Image by dziennik.elektroniczny ob flickr.com

So you probably know that grades in Polish schools are not A,B,C,D…

Everywhere except universities, grades are: 6 (“celujący” – lit. aiming [at the top]), 5 (“bardzo dobry” – very good), 4 (“dobry” – good), 3 (“dostateczny” – sufficient), 2 (“dopuszczający” – passing) and 1 (“niedostateczny” – not sufficient). Most teachers allow grades such as 3+ or 5-, to denote some kind of above or below average score for a grade, but such grades aren’t actually legally recognized.

In universities, the scale is similar: 5.0 (very good), 4.5 (good plus), 4.0 (good), 3.5 (average plus), 3.0 (average) and 2.0 (fail). Some teachers also use 2.5, but it’s not a legally recognized grade – it still fails. The only exception is the Medical University that uses the 1-6 grading, similar to one used in basic and intermediary schools.

Mandatory Uniforms

Thanks to a nutjob education minister, Poland’s schools (excepting universities, which aren’t subject to the Ministry of Education) have mandatory uniforms. As of right now, there is already a legislation in progress to abolish this, making uniforms a decision the principal makes. When I was in school, there wasn’t anything such as a dress code – but rather if the teachers found your outfit rather too daring, you’d get all kinds of unpleasantness, starting with informing the parents what exactly their kid was wearing to school.

Some schools actually had a dress code before the uniforms became mandatory. This could range from guidelines such as: skirts shorter than so-and-so many centimeters are not allowed to actually having to wear a uniform.

After novelization of law in 2008 uniforms in schools are not mandatory.

It’s more complicated. Due to the some inconsistencies in the lawmaking process, there were no precise guidelines and many principals had little to no experience concerning school uniforms, so many schools ended up introducing haphazard vests just to fulfill the word of the law. The idea was promptly abolished. On the other hand, good private schools (usually run by the religious organizations) usually have some kind of dress code, more than often based on the British one.

In the communist era, school aprons (not uniforms, as they are made of thin material and worn ‘over’ regular clothes) adorned with the school emblem were mandatory for basic school students. They start to vanish in the late 80s and were universally considered butt ugly.

In universities, it depends. Some have strict dress codes, in others you can go to an exam wearing shorts and a stained T-shirt and nobody would comment.

It’s more or less the matter of courtesy. Most universities does not have any dress code but many older professors consider exam a ‘special occasion’ and expect students to dress up as they would dress for any public function or job interview. This applies to oral one-on-one exam though and almost no one gives a damn what do students wear when attending written exams.

Do następnego razu… (Till next time…)