On March 13, 2018, the Lithuanian Free Market Institute held Lithuania’s first National Economics Exam for pupils, university students, and everyone interested in measuring their knowledge of economics. Over 6,500 people from all over the country took part in the exam.
INESS has recently presented its views on the steps necessary to reform the education system in Slovakia in the study titled The Separation of education and politics. The proposal does not consist of prescription of exact content and form of education.
Published in 2015 by the Lithuanian Free Market Institute, the economics textbook Economics in 31 Hours has transformed the way of teaching and learning economics in Lithuania. Already in its fifth edition, the textbook has reached over 53 thousand students in 463 secondary schools and nearly 500 teachers.
The German Constitution guarantees freedom for private schools – comparable to Article 14 (3) of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. Especially for private schools, however, there is an important rule to be observed – the ban on segregation (the so called “Sonderungsverbot”).
We need to have in mind that democracy is not a given; it is susceptible and fragile. Many societies of the European countries (and the US too) confirm the thesis that democracy is in crisis and the elite are desperately looking for the cure. How to stop populism and the threat of authoritarianism in Europe (and elsewhere)?
The development of an in-depth understanding of the European values as well as individual responsibility among young people rests upon raising their social awareness and the advancement of critical thinking on social phenomena. A proper account for social reality requires an integration of economic, political, and moral perspectives.
We have the pleasure to present you the sixth issue of the 4liberty.eu Review. This time, in the light of the ever-changing nature of education systems, we have decided to devote our magazine to the topic of education from the point of view of the CEE states in an attempt to provide an overview of possible solutions in this regard.
Although, as Dorothy Parker once said, “you cannot teach an old dogma new tricks”, we choose to believe that it is still possible. After all, to quote Nathaniel Hawthorne, “It is a good lesson – though it may often be a hard one – for a man (…) to step aside out of the narrow circle in which his claims are recognized”.
Egalitarian politicians tend to lower standards in order to make degrees available for everyone — thereby decreasing the value of those degrees. Governments might have different ideas about what education should achieve than parents.
One of the crucial problems in Slovakia – and elsewhere – is an educational system failing to adapt to the challenges of modern society. There is one ultimate reason behind it: the prevailing central planning approach has resulted in rigidity, bureaucracy, and purely formalistic requirements disconnected from the real world.
