Life / Poland's instability? Voivodships and education. [4]

So what would your preference be regarding education? It's an interesting subject for me as we have two kids that are poles apart. Starting school at 7 seems to have been disastrous for one child as the child has more interesting things to do than being educated. I've tried every tactic I can think of to get him interested, and on occasions I see willing but now understand this to be playing the game. He's definitely smart in some respects. The other started at 5 and a 18 months later is reading with children a year higher, is unrecognisable from her English peers in her spoken language, a wants to impress both me and her mother with her talents. It feels like the ship sailed with the older child, he missed his moment to shine, and I despair sometimes at our inability to motivate him in the right direction. I get damned angry with the school which is more than willing to accept mediocrity and congratulate children who are failing. That makes me sound harsh but when the achievements are at a level 3 years below, I see a need to say well done but we need to catch up or the child becomes happy with their minimal effort as they have been rewarded gratuitously for little or no achievement.

Maybe I'm wrong and it will all come good one day. I hope so.

Life / Poland's expats' colonial mentality? [176]


As I thought.

Life / Poland's expats' colonial mentality? [176]


I agree with you on this. I've often heard the word "free" used in conversations which I have assumed is a reference to the impediment of family culture.


It would be interesting to compare receipts for a weekly shop for a family of four. Trouble is you would never get a like for like comparison.


It depends on your reference point really. If you are using a Bangladesh slum as a reference point then extreme poverty doesn't exist in Poland unless alcohol is involved. I've yet to come across an apartment building in the UK (I'm sure there are examples) where a single toilet is shared between a whole floor and not one apartment has a bath. I have visited two such places in Poznan. Interestingly these people living there do not use the "I'm poor feel sorry for me" ruse, but better off acquaintances do.

Then there is the lack of safety net if life goes pear shaped which it can do in a moment.

Life / Poland's expats' colonial mentality? [176]


I think this is unfair. Many I know here have skills but there are not jobs available to them in Poland. Qualifications and skills hold little value if there are no jobs.


This would form a very small minority in my experience. Most do not diversify beyond their peer group.


From what I have seen prices have risen considerably in Poland. Unless you are prepared to shop at multiple locations, it's not far behind the Uk


Delph next time I'm in Poznan, maybe you would like to meet some of the people I know. They would be outraged to hear you talk like this.


If they paid the Police a living wage and employed people that weren't bullied at school, then, maybe, you would have enforcement instead of corruption committed by the forces that are there to prevent it. Perhaps making it an offence to lie in court, or imposing a draconian levy for doing so, instead of encouraging it might help.


There are some highly educated tw*ts that do very well for themselves but do and say incredibly tw*tish things. Implying you don't need an education to be a tw*t is not fair on the educated twa*ts of this world. We can all be tw*ts at sometime or other. I have made many a tw*tish comment on here. I have decided to refrain from tw*tish behaviour although when I read the statements made on this forum sometimes it does draw the tw*at in me out from time to time.

MODERATOR: Please ban the word tw*t. It's ugly and not a word one should use in a public forum. Forgive me but I did * it out.

Last day in court in Poland Friday. Yahoo! 3 years of wasted time and money. Maybe after I can see Poland in a better light.

UK, Ireland / Polish Qualified Electricial transferable skills to UK? [9]

Polish and UK systems differ considerably. Spurs vs Ring mains. Without country specific certification I can't see how skills would be transferable in either direction. I believe ring mains are peculiar to the UK but you could correct me on that.

Life / Freedom of religion v animal rights in Poland? [38]


They don't think on the same level as you or I. From experience of slaughter houses, I am sure they are aware that something significant is about to happen. Maybe they smell death.

Life / Freedom of religion v animal rights in Poland? [38]

It's a pity that most peoples supposed knowledge of such processes is gleaned from articles with an agenda. It's also a pity that populations have ever distanced themselves from the realities of farming animals. Most people are now so out of touch with the realities of meat production, their comments are worthless.

I once worked a turkey farm, while still at school, for some extra cash one christmas. The turkeys, while fully alive, were hung by their feet on a conveyor which lowered their heads into a tank of water which was electrified. Unfortunately some turkeys were able to raise their heads enough to avoid the water and subsequently hit the plucking machine alive and fully conscious. Really not nice.

The gradual fading out option is my preference.

