Work / If you were to compere Polish Unis and Unis/Colleges in your country... [75]


Same problem. Perhaps not so many sociologists, but more "media studies" graduates and so on.

Heck, you can even get a degree in "sound production" these days.

News / John Godson, born in Nigeria, might become Poland Sejm's first black deputy! [313]


He follows the PO model of Thatcherite economics combined with Christian social teachings. You know, the same model that many Republicans follow in the US.


His policies are generic Platforma Obywatelska policies. They've got a website, go read it.


Obviously not, otherwise he wouldn't be calling them "liberal".


Why assume? Just shows you know nothing about the topic.

And we support him because he was democratically elected by the people of the State in which we reside. For what it's worth, most "Lefties" on here are about as centrist as they come.


No, because he was elected by the people, to serve the people.

Oh, wait, I forget - you're a right winger, thus you don't believe in democracy :)

News / John Godson, born in Nigeria, might become Poland Sejm's first black deputy! [313]

He was elected by the Polish people. End of story.

(for what it's worth, Godson is quite right wing in nature, being a member of PO and thus a Christian-Democrat by definition.)

News / Polish Foreign Ministry 'prepared' for new Wikileaks material [100]


It's a good hypothetical question - they have superiority in numbers, but how many of them (especially with China opening up more and more) would actually support the regime?

News / Medvedev in Poland [28]


Enough said. Perhaps when they stop enjoying State funds, they'll protest against real things.

News / Polish Foreign Ministry 'prepared' for new Wikileaks material [100]


As they should. I'm sure there's plans out there for the invasion of Russia if needs be - and I wouldn't be surprised if some unofficial plans exist between Russia and NATO for the invasion of China.


Didn't NATO run an exercise about the successful repelling of forces through Belarus?

Work / If you were to compere Polish Unis and Unis/Colleges in your country... [75]


From what I know, they're very good at promoting capable people up the ladder and fast. I don't actually know where the criticism comes from - it must be one of the very few employers that will give almost anyone a chance to suceed - along with offering a very clear career path.

Internships are fine and well if you've got the money to burn, but for most normal people, it's just not an option.

Work / If you were to compere Polish Unis and Unis/Colleges in your country... [75]


And?

McDonalds is well known to be character building - and furthermore, it shows that you can follow procedures and processes, something valued by big corporate companies.

For what it's worth, I'd hire a Pole who worked in McDonalds anyday - it's hard work and usually managed by people with the attitude of "time to lean, time to clean". Furthermore, in a country where work experience is often seen as "omg, work experience, no way" - it shows a will to work.

Life / Polish Pay As You Go Phone SIMs - do all have compulsory recharging / top up? [11]


It's about 20gr more per minute.

News / John Godson, born in Nigeria, might become Poland Sejm's first black deputy! [313]


The mad Polish system :P

For what it's worth, he was ranked 7th - so it's not like he was elected by the people. But then again, he did convincingly win in his district in the Rady - so perhaps 2011 will reveal if he's capable of getting elected on his own right.


Remind me what your old President did?


And? He's still the President of the United States of America - probably the most powerful politican in the world. Why aren't you the President, then?

Life / Polish-American Polka Music in Poland [60]

Me neither. I was completely unaware of it until I saw some "Polish-Americans" talk about it as if it was popular in Poland, which it clearly isn't.


How nicely you speak about your own kin. No wonder you ran away to America if you were using terms like "peasant-rooted" towards them.

For what it's worth, Polka music would never gain much popularity in Poland. Older people prefer classical music, and younger people see it for what it is - an odd creation of Polacks.

Law / Staly Meldunek / Karta Pobytu - achievable for an EU resident? [7]


She's speaking nonsense - as you have the permanent right to stay, she has to register you for as long as it's valid for - 10 years. It's nonsense that it expires after 10 years, but I think the idea is that you should be getting citizenship during this time.

Best bet is to try another dragon - preferably armed with the law in question.


I think I understand this, actually. You have the right to permanent residence, but the certificate itself is only valid for 10 years - presumably to give them a chance to check into your background every 10 years to make sure that you haven't been naughty. But the next application should be a formality - though you can apply for citizenship in that time instead.

Work / If you were to compere Polish Unis and Unis/Colleges in your country... [75]


Yep - unlike Poland, the British system works on the later the year, the harder the difficulty. So - the AS is easier than the A2.

Likewise in university - each year gets progressively harder. So - the 3rd year of a BA will be much tougher than the 1st year, and an MA will always be more difficult than a BA. For me, it's odd that in Poland, the MA part can often be easier!

Work / If you were to compere Polish Unis and Unis/Colleges in your country... [75]


The A level is 2 years, and it's made up of the two components - AS and A2. Usually, what people do will be four AS levels, then they'll do three subjects at A2 level. It used to be only one big exam after 2 years, but they dropped this as it was seen to only be about exams and not about learning. Depends on the exam agency though, as some will have 100% exams for certain subjects, others won't.

But usually, you do coursework which makes up part of your grade, then exams at the end of the AS and A2 level. It really depends on subject though, and which exam board.

There's a trend for going back towards 100% exam though - too many people were getting "outside help" with coursework.

Something that's sometimes used in the UK in university is "timed exams" - you get 24 hours (or less, or more) to complete an exam paper, using any resources you wish. I quite like that, and it should be used in schools :)

Work / If you were to compere Polish Unis and Unis/Colleges in your country... [75]


It'll probably be very easy for you - but [ocr.org.uk/qualifications/type/index.html] is what you want :)

News / John Godson, born in Nigeria, might become Poland Sejm's first black deputy! [313]


So, why did "affirmative action" and so on actually increase during the Bush presidency?

