07-07-16 Minister’s interview on reform plans, cultural education, rights of Muslims

In a wide-ranging interview with Parapolitika FM radio and Andreas Mazarakis, Education , Research and Religious Affairs Minister Nikos Filis laid out the educational philosophy of the government’s reform plans, focusing on the need for schools to inculcate a democratic and tolerant ethos in students.  Filis also spoke at length on the importance of assimilating refugee and migrant children, the importance of arts education, the need to bolster Greek language instruction, and the rights of Muslim citizens in the Greek school system and society.

The role of schools and the need for critical thinking

Nikos Filis underlined the need to totally revamp the high school (lyceum) curriculum, which now is geared exclusively toward university entrance exams, rather than expanding the cultural and educational offering in general education.

“Today the lyceum annuls itself and its proper role, as it operates as a mere antechamber for university admission. Students, who are the hardest working Greeks, should not operate like that, being asked to merely parrot university exam oriented material,” he said

“Our schools remain a fundamental building block of democracy, which includes love of country, respect for people of different backgrounds, including  various migrant and Muslim students. We want conditions of equality, to make sure that we all fit, regardless of ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation,” Filis said, noting that the teacher is the “soul of the school”.

The minister said thousands of refugee and migrant children will form an impression of Greece based on the love, solidarity and acceptance with which we receive them, which will make them the best ambassadors of Greece in the future.

Education as building block of democracy

“Education must inculcate a democratic ethos and mentality in our children. That means tolerance, recognition of others, and not exclusion and aphorisms. It means an effort to gain knowledge by questioning and challenging, and not just parroting.  The mission of education is to develop humanitarian values – such as solidarity, collective action, and the distillate of the best values of ancient and modern culture,” the minister underlined

The importance of arts education

Filis also underlined the importance of education in the arts in forming cultured citizens, and he noted the many theatrical, musical and other artistic projects organised by enthusiastic teachers with no additional remuneration.  He said he attended a fine and somewhat updated performance of Aristophanes’ Lysistrata at a school in Keratsini, near Piraeus, as well as a performance of a Shakespeare play at a school in Athens’ northern suburb of Vrilisia. “Not many people hear about such projects, including musical evenings, but this generation is especially drawn to the arts and culture, and I see it every day,” he said

University classics programmes for foreigners in English proposed

Stressing the importance and abiding lure of Greek culture, Filis tabled a proposal to create programmes taught in foreign languages such as English in the classics, and ancient Greek philosophy, literature and culture for foreign students. This would broaden the horizons of the educational system and make it more outward looking, he said.

The importance of bolstering modern Greek language, the scourge of Grenglish

The education minister noted that due to a variety of cultural factors the vocabulary of Greek youth has shrunk vastly over the years, and he bemoaned the fact that Grenglish (writing Greek with Latin characters) is today “the main language of communication for many students”.

The minister again noted the paradox of spending more class time (three hours) on ancient Greek instruction from the third year of junior high school (gymnasium), and only two hours on modern Greek. “What is certain is that the educational system today does not help students learn their own language. We must enrich language courses, and stress the meaning and content of ancient Greek civilization, rather than continue a formalistic focus on syntax and grammar.,” he said.

Filis stressed that the Greek language is a living and evolving one, that has been influenced and enriched by many languages and cultures over the centuries. He noted that Greece’s national poet, Dionysios Solomos began his poetical writings in Italian before turning to Greek, in which he wrote the national anthem and helped shape the Greek language in the process.

Noting the Academy of Athens’ dictionary of spoken Greek, edited by Professor Christophoros Haralambakos, Filis said it showed, “The power of our language is that we have incorporated in spoken Greek words directly from different linguistic and cultural environments. Our language does not end with ancient Greek.”

‘Two souls in European culture’

“There are two souls in European culture today, one is the ancient Greek and the other the Hebrew, through Christianity as well. Culture takes many paths and creates syntheses,” Filis said.

Refugees, Islam and tolerance

“Our youth must learn to value others. They hear on TV of an ISIS terrorist group that kills, but Islam is hardly just that. In our region we have longstanding historical contacts with Islam, and we have Muslims living in our country. They must have official places of worship, and not basements with sanitary and security problems,” Nikos Filis stressed.

He noted that after attending the re-opening of the renovated Orthodox Cathedral of Athens on 2 July, he attended a Ramadan Iftar dinner which brought together both Shiite and Sunni Muslims, who elsewhere are locked in bitter clashes. “This is a sign of the success of a democratic Greece,” Filis said, reiterating government support for a larger Athens Mosque and Muslim cemetery.