Life / Freedom of religion v animal rights in Poland? [38]


Back to this again. Making it illegal was simply just a protest by supreme court judges against their loss of control. This is just a platform, using an emotive subject, for protesting against losing control of Polish law to Europe. There is nothing that can be changed, the deals been done.

I'm sure you are aware that Poland is a major exporter of H and K meat. What damage would be done to this industry?

Life / Bribery and corruption 'fact of life' in Poland? [152]

It doesn't help if the courts are corrupt too, which, from experience with the family courts, I know is true.


Yes , if you travel in the right circles there are willing providers for a fee. Seen this myself also. It also operates at a much lower level as well.

One thing I respect about the Poles is their ability not to miss a trick to make a few zlt out of somebody. Ruthless some of them.

UK, Ireland / Benefit cuts for Poles in The UK? [143]


Thats a bit harsh Zeti

I had a Polish friend I used to see regularly on Sunday mornings. A big feller and rather tough looking and I was surprised to see him crying one morning. I was unaware his son was disabled and that morning his son had said to him "Why me?". A difficult question to answer. Over a period of time he told me the reason he came to England was that there was nothing for his son in Poland. No future and it was impossible for him to attend school. In the UK a bus was supplied to get him to school and free access to medication and care through the NHS. This isn't a criticism as I'd do the same if it was me. It demonstrates the difference in thinking and care over the disabled in Poland and the UK.

Recently, and this is on going, a friend of ours in Poland became seriously ill. A single woman in her mid thirties with no living relatives. In November she was operated on for a brain tumour and has since developed a heart condition. The doctors pronounced her unfit to work, but a ZUS(?) doctor says she is fit to work. She is appealing the decision but she has had no money since November and is relying on hand outs to eat. She cannot afford the medication she requires and is deteriorating fast.

Of course people move for medical reasons. Who can blame them?

Law / The right to own guns: would you support such legislation in Poland? [2773]


Why? We have a different kind of Police over here. They don't carry guns (yes I know some do), they are approachable and don't have a problem arresting people. Explain why you think they need to carry them. I thought they were there to protect and serve not kill people.


I grew up with guns. My friends had guns. Some of them shouldn't have been allowed near them. In fact one of them shot his girlfriend by accident. Lucky for her it wasn't to serious. With a gun in their hands they became 'powerful' Guns have that effect on people. They turn from loser to boss in an instant. Another point. The Police are not exactly well paid in Poland, so there not likely to attract the best of people either.

UK, Ireland / How might Britain`s withdrawal from EU affect Poles there and here? [474]


Youth unemployment would fall

Law / The right to own guns: would you support such legislation in Poland? [2773]


I can understand guns for hunting but a pistol no.

They should be taking the guns off the Police in Poland and they might attract people with better personalities into the force. Full of idiots that were bullied at school taking revenge on the innocent. They might even speak to you in the street instead of expecting the crowd to part like the sea. Not nice people in my experience. Thats just mine though.

Travel / Why do you visit Poland? [222]

To go to court and once for a holiday. Turned out be an expensive holiday. Its difficult thinking of a good reason to go now.

Love / Woman 23, man 47 years old. What do you think about ? [162]


It's easier. With experience you learn to deflect what would become a childish argument. I wish I hadn't smoked so many cigarettes though.


:) :) Not far from the truth.

USA, Canada / Differences in How Polish People Raise a Child and How Americans Raise a Child [149]


Gosh this opens a can of worms. Politics, education, class structure.

Its not a good interpretaion. At sixteen you are considered an adult within the legal system for certain things. You should be prosecuted as an adult for example but most likely you wouldn't be.You could get married for example, but still need the permission of parents. The school leaving age has now changed to 17. For many things, you are not legally an adult until 18. So its a bit random really. It should be understood that it is not a good idea to be leaving education at 17 but it is preferable that some individuals do. The naughty boys and girls.

Politics and class structure are involved when a crime is reported. This is really annoying. A 16yr old from a poor background will often be refered to as a man whereas a 16yr old from a good backround will be reported as a teenager. Kind of trivialises the crime for the child from a better background.

USA, Canada / Differences in How Polish People Raise a Child and How Americans Raise a Child [149]


It would be interesting to hear some opinions from Polish parents in the UK. You often hear them complaining that their little one is not wearing their coat and blame the teacher. Personally I feel it has nothing to do with the teacher what the child wears in the playground. Its the parents responsibility to educate their child on the basics. The English kids don't seem to need the same Antarctic attire as their Polish companions although it must be a bit chilly wearing a skirt and knee socks in the snow. Poor little things. They look happy enough though.