News / John Godson, born in Nigeria, might become Poland Sejm's first black deputy! [313]


I don't get it - he got 16% of the vote in his district for the Rady, so surely he was elected outright? He certainly won the highest percentage of votes in his ward.

Hasn't he taken Zdanowski's seat through the way that Poland's electoral system works?

(for what it's worth, it's a shame that he's won his seat in the Sejm through someone else dropping out as opposed to winning it in an election - though I guess he'll get the chance to defend it next year)

Law / Lawyer in Poland did a bad job possibility of compensation? [17]


Kamienica :)

Work / If you were to compere Polish Unis and Unis/Colleges in your country... [75]


It's because they don't apply for university here until after they get the results. It's also because there's no central admissions agency, so universities actually don't have much idea until the start of the year.

Quite why there isn't one centralised system is beyond me.

Work / If you were to compere Polish Unis and Unis/Colleges in your country... [75]

The problem is that the public universities realise that the more departments they have, the more influence they have - and the whole circle continues. Some of the courses offered in public universities here are a complete joke - and the amount of graduates is shocking as well.

One proposal I saw was for the funding to be competitive - so that every educational institution, both public and private would have to compete for funding. It makes a lot of sense - the public universities shouldn't be soaking up cash if their courses are terrible.

Work / If you were to compere Polish Unis and Unis/Colleges in your country... [75]


The sulking about how many departments didn't "open" their studies this year shows this.

If you ask me, we should only be funding the courses that the country needs. There's no need to have more than what, 10 people graduating from Albanian philology every year, so why fund more? The rest should be left to the private sector.

Life / The Polish school? What's it like. [26]


The best solution for this would be to simply have two tiers of classes - one compulsory "practical" class and an optional theoretical class. I loved practical science, but hated the theory - and I think decent practical classes would encourage people to engage with the subjects, even if they hated it. Then - to ensure that everyone has enough hours in school, you just have to insist on a minimum number of theoretical classes.

News / John Godson, born in Nigeria, might become Poland Sejm's first black deputy! [313]


Tusk is ethnically Kashubian, isn't he?

Life / The Polish school? What's it like. [26]

It creates a situation where vast amounts of peope have "papers" but very little skill or ability for the real world.

Polish education is a mess, and needs total reform to make it relevant for Europe. It doesn't help when full time teachers work as little as 18 45-minute classes a week.

Life / Foreigners commenting on Poland - a minefield? [30]

All three "approaches" are used by schools, but in my opinion, the best schools are the ones which give you the freedom to approach the class as you wish. The ones I work for now all have the same attitude - do what you want, but keep us informed and keep them happy.

With the first approach that you mentioned - it's a recipe for disaster in a corporate environment. It's rare that they have the time to learn a programme "properly" - yet you have the constant pressure of "they need to follow the programme!". I did this for a year - and it was frankly a nightmare. How on earth can you tell someone 40-something that they need to do homework at the weekend rather than spending time with their families? Needless to say, the programmes are almost universally rubbish.

The second approach - usually what happens is that the schools offer me some classes in companies. I'll visit the director, we'll chat about who they are, what they want, what level, what they've been doing to date, etc. Then - I'll go there and talk to the students themselves. Usually after this, you have a fixed aim in mind - and good schools will respect the wishes of the students. The directors are also very happy to give me free reign - it's usually a case of "can you do it? yes? okay, go do it!". They want the client to be satisfied, and they aren't fussed how you get there.

The third approach is quite common too, and it's not a satisfactory state of affairs. The students are well aware that the school isn't interested in them, only their money. The schools are usually a nightmare to deal with, obsessed with petty bureaucracy and generally completely useless.

For me, the best director I work with is someone who takes an active interest in what I'm doing, but isn't overbearing and trusts me to get the job done.

News / Victory in 'anti-Polish camps' campaign in US [170]


Still, they were Polish citizens.

Law / Shipping Vehicles/Motorcycles to Poland (from Taiwan). Drivers license. [10]


Probably not.

But to answer your questions -


That'll be fine. You'll want to convert the Taiwan licence to a Polish licence, and you may have to do the theory test (not sure without checking - but it's easy) - but you can drive for a year on the IDP anyway. All rather simple and without problems, though it's advised to wait until you've been in Poland for 6 months before exchanging the licence.


You'll have to re-register the bike locally. This means that you'll have to export it from Taiwan and import it into Poland - it's not difficult, though there might be some (small) tax to pay.

Life / Foreigners commenting on Poland - a minefield? [30]


Yep, normal. It's because she has a job, she is doing her job and it's not her job to deal with such things. The concept of "take responsibility" just doesn't exist here among low level employees.

I've also never seen a manager get stuck in either here - again, same attitude of "not my responsibility".


I think this is a lot to do with the way that getting work experience as a kid/student is still seen as "omg, no way, it's time to party" in Poland. I might cross swords frequently with Fuzzywickets, but he's bang on the money when he says that Poles are leaving university at 25 with absolutely no experience.

Life / Why Poland is "surprised" by winter and snow every year? [192]


Try driving on snow without them. Bear in mind that while the roads are clear, plenty of side roads aren't, especially private osiedle complexes.

News / Victory in 'anti-Polish camps' campaign in US [170]

I suggest that anyone paranoid enough to suggest that forum posters have "paymasters" is the "sad loser" here.