Document 1746495

Jo
THE
DiAspo
A Quarterly Review
SPRING-SUMMER 1981
VOL. VIII, Nos. 1-2
Publisher:
LEANDROS PAPATHANASIOU
Editorial Board:
DAN GEORGAKAS
PASCHALIS M. KITROMILIDES
PETER PAPPAS
YIANNIS P. ROUBATIS
Founding Editor:
Nucos PETROPOULOS
The Journal of the Hellenic Diaspora
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NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS
Guest Editor ANNA FRANGOUDAKIS is a sociologist of education. She
has studied at Athens and France, and is currently assistant professor of
sociology at the University of Ioannina. Her books on Greek education
include Educational Reform and Liberal Intellectuals, Educational
Demoticism and the 1911 Linguistic Compromise, and Elementary School
Reading Textbooks: Ideological Coercion and Pedagogical Violence . . .
THEOPOULA ANTHOGALIDOU-VASSILAKAKIS teaches pedagogy in
the Department of Education of the University of Ioannina . . . YANNIS
BASLIS currently teaches in the Greek secondary school system ALEXIS
DIMARAS is an Associate of the University of London's Institute of Education and Headmaster of the Junior High School of the Moraitis School in
Athens. In 1976, he served on the commission created to discuss the Greek
government's new educational policy with the Prime Minister and, in 1980,
he visited the United States as an Eisenhower Fellow. He is the author of,
among other works, The Reform That Never . . MARIA ELIOU is
a sociologist and educational consultant to UNESCO. She is currently a
special lecturer on comparative education at the University of Ioannina .. .
KOSTAS GAVROGLU has worked as a research assistant at the State
University of New York, and is currently a senior lecturer at the National
Polytechnic University of Athens . . . MARINA KASDAGLIS is currently
preparing a catalogue on Greek-American painters . . . MICHAEL
KASSOTAKIS is senior lecturer of education at the University of Athens . . .
MARIANNA KONDILIS is currently working on a research project on
education under the auspices of the Greek Ministry of Coordination . . JOHN MARMARINOS is a senior lecturer of education at the University
of Athens . . . MARIA NASSIAKOU is professor of psychology in the
Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Ioannina . . . BABIS NOUTSOS
is senior lecturer of education at the University of Ioannina and the author
of Secondary Education Programs and Social Control . . EVANGELIA
PAHUS is a member of the Journal's staff . . . DINO PANAGIDES
teaches International Relations at The American University . . . STEPHANOS
PESMAZOGLOU is an economist in the research department of the Bank
of Greece . . . ALOE SIDERIS teaches in the Greek secondary school system . . . CONSTANTINE TSOUCALAS teaches political sociology and
social history at the University of Paris VIII (Vincennes). He is the author of
The Greek Tragedy, Dependence and Reproduction; The Social Role of the
Educational Apparatus in Greece, 1830-1922, and, most recently, Social
Development and the State: The Formation of the Public Sector in Greece .. .
THEOPHRASTOS YEROU is the author of many books on the philosophy
of education, teaching methods, and the theory of instruction in language
aids.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Statement
5
The Impasse of Educational Reform in Greece: An Introduction
by Anna Frangoudakis 7
Greek Education: A Story of Frustrated Reform by Alexis Dimaras 19
The Greek Educational System as it has Developed Since the 1976
25
Reforms by Theopoula Anthogalidou-Vassilakakis Basic Education Today by Theophrastos Yerou
37
The New Educational Policy of the 1976 Reform
by Marianna Kondilis Change and Ideology in the General Lyceum Program (Two
Examples) by Babis Noutsos 41
49
Some Information About Private Education in Greece
by Aloe Sideris 55
The Tendency Toward Learning in the Greek Countryside
by Maria Nassiakou Relationships of Creativity to Socioeconomic Status and Grade-Point
Average in Eleven-Year-Old Children by John Marmarinos
A Study of Linguistic Differences by Yannis Baslis 63
71
75
Technical and Vocational Education in Greece and the Attitudes of
81
GreekYoungsters Toward It by Michael Kassotakis Certain Features of Higher Education in Greece and the Failure of
the Attempts to Reform It by Kostas Gavroglu 95
Some Aspects of "Over-Education" in Modern Greece
by Constantine Tsoucalas Research in Higher Education by Maria Eliou Some Economic Aspects of Education by Stephanos Pesrnazoglou
Pedagogical Research and Modern Greek Education: A Critical
Overview of the Recent Greek Pedagogical Bibliography 109
123
131
161
Statement
The current issue of the Journal has been almost two years
in the making, which, if nothing else, indicates the difficulty in
realizing an editorial project of this magnitude. For, while we
have published special issues in the past, we have never done
so with so many contributors, nor, more importantly, with a
guest editor. Indeed, what makes this issue particularly significant is not that it is the first time, to our knowledge, that a
journal of modern Greek studies has devoted two entire numbers
to The problem of education (although, obviously, that is also
noteworthy), but the fact that all of its contents have been commissioned and compiled by a guest editor, Anna Frangoudakis.
We asked Professor Frangoudakis to edit this issue because,
clearly, we believed that her work in the field of education—and
the sociology of education—puts her in the front rank of educational specialists in Greece today. However, there is an even
more important meaning in the collaboration between the
Journal and Anna Frangoudakis, and it can be summarized in
one word: openness. With this first collaboration (in what we
hope to be a long series of such ventures) between our magazine and one of the finest scholars in modern Greek studies, we
have manifested our constant assertion that the Journal is an
open forum that welcomes the participation of all intelligent and
conscientious men and women wishing to contribute to the ongoing discussion concerning contemporary Greek reality. Indeed, we are now planning other special issues, all of them to
be undertaken by guest editors. We have never considered the
Journal to be a proprietary instrument; on the contrary, we have
always stated that it belongs to those who, in our opinion, truly
constitute its editorial strength and intellectual conscience: its
readers.
Finally, one word about the issue at hand: it should be read
as a whole. The tapestry of education in Greece today only be5
comes intelligible if it is perceived in its full complexity. Thus,
if one reads certain articles and not others in this issue, one will,
invariably, be disappointed or—even worse—confused. No essay
stands alone here; they are all integrated into—and reinforced
by—what precedes and succeeds them. In any event, what this
special issue truly excels in is its concentration of information.
This is a particularly good example (if we say so ourselves)
of a case in which the Journal has managed to collect an enormous amount of quantitative and statistical data which can then
be utilized objectively and critically in support of qualitative
analyses which, we hope, will lead, in some small way, to the
profound changes necessary if the entire educational structure in
Greece today is not to collapse under the dead weight of its
massive, obsolete, and intellectually repressive apparatus.
—The Editors
6
The Impasse of Educational Reform in
Greece: An Introduction
by ANNA FRANGOUDAKIS
Greek society is profoundly disconcerting. Nothing seems to happen
the way one predicts. The recent history of Greek education is an illustration of this proposition. The symposium in this issue of the owned
explores the reasons for, and consequences of, this situation. The present introduction attempts both to set out the rationale for the selection
of the particular topics and to draw out some of the more important
conclusions from the papers.* Most of the articles deal with the Greek
educational system as it appears after the recent (1976-1977) reforms of
primary and secondary education (Anthogalidou; Yerou; Kondilis) and,
with respect to higher education, as it approaches extensive proposed
changes (Gavroglu; Tsourains; Eliou).
* * *
As is true of most things concerning contemporary Greece, to understand current problems it is necessary to refer to a situation's historical background. The substance of the recent educational reform has
constituted a demand of liberal bourgeois forces in Greece since the
turn of the century (Dimaras). Since 1910, the ideological foundation
of the national educational policy proposed by liberal political forces
has dearly been the principle of equality of opportunity in education,
namely, that all members of the Greek nation have the moral and political right to enjoy the social benefit of education. On this basis, liberal
social forces during the last fifty years have repeatedly brought forward
the demand for educational reforms that would make the educational
system correspond to the demands of the economy and, in particular, of
the country's economic development. The principal elements of such
reforms have been, throughout this period, the adoption of dirnotiki as
the medium of instruction, a change in school programs so as to stress
rationalism and critical thought, and the promotion of technical and
vocational education. 1
*The papers in the symposium are referred to in this introduction by the author's
name in parentheses. Other references are contained in the footnotes.
1 With respect to school programs, I should like to add one important
reference to those presented by Ch. Noutsos (see p. 161). Noutsos's own book,
7
8
JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
The recent educational reforms, therefore, had been pending for
several decades; the most significant fact about them is precisely that
they did not take place.' The elements of an answer for this failure, for
the period up to the Second World War, may be found in the "anomic"
development of Greek capitalism (Tsouca s) and the profound political contradictions in Greek society during the interwar period.' But it
is the inability to impose the tenets of bourgeois educational policy since
1950 that is the most disconcerting fact of all.
During the decade of the 1950s, the social necessity of educational
reform was so important and so obvious that not only the representatives
of liberal political forces but the right-wing government itself recognized the need for a change in the educational system that would modernize and rationalize it and, through the establishment of a technical
education channel, adapt it to the developing economy of the country.'
Yet, actual educational reforms were not enacted. The reasons can be
found in the simple fact of the pervasive crisis of the social forces in
power at the time. The Greek bourgeoisie emerged victorious from the
civil war, but it was economically and politically very weak. It was,
moreover, and acutely felt itself as being, particularly weak on the ideological and moral level. It thus had to exercise political power chiefly,
or even solely, through sheer coercion. This led to a lack of national
goals and a near-caricature dependence on the Western powers and, in
particular, since the late forties, on the United States.' The popular belief in the profound corruption of powerholders was thereby reinforced,
thus contributing to a broadly-held social anti-morality which neutralized
II poypip.ictsa, WTI g 'Exna t8socrri g xot C Kotvuvtx56 'Elsyxog , 1931-1973
(Secondary Education Programs and Social Control, 1931-1973) is a notable
contribution to the few significant studies of the Greek educational system.
Through a study of the official school programs from 1931 to 1973, he shows
how closely the school's role is linked to political conditions and, at the same
time, the degree to which bourgeois rationalism was deemed dangerous to the
sociopolitical status quo. During most of that period, ancient languages were
particularly stressed and enjoyed a privileged position in the curriculum. In
contrast, natural sciences, mathematics, and modern Greek were favored during
the brief periods in which liberal parties were in power.
'As pointed out in the very title of the excellent book by Alexis Dimaras,
peTexpptfelitori no5 aiv €7 Lve (The Reform That Never Took Place), Hermes,
2 vol., Athens, 1973 and 1974.
'Anna Frangoudakis, 'ExItaLBetrctxi MaTapp6Op.tal xott CXsAatiespot KtvorAltevot (Educational Reform and the Liberal Intelligentsia), Kedros, Athens,
1978.
'This is clearly apparent in official texts and statements, starting around
1957, concerning the necessity for educational reform. The immediate outcome
was the 1959 legislation which established a small number of secondary level
technical schools for the first time.
2 A. A. Fatouros, "Building Formal Structures of Penetration: the United
States in Greece, 1947-1948," in J. Iatrides, ed., A Nation in Crisis: Greece in
the 1940s, University Press of New England, 1981.
The Impasse of Educational Reform in Greece 9
any possibility of ideological action intended to capture a majority consensus for the government. Greek society in the 1950s may then be
best understood in terms of the ruling group's "Great Fear" of the civil
war.
Lacking legitimacy, in the Weberian sense, those in power assigned
the educational institutions the sole function of ensuring the political
and ideological control of the new generations. To this end, they
reverted to a traditionalist, pre-industrial ideology, rejecting as subversive of the national ethos not only socialist but all rationalist critical
approaches to society. Official pronouncements on education defended
the existing school system—based on the predominance of dead languages and considered by nearly everybody as non-functional and
"medieval" in its approach—by consistently stressing the dangers for the
nation's social morality inherent in modern, technological civilization.
Technical education and use of the dimotiki in the schools were seen
as subversive to the extent that they undermined traditional social patterns and structures.
The situation changed radically in the 1960s. Important economic
transformations took place: from 1960 to 1970, agricultural production went from 28% to 18% of GNP; the percentage of industrial
production went up correspondingly. Imports quadrupled, while exports
tripled, clearly showing the Greek economy's integration into the world
market. The active population in the agricultural sector decreased, while
that in the industrial sector, construction, and services increased. These
transformations posed the problem of government involvement in the
formation of the labor forces and the improvement of labor productivity, a problem made more acute by the increased emigration of
workers to Western Europe, which reached 80,000 to 100,000 a year
during that period. Thus, the necessity for a closer correspondence of the
educational system to the needs of the labor market and of economic
development became evident. During this same decade, the "human
capital" theory, stressing the use of a nation's intellectual resources for
its development, was imported, directly or indirectly, from the country
of its origin, the United States. This type of technological functionalism,
emphasizing the need for educational efficiency to enhance economic
development, influenced a number of economists and intellectuals, thus
converging with the fifty-year-old liberal reform efforts and strengthening them.
At the same time, the political slogan, "education for all," supported mainly by the so-called "centrist" political forces, had an enormous
popular impact, its general adoption being assisted by the populist notion of knowledge as the key to social power, largely held by the socialist
and communist left. Acceptance of dimotiki in the schools, rationalization of the educational system, and the formation of a genuine technical
educational sector, were, in the beginning of the 1960s, the progressive
demands of the opposition forces, largely supported by a popular
majority.
10
JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
The conjunction of all these attitudes and forces created an irresistible
movement toward educational reform, which found its partial expression
in the reforms enacted in 1964 by the Center Union administration
(Dimaras). These reforms were opposed by the more conservative political forces and were never completed or fully implemented. The technical
education component never materialized, and the process of application
of the reforms stopped when the Papandreou government was overthrown in July 1965. Thus, the attempt to reform Greek education was
largely deadlocked, two years before its formal abrogation by the military junta.
* * *
Around the same time, in the early 1960s, a parallel effort was
undertaken for the reform of higher education: the University of Patras
was founded on the basis of studies by a series of foreign and Greek
experts; tuition fees at the universities were removed; and greater emphasis was placed on the natural sciences and engineering. Throughout
the decade of the 1960s, the numbers of students in the universities increased dramatically (Gavroglu.). Comprehensive reform was not, however, undertaken, and related plans were not seriously debated until
the late 1970s, after the end of the dictatorship.
Any discussion of Greek higher education must confront what we
might term "the Greek peculiarity" in the domain (Tsoucalas; Gavroglu).
To understand it, we must put it in somewhat broader perspective.
Emphasis on the role of education in economic development in recent
economic and sociological literature led to empirical and other studies
of the impact of education, especially higher education, in developed
societies. Such research not only revealed the indisputable fact of inequality of opportunity in these societies, but documented the extent to
which the liberal, open-door, educational system reproduces existing
social structures and thus serves in part to legitimize social inequality.
Discovery of this all-pervasive fact, which occurs at all levels of the
educational system but is particularly evident at the top of the educational pyramid, that is to say, in higher education, became in its turn
an important basis of the educational policies of governments and significantly influenced the attitudes of specialists.' When, however, under
the influence of this great international debate, Greek sociologists
examined the data concerning the class composition of Greek higher
education, they realized with surprise that the degree of class selection
is much lower in Greece than in the industrialized countries of Western
Europe. Thus, the percentage of university students of peasant origin is
much higher in Greece than in Western European countries. Moreover,
poor peasant families show greater readiness than elsewhere to make
serious economic sacrifices in order to educate their children (Tsoucalas;
'From the abundant literature on this topic, see the particularly good introduction by J. Karabel and A. H. Halsey, Power and Ideology in Education,
Oxford University Press, 1977.
The Impasse of Educational Reform in Greece 11
Nassiakou). The phenomenon is by now well-known, but its interpretation is neither easy nor undisputed. In his article in this issue, Constantine
Tsoucalas ably advances the view that this shows a pronounced degree
of "democratization" of Greek higher education. Other interpretations
are, however, possible.
To begin with, it would be useful to apply here the hypothesis of
the so-called scolarisation torch! The relationship between large-scale
population movements from the countryside to the cities and a marked
increase in the schooling of the peasants' offspring is well-established
with respect to other countries.' Moreover, the Greek educational system, at least until the recent reforms (1976), has traditionally been
characterized by a very high level of attrition: more than half the students who entered secondary education (the Gymnasium) never graduated from it: indeed, about 50% of them do not reach the fourth
(out of six) Gymnasium year. At the same time, there is considerable
delay in promotion and graduation within the educational system
(Kondilis). While official statistics do not reveal the social origins of
any primary or secondary school students, the few existing studies of
necessarily limited samples of the student population reaffirm the proposition established throughout the world that social origins and educational
success are closely interrelated (Marmarinos; Baslis; Kassotakis). We
must therefore conclude that the peasants who reach higher education
are already overselected by an educational system that drops the majority
of their peers out of any kind of educational institution and into the
labor market, without either the protection of a diploma or the advantage of any usable technical skills.
As to those students of peasant origin who manage to survive within
the educational system, the nearly total lack (until 1976) of any technical or vocational alternative channel (Kondilis) forces them into higher
education, if they are going to seek any sort of additional skills or
formal advantages. Greek general secondary education can thus be described as a one-way street that only leads to the universities. No wonder that a relatively high percentage of higher education students
(23.6%, according to the available statistics') are of peasant origin.
Finally, this remarkable percentage may tell us more about the
structure and social function of Greek higher education than about its
degree of democratization. To a great extent, the Greek university has
the role of supplementing the highly inadequate education provided on
the secondary level. Thus, the degrees of some higher education in7 "Scolarisation forde," as used in Claude Grignon, L'ordre des chose:, Editions de Minuit, Paris, 1971, pp. 70-71 and 72-84.
'See, e.g., the connection between the large decrease of the percentage of the
population in the agricultural sector and the "overscholarization of the younger
generations of French peasants," pointed out by J. M. Berthelot in the Revue
Franfaise de Sociologie, XIX-I, January-March 1978, pp. 103-124.
gElrE (National Statistical Service of Greece), 1:62, Education, 1976-77,
Athens, 1979.
12
JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
stitutions may be seen as largely performing the function of secondary
education diplomas. It is in such a perspective that the information
provided in an OECD study can be understood: of Greek civil servants
of all levels, 40% possess a university degree; in France, on the other
hand, the corresponding proportion is 5%. b0 This gap also shows the
extremely low economic value of Greek higher education diplomas. The
relatively advanced age of many university students (Gavroglu) is another indication of the university's role.
Perhaps the most important consideration is the radical inequality and
dissimilarity of the Greek institutions usually lumped together under
the heading of "higher education." In reality, there are several kinds of
schools and corresponding diplomas, some of which have a high economic and symbolic value, as well as a clearly defined scientific and
professional role, while others are of low prestige, correspond to no
definite discipline or scientific domain, and constitute a kind of "shelter"
for the socially disadvantaged. National statistics are, for once,
revealing in this respect. As the data in the following table show,
the percentage of students of peasant origin in "shelter" universities is
much more pronounced than the national average, reaching a high of
37% in the Panteios School. In the schools with highly valuable diplomas, on the other hand, such as the Technical University of Athens or
TABLE
Social Origin of Students by Selected Schools (Athens Region)
General Percentage of Students
Higher Educational Institutions
and Schools
Panteios School of. Political Sciences
Higher School of Industrial Studies
School of Higher Economic and
Commercial Studies
Faculty of Medicine, Athens University
Technical University, Athens
Faculty of Architecture,
Technical University, Athens
National Average (All Greek Higher Education Institutions)
Professional and
Executive Parents
7.6
6.9 6.9
21.7 19.9
27.4
11.8
Peasant
Parents
37.0
25.4
25.0
11.8
10.4
3.7
23.6
SOUrce: EMIT, 1:62, Education, 1976 77, Athens, 1979.
