towards multiculturalism. It seems to me that most advocating this here are either from former colonial powers, or the US where they brought multiculturalism in by boatloads - to work on cotton fields. Now they can't get rid of them so they renamed the issue to "multiculturalism"

A Polish saying is right indeed: if you can't have what you get you gotta like what you have.

So many of those multiculturalism efforts outside Poland took place a few hundred years after Poland opened its doors to Jews who had been kicked out by the English, Spaniards and others. It was also a few hundred years after Poland was in a union with Lithuania, inhabited by Poles, Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Tatars, Germans, Russians, Czechs, Scots and others who came to Poland for various reasons, religious persecutions elsewhere being one of them.

History / Why communism failed in Poland? [275]


What's that about?
And where was I three years ago?


It's not hard to understand. But its impossible to implement.


"manly needs"? That's funny :)
I think you mean human needs. And who decides what they are? We're not producs of the same manufacturing plant coming off a conveyor every 3.7 seconds. Complexity and diversity of human mind is something that communism simply has to reject as the number of jigs and drawers we can be fit in is quite large.


Yes, they got rid of millions of innocent people too. Ones who had nothing to do with advertising, and ones whose guilt was propagated using none others but some of the shrewdest advertising techniques.


You need a refresher course in the New testament :)


Agreed. That what is meant that Christianity hasn't been really tried.

History / Why communism failed in Poland? [275]


It's not like there is much of substance to nationalize. So what they really did was try to nationalize an idea of a couple of virtually non-existent businesses. I see nothing wrong with that. :)


He was. And he wanted the rich to part with their riches.

History / Why communism failed in Poland? [275]


This is a mute and somewhat treacherous debate. After all communism failed as much as capitalism.

Oh, and one of the Right's idols byt the name of Jesus was somewhat of a commie. Btw. Christianity failed too.

As they say - Christianity. A great religion. It's just never been tried.

News / Poland..wake up to a multicultural world [1059]


two wrongs don;t make one right. Neither Greeks no Americans can brag about real democracy before the suffrage movement's success.


You are talking about reasons/possible justification why women had no right to vote. That doesn't change the fact that we can hardly talk about "superiority" of a democracy over another democracy if about 50% of the population cannot vote, hence Greek democracy was not superior to that in the US or anywhere we'd agree democracy exists.

News / Poland..wake up to a multicultural world [1059]


no, but for about 500 years before Caligula


No southern, it was hugely more limited, since they had slaves... oh.... and women who had no vote, and that was an obvious limiting factor.

News / Poland..wake up to a multicultural world [1059]




Rome had democracy, so did Greece. It was limited by various factors (slavery, for instance), but Poland's democracy was limited too - you had to have blue blood to have any say. Millions of peasants working their landlords' fields had absolutely no say in any area of politics. That was one of the weakest point of early Polish democracy. The social status and general conditions of Polish peasantry created social divisions so strong that Russians (as an example) we able to use that in weakening Polish attempts of regaining independence. Their solution was simple - give Polish peasant just a little bit of what Polish nobles refused to give them through the centuries - a little bit of freedom, and inch or two of land. While this Russian Policy may have not been the deciding factor, it certainly helped - uprisings had limited participation.


That is true for the most part, but that also may have contributed to Poland's impotence at the end of the 18th century. For instance, it was better to be a Jews in Poland, than to be a Polish peasant. Jews had way more rights and privileges than millions of native Poles. Those Poles, while on occasion, forced to fight for one cause or another, weren't really the force to reckon with. They had no motivation. Jews were not subject to military service for centuries, and then, they did not consider Poland their father/mother land.

my $0.02 CDN (adjusted for inflation)

Language / Verb endings attaching themselves to other words [9]

Nah, if I got the context right then it would might be Gdzież mieszkasz? , although not standard Polish.

UK, Ireland / Why Scotland doesnt Need any Immigrants By a Scotsman [56]


So many people are the "me, me, me" types. Scottland may not need immigrants, but they need you!

Life / Do Poles work better when they drink or when they are sober? [7]


That may actually work to the benefit of an employer. Especially when the workers fall down from the scaffold a day before payday ;)

Life / 800 thousand Polish women are victims of domestic abuse yearly [180]


Indeed. And he's got no liability insurance either :)

News / Some Poles burning American flag [299]


BB, there was no fight using weapons or bottles with gasoline, afaik, but there were actual protests. Harry turns his usual blind eye on this and starts splitting hairs.


