The Polish teachers never smile, you are not allowed to smile, everything is under pressure, they cheat in schools, they have "ściągi" and that's how the Poles grow up, to cheat one another
Well I agree about the cheating part. The teachers I've met give tacit appoval to students who are loud mouthed cheats (some even make money on the side by selling exam answers to students) and this sets a terrible example to children who are at their most impressionable.
do they not teach how to write in clearly defined paragraphs in america...?
They certainly don't seem to in Poland either. If I had a penny for evey essay I've had to correct from PhD students who try to write an entire academic journal in ine paragraph, I'd have a shjit load of pennies by now. Some of my colleagues have mouthed off some blather about 'the fundamental unit of cohesion in Polish is the sentence rather than the paragraph' but this is utter nonsense. The plain fact is that students learn quickly that to get ahead in Poland, it's every man for himself
The parents have decided that educators are supposed to educate their children in everything from manners to academics.
... and you can see the same in the UK. Families seem to shovel the responsibility for health, education and anything else that takes time and effort onto the welfare state accompanied by a mumble of "well, I pay my taxes". Result - the children learn nothing useful.
It shapes brain. Brain throught exercises work more efficient, memory is better, when kids answer hard mathematic questions their brain becomes more efficient.
Math can shape the neuron connections, I agree on that. Memorising random stuff in excessive amounts rather distorts and misleads them
We are so lucky to have two experts on thinkology here today! Professors, if maths shapes the neural connections, why not teach basic economics at school rather than highest common factors and matrices? It would me more interesting, more useful and ultimately more beneficial for the student. Why do pure maths?