-
10A. Madison, A. Seavrianopoulos, B. Higgins, Assistance technique et
elhveloppernent de la Grace, OCDE, Paris, 1966, p. 86.
The Impasse of Educational Reform in Greece 13
the School of Medicine, this percentage falls to a level similar to that
of Western European universities, reaching in some cases (e.g., School
of Architecture in the Technical University of Athens) levels considerably below the Western European averages.
* * *
It is now time to come back to the basic contradiction that marks
the recent history of Greek education. It can be summarized in a few
words: while the developmental imperatives of Greek society clearly
required educational reform, while extensive reform of the educational
system was proposed by international organizations and foreign advisers,
while it was formally supported by both government and opposition
political parties, such reform did not materialize until 1976. The explanations for this paradox that have been offered until now are less
than satisfactory. They are essentially two, and they are both covertly
descriptive rather than explanatory. According to the traditional liberal
view, tirelessly repeated since the interwar period, reform was, each
time, stopped by "reactionary forces." But the proponents of this view
have been consistently unable to offer any analysis of the social features
and functions of this mythical "reaction." Their explanation comes down
to asserting that reform did not succeed because it did not succeed. A
second explanation, more modern in appearance and couched in social
science terms, refers to the "deformities" of Greek capitalism and
stresses the ideological survival of concern over the civil war on the
part of the authorities. Yet, there is no satisfactory explanation for the
reason for such deformity—assuming that this term has a meaning.
And reference to ideological survival is hardly helpful as long as one
does not explain why the survival survived. Once again, the causes of
the consistent failure of Greek educational reform remain obscure.
While it is not my intention to offer a comprehensive answer to this
complex problem here, certain preliminary clues, some first elements
toward an answer, might be found in the studies in this symposium, as
well as in certain general reflections. To begin with, it is impossible to
ignore the intimate relationship between the educational system, as it has
successfully resisted reform, and the Greek social and economic structure.
A country's educational system is not only a product of a given structure
of social domination, it is also an element of the process by which the
specific class structure perpetuates itself. In his study of French technical
education, Claude Grignon wrote:
Everything suggests that the resistances which the educational
system offers to the economic demand and the social demand
for training take the form which best suits the reproduction of
the social structure. 11
'C. Grignon, L'ordre des chores,
op. cit., p. 49, my translation.
14 JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
The famous human capital theory, imported into post-civil war
Greece, presupposes an objective, economic need to produce skilled technicians and technological experts. All recent reforms in the educational
systems of Western European countries may be largely attributed to the
efforts of the political authorities to overcome the delay in their technological growth and thus improve the competitiveness of their economies. The necessities of their economies impose the measures to be
taken: a great increase in the number of students, the abandonment of
traditional institutions and methods, and the emphasis on scientific research and post-graduate studies.
Social and economic conditions in Greece, however, are radically
different. Greek society is marked, on the economic level, by the coexistence of disparate forms of production—highly traditional forms
survive and function side by side with modern, industrial ones. At the
same time, the dominant social classes exhibit a strong sense of economic
insecurity, which leads Greek capitalists to a marked short-run perspective. As eminent establishment economists have noted, albeit in
their own terminology," Greek capitalists behave as if they still were
in a period of primitive accumulation, seeking immediate high profits
and caring little about reinvestment and long-range planning. The presence of well-protected foreign capital reinforces these tendencies; foreign and multinational firms, too, seek short-run high profits, which
they reexport to their home countries, thus impeding further accumulation and continuing investments. For its very operation, as well as for
its growth, the Greek economy depends on external forces and elements.
Industrial equipment is imported, technology is imported, and so are
professional experts, and, of course, the funds to pay for everything.
A working hypothesis can thus be advanced that the Greek economy, in its present form, and Greek development, in the dependent form
it has assumed, have no great need for skilled technicians, technological
expertise, and indigenous technology. This might well be the fundamental obstacle to recent and not so recent efforts at educational reform,
regardless of the intentions or errors of its promoters. Thus, we find
in Greek education, at all levels, the same trait of extensive dependence
on external forces that we have found in the economy. Greek universities
are unique in that they do not reproduce themselves (Gavroglu). Graduate studies are hardly in existence anywhere. Scientific research, to the
extent that it exists, is largely conducted outside the universities (Eliou).
Nearly all intellectuals and university professors have studied, for a
longer or shorter period of time, in foreign universities. It is no exaggeration to say that the role of universities for Greece is played by
foreign universities. Knowledge is only reproduced in Greece, it is not
produced there; it is an imported product.
The same process of dependence on external forces may be observed
laBank of Greece [Xenophon Zolotus), Guidelines for Industrial Development
in Greece, Athens, 1976.
The Impasse of Educational Reform in Greece 15
in post-World War II efforts at educational reform at the primary and
secondary levels. There is a long history of strong recommendations by
foreign, especially American, advisers and, more recently, by international institutions, supporting the creation of a technical education sector.
The impetus for a rational policy of reform aimed at adapting the
educational system to the imperatives of development comes largely
from abroad. It is in this respect that the otherwise simplistic opposition argumentation against the 1976 reforms touched on a vital element
of the Greek situation. Much of this argumentation can be reduced to
the point that, since establishment of a technical education sector was
being proposed (and financed) by the World Bank and other foreign
agencies, it could not but serve foreign interests ("the interests of the
monopolies") rather than those of the Greek people. The naivete of
this approach stated in such bald form does not need to be underscored.
Yet, there is an intimate if unexplored relationship between the importation of fundamental educational policies and the consistent failure
of Greek attempts at reform. Such attempts historically have been based
on the more or less wholesale transfer of foreign models (usually with
a few decades of delay) rather than on a comprehensive analysis of the
characteristics and the resulting needs of Greek society.
One must start from the principle that, whatever the indisputable
similarities among societies, "education" means different things from
one society to another, just as "development" should mean not merely
innovation but a release of social creativity. In such a perspective,
Greece's "underdevelopment" may constitute an advantage. Instead of
borrowing methods and systems which have been applied for several
decades in foreign countries, just at the time when there is increased
awareness of their problems and dysfunctionalities, the country could
start from the problematic posed by contemporary educational critics
and analysts and seek new forms of educational structures, free from
the now perceived limitations and negative side-effects of established
systems and better suited to the traits and possibilities of Greek society.
On such a basis, one could imagine, for instance, an educational system
which would attempt to mitigate the rigid dichotomy between manual
and intellectual labor, which leads to the existing strict symbolic, as well
as economic, hierarchy of jobs. To this end, an alternative educational
policy would seek to dissociate degrees and diplomas from narrow professional uses, stressing a closer relationship between education and
production processes through flexible structures based on the logic of
"lifelong education."
*
* *
The Greek opposition's struggle against the 1976 educational reforms has already been noted. There is, of course, a remarkable historical irony here, for the reforms which the center and left parties
opposed in 1976 were essentially identical to those they had forcefully
supported in 1964 (Dimaras). The opposition's argumentation is an
16
JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
interesting mixture of perceptive critiques of the technocratic approach
to the utilization, through education, of national intellectual resources
to promote economic development and of simplistic or nitpicking arguments, patently based on a reluctance to support government proposals,
regardless of their objective value. Whatever the political justification
for its stance, the opposition's approach to the issue deprived it of
the opportunity to propose any amendments to the government's project, thus missing a chance of bringing to it many of the improvements
it needed (Kondilis).
The 1976 reforms may be summed up in three main categories of
measures:
(1) the liberalization of certain important facets of the Greek
educational system;
(2) the increase of the years of compulsory schooling from six
to nine; and
(3) the establishment of a dual educational structure through
the creation of a technical education sector ultimately intended to accommodate the majority of the school population.
Liberalization consists primarily of the adoption of dimotiki in the
schools and the modernization of the contents of textbooks. In a broader
sense, liberalization was a "political debt" of post-dictatorship governments, an indispensable step toward a new political equilibrium in the
country. In this as in other respects, the period of the dictatorship contributed decisively to the resolution of the profound ideological crisis
which, since the civil war, had made it impossible for Greek governments to govern on the basis of liberal bourgeois principles and respect
of the parliamentary system. For the first time in several decades, political
power is exercised in a manner which attributes primacy to ideology
and consent rather than coercion.
The adoption of the contemporary spoken language (dimotiki), demanded for nearly a century by liberal bourgeois forces, is a step of
great ideological significance. Use of the purist language, in the schools
as in public administration, has for a long time reflected an authoritarian attitude, a conservative political stance, and an elitist conception of education, since, by tradition, this has been the language of the
law, the educated classes, and political power. Dimotiki, by contrast,
through the long struggles for its recognition, has acquired definite
connotations of a liberal and progressive nature. In a practical sense
as well, the adoption of spoken Greek was an indispensible step for
the development of technical education. The change in the textbooks is
of comparable importance (Noutsos) . Greek schoolbooks, until 1976,
were replete with omissions, gaps, and inaccuracies, and even with crude
political propaganda, in total contradiction to elementary notions of
objectivity.
The increase in the years of compulsory schooling and the creation
of a technical and vocational education sector may be seen as part and
,
The Impasse of Educational Reform in Greece 17
parcel of an educational "rationalization" program, not only recommended from abroad, but also corresponding to the recent European
turn of Greek external and economic policies, symbolized by Greece's
entry into the European Communities (Pesmazoglou).
While the reforms of 1976 brought about certain changes which
have been sorely needed in Greek education for a long time, the manner of their enactment, and current conditions in Greek society, and in
the Greek governmental machinery, raise serious doubts as to the chances
for their ultimate success, in terms of their own stated goals as well
as from a broader social perspective. Inherent in the logic of the
Western model of a dual educational structure is the adaptation of
educational goals to the needs of the economy. Yet such an adaptation
finds strong economic and ideological resistances in Greece, some of
the grounds for which have been mentioned earlier.
The fear of a large-scale increase in the demand for education which
grips the holders of political and economic power is economic only in
appearance. It is not the danger of the unemployment of graduates that
is feared, but the impact of their presence on the economy and the
society, whether as "dissenting intellectuals" and troublemakers or as a
productive potential whose utilization might upset existing structures.
Since, however, the 1976 reforms have been enacted by a conservative
government, opposition to them cannot take the form of outright attack
with a view to their abrogation, as was the case with the 1964 reforms.
It is more likely to appear in the form of improper and incomplete
implementation of the reforms. Strong evidence of such a reaction is
already in existence.
While the nine-year compulsory schooling has been enacted, no
serious efforts have been yet undertaken to make it a reality for the
great majority of students. Primary schools remain highly unequal in
structure and programs (Yerou), thus objectively impeding many students' access to secondary education. It is indeed characteristic that the
primary school diploma, which has no reason for existence where compulsory schooling goes beyond the first six years, has not been eliminated.
On the other hand, in the enactment of the dual education system, the
government has been uncertain about the success of its effort to channel
the majority of secondary education students into the technical sector,
and has imposed insuperable obstacles between the two sectors (Kondilis).
The degrees at the end of the two sectors were created unequal because the entry of graduates of technical Lykeia into the universities was
made extremely difficult, indeed nearly impossible.
It is obvious that the old distrust of the liberal "open-door school"
continues to flourish—the massive evidence concerning class selection inside the liberal school model to the contrary notwithstanding. Yet these
failures in implementation will ultimately serve to undermine the reforms. The traditional characteristics of the Greek educational system
will thus survive. Compulsory schooling may formally last nine years,
but attrition will take care of a large proportion of economically disad-
18
JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
vantaged students. The inequality of the two educational sectors, the lack
of access from the technical sector to the general one, and the effective
lack of access of technical education graduates to higher education, combined with the prevailing low esteem of technical education among
parents and students (Kassotakis), are likely to impede the shift of
large numbers of students to the technical education sector, thus retaining the "one-way street" character of Greek education.
The inescapable conclusion then is: reform did take place, and yet it did
not. Western logic was adapted to the traditional traits of the Greek
educational system, thus creating the danger that some of the negative
features of Western education will now join the existing negative characteristics of traditional Greek education. The way out of this dilemma
does not lie in simple manipulations of elements of foreign models but
in a genuine attempt to invent a Greek educational system suited to
the peculiarities of the country and responding to the political will of
its people.
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Greek Education:
A Story of Frustrated Reform
by ALEXIS DIMARAS
If knowledge of the past is an indispensable element in any attempt
to investigate and interpret a present-day educational system, the case
of Greece seems, at first sight, simple and straightforward. While in
other countries the complexity of their systems today makes it difficult
to separate out and trace back their various components—a task made
even harder by their long history—in the case of Greece the matter appears more clear-cut owing to the system's relatively short history and
the simplicity of its structure. Despite the existence of a very long
Greek educational tradition which could lead the researcher back to
ancient times, events in the country's history caused a break in continuity in the early nineteenth century and created conditions which
allowed a fresh start.
In fact, the Greek state emerged after a war of independence which,
among other things, dissolved the existing institutions of instruction
and created the conditions for administrative organization and hence for
the establishment of an educational system with no functional ties with
the past. Moreover, between the outbreak of the war in 1821 and the
first educational legislation of the newly-founded state in 1834, specific
plans for educational organization had been formulated on liberal and
decentralized principles, which, although ignored when the actual state
came into existence, added to the conceptual distance between old and
new and to the loosening of most ties with previous structures and institutions. On the other hand, as the new prototype was the German
system, at the time strongly influenced by an admiration of the dassical
past, the Greeks had no difficulty in accepting it, as it also served their
desire to regain their national identity and reinforce their links with
their glorious ancestors.
Since that time, what has happened to the system are additions to
the initial pattern and structural rearrangements which have certainly
made it more complex, but have not affected its philosophy and orientation. Thus, what very soon became a grading of 4-3-4 years of study
at three distinct levels of general education now stands at a 6-3-3 structure with very similar content and targets at each respective level. And
while some fundamental aspects of the system have evolved over the
years—among which the most important are, perhaps, the length of
19
20
JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
compulsory schooling (it is now nine years) and the adoption of the
demotic, as opposed to the use of katharevousa at all levels of instruction—little has changed as far as orientation and aims are concerned.
The system continues to be firmly oriented toward the provision of
"general knowledge" (in 1836, nine subjects were pursued compulsorily at the end of secondary education; the figure today is twelve),
still offers few opportunities for alternatives to institutions of general
education (only about 20% entered technical and vocational upper secondary schools in September 1980), and maintains an approach whereby
knowledge is "given" rather than being "discovered." At the same
time, some of the original features of the system have even been reinforced over the years; it has become increasingly centralized with an allpowerful national Ministry of Education which imposes, as part of its
tight control over the system, the one-textbook-per-subject-per-year
regime. Moreover, the tendency toward selectivity, with crucial examinations drastically narrowing the route to the apex of the educational
pyramid, has progressively become marked.
However, this almost straight line of continuity should not be taken
to signify that the system received unanimous acceptance from its first
application to the present day. On the contrary, very soon after the
completion of its structure, it was subjected to very severe criticisms.
Initially, they were mostly centered around the system's suitability for
a nation which was emerging from a period that had kept the vast
majority of the people in darkness, but they soon focused on its efficiency. They were, in other words, of a "technical" rather than philosophical nature, questioning not its aims but the means it used to reach
them. The arguments were not about the contents of the program or
about those who were subjected to it at the various levels, but about
how lessons were taught and how well they were learned.
It is easy to identify the first of these criticisms. they are almost
contemporary with the relevant pieces of legislation, as, for instance, in
1837 when the foundation of the university was called a "charlatanism."
It is, however, much more difficult to trace the beginning of a much
more important movement demanding a fundamental reorganization and
a certain reorientation of the system to serve different aims. From the
late 1870s, the story of this "progressive" movement (obviously related
to wider national developments) runs parallel to the mainstream of
events in Greek education; the movement affects the established system's external characteristics but fails to bring about a deeper change.
This, in conjunction with criticism of the earlier type, led both to a
confusion between external and ideological reform and to an obscuring
of the movement's first activities and declarations.
It is, nevertheless, indicative of the general atmosphere that, from
1877 onwards, there has been a steady sequence of reform projects:
1877, 1880, 1889, 1899, 1913, 1929, and 1963, to mention only the
major ones, since almost every change in government—which were quite
frequent—was accompanied by plans to reshape the educational system.
Greek Education: A Story of Frustrated Reform 21
While some of these major projects were debated in parliament, fewer
have had some of their components passed, and none were voted as
an integral whole. Understandably, they have had many aspects in common, as they aimed at altering the same, unchanged system. But there
is a deeper—and acknowledged—philosophical affinity between those that
followed the project of 1889.
This distinguishably new ideological orientation becomes even more
obvious from 1899 onwards, when the prevailing national and sociopolitical conditions also changed profoundly. At the turn of the century, Greece was very different from what it was when the system
was first set up in the 1830s. But expansion and development were not
followed by a matching evolution in administrative organization,
modernization in the economy, or political representation of the new
social strata. Furthermore, the deeply-rooted belief that education was all
powerful had not changed either. And when, in 1897, a war was
lost, dissatisfaction mounted to a critical point. The nation needed a
radical change. Hopes naturally, focused on the educational system, too.
By having remained unchanged over the years, it was now held responsible for all evils; at the same time its reform was believed to be sufficient—or, at least, indispensable—for a successful national regeneration. This reform would lead to a democratic political system, to social
justice, to economic development, to efficient administration, in brief,
to national prosperity.
While dissatisfaction with the old system was almost unanimous,
there were two distinct schools of thought as to the required reform:
one, accepting the system's philosophy, only considered—as before—
a change in methods; the other, rejecting the system's aims as well as
its means, demanded a fundamental modernizing reorientation. The
latter was, naturally, a part of the political programs of the liberal
parties, which were evolving at the time and gaining in support among
the rapidly developing bourgeois classes. Hence, the abovementioned
educational reform projects from 1889 onwards were proposed by the
liberal parties whenever—on relatively few and short-lived occasions—
they came to power, and they are linked with the names of famous liberal
leaders such as Charilaos Trikoupis (1889), Georgios Theotokis (1899),
Eleftherios Venizelos (1913 and 1929), and Georgios Papandreou
(1963).
Moreover, and particularly since 1913, the main expert advisors to
the Ministers of Education who introduced the reform projects belonged
to a group of "progressive" educators who expressed themselves
through the Ekpaidevtikos Omilos (Educational League, founded in
1910), or who considered themselves as followers of and heirs to the
movement's early tendencies: Dimitris Glynos (1913), Evangelos
Kakouros (1929), and Evangelos Papanoutsos (1963). This combination of liberal political parties with "progressive" educators was
certainly a decisive factor in the similarity of the various reform proposals mentioned above. Another was the structure of the system itself,
22
JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
which, by depending entirely on decisions taken at the ministerial level,
left little, if any, room for gradual changes at lower levels.
