A new study for the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom takes a closer look at how economic topics are dealt with in books for children and young adults. Hans Jürgen Schlösser, Michael Schuhen, and Helene Schlösser examine classics such as David Copperfield and Tom Sawyer as well as recent bestsellers and works of non-fiction.
Heat waves, droughts and heavy rain: Germany is beginning to experience the impact of climate change. Although heat waves are not a new phenomenon, the changing climate means that they are becoming more frequent and lasting longer. This is particularly noticeable in the cities, where more and more often, the heat is becoming intolerable in summer.
In this episode, Leszek Jażdżewski talks with Gerald Knaus about the enlargement policy of the European Union, new potential EU members, the “New Cold War”, and the future of the European project.
Recently the Polish ministry of education announced the creation of a new mandatory school subject called “Historia i Teraźniejszość”. The coursebook that was written by a former PiS EU Parliament deputy, Wojciech Roszkowski, specifically on that purposes includes numerous political and ideological biases, presenting “the one and only, proper” worldview inclined towards the policy of Polish government.
At the NATO summit in Madrid, the decision was finally made to agree to the accession of new members: Sweden and Finland. In recent weeks, the presidents of Croatia, Zoran Milanović, and Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, have emerged as the biggest opponents of expanding the alliance to include the Nordic countries.
Starting in September the Polish Ministry of Education and Science will introduce a new school subject and a new school textbook. It is called ‘Historia i Teraźniejszość’ (History and the Present). The author of the book is Wojciech Roszkowski. He is a historian and a former member of European Parliament. He represented the Law and Justice (PiS).
On June 1, the European Commission approved Poland’s national recovery plan worth ca. EUR 35 billion. Ursula von der Leyen, has warned that money will be transferred only if Poland doesn’t fail to reach all “milestones” in granting judicial independence: abolishing the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court, rewriting its rules and allowing judges sanctioned or suspended by the chamber to have their cases reviewed.
When the international concept of human rights is seen as a threat to sovereignty and national values, such phenomena as antisemitism, islamophobia and xenophobia are politicized, and minorities are marginalized and excluded. In this situation, the main tool for creating attitudes of tolerance and inclusivity is education.
I dare to write that the health financing situation is becoming increasingly muddled. With all three health insurance companies (allegedly) starting to cut their losses, the problem of financing Slovak healthcare has moved up a notch. Of course, it is too early to be scared, but from a systemic point of view, any future financial problems of the health insurance companies would be much more serious than the financial problems of the hospitals.
In Slovakia, we have a problem with the drain of the brightest young people to foreign universities. If we want to solve this problem, we need to know the causes. And we can only know these if we understand how higher education works and what its real added value is.