UK, Ireland / Polonization of Britain - Tipping Point Confirmed in 2011 Census [97]


But they integrated and retained their culture. I doubt their children did. Certainly the ones I knew were as English as me from the outside. Who knows whats on the inside.


It is in their interest to speak the language. Nobody gives a damn if they speak amongst themselves in Polish. We are used to foreign languages being spoken around us. Traditions are forgotten with time it doesn't take intervention from another nationality. Intervention would strengthen tradition.

We are not talking a about a group of people that have come here to retire. They have come here to work. Its in their interests to "fit in" to further their fortunes. If they choose to retire back to Poland, its of no consequence to anybody here.


You are correct but its funny how they refer to their neighborhoods as the Polish ghetto. I wonder what they are thinking.


Gordon Brown sold it I believe.


There may be freedom of movement but they are still guests in this country unless they choose otherwise as I would be in Poland. Unless they integrate, there is nothing to learn from them and preserving their ways is their problem, not ours.


You forgot about the industrial heritage of the UK. You are slipping.


This sounds very much like Poles in England except most of those expats in Spain are retirees. It's not comparing like with like really is it.


Don't believe the hype. There are some that are blind fools, but not many.

UK, Ireland / Polonization of Britain - Tipping Point Confirmed in 2011 Census [97]


Nothing from what I have seen and heard. Nigel Farage seems to have his head pretty well screwed on. He tells it how it is which is alright by me. I don't like all this ***** footing politics. Gets you nowhere.

Edit

Whats wrong with cats ????

UK, Ireland / Polonization of Britain - Tipping Point Confirmed in 2011 Census [97]


Its perfectly relevant if it takes 3 months to get another job.

A agree you can walk into low paid insecure job within a couple of days. Is that OK when you have a family? A lot of families would end up homeless pretty quickly with your idea of relevance.

UK, Ireland / Polonization of Britain - Tipping Point Confirmed in 2011 Census [97]


So what is wrong with UKIP?

Genealogy / Polish looks? [1462]


I understand what WB is saying I think. It is selective vision though. He is choosing a particular variety of Polish women. Slender, reasonably attractive, high heels, stockings(fantasy) and impeccably smart. Not always a perfect specimen, but has the ability to make the most of her features by using her make up intelligently. She walks tall, but is not aloof. A real head turner, but approachable, unlike her English counterpart, who treats everyone around her with contempt. I have selective vision when I see one of these young ladies too. Summer Friday afternoons in the town centre are always a pleasure. Sundays bring out the Russian girls, dressed in black, micro short skirts, loud make up and ultra high heels. They could easily be confused with someone looking for work. The cheap look is interesting, but the novelty wears off. The sophisticated look, wins out.

Life / Polish vs British vs American - Clash of cultures [390]


You can if you pay

UK, Ireland / Polish city that's moved to Britain [120]


She must have integrated :)


Come to England. :)


It's not so hard. Although there are many different looks, the language is a giveaway. They tend to be quite loud and a shopping trolley becomes becomes a tool to part the sea of people in front of them. Oops! I repeating Rozumiemnic. Sorry.

I don't think its so easy to tell the Slovakians apart. The Hungarian women I have met, resemble Bulldogs chewing wasps. Definitely not like the movies so they are easy. I guess the nice ones stayed home.

I asked my partner what her percentages were on Lidl last night. Remarkably close to mine.

55% Polish (I'd have put this at 50%)
15% Rusian (Lithuania, Estonia)
20% English

The rest are of unknown origin. Portuguese, some asian.

Perhaps a video of a shopping trip to Lidl would surprise a few Poles as to how many are actually here.

UK, Ireland / Polish city that's moved to Britain [120]


If you were talking about Birmingham 30 years ago, I'd agree. Birmingham has rebuilt itself, certainly not to its former manufacturing glory, but it has evolved. I can think of other cities in the UK that would compare. Not Birmingham though.

I cannot say I've met anybody from Lodz as yet in the UK.


To be fair there wasn't the same level of education there is now.

UK, Ireland / How much people in UK are manipulated by false anty- Polish propaganda [37]


It helps in life but it also helps if you can be magnanimous sometimes.

Its fairly simple to check facts in the UK as the schools publish league tables. The only difficult thing to check from your end is which ethnic groups attend which schools.