This also explains the fact that not all measures proposed or taken
by the liberal governments can be described as "progressive" by present-day standards. A system that had increased in size and variety, without the necessary adjustments, and had been left to deteriorate as far
as its function was concerned, needed more than an ideological reorientation. Any government that had decided to put things in order
would have had to solve basic problems—such as the increased demand
for places in secondary schools and the university, which was not
matched by corresponding provisions—by resorting to unpopular and
"undemocratic" measures, such as, in this case, the imposition of fees
and/or the numerus clausus. On the other hand, liberal governments
merely included, in their comprehensive educational legislation, measures of a "progressive" nature already taken by their conservative
predecessors under the pressure of circumstances. Thus, liberal reforms
were not absolute in their orientation and were not always the first
to introduce "progressive" measures.
There are, however, some common aspects of the above reforms
or reform projects that have a clearly progressive nature—and they are
not among the minor ones. Thus, in their attitude toward the links
between the educational system, the social structure, and economic development, they all clearly express "progressive" tendencies. In later
times—after 1911, when an article was included in the constitution
making katharevousa the official language—their modernizing character
is mostly detectable in their provisions for the teaching and use of the
demotic at levels which vary in each case.
Yet, there was nothing really radical in these changes; the bourgeois classes taking up ruling positions—after the pattern of similar
attitudes in Western Europe—envisaged a clearly structured educational
system, the upper level of which would serve an elite which came from
them, while the middle classes would be served by an intermediate
school, and the lower ones by an extended primary school. Linking
the level of schooling with social class and type of employment in this
way, they not only disregarded progressive concepts valuing education
for its own sake, but also contributed to changing the popular attitude
toward school. From an institution which offered enlightenment, it has
gradually become an establishment which provides paper qualifications
indispensable for the next level of schooling or for employment. This
is still a major—if not the only—source of problems for Greek education. Concern about technical and vocational education, which is expressed in legislation by a gradual creation of a special branch for it
within the system, and by its increasing importance, does not alter this
tendency; on the contrary, it could be argued that it strengthens it.
Before taking a closer look at the 1976 regislation—the latest in this
series—I should like to make one more observation as far as the earlier
reforms are concerned: insofar as one can judge foreign influences by
Greek Education: A Story of Frustrated Reform
23
counting the relevant references to them in the introductory reports to
reform projects, it would seem that they were stronger in earlier times
and tended to disappear later. In 1899, the introductory report (drawn
up by Dimitrios Zagoyiannis, who had studied pedagogy in Germany
and was a disciple of Wilhelm Wundt and Karl Volkmar Stoy) is
full of references not only to other countries' systems but also to specific
writers. So, apart from the classical Greek philosophers, direct references
are made to scholars such as Kant, Fichte, Jules Simon, and T. Ziller,
while national systems from which examples are drawn include France,
Austria, Switzerland, England, Italy, and, above all—understandablythe German states. But while similar, although fewer, references are to
be found in the 1914 report, there is very little of this kind of acknowledgement—and what there is is almost exclusively for quantitative comparisons—in the later ones. Not that their originators were not influenced
themselves by their studies abroad (mostly in the German tradition)
and their reading, but direct influences from and imitations of foreign
values and practices were no longer regarded as very acceptable. On the
other hand, while the problems in Greece had grown sufficiently in
size and importance to be a reason for reforming the system, those
countries that could conceivably serve as examples had reached points of
development that were out of the reach of the more or less static Greek
system.
Within this framework of gradual small changes and a constantly
interrupted evolution, the Greek educational system reached a critical
point yet again in 1976, two years after the fall of the military dictatorship. While, as has been said, technical matters (e.g., school buildings, teaching material, teacher training techniques) had changed over
the years, the essence of the system remained stable. Even worse, its
initial homogeneity and consistency (regardless of its suitability) had
been lost by the scattered and uncoordinated introduction of isolated
"modern" features. These additions and alterations—most of which came
into effect as a result of attempts at a thorough reform of the system—
can only be seen as steps toward a reform that would correspond to
modern needs and desires.
What has been said so far about earlier reform projects also seems
to apply to what is commonly known as the "1976 Reform," a series
of laws and regulations issued from 1976 to the present day—and not
yet fully completed—covering the whole educational system. There is,
however, a fundamental difference: this time the "reform" was proposed and introduced not by a liberal government but by a conservative
one. This is particularly interesting if one considers that the failure of
earlier attempts was due mainly to the reaction of those elements which
now supported it or—at least—tacitly accepted it. The raising of compulsory schooling (from six to nine years), the exclusive use of the
demotic at all levels, the teaching of classical Greek writers only in
translation in the three first years of secondary school, the division of
secondary studies into two independent cycles (Gymnasio/Lykeio), the
24
JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
importance attributed to technical and vocational education had all been
asked for earlier and had been strongly opposed by conservative circles
not only outside the liberal parties who proposed them, but also within.
There should be little doubt that this "progressive" opening is not
now as progressive as it was when it was first attempted, and that—
precisely for this reason—its introduction was an astute political move
which could do no harm to the established order of things. The system
will continue to serve those it has always catered to. Moreover, as, once
more, there has been no change in philosophical orientation (and there
could not be under the circumstances), all these alterations automatically
lose their essential importance and become merely technical changes.
From this point of view then, it could be argued that the "1976 Reform" marks the return to a technical—and not ideological—approach to
the problem; education is again considered in isolation from its social
implications.
That the politicians and scholars who would normally have opposed
the conservative government's policies were taken by surprise by its
educational reform in 1976 and could not propose "progressive" alternatives only proves that matters are even more complex than they
appear at first sight. Apart from traditional theoretical objections to the
conservative policy, there is now no "progressive" plan for reforming
the system. When the time comes for new projects and new attempts,
the 1976 legislation will probably be counted as yet another chapter in
this story of frustrated efforts to change the structure and character of
the Greek educational system. Nineteen hundred seventy-six will certainly leave its marks upon it as has happened with previous changes,
and these will serve again as stepping stones for the move toward the
fundamental reform that is still to be achieved.'
'Readers not familiar with the Greek language who would like to do further
reading on the matters discussed here may find it useful and interesting to start
with the "Symposium on Educational Reform in Greece" (editor: A. M.
Kazamias) in Comparative Education Review, vol. 22, No. 1 (February 1978),
pp. 1-98, where they will also find ample bibliographical information.
Volume HI ("Griechenland," edited by Klaus-Detlev Grothusen) of the
Sa7dosteuropa Handbuch (Vandenhoechk and Ruprecht, Gottingen, 1980, 770 p.)
contains a number of articles in English and offers the most up-to-date, comprehensive, and scholarly picture of Greece, including a detailed bibliography.
The Greek Educational System
As it has Developed Since
The 1976 Reforms
by THEOPOULA ANTHOGALIDOU-VASSILAKAKIS
G. Lapassade distinguishes two general categories within institutionalized education, the "external" educational statutes' (administrative
organization, educational structure, programs, timetables, defined obligations of teachers and students) and the "internal" educational statutes
(pedagogical institutions, pedagogical relations, pedagogical methods,
workshops, etc.). In general, Lapassade considers "external" those
statutes applied from the outside, in other words, those which are defined by a legislative body; and he considers "internal" those regulations
which are shaped in the classroom by teachers and students. In making
this distinction, La.passade has, of course, the French educational system
in mind, and this prompts us to observe that the Greek educational
legislation (more so following the reforms than before them) governs
almost everything, including the relationship between teachers and students,2 the organization of life in the classroom, 3 etc.
In closely examining the Greek educational statutes, therefore, we
can determine the following:
(a) The formal, organic structure of the system does not allow for
informal relationships to develop in school and in the classroom; any
deviation by a courageous teacher constitutes a real scandal which, in
many cases, goes well beyond the confines of the specific school.
(b) It is necessary for us to have a thorough understanding of the
"external" statutes so that we may be able to analyze, not only the
Lapassade, Groupes, organisations, institutions, acme ed. Gauthier-Villars,
Paris 1974.
2 11 104/1979 (MK A' 23) Penalties and rewards for the students' diligence
and behavior are defined in great detail.
3The regulations of student societies (rnEllo, Research Dept., 23/11/78)
define the mandatory participation of students in student societies, qualifications of candidates for the presidency of these societies ("excellent" behavior),
every organizational detail (with regard to maintaining the minutes), all lawful activities (maintenance of the hall, "orderlines" during class recesses, maintenance of the school garden, organizing of cultural activities).
25
26
JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
everyday activities in the school and in the classroom, but also the role
of the school within the specific society.
This article, then, offers basic and informative material which I
compiled from research in the fields of both the reform and the
broader educational legislation. References to the past are made only
when necessary so that the reader may form a concise picture of educational affairs in Greece today. I refer specifically to:
(1) the general principles which govern the Greek educational system;
(2) its administrative organic structure;
(3) the educational system following the reforms;
(4) the education and post-graduate training of the faculty.
This presentation is complemented by certain observations of an analysis
on a first plane, relating to the official strategy followed in instituting
the reforms, the bureaucratization and, finally, the liberalization of the
Greek educational system.
I. The reforms did not disturb any of the general principles which
govern the Greek educational system. These principles are:
(A) The coexistence of public and private education. The private
initiative extends to lower, secondary, and, partly, to higher levels of
education; the teachers' schools, which fall into the higher level category,
as well as the entire highest level, i.e., universities and polytechnic institutes, are all run by the state.
(B) Free Education for all Levels of Education
Free education for all levels became a law by the 1964 reforms.'
The dictatorship extended that law to cover free textbooks as well
(1967). 5
(C) State Supervision
State supervision operates as follows:
(a) Timetables and analytical programs are worked out in the Ministry of Education, and no deviation from these programs is allowed
either in public or private schools.
(b) The state defines the qualifications of the faculty (studies, age,
respect for the law, and political beliefs) .
(c) The administrative organic structure is one hierarchical formation of defined supervisory powers, starting at the level of school directors and ending with the Minister of Education.
(d) Finally, the state has the monopoly on all textbooks. There is
a textbook for each course, and these are approved, published, and
'NA 4379/1964 (4)Ell A'- 182), article 3.
5 AN 129/1967 ((DER A' 163), article 4.
The Greek Educational System Since the 1976 Reforms 27
distributed by the ministry; their use by both teachers and students is
mandatory.
(e) The states issues, exclusively, all certificates and diplomas; degrees
for attending private schools are not equivalent to the respective degrees
awarded by public schools.
(f) Compulsory Education.
The reforms increased the years of compulsory education from six to
nine; these include the six years of grammar school and three years of
high school. This is the only change effected by the reforms as regards
the general principles governing the Greek educational system, and this
change, as we shall see, is in tune with structural reorganization at
the secondary level.
II. The essential innovations brought about by the reforms in the
area of administration are very few. The administrative organic structure
encompasses, as it did during the 1967-74 period, four levels: the national, regional, district, and school level.
(1) The central service of the Ministry of Education has been restructured on a national level,s with two main characteristics:
(a) The development of basic organic units.
(b) The reconstructed organic units are now more operative and less
formal than those preceding them, which, in essence, copied the educational structure.
(2) A more important event has been the establishment of the
Center of Education, Studies, and Learning.' The Center was founded in
1975 as an independent public service, directly under the authority of
the Ministry of Education. Its function is to program the educational
system in general; it is basically an advisory organ, engaging, primarily,
in analytical programs, teaching methods, and textbooks, and not with
establishing broader educational policy. Its structure and powers are defined by legislation.
(3) On the regional, district, and social level, we see an increase
in school districts and supervisory personnel. This in no way means that
there has been any degree of decentralization of powers; the fundamentally decisive powers—adoption and pursuance of general educational
policy, legislative regulations, establishment of central councils—are in
the hands of the government.
(4) Finally, one innovation introduced by the reforms is the institution of "elected representatives." These representatives are elected by
the association of first- and secondary-level educators, with each participating in all departmental and disciplinary councils of lower and
secondary education.
"See IIA 147/1976 (OES A' 66).
T N. 186/1975 (43EB A'- 214).
3
2
5
4
6
Grades
LOWER TEE
(1-4 years)
**1 INTE ye TEE
1-4
()
HIGHER TEE
(1-4 years)
PUBLIC SCHOOL EDUCATION
(6 yrs)
Grammar School
(1-2 yrs)
Kindergarten
(b) Science
(c) Maritime H.S.
(d) Economics HS.
LOWER
CIRCLE
(a) Academic Dir.
HIGH SCHOOL,
Higher Circle
Academies & Schools
of Home Economics
(2.3 years)
a
a
HIGHEST EDUCATION
Panteios & Polytechnic
(4-6. Years)
STRUCTURE OF
GREEK EDUCATION
BEFORE THE 1976 REFORMS
PUBLIC SCHOOL EDUCATION
Grammar. School
(6 yrs)
Kindergarten
yes)
HIGH SCHOOL
3
2
Grades
st
HIGHER TEE:
( KATE )
(4-6 years)
INTERM. TEE
(2-4 Scmest.)
Possibility of advancing
with examinations
®Possibility of advancing
without examinations
TEE: Technical & Vocational Education
Techn. & Foc'l L.
Semesters
(a) 4 tedm. areas
(b) 2 voc'l areas
r
AA
General Lyceum
Grades
(a) Gen'l Dien
3
2
(b) Maritime Dien
Academies & Schools
of Home Economics
(2.4 years)
HIGHEST EDUCATION
Panteios & Polytechnic
(4-6 years)
STRUCTURE OF
GREEK EDUCATION
AFTER THE 1976 REFORMS
tTi
'as
a
0
0
z
0
oP
The Greek Educational System Since the 1976 Reforms 29
As we can see from the above table, the structural reorganization has
been confined to the secondary level:
(1) The six-year high school and the lyceum, each a three-year institution. The lyceum is of two types: the general and the technicalvocational. The general lyceum aims at two directions, the general and
the maritime. The technical-vocational school comprises seven fields:
the technical, electrical-electronics, construction, chemical-metallurgical,
and the fields of economics and administration, social services, and
agriculture-animal husbandry.
Both the general and the technical-vocational lyceums award two
types of certificates, which are determined by the number of "elective"
courses taken with regard to the general lyceum and the number of
"additional" courses taken with regard to the technical-vocational.
TABLE II
IL
1st group of selectives
ancient Greek
history and
Latin
Type 1 certificate
2nd group of selectives
mathematics
physics and
chemistry
1110 Type 2 certificate
additional courses
mathematics
physics
chemistry
In the general lyceum, the selection of one of the two groups shown
above is compulsory; in the technical lyceum, students may or may not
enroll for "additional" courses. The lower level schools of TEE and
the secondary level schools of foremen, which were established in 1959
and were three-year study schools, have been abolished. The new technical-vocational schools require, at the most, three years of studies (up
to four semesters) and include, with the exception of the chemicalmetallurgical field, the same courses as those of the lyceum; in addition, they include two fields (cutting-sewing-housekeeping and hair
dressing).
On the higher level, the differentiation seen in the number of years
of study at the TEE schools had already taken place during the dictatorship, when the four-year schools of assistant mechanics were gradually
30
JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
abolished.' Of the academies, only the national academy of physical
education (EASA) became a four-year school in 1975, without, it should
be noted, attaining the status of a higher education institution.
(2) The System of Examinations
(a) From what we see in the schematic description I, the entrance
examinations for the three-year schools have been abolished. High school
graduates can riow take the entrance examinations for admission to one
of the lyceums, or they can enroll, without examinations, at a secondary
level technical-vocational school. Graduates of these short-term schools
can be admitted, if they so choose, to the technical-vocational lyceums
and enroll for the third semester (or second year) at these schools. This
is the only possibility afforded these students to pursue their education.
The possibilities of access from secondary to higher and the highest
levels of education are analytically as follows:
TABLE III
Sch.00ts of
Theology
Philosophy
Law
P.mr'm
IA Group
of
Selective,
(Cernf, I
Schools of
Yoinomics
A EOM
ABE of Piraeus
ABE of Thissaloniki
Gadostes
of
Lica
Pedagogical Academics
Schools of
Kindergarten teachers
Home Economics
EAEA
KATEE
and Gram
(Calif. 1/)
&halves
Schools of
POlytechnics
PhySics-Mathernatics
Medicine
Deritistry
Vetennaty medicine
Agriculture
With
Additional
Courses
Grad.. of
TechnicalVocational
1
Schools of
Polytechnics
Physia.Mathernatics
Medicine
Dentistry
Veterinary medicine
....-•-• (Certif. It)
•
Schools of
EcodomiCs
AEOKE
B of Piraeus
- ABE of 'Thessaloniki
A
Era'
Without
Additional
Comas
H
Pedagogical Academies
Schools of
Kindergarten teachers
Home Econornim
EALA
KATEE
°Merged with the KATEE three-year higher technical schools, established in
1970 (NA 652/1970, %ER A' 180).
The Greek Educational System Since the 1976 Reforms 31
Graduates of general and technical-vocational lyceums can pursue
their studies as follows:
(a) at the third level of general education, that is, at the teachers'
schools, the academy of physical education, and the schools of home
economics;
(b) at the centers of superior technical and vocational education
(KATEE); and
(c) at the higher education institutions.
Entrance examinations for these levels will be abolished beginning
with the 1980-81 academic year. Candidates will be selected through the
process of panhellenic (national) examinations; in other words, these
candidates should have attended their second and third year at a lyceum—
excluding "basic," "selective," or "additional" courses—depending on the
lyceum type they have attended (see above) . In addition, they should
have taken examinations in these courses by participating in the two
panhellenic (national) examinations which take place after the advancement examinations of the second year of the lyceum and the graduation examinations. These panhellenic (national) examinations are so
called because they take place simultaneously throughout the country
with common subjects selected by a special committee of the ministry.
The selection of students will be made on the basis of their specialization, the total of grades on their certificate, their grades in composition,
and their grades in "selective" or "additional" courses multiplied by a
different component for each school. Candidates for the superior level
schools may also be graduates of technical-vocational schools who did
not attend special courses and who, therefore, did not take the panhellenic entrance examinations. Fifty percent of the lyceum graduates admitted enroll in the teachers' academies and the schools for kindergarten teachers if they have a general grade of 17 1/2 and more." Since
1973, students or graduates of higher- and highest-level schools may
enroll at the higher schools of TEE for any semester, with the exception
of the first and the last, with or without entrance examinations, at the
discretion of the specific school." And, finally, since 1970, graduates of
more than two years of study at a superior technical school may enroll at
the second year of any higher-level polytechnic institute, for a similar or
the same specialization field, after taking the entrance examinations."
(3) The New Programs
(a) The first measure the post-dictatorship parliamentary government took in 1974" was to establish the demotic as the language of
"The measure was first introduced in 1971 (NA 842/1971, 4EK A' 87)
for those graduating with the highest honors only; it was extended in 1977
(N. 552/1977, OM A' 68).
'Decision of TIIElle 1871/1973,
B' 79 (article 8).
13NA 56/1974, (DEE A' 258.
"NA 652/1970, tbEll A' 180 (article 40).