True they didn't but then history was too fresh for the Germans to be allowed in a country they had occupied by them just over 20 years before. That was exactly the same reason why the USSR declined offers by Honecker who offered German troops to quell Solidarity in Poland.


In my view, the so called "serbian cause" is a completely different kind of animal and I don;t identify myself with the supporters of genocide.


I mentioned nothing about any need to invade any country in this thread. Quote me.
I mantioned the shame Poles did and still do feel about the invasion. That is of course something you chose to disregard in your comments.


Romania's political reality was different than Poland's and that has been pointed out to you.

Stick to the topic.
You said there was not a single protest but one. i proved you wrong.
You asked for 3 names, I gave you 4.

Have the guts to admit you were wrong on this, keyboard warrior.

You posts are a clear sign of hatred to anything Polish. You are blinded by hatred and yet you point out someone else's faults in history?

News / Some Poles burning American flag [299]


1. Ignacy Stopnicki
2. Zbigniew Morawski
3. Bronislaw Baczko

and a bnous

4. Leszek Kolakowski (you must have heard about Leszek Kolakowski)


I never denied Polish forces were involved in Prague, in fact I included the fact in one of the quotes, if you care to read with understanding, or if there is a shred of honesty and integrity in you. What I objected to was your statement that with the exception of one brave man, not a single Pole protested.

So you're pawned again.

News / Some Poles burning American flag [299]


Harry, the only thing I want all to know is that you are a propaganda warrior, not a truth seeker. Even when truth is right in front of your eyes you will try to find a way to ignore it.


so what is your peculiar definition of "protest"?
Are you going to try and tell us that your English skills failed you? Or that the dictionaries of the English language got it wrong?

News / Some Poles burning American flag [299]


Translate that flier and tell us what it says.

You wrote:

with the exception of one brave man, not a single Pole protested.

I proved you wrong.

Food / Bison Grass [7]

basket weaving

oh, and bisons eat it too.

News / Poland..wake up to a multicultural world [1059]

If only Blacks were given a chance they would have built a much better and just society. Oh wait. They actually had that chance.

Life / 800 thousand Polish women are victims of domestic abuse yearly [180]


It's all women's fault anyway. They started all the misery, and they were even the first who used the fruit of man's hard labor - the first ruthless capitalists ;)

News / Some Poles burning American flag [299]


Neither Poland nor Czekoslovakia were a sovereign states at the time.


Really? And you were there and you saw every single Pole not protesting?

Let's see:

21 VIII interwencja zbrojna Układu Warszawskiego w Czechosłowacji, uczestniczy w niej ponad 20 tysięcy żołnierzy WP; w całej Polsce liczne protesty - odnotowano dziesiątki przypadków pojawienia się ulotek i napisów na murach

August 21 - intervention of Warsaw Pact force in Czechoslovakia, over 20 thousand Polish troops participate, numerous protests all over Poland - dozens of cases of leaflets and writings on walls

marzec1968.pl/portal/m68/799/6938/Kalendarium.html

A popular slogan in Poland at the time was "Polska czeka na Dubèeka" czy "Czekamy na swego Dubèeka" (Poland is waiting for her own Dubèek). Poland's participation in the invasion was and is widely viewed by Poles as dishonor to the Polish military uniform and symbols.

read more here, and translate to the best of your skills how no Poles but one allegedly, did not protests against the invasion.
marzec1968.pl/portal/m68/797/6962/Praska_wiosna.html

Or at least, kindly, translate this letter of protest by Polish students of all Wroclaw universities:

again, do not sensationalize and twist facts as you see fit.

• 
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Language / Popular Polish expressions/proverbs relating to months of the year [10]

Brzydki jak noc listopadowa - ugly as a November night

(Noc Listopadowa - is also a historic play by Stanisława Wyspiański touching on the 1830's uprisings in Poland)

Life / 800 thousand Polish women are victims of domestic abuse yearly [180]


Cases of abuse by some?
I can't speak about UK but in the US with all the laws the number of domestic abuse against women is not very far behind that in Poland.