There are statistics and lies, Monia. Often we see lies in England in an attempt to quell bad feeling. Not that I see much bad feeling involving Poles anyway. It seems to be a fantasy story created in Poland.

Did I link to one article or hundreds? In fact I didn't even notice the first one was Poles doing over Poles as is often the case in the UK. I only read the title and assumed it was English people taking advantage.God help your customers Monia. Accuracy is important in your game.


Did you notice the transferable skills? Yours are not transferable. A Dentists are. Surprisingly I'm here on the ground. I know what the score is in the UK. You obviously want to teach me to suck eggs though.

It's the first time I've been called Honey. Don't be so patronising. I'm ugly. Any expletive will do based around ugly. Honey no.

Please revisit the link I provided and look down the list. There are some good some bad. Its not propaganda, It's news.


Depends on what your doing really or what you consider being a success. If success is just being happy, then intelligence isn't critical. A nuclear physicist might consider intelligence important.

UK, Ireland / How much people in UK are manipulated by false anty- Polish propaganda [37]

At a guess the Bulgarians and Romanians :)

UK, Ireland / How much people in UK are manipulated by false anty- Polish propaganda [37]

Monia I would really like to see this false anti-Polish propoganda

bbc.co.uk/search/news/?q=polish

Now I see in this list of news articles, 'balance'. Currently in the list there are one or two naughty people/murderers. Is reporting on the naughty ones anti-Polish propaganda? No it's news.


I read that article when it was first presented. Now I have a little experience so can comment with some conviction. At my partners children's school, there is ONE Polish, young lady who has done exceedingly well. She is a special child and her parents are justifiably proud of her. She is a very pleasant, polite young lady. She was born here. The rest are either running mid class or struggling to come to terms with the language. A great deal of extra support is provided for the ESL children which of course is expensive and drains resources.

The Daily Mail article is misleading. I was surprised at its conclusion so I did a bit of research. The nearest school to us has a high percentage of ESL children. In one class of thirty there are 17 ESL children. This school is new and a very popular choice with Polish parents, but is the lowest achieving. The local Catholic school again has a higher level of ESL children. This has better results. The C of E School that my partners children attend is doing very well. This school has on average 3 ESL children per class. Admittedly this school is in an area that gets substantially more investment because it is in an extremely poor area of town. I think that overall it is more complicated than just how many ESL children there are in a class. It also depends very much on how much input parents give to a child's education also. It is notable that some some Polish families excel with the level of input. My conclusion is that if there are 2 or 3 ESL children in a class, then that should be considered a benefit to all the children in the class. It also helps prevent an us and them scenario. If there is a high percentage of ESL children in a class, then it will slow the children down overall.


I think it would be reasonable to assume that if you had a high IQ then you would have had a reasonable job in Poland so why would you come to the UK. If you have transferable skills then fine, you can do it, but if you are a solicitor then you are hardly going to come here to pack fruit are you. Mostly Monia we got the lower end of the scale!


You obviously do or you would ignore it.

News / Highlights of passing year, in Poland (or elsewhere) which made hot discussions in PF [57]


You are correct. Apostrophe S mens it is belonging too.

Hector Schmidt and Stirling Moss were driving for Mercedes. The English car was in front.

It's implied that its an English car but we know its a German car driven by an Englishman.

Connotations.

News / Highlights of passing year, in Poland (or elsewhere) which made hot discussions in PF [57]


Why do you think there are evil journalists that hate Poland? I saw the appalling article posted just before Christmas, but that could be considered journalism. It was a vile diatribe. I see criticism sometimes, and I see a lot of people being over sensitive. If English people were as sensitive we would have all hung ourselves by now. We get it from everywhere. What is there to hate about Poland? I for one have had more than my fair share of trouble because of the Polish Courts; it doesn't make me hate Poland. Don't get me wrong I'm not happy with what happened, and I wasn't happy to be taken away at Poznan airport by the border guards for not going up with my partner to show my passport because the sign said "One At A Time". I've met dick heads in England too although that incident was by far superior.

Poland's a pretty nice place; sometimes my opinion bends the other way because of evil, hateful posts on here. The defenders of the realm go a little too far sometimes but then you step back and see they only represent themselves.

I agree with what you are saying, because there is a presumed knowledge in the statement and it can only be used in the correct context.


As in the previous post Barney, it depends on the context, so it's not nonsense.