Greecepeace

In 1988 Metallica released this song -‘And Justice for All’- a political song talking about how biased, corrupted and unfair justice is. Well, I assume that this was the general idea…They probably had in mind a specific judicial system but truth is the lyrics of this song could refer to any country around the globe.

Talking about the injustice of law wouldn’t be new nor would add anything to what we already believe. I just want to talk about the price we pay for accepting this situation; the lives changed or lost, because some people just put profit above anything else.

An EU law of a few years ago, states that it is forbidden to put large advertising boards on the sides of heavy traffic streets in cities, highways, etc. In fact, as far as I know, in UK France and Italy this law is already applied since I haven’t seen boards like that near any street-or at least any busy street. The reason a law like that is necessary, it’s because these advertising boards were more than once responsible for the death of drivers who lost control of their vehicles and crashed on them. Hadn’t these boards been there, these people would have had a better chance of surviving the crash.

In Greece and especially in Athens, the presence of these massive boards in the city’s streets is related with large amounts of money, given to municipalities by the advertising companies. Moreover, on these boards are advertised not only products but politicians as well, during electoral campaigns. To decide to ‘clean’ the streets from them requires a lot of money as well as a strong will by any given mayor who decides to protect his fellow citizens. The law is on people’s side on this matter, the system however, not. No matter how hard some people, only a few unfortunately, try to do something, they only manage to disturb the surface…The Media do promote this issue every now and then, mainly though after a death has occurred. After all, they too get advertised on these boards.

In numbers, from about six thousand (6.000) advertising boards around Athens, only 1-2% has been removed, sometimes only for a few months. Police records indicate that 300 accidents every year involve these boards (http://www.ekathimerini.gr/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_2_20/06/2008_274618 Link in Greek only unfortunately). Most of them are still out there, waiting for their next victim. I wonder if the people responsible for this mess ever thought that there is a chance, this next victim might be someone they really care about…

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I was born in Lesvos Island (Greece) on a Monday morning. By Tuesday, I realized I was going to be Greek for the rest of my life, which in turn -by Saturday- made me realize a lot more things. At this point, I knew I had to drink something strong. I grabbed a bottle of low-fat semi-skimmed milk and by the time I was eighteen -and after many bottles of milk- I decided to take a closer look at my ‘condition’…

To start with I decided to cross the boarders to Italy… (I wasn’t patient enough to sit another admission exam for Greek universities - not to mention the great comments I heard for Italian women). A few years later, Italy was succeeded by the UK and the beautiful city of Plymouth until the time, just a little bit before the end of my studies there that a call came from Greece. It was time to return home and fulfill my military service.

During these years abroad, I had the chance to take a closer look at different aspects of life in these countries. In particular, on my return to Greece, I knew more about the educational system of Italy and UK than that of my own country. Acceptable, up to a point, since my studies depended upon it. Many friends of mine however, were studying in Greece the same time I was studying abroad and I knew more or less how the situation there was. Of course, you can’t be sure of anything until you see it with your own eyes. So I did. And I was surprised. In a very bad way…

The level of studies in Greece is actually very high; I believe one of the highest in Europe. Greek universities don’t have of course the prestige of those in other European countries, like England, France or Germany for example, nonetheless, their graduates have all the necessary qualifications to built a great career anywhere around the world-and some actually have achieved that. So, where is the problem? Because, at least one, there is…

The current legislative frame concerning Education of all levels in Greece is actually too old. In a country where education is supposed to be a tradition, this is unacceptable. The reason for this delay in adopting a new model of education is going back a few decades, when Greece was under the rule of a military regime. The beginning of the fall of this regime started from a massive reaction of university students at the polytechnic school of Athens, which was brutally suppressed by a tank invasion in the university campus. The university asylum was infringed and these students became emblems for Greece in our times.

Shortly after this event, democracy was re-established in Greece and changes were promoted in all aspects of life, education included. Years have passed, and various models were tried by every new government in order to support schools and universities. In vane…Little has changed significantly, whereas the legacy of those Polytechnic students back in the 70s is now lost to shameful political and anarchist university groups that have brutally distort the meaning of these students’ actions back then.

A couple of years ago however, a bold step was done by the current Greek government towards a radical change in all levels of university life. A reform, known by now as the ‘Article 16’ reform.

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Trying to be as objective as possible, I have to say that this reform is not the best answer to the problems of the Greek higher educational system. I do believe that if the educational system of any country should be updated, this should happen in all levels of education, from elementary schools to universities. This is not the case. Still, it is a strong first step towards something better, a promise for something better in the immediate future. Unfortunately, not everybody thinks of it like that.

Once the plan for the reform was announced, student councils of the universities, decided to oppose to it. These councils are in fact composed of fractions of the political parties inside the universities, with students-pawns and an extraordinary fanaticism. Lead by the left wing of these fractions -and under a not so clear majority- student councils decided and went out in the streets, protesting against the reform. What they were demanding was free education and support for public universities in terms of technology, premises, books and quality. Moreover, they were against any kind of support given to private or foreign universities with branches in Greece.

Some might say, that these students were not asking for anything more than what it’s rightfully theirs. I agree. That’s why I said before that this reform is not the best answer to what students and universities in Greece really want. Still, it’s the only true attempt made by any government for many years now. Moreover, no student made any comments about banning the political parties from the university, updating the asylum status or establishing an evaluation system for professors, departments and universities in general.

Every year-and I mean EVERY year-many teaching hours are lost to strikes of personnel and occupation of departments in Greek universities by students. Every year, a war is taking place over who’s going to recruit most ‘freshers’ in their political party and which of these parties will win the following university elections. A proper campaign is done for this purpose by students, supported by ‘mother-parties’. You stay out of this political game and you’ll find that doing some simple things it’s not that simple after all.

All this, it’s not coming out of my head. It’s what young and older and former students say. This situation is not strange to Greeks. We all know about it. A meaningful reform is not an option any more. It’s a necessity. There are many ways to achieve that, as long as we are not stuck up in out-dated, retrogressive ideas. People say that most of the times, changes happen in Greece when things ‘mature’ enough to follow these changes. What I say is that, as far as it concerns education, we have long passed the maturation phase. We are slowly entering a phase of decay…

Hope all this makes sense, especially to those not familiar with the current situation in Greece. I only hope the right things happen soon, so future generations of students in Greek universities won’t have to worry about anything else than following their studies and having a good time in the process…

PS: There is always an opposite side, where things are quite different from those described here. Acceptable, since we are living in a democratic state. There are many more parameters to discuss on this matter, and even more different approaches as to what is best for the Greek educational system, in order to fulfill most efficiently its purpose: To raise well educated and sensible new generations…