32
JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
instruction, as the subject of instruction, and as the language of textbooks at all levels of education. 14
(b) In comparing the new programs" with those in effect during
the seven years of dictatorship, we can point out certain important innovations:
— Students are relieved of excessively heavy classroom attendance,
the total attendance hours having been decreased in all grades of grammar and high school."
— Instruction in ancient Greek, in high school, is done from translation, and Latin is taught in the lyceum as an "elective" course only.
— Of great interest are the new teaching goals of studies which,
as a result, affect the selection of teaching material and the method of
teaching in general. Furthermore, the formulation of these goals indicates the new ideological orientation of the ruling class.
In relation to the programs of the past, the changes are many and
profound. I will, however, mention only the most important ones. The
tendency to disengage the content of studies from tradition and the
past is dearly stated (awareness of the self-sufficiency of modern Greek
culture in relation to the ancient culture). Correspondingly, we see a
new trend toward contemporary Greek reality (language, history, society,
and nature) . Thus, the social consciousness of the child encompasses:
(a) "correct written and oral communication with his environment";
(b) "conscious and free participation in the life of our people";
(c) "national self-knowledge" (which does not ignore the negative
sides);
(d) preparation, "in a direct, practical, and particularly viable manner, for the conscious exercise of the rights and duties which characterize a free and democratic citizen, as well as the deep faith in the creative powers of the Greek people, so that the child may become the
conscious laborer of progress";
(e) understanding of "the special importance nature holds in the
souls of men and the necessity of his becoming conscious of the need
to protect and preserve the environment."
The doctrinaire tendency (hitherto strong in all courses, from modern Greek to physics and biology), as well as an excessively idealistic
"During the dictatorship, modern Greek was taught in the first four grades
of grammar school only.
"See NA 1034/1977 (MK A' 347) for the new grammar school program.
See IIA 831/1977 (4)Eli A' 270) and IIA 374/1978 ((EK A' 79) for the new
high school program. See HA 373/1978 (40Eli A' 79), 826/1979 (43EK A'
240), 827/1979 (0E1( A' 240), and 845/1978 (OEIC A' 198) for the general
lyceum program. See HA 784/1979 (IEK A' 231) for the technical-vocational
lyceum program.
"There were 24-33 in grammar school; they were reduced to 24-29; were
30-35 in high school, they were reduced to 31.
The Greek Educational System Since the 1976 Reforms 33
orientation (for example, the teaching of mathematics was supposed to
have the student grasp mathematical principles a priori), are restricted.
Underlined now is the need for scientific knowledge, understanding of
natural laws, and methodological exercise in rational thinking.
Finally, on the intellectual plane, we must also point to a tendency—
however imperfectly or abstractly expressed and however impossible to
assume material form in the specific organization of studies—which is
indicative of a hitherto unknown goal in our educational program: the
teaching of modern Greek, which presents the "sentimental and, at the
same time, intellectual world in different expressions," can, in counterbalance with other studies which present a fragmented picture of life,
unify that picture.
If we compare the programs of the technical-vocational lyceums with
the programs of the now abolished schools of foremen, we determine
that the timetable of general courses (these were almost nonexistent,
especially in the third grade, and were limited to religion, the education
of the citizen, and one foreign language) have considerably increased.
The specialization courses seem to be geared more to theory than was
the case with their counterparts at the schools for foremen; this is in
contrast to the courses of the new technical-vocational schools, which are
more practical and applied. It is for this reason that teachers are dissuaded by the analytical programs of the ministry from making "extensive theoretical analyses" which require advanced mathematics.
Acquisition of knowledge, understanding, and practice, as well as
school and vocational orientation of students, "based on personal abilities,
inclinations, and preferences," are the goals of the specialization courses.
Particularly worth mentioning are the reports to the "working person,"
an innovation of the technical-vocational lyceum programs. Specifically,
with regard to the subject of religion, it is necessary that the student
understand the "theoretical and practical place of the church within the
social structure, the work place, and the working person," whereas, with
regard to modern Greek, it is necessary that the student understand
"our people" and, particularly, "the people both at work and in everyday life."
IV. The Faculty
(a) With the exception of the one-year study which has been added
to the academy of physical education and to which reference has been
made above, the training and categories of the faculty remain unchanged. Grammar and kindergarten school teachers graduate from the
teachers' academies and the schools for kindergarten teachers, respectively
(two and one-half years of study each). Secondary school teachers graduate from universities or technical institutes, the academy of physical
education (four-year study), and the schools of home economics.
34
JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
New schools for the training of secondary and public school teachers
(EEAME, 1977, and ZEAAE, 1979) 17 have been established in Athens
and, for the first time, in six provincial cities, offering programs of
from four weeks to one year duration, for the training of newly employed teachers, supervisors, and other faculty.
(b) A new category, as regards the professional relationship, was
added in 1977 18 to the secondary teaching staff. When teachers abstained
from doing compulsory overtime work, a law was introduced whereby
"additional" teachers were hired to do such work.
In this lengthy report, it becomes clear, I think, that the reforms
have covered several fields which fall, on an international scale, into
reform efforts, with particular emphasis on the structural reorganization
on the secondary level. One can also observe that no changes have been
made with regard to the definition of the roles of and the relationship
within, the hierarchical ranks, as well as between students and teachers.
The strategy employed in order to effect the reforms can be characterized as political-administrative. The government, relying on its
majority in Parliament, applied and enforced them, with no previous
experimentation or trial application of any kind and without consulting
with anyone. In certain, somewhat important changes, of course (programs, textbooks, etc.), KEME played a leading role, and experienced
and able educators were enlisted in its ranks. We would say that, in
these instances, empirical-rationalistic methods were followed, methods
which rely on the "neutrality" and "objectivity" of scientific facts and
on classical liberalism (theoretical origin, positivism)."
For the rest, the reforms appear to be a process of reason, on both
the organizational and the ideological plane, and seem to point to two
directions: one is the effort of the ruling class to modernize itself
and to follow the road of "progress," and the other is that class's effort
to establish an ideology consistent with capitalist liberalism. The
strengthening of technical education is definitely connected with the
economic development of the country and the need for modernization
(especially within the framework of Greece's accession to the Common Market) . On the other hand, the ruling party is seeking popular
consent, employing its renewed ideological facade and its symbolic acts,
which no longer rely on the language schism of the past but on the
restoration of communication (with the establishment of the demotic
as the official language) .
Into the process of rationalism also falls the bureaucratic organiza17See HA 127/1977 MK A' 40), 487/1977 (MK A' 150), 459/1978
MK A' 93) , and 255/1979 (OEK A' 71). Heretofore, the faculty were trained
at the teaching schools of secondary and lower education of Athens on the basis
of two-year programs.
18
N. 568/1977 (DER A' 90).
"See an 00/A study, StratOies d'innovation dans Penseignetnent, OCDE,
t.IV, Paris, 1973, in connection with the strategy employed in instituting reforms.
The Greek Educational System Since the 1976 Reforms 35
tion of education, which was greatly strengthened by the reforms. The
new educational system is, in reality, more capable of controlling educational orientation (instead of the unhindered completion of studies on
the secondary level, we now have the examinations-obstacles for admission to the lyceum so that the greatest possible number of students may
be channeled into the technical and, especially, the short-term technical
level of education).
The positive elements of the reforms are many but we should not
lose sight of their political character, of the fact, in other words, that
they are delayed liberal bourgeois reforms brought about to enhance the
progress of capitalist society. We should also not lose sight of the fact that
the bureaucratic organization of the new educational system is governed
by a class rationality which is expressed by a combination of coercion
by the state (students are obliged to pursue their studies through prior
defined levels, take all examinations, digest a defined curriculum, both
in quantity and quality, adopt to certain models of behavior, etc.) and
the symbolic acts of the ruling dass (the ideologies of "progress" and
the meritocratic function of the examinations were widely employed).
The fact remains, however, that, within the bureaucratic organizational structure, there is built a mechanism which negates all those
elements of the reforms (the turn toward modern Greek reality, the
concrete, ideological liberalism, structural flexibility) which seem to
open possibilities beyond the traditional structure and the particular,
chronic characteristics of Greek education. The bureaucratic organization
is, in reality, one of the mechanisms of self-preservation of the ruling
class, which are shaped in different form in each country, within the
framework of the mass struggle for power. Beyond all this, there remains always the problem which is particularly acute within Greek
society: if there exist, and, if so, what the possibilities of these masses
are to pinpoint and define their educational needs in relation to their
role in society, and to give their own content to the meaning of progress.
—translated by Evangelia Pahus
Basic Education Today
by THEOPHRASTOS YEROU
Basic education is the compulsory minimum of education offered
by the state to its citizens, but also the maximum for a large number
of people, unable to pursue further studies. What should the content
and the particular characteristics of this basic educational cycle be?
First of all, it should contribute to the democratization of education:
it should serve those who will directly enter the labor market, while
not impeding those who will continue their studies beyond this level.
Then, it should be self contained. Its self-sufficiency would be guaranteed if its goals were not determined by the next educational level,
as has been the case in the past and continues to be today. It should
also constitute a unified cycle of studies. For this purpose, UNESCO
has expressed the wish for all national educational systems to merge
elementary and junior high school education. The mere increase in the
number of compulsory years of education does not improve its quality.
The principal goal should be teaching effectiveness. Basic education
should provide young people with the necessary equipment to develop
a creative and critical attitude toward reality through the development
of their judgment and the sharpening of their sensitivity.
-
Homogeneity and Equality of Basic Education
The present basic education in our country is not homogeneous and
of equal quality for the following reasons. During the last thirty years,
the population of Athens and other major urban centers has soared
due to internal migration. Many villages have been deserted and their
small schools, if they haven't yet closed, continue to function under
capacity, with a limited number of students, sometimes only six or
ten. In these small schools, teaching cannot become creative, according to their teachers. (At this point we should note that teachers are
not adequately prepared to transform the disadvantage of the small
number of students into an advantage.) In urban centers, many new
schools have been founded with several sections per grade;
these sections, however, continue to operate with a large
number of students, often fifty or sixty. Even without these problems
caused by internal migration, the operation of 5,000 one- or two-classroom schools, in a total of 10,000, proves that the existent basic educa37
38
JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
tion in Greece has never been homogeneous and equal for all children.
There are today 3,737 "single-classroom" schools in the country and
2,069 "two-classroom" schools. This means that one teacher is in charge
of six school grades, i.e., that one teacher shares the four to five daily
teaching hours among six grades. Each grade has the teacher's attention
for double that time, while, in multi-classroom schools, each section
has its own teacher during the whole schoolday.
Work done in one-classroom schools cannot be considered homogeneous and equal for another reason, too: those schools, numbering
5,000 as we have already seen, operate in small mountain villages, difficult to reach, or on islands reached by a boat once a week only. Cultural activities in these small communities are limited, and the intellectual level of the family and social environment is very low. Frequently,
the only cultural activity is the preparation of the village for a local
fair, where children actively participate. The student in such a village
has very little to contribute to the learning process. On the other hand,
the school rarely takes advantag of the students' knowledge of practical
matters, because the centralized educational system and the official curriculum, identical for all schools of the country, do not allow for deviations. Also, teachers are not prepared to enrich the curriculum by taking
advantage of the geographic position of the village and its inhabitants'
occupations.
A recent research project conducted in Crete, and sponsored by the
newspaper To Vima, showed certain trends relevant to all other mountain regions of Greece, where the one- and two-classroom schools are
dispersed. The first and most important conclusion of the research project is that, in elementary education, the weakness of the teaching halts
the students' educational progress. Proof is given by the incredible outflow of students from elementary to secondary education. For every 100
elementary school students, only sixty continue their studies in the free
three-year gymnasium. That means that, of the 100 students enrolled in
the first grade, forty join the labor force possessing only an elementary
school diploma (To Vima, November 1979).
In workers' urban neighborhoods, the same weakness of teaching
conditions is observed. The large number of students in each grade (or
in the sections each grade is divided into when the number of students
is extremely large) prevents the teacher from getting to know his students' abilities. The student's family is indifferent, busy struggling to
make ends meet. Under these circumstances, the teacher only works with
a small group of industrious students. The majority are not involved,
and drop out sooner or drag themselves up to the last grade. The
opposite can be observed in neighborhood schools where children of
petit bourgeois families are enrolled. The quality of work accomplished
here is different. Students come to school prepared in advance, contributing their rich experiences to the learning process. The interest of
petit bourgeois families in their children's education plays a definite
Basic Education Today 39
role in the work pace and the school's efficiency in general. In Athens,
Salonika, and other urban centers, a few hundred private schools operate.
In the best of them, which also happen to be the largest, children of
the ruling class are enrolled. Here things are better. These schools have
excellent personnel, are equipped with abundant teaching aids, and
have a small number of students in each section. A large percentage
of their graduates enjoy success in entering the universities.
Over fifty years have passed since the six-year basic education became obligatory by law, in 1927. Today, it is still offered at three
levels of varying quality: the basic education offered in one- and twoclassroom schools of mountain communities, isolated islands, and large
sections of workers' neighborhoods is the lowest; the education offered in well-managed schools of provincial towns and middle-class
urban neighborhoods is the best; and the education offered by good
private schools is the most luxurious.
Expansion of Compulsory Education
Law 309/1976 "concerning the organization and administration of
general education" provided for the expansion of compulsory education to the three grades of junior high school (gymnasium). The law
defines different objectives for the elementary school and the gymnasium. The merging of elementary and the first cycle of secondary
education does not seem to be possible at the present time. Even the
expansion, while not seeming to present difficulties for the cities, becomes problematic for mountain regions. The Ministry of Education
is procrastinating. Only recently, it announced that it plans to eliminate
"weak" schools, underfunctioning in villages with few students, and
to found school centers in neighboring villages. School centers will
have many classrooms, be well-equipped, and have a technical substructure allowing them to expand to junior high schools in a few years.
At the same time, school centers will also become centers of regular,
organized expeditions of kindergarten teachers to surrounding villages,
so that pre-school education will reach, up to a certain point, children
of even small villages.
The foundation of school centers, if it finally materializes, will help
overcome one of the most serious obstacles in offering equal educational opportunities to children of remote mountain and island villages.
The creation of school centers will not be easy everywhere, however.
In the winter, weather conditions will make the transportation of children dangerous, and parents, judging from an experiment in the region
of Thesprotia a few year sago, do not want their children to travel in
order to go to school. In these cases, which are quite numerous, the
state will have to either create student homes for the children to stay
overnight when the weather is bad, or will make the teachers travel
40
JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
instead of the children.' We should not expect compulsory education
to be universal immediately. The following thoughts should also be
added to the above: there are over 100,000 children under the age of
fourteen joining the labor market today. Who will replace them? Many
families will refuse to send their children to the gynmasium for financial reasons. In this case, the state will be forced to give scholarships
and grants to secondary school students.
The Ideological Content of Basic Education
1. Elementary School
Law 309/1976 avoids paying tribute to the "Greco-Christian ideal"
which had constituted the cornerstone of elementary school education
for many years. The wordy text concretely expands the goals of elementary school, introduces students to the knowledge of the natural
world and history, cultivates their powers of observation, their intellect and sensitivity. The goals are praiseworthy, but how are they realized ? A glance at school readers, whose ideological importance is not
disguised by the Ministry, persuades us that the most important instrument of language instruction becomes a vehicle of religious moralism.' Their main characteristic is that they underestimate students'
intelligence, and use saccharine language and persistent moralizing. In
reality, our educational system continues to be unfree; it suffocates the
student's spontaneity, obstructs his creative ability, overtaxes his memory, and blunts his judgment. It uses the teacher as a vehicle to transmit
"canned knowledge." There is an identical textbook for each subject
for all schools in the country. The officially approved manual is the
authority, the ultimate knowledge, which cannot be challenged. The
teacher and this officially approved textbook are the only sources of
knowledge. You must obey them.
2. Gymnasium
The three-year gymnasium is the central focus of the reforms. It
is a school of general education but, more importantly, the educational
level of career counseling for students. This presupposes a well-organized vocational and technical education. Since this does not exist, students will continue to be oriented toward the lyceum. Thus, the principal goal of the reforms, to discourage the majority from attending
the lyceum, is undermined.
'An analysis of recent measures was offered by B. Angelikopoulos in a
series of articles about education in Kathimerini (23.9.81). Also, see George
Psacharopoulos, Economic Implications of Raising the School-leaving Age.
'See announcements for the writing of readers (1977); Anna Frangoudakis,
The Elementary School Readers, Themelio, 1978; Theophrastos Yerou, "A
Critique of Readers," To Vima, 1979-80.
—translated by Marina Kasdaglis
The New Educational Policy of
The 1976 Reform
by MARIANNA KONDILIS
Any attempt to interpret the last educational reform in Greece would
require a wide bibliography of theoretical analyses as well as statistical
data related to the efforts of this endeavor. In our case, we have been
faced with scarce sources, unpublished texts, and insufficient statistical
data; besides, the reform is not fully completed in the present day. All
facts prevent a fully methodological approach. Thus, what we can do
is simply to trace out the principal features of the school system before
and after the reforming steps.
The following statistical data constitute an attempt to illustrate the
profile of the Greek school, which the educational reform of 1976-77
wishes to change. Data concerning primary and secondary general and
vocational education are briefly reported. It should be understood that
the main goal of the recent reform is to solve the problem of too many
candidates for the universities, through the control and selection of
high school students. Therefore, all reform efforts are focused precisely
on this secondary level of education, while different solutions are
planned for post-secondary education.
Elementary (Compulsory) School
Elementary school instruction was compulsory and common for all
children between 51/2 and 11 1/2 years of age. In theory, pupils cannot
leave school until they have obtained the primary graduation certificate,
or, in any case, not before 14 years of age. In 1973-74, the number of
pupils enrolled in institutions of primary education were 925,495, and
the number of enrollments has not changed substantially in more recent
years. Official statistical data do not provide any information about the
number of drop-outs from compulsory instruction. In 1973-74, the
average rate of pupils who failed a certain grade and had to repeat it
was relatively low (four percent), although higher percentages in the
"delay"' of a "school generation" can be observed, as for example, the
18 percent noted in the "school generation" of 1966-67/1971-72. Con'That is, the percentage of students who do not complete compulsory education within the normal six-year period.
41
42
JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
sidering the sum of the percentages of pupils failed in various grades
(13.7 percent), one can conclude that the total percentage of "delay"
for the abovementioned "school generation" reaches 30 percent. The
implications of this fact are quite significant, in the negative sense,
since it concerns compulsory education.
In addition to the primary day schools, there are a certain number
of primary evening schools for people over 14 years of age who are
illiterate or semi-literate.
Secondary General Education (Gymnasium)
Until the recent reform, the six-year high school covered two threeyear cycles. Timetables and curricula were common for all students of
the first cycle, while the second cycle offered several options; a theoretical and practical science course or training in economics or maritime
studies.
The ratio of registered students increased by five percent during
the period 1963-64/1973-74 and by four percent during the 1970-71/
1974-75 period. In 1973-74, the number of enrollments in both cydes
was 504,031. The flow of the 1966-67/1971-72 "school generation"
was 45.4 percent and 54 percent for the "generation" of 1968-69/
1973 74. These data have been obtained from student flow during the
six years of high school, with no account of the previous "delay" in
elementary school.
