Shortly after the coalition took power in Poland at the end of 2023, the appointed Minister of Education began to announce changes to the core curriculum. A few weeks ago, in the “Graffiti” program on Polsat News, she announced that the works, among others, The compulsory reading list has already been completed, and the new list will appear in the next few days. – What you will see at the end of the week is a version that is good, correct and I will be happy to sign it – she announced. However, not everyone shares her position.
New reading list 2024. Barbara Nowacka signed the regulation. These titles will no longer be mandatory
The regulations regarding the new core curriculum for general education in primary and secondary schools were approved by Nowacka on June 28, 2024. According to them, as much as 20% of the content disappeared from the core curriculum, but the changes in the reading list aroused the greatest emotions.
How long will barbarians manage education in Poland?
For ‘Pan Tadeusz’ not to be required reading is a scandal
What kind of generation will this grow up to be?
– Internet users wrote under the ministry’s entry on platform X.
The ballads “Powrót taty” and “Pani Twardowska” are disappearing from the obligatory positions for students in grades IV-VI, as well as the poem “W pamiętniku Zofii Bobrówna” by Juliusz Słowacki, which will be replaced by “Rota” by Maria Konopnicka. In turn, “Katarynka” by Bolesław Prus and “W pustyni i puszczy” have been moved to the list of supplementary titles. In the case of students in grades VII and VIII, the change consists in reading not the whole book, but its most important fragments. This was done, among others, with “Pan Tadeusz”, from which only books I, II, IV, X, XI and XII will be obligatory, and “Syzyfowe prace” by Stefan Żeromski. On the other hand, “Żona modna” by Ignacy Krasicki, “Śmierć Pułkownika” and “Tędy i owędy” by Melchior Wańkowicz have been completely crossed out from the list.
Will high school students be happy? The new reading list does not include these titles
The situation is similar in the case of secondary schools, for which two separate lists were prepared for students with the core curriculum and those taking extended Polish. The first group eliminates, among others, “Legend of St. Alexis”, “Flowers of St. Francis of Assisi”, “The Polish Chronicle” by Gallus Anonymus, “Memoirs” by Jan Chryzostom Pasek, “Konrad Wallenrod” by Mickiewicz, “Agamemnon’s Grave” and “My Testament” by Juliusz Słowacki, “The Ravens, the Crows Will Peck Us…” by Żeromski and “People Who Walked” by Tadeusz Borowski.
Students will also not have to familiarize themselves with the works of poets such as Daniel Naborowski, Jan Andrzej Morsztyn, Mikołaj Sęp-Szarzyński, Franciszek Karpiński and Julian Przyboś. However, this is not the end, because Homer’s “Odyssey” and Dante’s “Divine Comedy” have disappeared from the list, which have been moved to the advanced level, as well as William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”, Zygmunt Krasiński’s “Un-Divine Comedy” and “Gloria victis”, which have been placed in the supplementary list.
Equally significant changes await students at the advanced level, as Aristophanes’ Clouds, Virgil’s Aeneid, St. Augustine’s Confessions, and St. Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologica will no longer be required reading. Other works that have been removed include François Rabelais’ Gargantua and Pantagruel, Juliusz Słowacki’s Lilla Weneda, and Cyprian Kamil Norwid’s works: Bema pamięcigrzebny rapsod and Czarne kwiat. Aristotle’s Poetics and Rhetoric, as well as Plato’s The Republic, have been moved to additional titles. The full list of required school readings is available on the website of the Ministry of National Education. If you’d like, please vote in our poll below.
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.
