It is a success in some areas, but there is still some way to go, I believe. Everybody I have ever talked to about the tradition in the UK of dropping weak subjects at sixteen in order to concentrate on strong subjects for A levels thinks it's a good idea. In Poland kids are overloaded with work.
The problem there is that the decision makers (i.e., the centrist 30-40 somethings) think that it's a good idea for kids to have a "general education". It's based on the pre-war ideals, and also indirectly influenced by the PRL ideals too.
I can understand that people are unhappy with such a totalitarian practice, leftover of the soviet era.
Wrong. It's a practice that started way back with the establishment of the KEN in 1773. Education in Poland has always been very centralised, even in the II RP when the country was so varied ethnically and economically.
All they do in school is to memorize...
Not in my classes ;) But mine are much more based around being able to use something as opposed to correctness.