In 1973-74, the average of internal selection was 8.3 percent. The
drop-outs from the six-year secondary school were high in number, and,
within the three upper grades (corresponding to the recent second
cycle of the Lyceum), a very high percentage of primary school graduates entered secondary education, but the "natural" selection during
six years of secondary school led students into the labor market.
This situation constituted one of the most important arguments for
extension of compulsory education from six to nine years. According
to this opinion, it would be possible to offer equal educational opportunities to all pupils from 51/2 to 14 years of age without serious consequences to the inner order of the school system; on the other hand,
and by the same logic, secondary education would be the most suitable
place for pre- and gradual selection by shoving the majority of students
toward technical schools.
In 1973-74, during the three last grades (second cycle), the total
number of enrolled students was distributed as follows:
-
Classic gymnasium: 111,173 students 73.5 percent
Practical (scientific) 38,057 students 24.7 percent
School of economics 4,097 students 2.6 percent
Merchant Marine schools 597 students 0.3 percent
The New Educational Policy of the 1976 Reform 43
It is evident that the high demand for classic studies determines the
character of Greek education. In fact, general, "humanistic" education is
traditionally viewed as the means to social mobility and promotion.
Technical and Vocational. Secondary Education
Until 1977, technical and vocational education was under the jurisdiction of various ministries. So the official statistical data, not deriving
from one source, are not homogeneous and, consequently, less usable
than those concerning other educational sectors. In 1973-74, the distribution of students in the secondary educational sector (lower and upper
stage) was as follows:
General Secondary Education 504,031 79.1 percent
Vocational Education
131,071 20.7 percent
Ecclesiastical Education 1,290 0.2 percent
This is indicative of the low preference in the student population for
vocational education. However, the state itself almost entirely left vocational education to private initiatives During the period of 1963-64/
1973-74, all levels (secondary and post-secondary) of vocational education increased their registered students by 8.7 percent per annum. This
figure was constant from level to level.
Finally, another interesting point concerns the sex composition of
students: in 1973-74, only 14 percent of the enrolled students were
female. Greek girls continue to be discouraged from choosing vocational education. So it may be said that, at least until 1976, general
secondary education was classical, with a high number of enrollments
and very high ratio of drop-outs, while technical and vocational education, substantially unorganized, represented 20 percent of the total number of enrolled students in the corresponding age group.
Toward a New Educational Policy
The qualitative problems of the Greek school are well-known and
repeatedly analyzed facts; the superabundance of the school population, has, as a consequence, a high individual demand for post-secondary
education compared to the number of available places in the university;
the out-dated curricula and the general low educational level sum up
the particular conditions of this school system. The phenomenon of wide
access to educational institutions and an apparently relative low ratio
of selection suggest an "open" and non-selective school.
'In 1961, the percentage of technical and vocational institutions run by private
individuals was 81 percent. The corresponding percentages for 1971-72 and 197374 were 55.7 percent and 54.1 percent, respectively.
44
JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
In reality, despite the image which the social composition, espedaily of university students, provides, 3 the efforts of the Greek school
do not permit any doubt about its elitist character. Wide social groups
do not benefit fully from the education given in Greek schools. The
qualitative selection, the drop-outs, and the delays—which is the most
important mechanism of selection—confirm, in our opinion, the latter
assertion.
The traditional conception of school as a place of general and
classical education has been declared insufficient for a long time by
various people. In spite of this, attempts to solve the above problems
have occurred against a stable background of sociopolitical and educational structures. So, the priorities—and reforms—leading toward a more
rational and up-to-date school system have been unsettled for decades.
At the beginning of the seventies, the ruling class showed certain
tendencies to overcome its own traditional ideology; the idea that school
is an important factor for economic development gained ground. Of
course, the fact that foreign organizations, together with Greek
technocrats, have proposed solutions for the rationalization and modernization of the Greek economy, and, consequently, of education, should
also be taken into account. Moreover, the E.E.C. standards have determined a development framework which is totally different to traditional
Greek ways. Official policymakers, accepting the lack of planning in
education, have traced the new political orientation: planning will
endeavor to influence the individual demand of education in the light
of structural considerations.
After the fall of the military regime, the political conditions favored
a democratic opening; structural and institutional changes in the educational field began to be considered a priority. Under the impetus of
teachers, students, scientists' organizations, and wide sections of the
population, policymakers indicated their disposition to institutionalize
changes in order to establish a social consensus. This new viewpoint
was manifested in the constitution of 1975, which emphasized the need
for regulation of post-secondary vocational education and introduced
the nine years of compulsory schooling. In a few words, it laid the
foundations of the future reform.
Special committees, consisting of academicians and educators, were
formed with the purpose of studying the problems and contributing
to the elaboration of the changes forecast by the government. The importance attributed to the proposals of these commitees, or their influence on the government's decisions, is uncertain. In any case, as
far as we know, at the conference of February 1976 4 sponsored by Prime
'That is, in any case, a subject that requires a special approach. There are not
sufficient data about the social composition of pupils, and those that concern
university students are not complete and available.
4See Kathimerini, February 1-14, 1976.
The New Educational Policy of the 1976 Reform
45
Minister Karamanlis, there were formulated, in a generic way, certain
reform principles, similar to those of 1964.
No special study of the social distribution of the labor force has
been done, in order to move toward the concrete intervention of the
state over the process of planning the Greek economy. Nor has any
adaptation of the proposed changes to any model of economic development been tried. Only the need to legitimate the actual status of the
existing social forces, as well as preventing social and geographic
mobility, has been outlined.' It can be said, therefore, that the result of
the preparatory committees was nothing else but to confirm the wellknown necessity to legislate measures in the educational field indisspensable for the economy, such as the establishment of a technical
and vocational educational apparatus. This demand had been worded
far earlier in clear words by the Union of Greek Industrialists (Syndesmos Ellinon Viomichanon) in 1968, and has been proven in studies
of a technocratic character.
Law 309/76 enacted the principal innovations related to the organization and administration of general education (pre-school, primary,
and secondary). A year later, Law 576/77 decreed the necessary regulations for vocational education. The above laws did not cover the legislative requirements of the reform; special presidential decrees were expected to regulate certain aspects of this legislation. These laws have, for
the first time, brought the demotic into official use in the schools, and
they have established the extension of compulsory education from six
to nine years (including six-year primary and three-year lower secondary education). Moreover, vocational education has been incorporated
into the formal educational system under the jurisdiction of the Ministry
of Education. The equalization of vocational and general education aims
at diminishing the preference of students for the general high school.
Further, the gradual selection "in order of merit" is also going to limit
the excessive demand for post-secondary university education.
The scope of this legislation is connected to the needs of "urbanization, the rise in the standard of living, technological progress,"
as well as to the substantial increase of the demand for vocational education. However, these generic issues are not directly related to any concrete model for the development of the Greek economy. On the contrary, it could be said that the wish for equilibrium, that is, the "right
proportion between educational outcome and social forces," shows rather
a tendency to conserve and to rationalize the school's efforts in conformity with actual economic and social conditions.
The Parliamentary Opposition
The purposes of the government did not meet with any consistent
opposition; even the left parties, declining to support the new measures,
5ldem.
46
JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
failed to carry out a decisive debate in the parliament. At first, the
Union of the Center, being the main party of the opposition, claimed
the historical paternity of the educational reform. In fact, the aims
and demands of the educational reform of 1964, inspired by the U.S.
government, were essentially the same with those of 1976. Thus, the
liberal democratic party consented to the government legislation. The
fact that these same forces claimed that the character of the reform
was "above the parties" confirms such an assumption.
Bearing this fact in mind, the only parliamentary opposition to the
government's deliberations should have been the lefts However, in this
case, the government decision to proceed with structural transformations in the educational field, transformations which were traditionally
proposed by the left, surprised the latter and found it without any
substantial alternative proposals. In this way, although the opposition
admitted the necessity for the expansion of compulsory education, the
legimitation of the everyday language, and the need for a skilled labor
force, it rejected the ability and will of the traditional right to realize
changes of this kind and magnitude.
The question of the creation of a double channeled educational
pyramid was the most disputed one: different arguments were developed
according to the political background of each party. The main parties
considered the new organization of vocational education as favoring
an ulterior distinction between scientific and vocational formation at
the expense of young people from lower economic backgrounds, who
usually profit from technical schools. So these parties distrusted the intention of the government, considering the concrete design as "servicing
the needs of the employer for cheap manpower." Finally, they advertised the lack of a material and cultural infrastructure necessary for
radical changes. In addition, the new selection system was criticized
as antidemocratic and non-egalitarian.
The Rearrangements in Secondary Education
After the definition, in 1978, of the selection system in secondary
education, the future framework is scheduled to be as follows: the
graduates of a now-extended compulsory schooling (six-year primary and
three-year lower secondary schooling) could, after exams, get into one
of two types of Lyceums, that is, the General and Vocational Lyceums.
The General Lyceum "... is for the youths that are destined for a higher
level of education or for professional qualification of higher claims "
In other words, attendance in the General Lyceum means access to all
the faculties of post-secondary education. On the other hand, the Voca6The composition of the parliament in 1975 is summed up below: New
Democracy, 54.3%; Union of the Center, 16.9%; PA.SO.K., 13.2%; United
Left (Communist Party, Communist Party of the Interior, Democratic Left Union),
9%; other minor parties, 10%.
The New Educational Policy of the 1976 Reform 47
tional Lyceum gives access only to post-secondary, non-university, vocational education. (In theory, the two types of Lyceums should be of
equal value so as to motivate students toward vocational education.)
Finally, there will be vocational 1- or 2-year Training Schools that do
not allow access to post-secondary education, but only to the labor
market, thus covering the needs for lower skilled manpower. It should
be underlined that the "choice" of one of the two Lyceums is irreversible, and that a student cannot change direction (from the Vocational to the General Lyceum or vice-versa) during his studies. This is
another factor of rigidity in the new selection system.
Two types of diploma given by the General Lyceum (that is, Classical
and Scientific) have been institutionalized. Curricula are in substance
the same for both, except for groups of optional courses (called "selective courses") corresponding to each type of Lyceum. These optional
subjects constitute supplementary courses in Ancient Greek, Latin, and
History for the first type and Mathematics, Chemistry, and Physics for
the second. Finally, two series of selective exams at the end of the two
last grades of the Lyceums are designed to substitute for the entrance
exam to the universities. In this way, although the narnerus clataus of
post-secondary education is not abolished, it shall be possible to "rationally" distribute the candidates within secondary education. So, the
problem of the congestion of universities seems resolved, at least in
the short run. The other conditions of the reform are not, at this moment,
satisfied. The persistence of institutional and social resistance have
restricted the scope and attenuated the effects of the initial aspirations.
The effective function and proper evaluation of vocational education,
the realization of nine-year compulsory education, the renewal of
school methods and curricula, and the question of teachers' qualifications, remain in a stagnant situation; new measures are expected to
realize the new educational system.
Change and Ideology in
the General Lyceum Program
(Two examples)
by BABIS NO LITSOS
-
Introdaction
Recent research in the sociology of education has shown that school
programs, in any specific educational context, are not merely "learning
plans," but are primarily a body of knowledge selected, assessed, and
organized in accordance with specific social criteria.' These criteria, of
course, do not relate to society in a general and abstract sense, but to
specific social forces which control the school, at the same time using
it as a mechanism of social selection as well as a mechanism for the
transmission and inculcation of their ideologies, with the ultimate goal
of securing and perpetuating their social domination .° It can be said,
therefore, that the school program of a certain school level reflects the
dominant ideology of the corresponding social apparatus.
In every such sociological approach to school programs, it is important not only to point out and interpret the ideological dimensions of
school learning but also to explore the limits and the possibilities of any
attempted modification of such learning.° This problem may be more
plainly formulated as follows: to what extent does particular modification or change of the social criteria of school learning presuppose a
corresponding definite modification of the dominant ideology and, ultimately, the appearance of a new correlation of social forces on the
sociopolitical plane?
Inquiry into this subject is important for an understanding of the
function of Greek secondary education; not only because of the recent
(1976) educational reforms but, primarily, because the school program
'See, for example, Young, M.F.D. (ed.), Knowledge and Control, CollierMacmillan, London, 1971.
'See Baudelot, C. and Establet, R., L'école capitaliste en France, Frangois
Maspero, Paris, 1971. Bowles, S. and Gintis, H., Schooling in Capitalist America,
Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1976.
'Young, M.F.D., "Curriculum Change: Limits and Possibilities," Dale, R. et
al (eds.), Schooling and Capitalism, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1976.
49
50
JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
of this educational level is characterized by the perpetuation of the same
structural elements of school learning. 4 Within the space of this article,
we cannot undertake either a comprehensive inquiry into the school program or an interpretation of the new educational measures. We will
simply present certain characteristic findings from such an inquiry,*
which, in our opinion, constitute additional evidence of the presence of
a certain modification in the ideological dimensions of school learning.
These findings have emerged from a systematic analysis of the goals of
two courses (history and the sciences) in the existing general lyceum
program, as well as from a comparison of these goals with the corresponding goals of previous programs on the secondary level.
Research into the ideological dimensions of school learning cannot,
of course, be confined to the study of the goals of programs; it also
involves the systematic analysis of many other elements of the school
apparatus (i.e., the content of courses, textbooks and manuals, examinations, etc.). It is, however, our thesis—and this constitutes a basic assumption of our undertaking—that the goals of the courses in the program not only summarize the basic elements of the ideology channeled
into the school, since they express the intentions of the program's authors,
but also dictate—or tend, in theory at least, to dictate—through their
methodological priority vis-à-vis the "what" and "how" of instruction,
specific practical choices in instructional practice.
The selection and presentation here of these findings is intended to
make a certain point. While certain of the new educational measures
(i.e., the teaching of ancient Greek through translations and the establishment of the demotic language) leave no doubt as to the fundamental direction of the educational reforms, they do not, by themselves, allow an accurate assessment of the degree and scope of the
modification of school learning at the lyceum level. In addition, since
the history course, to a certain degree, and, even more so, the science
courses, have not been presented as important innovations in the recent
educational reforms, they are particularly appropriate subjects of inquiry
aimed at ascertaining the extent of the change at the program level.
Besides, these two courses represent two of the major categories of
school learning, i.e., "humanities" and "physics-mathematics."
The findings presented here are the results of a systematic study of
the goals of these courses based on the method of qualitative "content
analysis," as elucidated from Berelson's original systematization . 5 However, we do not intend to present here either the various problems encountered, or to present in detail the classification used for the content
analysis. We shall only mention briefly certain categories, on the basis
4Noutsos, Ch., Programs of Secondary Education and Social Control, Themelio,
Athens, 1979.
*This work is part of a more extensive study.
5Berelson, B., Content Analysis in Communications Research, Hafner, New
York, 1971.
Change and Ideology in the General Lyceum Program 51
of which determination of differences between programs over time may
be possible. Finally, let us note, to avoid confusion, that by ideology
we mean here—solely with regard to the program level—a theoretical
system of ideas, representations, and perceptions, which derive from a
certain social reality, and which are organized and projected in such a
way as to appear autonomous and independent and, in this manner,
offer an imaginary reconstruction, both of the reality to which they refer
and themselves. Finally, the term "History" (with a capital "H") signifies historical reality, the historical process, while the term "history"
(with a lower case "h") signifies the knowledge of this reality.
Aims of the Courses in History
It should be stressed, at the outset, that, for the first time in the
school program in effect today, "the methodology of historical research
and the assessment of sources" is defined as a distinct goal of the
course.° Despite the importance of this innovation, which can lead to a
new understanding of at least the origin of historical knowledge, only
an analysis of the corresponding manuals and of the instructional applications would show the real content of this change. Remaining at the
level of the goals of the course, we shall only present here certain
"themes" of content in which significant differences as compared to
previous programs may be observed. These "themes," in spite of the
condensed formulation of their content, may be considered the "philosophy" of history projected into the goals of the course and expected to
constitute the frame of reference in the teaching of the course.
History—In the program now in effect in the lyceum, there is a
slight, but significant, difference, in comparison with previous programs, concerning the nature of historical reality, of the historical process.
Whereas previous programs emphasized History as a creation of "man,"
today History is defined as the "collective work of man." This notion
of "collectivity" and of "common effort" is particularly emphasized in
the goals of the course. It cannot, however, be understood independently
of the notion of society, as succinctly analyzed in the relevant text.
Society—The term society is listed for the first time in the current
program, whereas, in previous programs, equivalent terms such as "human
life"' and "social environment"' had been used. The apparent conceptual equivalence of these terms notwithstanding, their differences are
particularly significant when the terms are placed within a larger conceptual context. The most apparent modification in the program now in
effect, as regards this term, comes out in the next two particular content
"themes": the first refers to the "particularity of the society in which
°Lyceum Program of General Direction, (I).E.K., Vol. A', 240, 10/23/79.
'Program of Secondary Education (1935), 43.E.K., Vol. A', 537, 1/9/35.
'Programs of Secondary Education (1969), CE.K., Vol. A', 239, 10/12/68.
52
JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
the student belongs and within which he develops," and the second,
and most important, refers to the "existence of problems" which confront this specific society, which is none other than contemporary Greek
society. If we compare the content of these two "themes" with the content of specific "themes" which are included in the goals of the same
course in the current gymnasium program, and according to which "the
objects of historical action" are not only historical persons and nations
but groups as well, we can find here a transition from a "mythical" to
a more "realistic" picture of society, as it began to take shape for the
first time in the 1961 program.' We can thus also understand the
emphasis given to the "themes" of "collectivity" and "common effort"
pointed out above. The message, then, transmitted through these
"themes" is clear: society today has peculiarities and problems, since,
within it, function individuals and groups, but its existence presupposes
"collective" and "common effort," without disregard for the personal
contribution of each individual, when this contribution is expressed
consciously" and "freely."
Civilization—Even though there was specific reference to various
"levels of civilization" in some of the previous programs, the last program of 1969 did not contain any indication of the existence of an
economic domain." In the current program, there is specific mention
of the basic "forms of civilization"; furthermore, the order in which
these forms are listed reflects a scientifically accepted, real relationship
between them. A second significant difference in the same "theme" is
that, here, the various "forms of civilization" are defined as a "total expression of the circumstances of life and of the theory of human life,"
whereas, in previous programs, civilization was defined only as the
"spiritual creation of man," without its being linked to the "circumstances
of life." It is, finally, apparent that, in the current programs, we have a
more "realistic" interpretation of the "forms of civilization," as opposed
to the "idealistic" conceptions which were prevalent in the previous
programs.
The lyceum program currently in effect also differs in characteristic
manner from the previous programs as to other "themes" which are
omitted here. This "negative differentiation" is suggested not only by
the general thematic categories of subjects which the students must be
acquainted with (for example, there is no express reference to the notion
of the "nation"), but also in the corresponding category of changes
which must be effected in the students' behavior. Thus, "themes" such
as, for example, the "normal adjustment of students to the social,
political, etc., environment," the "cultivation of national loyalty," the
"political education of students," etc., which abounded in the previous
programs, are omitted. In contrast, the predominant "theme" in many
ways emphasized is the "collective and personal responsibility" in the
historical process, the "conscious and free contribution to the common
"
"
'High School Program of First Level (1961), 1.E.K., Vol. A', 160, 9/13/61.