According to American Institute onDomestic Violence :

- 94% of corporate security directors rank domestic violence as a high security risk.
- 78% of Human Resource Directors identify domestic violence as a substantial employee problem.
- 56% of corporate leaders are personally aware of specific employees who are affected by domestic violence.
- 85-95% of all domestic violence victims are female.
- Over 500,00 women are stalked by an intimate partner each year.
- 5.3 million women are abused each year.
- 1,232 women are killed each year by an intimate partner.
- Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women.
- Women are more likely to be attacked by someone they know rather than by a stranger.
- Homicide is the leading cause of death for women in the workplace.
- Of the approximately 1.7 million incidents of workplace violence that occur in the US every year, 18,700 are committed by an intimate partner: a current or former spouse, lover, partner, or boyfriend/girlfriend.

aidv-usa.com/statistics.htm

The key, yet again is home and upbringing. The law, while certainly helpful., usually ends up punishing culprits when it's already too late to save the victims.

Btw. that article in the Polish papers states that 800K women are abused and then, without much clarity as how they got their stats, they claim that every 3rd woman in Poland is abused. Does it mean there are only 2.4 million women in a nation of about 38 million? Or does it mean that the the figure of 800K is incorrect?

Also, I have to ask about the statistical methods used to achieve the results.
One thing to be considered is the type of what is defined as abuse. The spectrum is wide. From a simple statement "go to hell" to murder. How are the cases counted? Let's look at a sample, not unusual, scenario:

The guy gets drunk and comes home at 3 am in the morning (emotional abuse, she was worried)
He trips over, knocks a char over and a few books fall off the shelf (another case emotional abuse)
She yells at him (verbal abuse)
Look at you, she says. you just wasted the money we need for the [..whatever it is they need...] (making him feel guilty is emotional abuse)

Oh shut up, he answers - (verbal abuse)
I earn all the money anyway, get a job and then we'll talk (economic blackmail)
He goes to bed and falls asleep ignoring her further attempts at continuing the conversation (emotional abuse)

So that short scene shows us 7 instances of domestic abuse. Or is it just one?

Again, I am not denying there is domestic abuse in Poland and elsewhere, and even one case is too many, but people are prone to sensational headlines that, frankly, sometimes will skew reality either way.

Life / 800 thousand Polish women are victims of domestic abuse yearly [180]



I posted a link to data in Polish. I'll try again:

The enclose table has the following headings (left to right, except for leftmost column, dots added for spacing)

Violence by the partner (victims)..Violence towards the partner (culprits)
All | Women | Men..................... All | Women | Men

The leftmost column values Top to Bottom :
Type of Bahavior (heading, cell 0,0)
Name calling
Threats
Humiliation
Slapping (on the face)
Pushing/pulling
Beating
Financial Blackmail
Results by CBOS 2002

CBOS is Polish Stats organization.

Source (in Polish)
reklamaspoleczna.blox.pl/html

• 
  TABELA_1.jpg
  

Life / 800 thousand Polish women are victims of domestic abuse yearly [180]


I am not denying anything. See my first post in this thread.
I added to the discussion. That ticked some people off.

Violence against women cannot be tolerated. Neither can be an abuse of the law by women. That's all.

Life / 800 thousand Polish women are victims of domestic abuse yearly [180]


Yes, it has.


Like the title of this thread?


if you always stick precisely to the subjects of threads on this forum I'll feel obliged to follow your example.

Life / 800 thousand Polish women are victims of domestic abuse yearly [180]


That is true, unfortunately. At least in Countries such as Canada.
If a woman call the cops and claims she has been abused by a man the cops must come over asap, which is understandable. What is not understandable is that they will haul the guy away without as much as even an attempt to seek explanations as to what happened.

There were cases here, not isolated, where men were screwed up big time (criminal record and all) based solely on women's false testimonies. In one such case a couple of teenage girls accused their teacher of sexual abuse. Long story short - The girls filed an official report stating they had been abused. Eventually they admitted they lied. Initially all they wanted was to blackmail the guy for some cash, and then things escalated and got out of hand when the matter went to court. The teacher, with his reputation destroyed, his marriage wrecked and the job gone (even though he was proven to be innocent) committed a suicide.

Life / WHY POLISH PEOPLE DON'T USE THEIR NATIVE FIRST NAME WHEN ABROAD? [136]


This is my name too. Polish version.
I found out that if I drop the final 'z' some will pronounce it SOMEWAHT correctly. If I keep the 'z" theya are completely thrown off and after over 20 year in North America I still come across variation in pronunciation that I didn't before.

As for general reasons why Poles change their first name - give them Szczepan or Grzegorz and see what they do with it :)