Education in Poland
| Date | 01 December 1959 |
| Published date | 01 December 1959 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070205901400404 |
| Author | Richard Hiscocks |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Education
in
Poland
RICHARD
HISCOCKS*
OVIET
scientists
have
given us enough
surprises.
To
become
immune
from
these
shocks
and
facilitate
human
and
cultural
contacts with hundreds
of millions
of
people,
the
West
must
make
more
effort to
keep
in
touch
with
educa-
tional
developments
in
the
Communist-controlled
world.
If
we
take
no
interest
in
the
social
and
intellectual
progress
of
a
large
section
of
mankind,
we
lay
ourselves
open
to
great
dangers
and
at
the
same
time
provide
some
justification
for
the
criticism
that
our
society
is
self-centred
and
materialistic.
Poland
in
particular
deserves
attention.
Of
all
countries
in
the
Soviet
orbit
it
has
come
most under
Latin
influence
and
has
the
strongest tradition
of
contact
with
the
West.
It
has
a
Communist
system
of
government
and,
from
the
diplomatic
point
of
view,
is
firmly
in
the
Communist
camp.
But
paradoxically
it
is
still
a
great
Roman Catholic
stronghold.
The
Polish
people
retain
their
interest
in
the
West,
as
their
recent
welcome
to
Mr.
Nixon
showed.
They
admire
Western
spiritual
ideals
and
cultural
standards.
They
do
not
want to
break
the
tradition
of
contact.
Polish
educational
achievement
since
the
War
can
con-
veniently
be
considered
in
four
different
aspects:
first,
as
an
example
of
the
rapid
and,
on
the
whole,
successful
transforma-
tion
of
a
country's
educational
system;
secondly,
as an
attempt
at
democratization
in
the
Western sense;
thirdly,
from
the
political
point
of
view;
and
fourthly,
in
its
moral implications.
I
The
adminstrative
and
social
achievement
in
Polish
education
can
only
be
appreciated
in
its
historical
setting.
The
responsible
*
Professor
of
Political
Science
and
International
Relations, University
of
Manitoba.
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