Change and Ideology in the General Lyceum Program 53
effort," the "need for the cooperation of everyone" in the solution of
particular social problems, as well as the "need for agreement and mutual
respect between societies," aiming at peace and common well-being.
Goals of the Course in Physics
The thematic content analysis of the goals of the course in physics
shows that, here, there are differences in comparison with the previous
programs. The differences may be summarized in the following two
"themes," which are absent from the current program.
Nature—The previous program, as well as the 1935 program, which
remained in effect for 30 years, defines nature as a "uniform whole,"
governed by "submission to law" and "purposefulness," and within
which there prevail "order and harmony." Ultimately, nature, according
to the 1969 program, is the "cosmos," according to the well-known expression of the ancient Greeks. In contrast, the program now in effect
refers only to "physical and chemical phenomena," as well as to the
"material world," without further definition. The difference between the
two "philosophies of physics" is clear, since the transition from the
meaning of natural law to the meaning of purposefulness presupposes the
acceptance of a certain "teleological" conception of nature which, in
turn, leads to a theological interpretation of physical and chemical phenomena. This is further indicated by the content of the immediately
following "theme," which flows from advocating the aforementioned
"teleology."
Religious Sentiment—The 1969 and 1935 programs stressed that,
once the students understood nature, as briefly analyzed in the previous
"theme," "their deepest religious sentiment would be strengthened, in
awe" (1969), or "their religious and moral sentiment would be
strengthened" (1935). In a way, such references constituted the ultimate goal of the course in physics under the previous programs. In
contrast, they are totally absent from the current program.
The predominant "themes" in the current program revolve around
the more general "theme" of progress, as well as that of the abilities the
students develop through their study of physical and chemical phenomena; this does not mean that there are no references to "man" in
general, the contribution of the "great scientists of the human race," as
well as some indications of an echo of antiquity-worship ("the contribution ... primarily of the ancient Greeks").
Conclusions
The brief presentation of previous content "themes" from the goals
of these two courses clearly shows that the lyceum program now in
effect marks a definite turn toward the transmision and inculcation of
5
4
JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
some contemporary bourgeois conceptions of both History and nature.
In the new program, the old ideological "themes" extolling the "role
of personalities in history," the "everlasting values of ethnocentrism,"
and the "need for a political catechism" are abandoned. In contrast, we
find a more "realistic" picture of society and an emphasis on the need
for "collective participation" in the historical process for the solution
of social problems. The "teleogical" conception of nature, as well as
its theological and moralistic connotations, are also abandoned. It may
be argued, therefore, that the behavior models which the program seeks
to instill in the students through the content of these two courses are
based primarily on the development of the students' relationship to
social and physical reality, not on extolling some "traditional" ideological
conceptions.
The changes in ideological conceptions pointed out in this artide
are certainly not unrelated to the more general ideological orientation
of the educational reforms.' However, these changes by themselves allow
us to argue that the lyceum program now in effect reflects a certain
modification of the dominant ideology channeled into the school. As
a result, this finding makes necessary research into the different levels
and scope of this change, as well as into the multiple social prerequisites
for its realization. This undertaking has both theoretical and practical
significance. For it is not enough to point out the basic components of
this ideology, it is also necessary to inquire into the extent and degree
of its realization in daily instructional practice, as well as into the
specific mechanisms which facilitate or hinder this realization. Only in
this way is it possible to understand the related problems, and hope that
any interventions in the school apparatus (whether by education specialists or by broader social forces) will have some degree of success.
This last finding is critical for those interested in a more systematic and
continuous contact of the school with the social and natural environment—
so long, of course, as they cannot change either the school or its
ideology.
—translated by Evangelia Pahus
"Causative Report on the Draft Law, on Organization and Management of
General Education, 5/12/75.
Some Information About Private
Education in Greece
by ALOE SIDERIS
According to the Greek constitution (Article 16, Paragraph 2), education constitutes a basic responsibility of the state, and is provided
free of charge. The state fulfills this obligation, at least formally, at all
educational levels: all state schools, from kindergartens to universities,
offer free education. Tuition and examination fees have been abolished,
and even books are provided free of charge. Parallel to state schools,
however, a great number of private educational institutions operate in
Greece, providing education for a considerable fee. These fall into three
basic categories: private schools, foreign language institutes, and examination preparatory schools (frondistiria).
1. Private Schools
The private schools include kindergartens, elementary schools, junior
high schools (gymnasiums), and high schools (lyceums), corresponding to the ones run by the state.' Most of them are obliged faithfully to
follow the official curriculum of the state schools. A small minority are
considered equivalent to state schools and are allowed to deviate from
the official curriculum, after approval by the Ministry of Education. The
diplomas issued by private schools are as valid as those of public ones,
but the state requires that students be examined by a committee composed of both public and private school teachers before receiving their
diplomas. This is waived only for students of those schools which have
received equivalency rights. The grade given by the private school, aside
from the grade given by the mixed committee of teachers, constitutes
the least important factor in being accepted by the universities. Tuition
in private schools ranges from 45,000-136,000 drachmas yearly.
Below are provided statistical data for private schools by school
year:
,
'The Greek Constitution of 1975 provides that no private higher education
institutions may be established.
55
84,259
Students
5,563
5,844
1,372
60-61
1,452
4,014
4,296
62-63
1,390
61-62
3,746
1,479
1,404
3,958
64-65
63-64
3,517
1,398
65-66
3,628
1,155
66-67
99,528?
The ( ?) indicates that the data are not completely verified.
5,096?
124,260 123,575 131,516 139,453 148,486 155,146 160,285 155,090 147,764 149,841? 129,356?
5,085
4,854
5,615?
4,707
1,188?
5,115?
4,433
4,300
5,043
78-79
5,028?
4,108
4,274
Teachers
1,385
1,363
1,329
77-78
1,270?
1,330
74-75
73-74
72-73
1,286?
1,262
1,221
71-72
1,369?
1,167
70-71
69-70
76-77
68-69
1,164
Students
5,459
1,326
59-60
75-76
1967-68
Schools
Academic Years
4,851
4,213
Teachers
1,266
58-59
97,267 107,073 112,605 116,786 12 6,765 130,828 133,002 119,054 120,062 121,688
1,166
57-58
1,009
1956-57
Schools
Academic Years
STATISTICAL DATA OF PRIVATE EDUCATION
Some Information About Private Education in Greece 57
The large percentage of foreign' and minority schools among private
schools is noteworthy.
2.
Foreign Language Institutes
The foreign language institutes are exclusively private. The state
does not undertake the foundation of institutes for the instruction of
foreign languages in Greece. It only provides, through its official curriculum, for a few weekly hours of instruction in a foreign language in
the secondary state schools. Since the state does not fulfill the need for
foreign language instruction, the gap is covered as follows by private
initiative:
(a) Large private institutes with branches throughout the country
continue to be founded and expanded. At the same time, a great number
of small and middle-size private enterprises for the instruction of foreign
languages operate in neighborhoods of large urban centers and smaller
towns. Tuition in these schools ranges from 500-2,000 drachmas per
month. There are approximately 1,500 of these foreign language institutes in Greece, with 500,000 students and 6,000 teachers.
(b) In many private schools, a foreign language, usually English,
is taught as an extracurricular subject at an additional fee. The schools
offering this type of instruction are not allowed to issue diplomas.
They only prepare their students to participate in examinations administered by the Hellenic-American Union (Michigan Certificate of
Proficiency) and the British Council (Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency) .
(c) Foreign languages are taught at certain foreign foundations
(British Council, Hellenic-American Union, Goethe Institut, Institut
Francais, Deree-Pierce College, Institute of Balkan Studies in Salonica,
Greek-Soviet Union, etc.). These organizations operate under educational
agreements and are subject to Greek laws in a limited way only.
3. Examination Preparatory Schools (frondistiria)
The purpose of the frondistiria is to improve the education offered by
both public and private schools, and to prepare students for the examinations which will determine their promotion to the following grade or
educational level.
2 Foreign schools are of foreign ownership and trusteeship, catering to Greek
students. Minority schools are designed for aliens, but are also attended by
Greek students. Some indicative figures follow:
Total number of private school students: 80,000.
Number of students in minority schools: 10,166, 890 of whom are Greeks.
Number of students in foreign schools: 10,001.
Total number of foreign and minority school students: 20,167.
58
JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
(a) Historical Survey
This institution first appeared in Greece in 1920, and went through
the following phases:
1920-1965: The frondistiria were attended by few students with high
financial incomes. They operated mostly in Athens and in a few provincial capitals. At that time, there were students accepted to the universities without attending these frondistiria.
1965-1976: The insitution of the frondistiria became more widespread. The prevailing attitude was that attendance to a frondistirio was
a prerequisite for admission to a school of higher education. A great
number of frondistiria opened both in the center of the capital and in
the provinces.
1976-present: The number of students attending frondistiria increases
even further. Frondistiria move from the center of the cities to the
neighborhoods. The material is identical to that taught at school. Students begin attending at a younger age (thirteen or even younger).
(b) Types of frondistiria
1. Higher education: They prepare candidates for the entrance
examinations to the universities and other schools of higher learning (to
the extent that these examinations are still administered). They also
prepare university students to pass their yearly and graduation examinations.
2. Secondary education: They prepare the candidates for the entrance
examinations to lyceums or to schools for gifted children, and the lyceum
students for the panhellenic examination of the second and third grade
of the lyceum which will determine their acceptance to the universities.
3. Special frondistiria: They prepare the candidates to be hired by
the public sector as civil servants and bank employees.
4. Small group frondistiria: They play the same role, but the number of students in each class is small (3-10), making the educational
process more effective.
(c) Some characteristic figures:
Number of frondistiria in Greece: 1,400 (to be compared with the
1,932 secondary education schools);
Total number of frondistiria students: 200,000-300,000 (a precise
figure is impossible to give because there is no official registration
procedure);
Number of teachers working at frondistiria: 7,000-8,000;
Number of students per Hass: 10-30;
Number of students per frondistirio: 6-1,500;
Hours spent by students at frondistiria: 9-15/week (it is worth noting
that these are evening hours added to the 36 minimum hours of the
regular school schedule);
Some Information About Private Education in Greece 59
Tuition: 1,000-6,000 drachmas/ month;
Total amount spent by Greek parents for preparatory courses for
their children: approximately 4 billion drachmas/year.
4. Other Private Educational Institutions
To the above, we must add innumerable other schools, under the
general name "schools of free professions," as well as the schools of
dance and exercise. Music is also taught in Greece in private or semipublic schools.
SOME COMMENTS
A. The basic reasons for the existence of private education in Greece
are the permanent deficiencies of public education and the inability of
the state to fulfill the educational needs of its citizens. State education
faces tremendous shortages in buildings, equipment, teaching personnel,
etc. (Until 1976, there were occasionally 80 students per classroom in
big towns. Living and learning conditions in public schools were such
that many parents, even with limited financial resources, sent their children to private schools. Since there were opportunities for profitable
operations, the private sector attempted to cover state shortages.) The
reforms of 1976 diminished some of the weaknesses of public education, without eliminating them, however. The private school continues
to offer, or at least promises, better care for its students, especially those
with learning problems. Pre-school education has not become general;
there are not enough kindergartens for all young children. There is also
the tendency of wealthier parents to not allow their children to mingle
with less privileged children, in order to acquire the awareness of the
social status of the privileged.
Another important factor helping to maintain the institution of
private education is the gap between the demand for higher education
and the inability—but also unwillingness—of the state to respond to this
demand. On one hand, the state established, with its reforms, a series
of examinations in an attempt to stop the advancement of more students to the universities. On the other hand, students and parents strive
to overcome the obstacles. For this reason, they turn to the "good" private
schools and frondistiria, hoping to guarantee success in the examinations.
The institutions for the instruction of foreign languages have been
created and maintained, especially after 1945, because of the influx of
the British and Americans into the Greek political and economic scene,
thus making it more useful to speak English than French. It is worth
noting that the official Greek state educational curriculum has not
responded in the least to the demand for the learning of English. Instruction in English has been introduced only recently, but under terms
60
JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
excluding the desired result. The language is taught for a minimum
number of hours to dasses consisting of approximately 40 students, at
different levels of knowledge. This subject is considered second-rate
because its grade is compounded with those of other subjects. There is
also a total lack of audiovisual equipment. Under such conditions, it is
natural that the private institutes promising language proficiency should
flourish.
B. The students attending private schools are not homogeneous.
There are, especially in large urban centers, expensive private schools
charging extremely high fees, attended mostly by children of the higher
economic classes. These schools, however, are also attended by children
of intellectuals who are not wealthy but hope that these schools can
guarantee more humane learning conditions and a better education.
Parallel to these schools there are , smaller ones, especially in neighborhoods and provinces, catering to the children of the petit bourgeoisie
and to a small percentage of working class children. These students are
sent to private schools in the hope of upward social mobility or because
they fail to meet the standards of the public schools. A small percentage
of young children attend private schools because these offer the advantage
of transportation by school bus. The frondistiria are mostly attended by
children of the bourgeoisie and working class. Wealthier classes meet
their needs for complementing the school curriculum with private lessons
costing 500-2,000 drachmas per hour.
The foreign language institutes are attended by all or almost all
children, at least in urban centers. It is characteristic that, while, in the
past, a foreign language—then French—was the privilege of certain social
classes, today even workers' families consider it essential for their children
to learn English. The distribution of children—but also of a number
of adults—in the different institutions of foreign language instruction
(neighborhood institutes, private schools, foreign institutions) reflects
the economic level of the family relative to the amount of fees. In
wealthier classes, but also in intellectual families, children learn other
foreign languages besides English. In this case, however, the instruction
is provided by private tutors or special foreign language teachers taking
charge of the children at a very young age.
C. State policies in the private education sector are inspired by the
principle that private schools operate under the laws of free enterprise.
The state cannot interfere in the financial aspects of their operation and
especially in employer/ employee relations. In the area of private schools,
recent state policy has been to support and maintain the expensive private
school system and to leave small neighborhood schools to sink or swim.
In the case of frondistiria, state policy is contradictory: on the one hand,
ministry officials make statements against them, on the other, by instituting repeated examinations and by failing to provide public instruction of foreign languages, they supply the frondistiria with ever increas-
Some Information About Private Education in Greece 61
ing numbers of students. There is no updated law regulating the operation of frondistiria and foreign language institutes. The operation of
private schools has been regulated by decree 684/1976, which provides
special privileges to certain schools, thus strengthening the institution
of private education in the form of large private educational
conglomerates.
—translated by Marina Kasdaglis
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The Tendency Toward Learning in
The Greek Countryside
by MARIA NASSIAKOU
I would like to attempt a scientific evaluation of one of the social
peculiarities evident in this country, the contradiction, that is, between
the low educational level and the widespread belief—which is not without elements of scientific truth—in the genius, or the inclination toward
learning, of Greeks from the educationally lower classes. Only a scientific evaluation of this peculiarity can lead to useful conclusions. Otherwise, we are in danger of arriving at unrealistic interpretations, such as
that which claims that the tendency toward learning is a "characteristic
of the Greeks."
According to figures produced by the National Statistical Service of
Greece,' the percentage of university students from working class or
mainly agricultural families are 19% and 21%, respectively, a very high
proportion in relation to other European countries, even those whose
economic development is at a comparable level—Spain, for example. The
same conclusion is reached by I. Lambiri-Dimaki, whose study' notes that
the percentage of Athens University students from poor farming and
working class families is 41%.
The problem (the contradiction we mentioned above) of the
"tendency toward learning" among the Greek agricultural population
has also been pointed out by other researchers. In the study carried out
by Mendras in 1961 in six villages in Epirus, when asked, "What would
you like your children to do when they grow up?" 64% of the parents
in the sample answered, "I would like them to study," or "I would
like them to become doctors, teachers or professors."
Our research project' also reached similar conclusions. Its main aim
was not to study this belief, but to study the important psychological
process of the motivating force, especially the motive for achievement.
However, in the qualitative analysis of our results, the same tendency
was quite evident among the agricultural population. Our study took
*See National Statistical Service of Greece, Higher Education, 1965 and
1971.
'See I. Lambiri-Dimaki, Toward a Greek Sociology of Education, Vol. 2,
p. 100, National Center for Social Research.
'This research project was carried out under the auspices of the Institute of
Child Health, Athens, Greece.
63
64
JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
place in four villages in Evrytania, and its aim was to investigate the
factors which influence people to undertake productive or, generally,
creative activities; in other words, to investigate the achievement motive.
By motive, we mean the "form," acquired through learning, taken
by motivation—the innate protential of behavior—that is, a learned method
of satisfying needs, which is different for each of us in each case,
and which leads, or rather pushes, the individual to act to achieve a
certain goal or to satisfy a specific need. Motives are learned, whereas
potential behavior is innate. One of the motives which has tremendous
effects on the individual's personality and his life in general is the
achievement motive. The achievement motive highlights the aim which
the individual has acquired, the goal toward which he is advancing, and
by which he is motivated, as well as the strength he has at his disposal
in order to reach it. This motive, then, pushes the individual forward
in constant efforts, in the tendency to improve his living conditions
and consequently rise in society.
We shall mention briefly the most important of the factors which
contribute to the birth and development of the achievement motive, and
shall then spend more time on interpreting the content of these motives,
which we studied in the agricultural area mentioned above (Evrytania),
in which the main wish and ambition of most of the mothers was "the
education of their children."
The main factors which contribute to the birth and development of
the achievement motive are:
The Family When examining the roots of the achievement motive,
it is natural that we should begin by examining the first group of which
the indivilual is a member. The importance of being a member of a
group, of belonging somewhere, for the development of personality,
has often been shown. The strategic role played by the family in the
process of socialization has led researchers to study the link which joins
the techniques of child-rearing and the formation of motives. Of course,
the age at which the child learns is of great importance, but the way in
which he or she is brought up is of equal singnificance. The environment
may adopt one of many methods to bring up a child, and the choice
is determined by more general socioeconomic factors. I have arrived at
the following general conclusions concerning the birth of the achievement motive from an examination of the studies carried out on the
subject and my own clinical experience.
1. The achievement motive cannot be studied outside the social
framework in which the individual lives (mainly because the social
framework is closely connected with the outstanding models which the
child is called upon to equal or compete against). The social framework
is the immediate origin of the values which are imposed on the individual and in which he or she believes.
2. The values in which the child believes are, to a major extent,
determined by the values which rule his/her home, and, of course, are
—
The Tendency Toward Learning 65
closely connected, first, with the nationality, and, then, with the social
class to which the family belongs.
3. The social values which the parents—and especially the mother—
have absorbed, at some time, are responsible for forming their demands
and ambitions for their children. Thus the mother's ambitions must play
a decisive role in the creation and development of the achievement
motive in her children.
The mother's ambitions—Where they exist and are realistic, they
make a decisive contribution to the development of the achievement
motive. Nonetheless, this stress on the factor of the mother's ambitions
does not lead to scientific one-sidedness. In our study, other factors
which can contribute to the development of this motive, especially the
intelligence of the child, the part played by school and teachers, and the
role of the peer group, were also estimated and taken into account.
