The Governor

I spent a little over two hours meeting with the district governor, the regional director of education, a representative from the cultural affairs office, the principal and Krotoszyn High School complex #1 and Waldek. We laughed and shared details about the similarities and differences in government support of public schools. The low drop out rate of Polish students could be attributed to the law that mandates school attendance until 18 years of age and the abundance of technical high schools. America has almost done away with technical high school courses leaving those students who are less academically minded with no option for completing a high school degree. With all our advanced technology we seem to have forgotten that many people prefer to work with their hands, building, problem solving, and creating than living in abstract consideration of how to build, establishing verbal processes for problem solving, or creating in virtual environments. Many Polish people see their education system as antiquated, but I think it accurately reflects the needs of the society much more than the American focus on pure academics without practical application.

We made the obligatory exchange of keychains and T-shirts as I left. The governor said he didn't know the rules of baseball to which I responded, neither do most Americans.