Nowacka emphasizes that the ministry’s experts are working on the new reading list. “It is worth considering that if we want to have young people with knowledge and open to the world, they must also read contemporary literature.” At the same time, she emphasizes that she cannot make changes to this list according to her own whims, but when asked what she would add to the list, she replies that “there are no contemporary books by Olga Tokarczuk here, for example.”
The Ministry of National Education announces changes to the school reading list
Pre-consultations on the changes are scheduled to last until February 19. As we read on the Ministry of National Education’s website: “The purpose of changing the core curriculum is to limit the mandatory scope of teaching content, which, while maintaining the current number of teaching hours, will enable teachers and students to implement the content more calmly and in-depth, resulting in more effective education.”
The draft changes to the core curriculum preliminarily indicate which readings are to be removed from the list of compulsory items. Students may soon no longer have to read Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” or the first volume of “Chłopów” by Władysław Stanisław Reymont. The “Hymn to the Love of the Homeland” by Ignacy Krasicki and fragments of “Memoirs” by Jan Chryzostom Pasek are to disappear. Instead, the Bible, mythology and “Bogurodzica” will be discussed.
The Ministry of National Education also wants to remove from the list “Report on martial law” by Marek Nowakowski, “Cathedral” by Jacek Dukaj, fragments of “Divine Comedy” by Dante, selected psalms by Kochanowski, “Konrad Wallenrod” by Mickiewicz and selected idylls and religious poems by Franciszek Karpiński. Poems by Józef Czechowicz, texts by Kabaret Starskich Panów, Żeromski’s “Sysyphus Works” and fragments of “Pan Tadeusz” may disappear from the core curriculum.
Core curriculum without texts by John Paul II and Wyszyński
The changes will also include suggestions for supplementary readings. These are usually proposed to students by the teacher, but they can also nominate their own candidates. Almost the entire list has been marked here for changes or verification, but the greatest chances of disappearing from the program are fragments of Słowacki’s “Letters to the Mother”, a selection of poems by Maria Konopnicka, “Saint” by Jan Józef Szczepański, “Prison Notes” by Stefan Wyszyński and fragments of works by Jan Paweł II such as “Crossing the Threshold of Hope”, “Roman Triptych”, “Memory and Identity” and “Fides et Ratio”.
However, the ministry is open to dialogue. Students, parents, teachers and other experts can submit their comments on the proposed changes using the form.
“We keep our commitments and standards, which we have accepted as the most important – the school should be free from party politics, the school boards should be managed by people with the highest competences, who understand the functioning of the school and are resistant to party dispositions,” emphasizes Barbara Nowacka.
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