The qualitative analysis of the results of the research project, and the
facts revealed by this study—especially those which arose from the interview process with the mothers—lead us to interesting conclusions
about the ambitions held by mothers in this backward agricultural area,
and about the content of their intentions and aims as mothers.
The majority, 39 mothers out of 42 (who, of course, did not talk
only about the children in the sample, but also about their other children), when asked, "Do you have any ideas or plans for the future ?"
answered: "School," "I want him to study," "I want him to be a teacher,"
"I want him to be a professor," "I want him to finish the university,"
or "Some good job, as long as they don't have to dig." The remarks
they made after answering are also indicative: "I don't want them to
end up in the state we're in," "I don't want them to go through what
we've gone through," "I don't mind looking after the animals as long
as they can study."
Ninety-five percent of the mothers dream of their children in professions which require advanced studies, and they demand that their children continue in higher education. Even the four mothers who did not
answer "Learning," wanted their children to do something, to learn
some "craft" or other, and, what is most important, none of the mothers
at all suggested that their children should follow either in their footsteps or in those of the child's father.
These results may seem impressive at first, since they contradict
international standards and the results of other studies of parent's ambitions for their children's future careers. It has been well-established
by studies and research that middle class parents orient their children,
to a large extent, toward the higher professions. Exactly the opposite is
true of children whose parents are from working class and poor agricultural milieus. It is also well-known that results have shown that choice
of profession, both when made by parents for children and when made
by the children themselves, is closely connected with the socioeconomic
level of the parents. It is also common knowledge that middle and upper
66
JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
class children make up, from the class composition point of view, the
majority of that minority of children who go to university. In the famous
French study, The Heirs,' research showed that a university education
and the resulting economic and cultural place in society are, for middle
and upper class young people, a "natural and closely guarded inheritance."
Condusions from other studies have shown that, more than any
other factor which can contribute to ambition in career choice, social
origin is the strongest, and is a more important factor than either advice
from school or the child's abilities. Studies have also been carried out
with the aim of investigating the effect of I.Q., since various theoreticians have seen this as the strongest factor in determining children's
orientation toward the higher professions. Despite this, it has been
shown that social level, or social class, is more closely connected with
choice of profession.
However, the phenomenon which was evident in the mountain
villages of Evrytania is, although impressive, not unique in Greece for
an isolated agricultural area, and this is supported by various studies
carried out both by foreign and Greek researchers. C. Tsoucalas's book'
shows that the "tendency toward learning" in Greece can be dated from
the nineteenth century. What we are dealing with, then, is something
which has contributed a great deal to the development and spread of
what we could call a "national" stereotype concerning the approach of
Greeks to education. It does not explain, but rather imposes, the famous
"passion for learning," or "the Greek ethic," or even "the Greek
mother's sacrifice" in order to see her child educated. All these are
explanations and interpretations which are not devoid of obscurantist
characteristics, as when, for instance, the traditional origins of this tendency
toward learning are mentioned, which happens quite frequently. These
are interpretations and explanations which lack a factual basis on studies
of social and economic conditions which explain the phenomenon. They
are, finally, interpretations which cloud reality and increase the confusing effects of a "psychologizing ideology."
The scientific analysis of this phenomenon attempted in recent years
by both Greek and foreign researchers has, without belittling the mother's
role or that of her ambitions as a decisive factor, but, on the contrary, stressing the factors which lead to this attitude, arrived almost
unanimously at approximately the same conclusions: the decisive motive
for this attitude is the tendency to leave the Greek countryside, to escape
a life which the entire Greek agricultural population rejects.
From their very earliest years, children can foresee that theirs will
be a hard life. None of them are fond of their villages, and all, with4P. Bourdieu and J. C. Passeron, Les heritiers: Les etudiants et la culture,
Les Editions de Minuit, Paris, 1964.
'C. Tsoucalas: Dependence and Reproduction: The Social Role of Educational Mechanisms in Greece, 1830-1922, Themelio Editions, 1977.
The Tendency Toward Learning 67
out exception, have the same deep desire to leave. At the same time,
they overestimate the opportunities offered for a better life, and they
think of the world "beyond the mountains" as a kind of paradise,
since they lack reliable information and overestimate the opportunities for
themselves to rise in society. As Mendras says: "There is no middle way.
Either they become small farmers, or they study." What we are obviously dealing with here is what the French sociologist and technical
education expert, Claude Grignon, calls "forced education" (Education
forcOe). 6 The tendency toward studies is, first and foremost, "a way
of getting out of the village"—the only way to rise in society.
The causes of this phenomenon of the need to leave are chiefly
social; socioeconomic conditions allow the child neither to develop the
tendency toward productivity in his own part of the country, nor to
form dreams of social ascent or social success of another type. The
child's achievement motive cannot be translated into any other productive
activity than that of the tendency toward "learning." The "outstanding
models" with which he/she is called upon to compete and which
he/she is called upon to attain are individuals who appear socially as
examples of "learning," of studies. In other words the only successful
model is that of "the one who went away to study."
Thus, we can see that we are not dealing with any special inclination among Greeks for intellectual tasks, but rather with a need created
by conditions. This preference is common among manual laborers all
over the world, as is to be expected in societies where there is a strong
and widespread overestimation of the man who "works with his mind."
This preference among the children of poor farming families does not,
however, lead anywhere except to the wish to become intellectuals, and
this occurs only in some underdeveloped countries, and especially in
Greece. What we have here, then, are the socioeconomic factors which
determine the planning of the country's "needs," needs which, transformed by psychological procedures into "values," are transferred to
individuals, who are in their turn influenced—according to their personality—in terms of their choice of the existing methods, means, and
aims of an action.
'C. Grignon: L'ordre des chosen, Editions de Minuit, Paris 1972. The author
defines forced education as the coexistence of certain conditions which create a
situation bringing about a tendency to study among people from lower social
classes, whose representation at general high school and in higher studies is
of a very low proportion. These conditions are as follows: the value of a 15year old child in the labor market must be very low, and thus the family will
have nothing to gain financially by sending him to work. At the same time, the
agricultural family or small industry economy are gradually being destroyed, and
so the family cannot and does not need to include the child as a working
member in the field or the workshop. There must not be even the little capital
necessary for a change of professional direction. The only "investment" which
may be of economic use is to push the child toward the acquisition of a certain
amount of knowledge.
68
JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
On the other hand, the structure of Greek society, due to the level
of its economic development and its internal soda! formation, encourages
a continual transformation of the rural population into a semi-urban
or urban population which feeds the service sector. As C. Tsoucalas
points out, "the most important structural change in the active population is the continual swelling of the service sector." In any case, this
is apparent from educational facts and explains why there are many
more children from the "poorer" classes in higher education in Greece
than there are in the industrially developed countries such as France.
Another important point which emerges from the analysis of the
"tendency toward learning" among the agricultural population which
we have attempted to outline above is that, according to figures presented in the study carried out by L. Lambiri-Dimaki, the percentage
of students originating in the working class is much smaller in that
the motive for social ascent and social mobility is, in the working class,
rarely, or only in a small proportion, expressed by a need for studies.
This view is also borne out by the results of a study carried out in Nea
Ionia, Athens, by the sociologist T. Guioka-Katsarou, who found that,
in this area, the workers, especially the skilled workers, would prefer
their sons to become skilled workers, too, rather than enter university.
A study carried out by the psychologist, Elisabeth Douvan, has shown
that working class children, children of manual workers, are most immediately influenced by the level of material remuneration they may
achieve, whereas middle and upper class children are much less affected by this consideration in terms of their achievement motive. On
the contrary, these children are much more sensitive to success arising
from personal involvement in an action. This shows that the nature of
the motive is a combination of the values and ambitions which are determined by the social class to which the individual belongs. The professional role played by the middle class adult requires a more competitive
mode of behavior, since the product of his labor is individual, and the
responsibility for success or failure will be his alone. In order to meet
these demands, he is forced to develop the achievement motive in a
different way. The manual worker, however, is used to an impersonal
involvement with causation and the result of the factors which affect
the goal attempted. His labor contributes to mass product—he is alienated—and his personal competitiveness has very little value for his role
at work. Success or failure at work are for him less personalized, and
so he does not need to exert himself unless success means a significant
and obvious financial reward for him. In other words, the individual's
position in the productive process determines, to a large extent, his
motives and their content.
The child from a working class family does not come under pressure for personal success either so early or so systematically as the middle
or upper class child, and so the motive of the child of socially lower
origin is more closely connected with material remuneration. On the
other hand, the middle class child does come under pressure for per-
The Tendency Toward Learning
69
sonal success, and he internalizes the wishes and "ambitions" of his
mother and learns to respond to both material and symbolic rewards.
For this reason, in the final analysis, the content and the type of
achievement motive which a child develops depend on his social class
and the educational sub-culture of the class in which he/she grew up.
That is, the motive is related to social values and the behavior determined by society. In order for the child to enter into comparisons and
competition, he/ she must acquire certain physical, intellectual, and social
skills. The way in which the child is trained in these skills will depend
on the values in which his parents believe and the goals which they
are attempting to achieve, as well as on the environmental conditions
and difficulties which the child may encounter.
An unchallengeable indication of the influence which the educational
level of the family has is the fact that similar differentials have been
noted in schools in the socialist countries. The socialist countries are
enormously different in that the state officially accepts the existence of
social inequality as regards school knowledge. Indeed, these countries
tend to lessen this difference with countermeasures, and by artificial
means, by admitting to university a proportion of students (10-15%)
without examinations, and only because they come from working or
agricultural families!
In conclusion, we may state that the tendency toward learning in
Greece cannot, of course, be attributed to the existence of any innate
characteristic in the population. The interpretation of this phenomenon
should be based on the study of the social and economic conditions
which determine a large part of the thinking of each Greek.
Markiewicz-Lagneau: Education, egalite et Socialisme, Anthropos Editions,
Paris, 1969.
Relationships of Creativity to
Socioeconomic Status and
Grade-Point Average in
Eleven-Year-Old Children
by JOHN MARMARINOS
Introduction
Psychologists and educators had occasionally referred to creative thinking even before 1950. Guilford, 1 however, with his presidential speech
to the American Psychological Association in 1959, inaugurated a new
era for the study and research of creativity. From that year on and
due to the space race between the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R., which created
a need for more creative scientists and researchers, the study and research of creativity became intensive. L. Hudson already in 1966 said
that "as a topic for research, creativity is a bandwagon." He further
added that "creativity represents a boom in the American psychological
industry only paralleled by that of programmed learning." 2 Later, however, researchers in other countries also started to study the phenomenon
of human creativity. Systematic research has been done on the relationship between creativity and intelligence (Getzels, Jackson, Wallace,
Kogan, etc.), on creativity and personality structure (Roe, Mackinnon,
Cattell, Butcher, etc.), school performance (Getzels, Jackson, Torrance,
etc.), and even between creativity and the subconscious or the unconscious (Kris, Kubie, Schafer, Wild, etc.).' On a smaller scale, the relationship between creativity and socioeconomic level was also studied.
The major hypothesis of the research reproduced in this paper was that
there must exist a relationship between socioeconomic status and the
performance of children on creativity tests. A minor hypothesis tested
was that there must exist a relationship between a child's performance
at school (final grade in Greek, Mathematics, and Arts and Crafts) and
his performance on creativity tests.
U. Guilford, "Creativity," American Psychologist, Vol. 5, 1950, pp. 444-454.
L. Hudson, Contrary Imaginations: A Psychological Study of the English
Schoolboy, Harmondsworth, Penguin Books, 1966, pp. 119-120.
'J. Freeman et al., Creativity: A Selective Review of Research, London, Society
of Research into Higher Education, 1971.
2
71
72
JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
Method
Sample: For the testing of the two hypotheses mentioned above, we
selected randomly 27 elementary schools (private and public) in the
metropolitan area of Athens (cluster sampling). From the total number
of sixth grade pupils of each of these schools, 16 were again randomly
selected (both boys and girls). The total number of the subjects chosen
was thus 432 pupils, 230 of whom were boys and 202 girls. Thirty-one
pupils were excluded because their age surpassed the normal age of
the pupils of the sixth grade. So, the final sample consisted of 401
children: 212 boys and 189 girls aged between 11 years and 11 years,
11 months.
Materials: Five instruments were used in this research, and they
were the following: (1) The Georgas intelligence test for children,
which had already been standardized in Greece; (2) the three verbal
and the two non-verbal creativity tests of Wallach and Kogan; 4 (3)
three verbal creativity tests devised according to the creativity tests of
Guilford and Torrance, where the subjects were asked to answer the
test in a limited period of time; (4) a dosed-ended questionnaire for
the classification of the subjects into two categories: (a) a category
formed of six groups (levels) based on the parents' level of education,
and (b) a category formed of six groups (levels) based on the subjects' parents' profession; (5) the average of the final grades in Greek,
Mathematics, and Arts and Crafts. Children's responses given to creativity tests were scored for the number (quantity) and the originality
(quality) of ideas.
Statistical Analysis
Since the subjects were classified into (a) six groups based on the
parents' level of education and (b) six groups based on the parents'
profession, but also since we wanted to see the differences according to
the average of the performance on the creativity tests between these
groups, we considered the analysis of variance as the most appropriate
statistical method to be used. Besides, there were other presuppositions
(like homogeneity of variance, normal distribution, etc.) that urged us to
choose the method mentioned above. It must be noted that the same
procedure and the same statistical method were also used for a smaller
sample (205 subjects), which was more homogeneously distributed on
the aspect of intelligence. We also used the Pearson correlation coefficient (r) for the investigation of the relationship between the performance at school (in Greek, Mathematics, and Arts and Crafts), and
4M. Wallach-N Kogan, Modes of Thinking in Young Children, New York,
Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1965, pp. 26-37.
Relationships of Creativity to Socioeconomic Status
73
the performance on the eight creativity tests. The data are presented
elsewhere in 35 tables?
Results
The results referring to the relationship between the creativity of
the children of the sample (and more generally of the sixth grade pupils
of the metropolitan area of Athens) and the socioeconomic status of
their families are the following:
(1) The socioeconomic status of the parents (profession/level of
education) seems to be related to the creativity of the children in general.
(2) The socioeconomic status of the parents (profession/level of
education) seems to be related to the quantity (number) of ideas shown.
This relationship is strong as to performance in the verbal tests and
weak as to performance in the non-verbal tests.
(3) The level of education of the parents (more than their profession) seems to be related to the quantity (number) of ideas shown by
the children.
(4) The socioeconomic status of the parents (profession/level of
education) seems to be related less to the originality of ideas than to
the quantity of ideas. This weak relationship between originality and
socioeconomic status is not found at all in the non-verbal tests. In other
words, the originality shown by the children in the non-verbal tests
seems to have no relation to the socioeconomic level of their families.
From the investigation of the relationship between creativity of the
children of the sample with their school performance, and in particular with their grades in Mathematics, Greek, and the average in
Arts and Crafts, the following conclusions were made:
(1) There is a positive correlation between creativity and school
performance in the subjects mentioned above. This correlation, however, is low or medium.
(2) There is a greater correlation between the quantity of ideas
attained by children and their performance in the above subjects than
between those subjects and the originality shown by children.
(3) The creativity of children resulting from the answers given in
the verbal tests seems to have a greater correlation with the performance
in the three subjects than does the creativity resulting from the answer
given in the non-verbal tests.
(4) The correlation between the performance in Greek and their
performance in creativity tests (number and originality of ideas) appears
greater than the correlation between creativity and the other two sub'J. G. Marmarinos, Creativity and Socioeconomic Status, Athens, 1978, pp.
139-168.
74
JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
jects. This could be due to the fact that the tests used presuppose and
appreciate, to a greater degree, the verbal aspects of creativity. The correlation that comes next is that shown between creativity and the performance in the subject of Arts and Crafts. The lowest correlation is
between creativity and the performance of children in Mathematics.
(5) The low or medium correlation of creativity and school performance may be due, in our opinion, to the fact that Greek schools appreciate and practice almost exclusively the ability for convergent thinking, disregarding and disapproving of divergent thinking and the creative behavior connected with it.
Surely this is not characteristic of Greek education only. Torrance,°
after several studies, mentions, for example, that, in countries like the
U.S.A., West Germany, Greece, India, and the Philippines, teachers in
general disapprove, in different ways, of the creative behavior of their
pupils, which is characterized by asking questions, giving answers based
on personal feelings or intuition, independence of thought and opinion,
readiness to run risks, unwillingness to accept opinions only because
they come from authorities, etc.
On the other hand, they approve and recompense, again in ways
differing from country to country, the non-creative behavior of children, such as the easy and non-critical acceptance of opinion, flattery,
the unprotesting conformity to often non-rational school regulations, etc.
°E. P. Torrance, Rewarding Creative Behavior, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey,
Prentice Hall, 1965, pp. 221-234.
A Study of Linguistic
Differences
by YANNIS BASLIS
From the beginning of this century, the "language question" has
been at the center of educational concern in Greece. No other controversial issue has divided politicians and educators so much, nor has
any other issue become the cause of so many unfulfilled promises or
irregularities in the development of the educational system.
Until 1976 (when educational act 309/76 was passed), the situation in Greece from the sociolinguistic point of view had been of the
kind described by C. Ferguson' as diglossic. Diglossia is a particular kind
of language standardization where two distinct varieties of a language
exist side by side throughout the speech community. The two linguistic
varieties in a diglossic situation are considered by speakers to be discrete
and to comprise a standardized high variety as well as a low one, which
is also standardized but may be subject to geographical differentiation.
The two varieties have overt recognition in the community and have a
commonly known and used label. The high variety has, in all cases, to be
learned as a school language. This is the reason why the high variety
is a written language. No part of the community regularly uses the
high variety as the normal medium of everyday conversation.
In the case of Greek diglossia, the high variety is called katharevousa,
the "purified language," while the low variety is called dimotiki, the
"common language." Katharevousa is an artificial language created by
scholars during the nineteenth century and imposed by the state as the
national language. For various reasons—historical, social, political—the
state made systematic attempts through education, as well as through
official documents and public texts, to impose katharevousa as the national language over dimotiki, the language of the people. The result
of this very complicated sociolinguistic situation, difficult to analyze
here, was that successive generations of Greeks suffered from so-called
"functional illiteracy," that is, they were not able to express their
thoughts in writing although they knew how to write.
Act 309/ 76 marked the end of the diglossic situation by introducing
dimotiki as the language of instruction into all levels of education. This
means that, from the sociolinguistic point of view, the situation in
'For the term, "diglossia," see C. Ferguson, "Diglossia," Word, 15, 325.40
(1959), p. 336.
75
76
JOURNAL OP THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
Greece will gradually become similar to the situation of the other
European countries, where the everyday language is the official language and the language of the school. On the outside,. these nondiglossic communities are linguistically homogeneous, but actually they
are not. There exist social and regional varieties of the same language
due to social and geographical barriers. As the well-known British
sociologist, Basil Bernstein, pointed out, there are two different varieties
of language in a community. He called them the "restricted code" and
"elaborated code," and he attempted to demonstrate that, whereas middle
class children use both these "codes," some—but by no means all—
working class children use only the "restricted code."
Bernstein's work has been of great interest to educators, sociologists,
and psychologists in Europe and in the U.S.A. To my knowledge, however, there has been no research in Greece which has investigated linguistic and educational problems from Bernstein's viewpoint. Thus, in
1976, an attempt was made by this writer to examine whether Bernstein's
theory held true in the case of the language of Greek children. For this
purpose, samples of the written and oral language of Greek children
were analyzed, using the investigations carried out by Bernstein and,
especially, D. Lawton as a model. The grammatical elements analyzed
were the same as those analyzed by Bernstein and Lawton. The pupils,
whose language (dimotiki) will be examined in this research, were
brought up (until 1974) in the complicated diglossic sociolinguistic
situation, and thus might have been influenced by the teaching of
katharevousa.
A Brief Description of the Experiment
The subjects. Four groups of five boys each were selected from three
schools in Athens as follows:
(a) Athens College
1. 5 12 year-old middle class boys
2. 5 15 year-old middle class boys
(b) 17th New Ionia Primary School
5 12 year-old working class boys
(c) Halandri Grammar School
5 15 year-old working class boys
The social class of the pupils was checked carefully by an examination
of the school record cards, using father's occupation as a determining
criterion, so that the social classification of the boys would be unquestionable.
,
2Yannk Baslis, 1976, A Study of Linguistic Differences in Samples of the
Speech and Writing of Groups of Working Class and Middle Class Boys Aged
Twelve and Fifteen (unpublished dissertation).
A Study of Linguistic Differences 77
It should be stressed that one of the greatest difficulties encountered
was that of selecting five pupils of average ability so that the groups
would be homogeneous and that any subsequent differences measured
would probably be due to factors other than ability. Because of the lack
of suitable verbal and non-verbal IQ tests in Greece, ability was assessed by taking into account the previous years' performance of the
pupil and that of the year of the research, as well as the opinion of
the teachers. For a boy to qualify for the test, he had to have: (a)
average grades in the Greek language course; and (b) an average grading in all subjects combined.
The boys were asked: (a) to write an essay; (b) to participate in
group discussions; and (c) to be interviewed individually by the researcher.
The essay subjects the boys were asked to write, within 35 minutes,
were the following:
(a) 12 year-old pupils: "My school."
(b) 15 year-old pupils: "My life in twelve years' time.
The topic each of the four groups was asked to discuss was the following:
"What do you think family life ought to be like? What do you
think relationships should be between members of the family?"
The twelve questions of the questionnaire used for the interview
were divided into three sections.
1. A set of eight pictures which conveyed a story. Each boy was
asked, first, to describe each picture and, then, to abstract the
point of the story.
2. Questions about the school and the teachers involving, first,
descriptive, and, then, abstract language.
3. Two questions involving moral judgments.
Group mean scores indicating inter-class differences were tested for
significance by applying the Mann-Whitney u test (i.e., the formula
u=N1N2 +N 2 (N2 ± 1 ) -R2) . One-tail tests were used as the direction
2
of the difference as predicted for all criteria.
Results
The tables below give the group mean scores of the criteria examined
in the three linguistic samples.
JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
78
I. Written work
Group mean scores
WC 12 MC 12 WC 15 MC15
773
5.992
0.465
0.069
0.271
0.124
0.037
0.024
0.108
0.072
886
6.283
0.553
0.127
0.312
0.113
0.054
0.039
0.120
0.072
1164
5.650
0.626
0.067
0.271
0.286
0.023
0.032
0.053
0.110
1185
7.138
0.409
0.066
0.277
0.066
0.052
0.033
0.271
0.048
1. Number of words analyzed
934
11.2%
2. Words exduded from analysis
3. Egocentric sequences: total words 0.004
4. Sociocentric seq.: total words
0.006
0.666
5. Egocentric seq.: sociocentric seq.
0.761
6. Sub. clauses: finite verbs
7. Adjective clauses: finite verbs
0.048
8. Uncommon clauses: finite verbs
0.309
0.402
9. Noun clauses: finite verbs
0.033
10. Adjectives: total words
11. Adverbs: total words
0.025
12. Passive verbs: finite verbs
0.030
0.093
13. Personal pronouns: total words
1301
9%
0.018
0.015
1.2
0.644
0.079
0.220
0.358
0.022
0.034
0.030
0.127
1148
4.5%
0.006
0.017
0.350
0.677
0.036
0.269
0.396
0.028
0.021
0.055
0.052
1629
6.3%
0.012
0.006
2.1
0.779
0.075
0.269
0.434
0.043
0.026
0.055
0.030
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Length of the essay
Mean sentence length
Sub. clauses: finite verbs
Adjective clauses: finite verbs
Uncommon clauses: finite verbs
Noun clauses: finite verbs
Adjectives: total words
Adverbs: total words
Passive verbs: finite verbs
Personal pronouns: total words
II. Group Discussion
III. Individual interview
The whole speech sample of the interview was divided into the two
categories of "description" and "abstraction" according to the content
of the answers.
1. Number of words
analyzed
2. Words excluded
from. analysis
3. Egocentric seq:
total words
4. Sub. clauses:
finite verbs
(description) 1525
(abstraction) 746
(description) 3.6%
(abstraction) 5.2%
(description) (abstraction) 0.0
(description) 0.412
(abstraction) 0.808
1769
746
4.3%
4.3%
0.008
0.482
0.848
1873
944
2.3%
5.1%
0.005
0.380
0.776
1448
739
2.6%
10.2%
-
0.011
0.424
0.862
79
A Study of Linguistic Differences
(description) 0.053
5. Adjective clauses:
finite verbs (abstraction) 0.054
6. Uncommon clauses: (description) 0.174
finite verbs (abstraction) 0.284
(description) 0.185
7. Noun clauses:
finite verbs (abstraction) 0.474
8. Adjectives:
total words
(description) 0.016
(abstraction) 0.036
(description) 0.038
total words (abstraction) 0.016
(description) 0.007
10. Passive verbs:
finite verbs (abstraction) 0.032
11. Personal pronouns:
(description) 0.041
total words (abstraction) 0.099
9. Adverbs:
0.080
(1058
0.257
0.337
0.144
0.453
0.016
0.025
0.033
0.020
0.028
0.017
0.060
0.100
0.071
0.058
0.228
0.308
0.079
0.409
0.017
0.026
0.030
0.024
0.041
0.079
0.060
0.085
0.056
0.172
0.224
0.372
0.143
0.448
0.020
0.033
0.035
0.041
0.035
0.055
0.040
0.073
General Summary
The statistical analysis of the above measures of the linguistic samples
of the Greek language showed that:
1. There are linguistic differences between the language of working
class and middle class Greek children;
2. The differences are greater at age 15 than at age 12;
3. The differences are greater where the linguistic situation required
abstract language (elaborated code), that is, in essays and the
abstraction answers of the interview.
Conclusion
From the analysis of the linguistic samples of 20 Greek schoolboys
taken in a school situation, it was found that Bernstein's concept of
"restricted" and "elaborated code" can be applied to the Greek language. There are in fact differences in the language the Greek working
class and middle class children use.
If, according to Bernstein, the English working class child is in a
weak position at school in comparison with the middle class child-because the linguistic requirements of the school impose middle class norms
on the students and not because the language of working class children is
inferior-then the Greek working class child is in a worse position.
Katharevousa has not altogether disappeared outside the school, a fact
that indirectly influences the language of schoolchildren.
Dimotiki is the Greek middle class language. For this, the working
class schoolchildren find more difficulties in overcoming the linguistic
problems they face in the school than the middle class schoolchildren. So
the present sociolinguistic situation in Greece can be seen as a barrier
to the educational career of working class children.
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JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
As far as I know, nobody seems to have studied the problem of
working class language and culture, since it is taken for granted that
the values and language of the middle class are the values and language of the Greek people, and, as such, should be taught in the schools.
Until 1976, the conflict was about which language was the real middle
class language, dimotiki or katharevousa, in order that it be used in
education. Now that dimotiki is recognized as the language of the nation,
attention should be turned to the problem arising from the differences
of language between the working class and the middle class which, as
the present research has shown, are real.
Technical and Vocational Education in
Greece and the Attitudes of
Greek Youngsters Toward It
by MICHAEL KASSOTAKIS
One of the implicit objectives of the recent Greek educational reform was to increase the number of students who choose
technical and vocational schools. The majority of students, however, reject pre-university technical studies. This is one of the
obstacles the educational reform has to face.
In order to understand the reasons for this rejection, a study
was made in 1978. It was found that the major reasons for the
negative attitude toward technical studies are: (1) the belief that
students can succeed in the university better if they come from
general secondary schools rather than technical and vocational
schools; (2) the low social prestige of technical jobs; (3) the
belief that good education is acquired only in general secondary
schools; and (4) job insecurity in the technical field.
In this article, an attempt will be made to present Greek youngsters'
attitudes toward technical and vocational education. In order to understand this attitude, and the factors which formulated it, it is necessary
to give a brief description of the historical background of technical/
vocational education in Greece prior to the reform of 1976-77.
1. The Status of Technical/ Vocational Education
Prior to the 1977 Reform
Until the recent educational reform in Greece (Laws 309/76 and
576/77), public technical and vocational education had, essentially, not
been developed, nor had it functioned satisfactorily in spite of the fact
that various efforts had been made toward that direction during the
modern history of the Greek nation (1913, 1929, 1952, 1964-65). 1
1
See: N. Dendrinos-Antonakakis, "Technical and Vocational Education," in
The Great Educational Enyclopedia, vol. 2, Athens, Hellinika Grammata, 1967,
pp. 587-589 (in Greek); A. Frangoudakis, "Technical Education and its Mythology," in Synchrona Themata, 1979, 1, 4, 9-22 (in Greek).
81
82
JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
The reasons for the successive failures of these efforts of development
of public technical and vocational education do not constitute the purpose of this article. I simply wish to note here that, among the various
factors for these failures, two are worth mentioning: (a) the fear of
many intellectuals in Greece that the development of technical and vocational education would undermine the fields of dassics and humanities,
which have constituted the main thrust of Greek education' (those who
held such views fought the promotion and development of technical/
vocational education both directly and indirectly, and attempted to suppress the growing demands for the promotion of this field), and (b)
the Greek economy, except for recent decades, had not, essentially, created pressing needs for a specialized technical personnel (for many
decades, the Greek economy was based mainly on primary sector production, and used methods that were traditional, without requiring highly
specialized skills). Industry was almost non-existent, and the technological requirements and skilled labor of handicrafts were so minor
they could usually be learned at the place of work. The organization of
the various services was such that it did not require specialized individuals other than secretaries and typists, who could come from general
education.
2.
The Need for the Development of TechnicallVocational
Education Begins to Become Pressing
In the decade of the 1950s, the demand for the development of technical/vocational education starts to become pressing. As the various
private enterprises and businesses develop, they begin to require new
methods of organization which call for specialized individuals of mainly
medium level. Similar needs are expressed in public services, which, in
combination with the adoption of modern technology, become even
greater in the decades of the 1960s and 1970s. Concomitantly, the Greek
economy, especially after 1960, calls for serious structural changes. The
Gross National Product grows at an average annual rate of approximately
6.8%. 3 The importance for production of the primary sector begins to
decrease gradually, while the role and importance of the secondary sector
increases, particularly in manufacturing. The needs for specialized technical personnel gradually increase, but the lack of specialized technicians creates serious problems in the various sectors of industrial
production. Under such pressures, the first worthwhile efforts for development of technical/ vocational education take place in 1959 based
on the recommendations of the Educational Committee (Porismata
'See: A. Frangoudakis, pp. 10-18, Study on Technical and Vocational Education, Athens, Technical Chamber of Greece, 1974, p. 9 (in Greek).
'See: OECD, Greece, Paris, 1972, p. 52; X. Zolotas, Greece in the European
Economic Community, Athens, Bank of Greece, 1975, pp. 10-14 (in French).
Technical and Vocational Education in Greece 83
which was constituted to study the educational issues
of the country. 4 (Of course, little and slow progress was made, while
the basic objections have still not been overcome.) With the 1964-65
reform, essential changes are attempted for the development of technical/
vocational education, along with other innovations, but because of the
takeover by the Greek junta, as well as for other reasons, they are never
implemented.
In an attempt to increase profits, the private sector took advantage of
the situation and showed initiative by creating several private technical and
vocational schools during the decade of 1965-75 in order to prepare
individuals to specialize in office jobs (secretaries, accountants, dental
technicians, etc.). The greatest percentage of students in these private
schools are high school graduates who failed to pass the entrance examinations to attend institutions of higher education and who do not have
the opportunity to study abroad. The same is true of the few public
technical schools that exist. In this manner, technical/vocational education has been looked upon as an asylum for weak students and for
those who have failed to seek admission into institutions of higher
education. However, the private sector's initiative in the creation of
technical/vocational schools, except for a few cases, has not encompassed
the facilities needed (laboratories and other necessary educational hardware) in order to train individuals (because of the expenses involved).
The state attempts to cover the needs in this domain but does not quite
succeed because the schools lack equipment and well-trained teaching
personnel. Furthermore, these public technical schools fall under the
auspices of various ministries, and their supervision and organization
becomes difficult due to bureaucratic confusion. However, the needs
of the economy, as they appear in various economic programs, press.
The prototype for long-term development in Greece that was elaborated
during the dictatorship anticipated that graduates of technical/vocational schools, who in 1971 represented 10% of the country's manpower, ought to reach 37.5% in 1987. 5
Epitropis Paideias),
3. The Congestion in General Education and the Problem of
Students Who Do Not Enter Higher Education
In order to obtain a complete picture of the situation prior to the
1976-77 reform and to understand what followed, it must be noted that,
with the explosion of the student population during the decade of the
1960s, a huge problem resulted for high school graduates which became more acute as time went along. The ratio of those who enter
4 See: Conclusions of the Educational Committee, Athens, National Printing
Office, 1958 (in Greek).
5 K.E.P.E. (Center for Scientific Planning of Greece), Prototype Plan for
Longterm Development in Greece, Athens, 1972, p. 213 (in Greek).
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JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
higher education institutions to those who fail moves from approximately
1:1.5 in 1965, to 1:3 in 1970, and reaches 1:4 in 1975.° This way, a
rather large percentage of young graduates from general education remain outside of higher education institutions without obtaining any
skills for professional careers. Many of these leave the country to study
abroad, spending a great deal of exchange, which hurts the Greek economy. In 1972, for example, the expenses of Greek families whose children study abroad were equal to those that the Greek government
utilized to meet the needs of the students in all the categories of higher
education in Greece.' Other students return to the existing technical/
vocational schools that they had rejected earlier in order to acquire a
job. Finally, other students look for an office position, expanding, in
this manner, the antiproductive activities of the tertiary sector, the
hypertrophy of which has hurt the Greek economy in recent decades.
During this period, there were no possibilities for a large increase of
student enrollment at higher education institutions to the degree necessary to minimize the problem. Besides, there was not an essential need
for university level graduates. In 1971, the percentage of graduates from
higher education institutions in relation to the population was 3.1%;
this percentage is greater than that of industrially well-developed France
(2.7% in 1968).
4. The Shift Toward Technical Education
Because of the pressing needs that were mentioned above, even the
most conservative political parties, which, in the past, have held reservations regarding tec hnical/ vocational education, seem to show concern
for its development and reorganization.° Much of this has to do with
Greece's entry in the European Economic Community, which calls for
a harmony of its economic and educational policy with the other countries of Europe, particularly in the training of personnel for Greek
enterprises and businesses, so as to confront European competition.
Thus, measures for educational reform were the main concern of the
first Greek government after the dictatorship. The reorganization of
technical/vocational education has played an important part in these
'See: M. Drettakis, "Econometric Models for the Prevision of the Number
of the Candidates for the Entrance Examination in the Institutions of the Higher
Education," Athens, 1976 (mineo, in Greek), in Kassotakis, Le developpement
economique et le probleme de t orientation scolaire et professionnelle en Grece,
Athens, Laboratoire de Pedagogic experimentale, 1979, p. 62.
7M. Drettakis, "The Current Expenses of Higher Education," in Epitheorisis
Kinonikon Erevnon, 1976, 197, p. 467 (in Greek).
8 G. Psacharopoulos and A. Kazamias, A Development Study for Post-Secondary Education, Athens, Ministry of Education, 1978, p. 253 (in Greek—unpublished).
'See: A. Frangoudakis, p. 10.
Technical and Vocational Education in Greece
85
educational reforms because it is the place where manpower will receive
its training as the new needs of the economy increase.
The Centers for Higher Technical/Professional Studies (K.A.T.E.E.),
that began to be created at the time of the dictatorship, were reinforced and increased in number. The lower technical/vocational schools
were abolished as a necessary consequence of the extension of obligatory
education; in their place, new upper secondary level technical schools
were established, where graduates of the lower secondary level (gymnasium) could enroll without taking any entrance examinations. In addition, upper level secondary technical/vocational schools (technical/vocational lycea) were created in order to absorb a certain number of students who, in the past, used to attend general secondary education.
5. The Negative Connotation of Technical/ Vocational Education
According to a long-term need assessment of the Greek economy
for manpower allocation, it was found that the ratio of students who
attend technical schools must exceed that of 28 to 100, which applied
in 1971, to that of 40 to 100 in 1985. The average annual rate of increase of student population that was suggested was as follows: 1.0%
for the general lyceums, 2.5% for the universities, 5.0% for the technical lyceums, and 5.0% for Centers for Higher Technical/Professional
Studies (K.A.T.E.E.)." Thus, there seems to be a need to increase the
student population in technical/vocational education. Such an increase,
however, especially in a democratic system, ought to take place because
students show preference toward that field and not because various autocratic mechanisms of selection exist which necessitate students' enrollment. Unfortunately, as things are right now, neither students nor parents
in Greece show any preference for technical/vocational schools; quite
the opposite, they seem to show a negative attitude toward that type of
education, and they refuse to turn toward it.
In actuality, the ambition of the great majority of Greek students
and their parents is to attend university level schools. A study that took
place in 1974 among 7,500 students who attended the last two classes
of secondary school (old-type gymnasium) pointed out that 85% wished
to continue their studies in some kind of post-secondary education. From
those students, only 1.2% felt that they would follow technical nonuniversity level education. The ambition of the rest of the students was
to become doctors, engineers (graduates of the Polytechnic University),
lawyers, architects, and, generally, to receive a university level diploma."
"G. Psacharopoulos and A. Kazamias, p. 19.
"G. Psacharopoulos and C. Soumelis, "A Quantitative Analysis of the Demand for Higher Education," in Higher Education, April 1979. See also G. Psacharopoulos, "Selection, Self-Selection and Technical Education," in To Vima,
13-7-1979 (in Greek).
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JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
Similar conclusions have been drawn from older studies." Even more
recent studies indicate that the educational reforms and the new economic
developments have affected students' ambitions, and their attitudes toward technical/vocational education, very little." In a research study
that was conducted in 1977 among 630 students who attended the last
class of the upper secondary level lyceum, it was found that only 3 %
planned exclusively to follow the K.A.T.E.E. The rest of them showed
intentions of enrollment at the K.A.T.E.E. only in case they failed entering a university-level institution. In the same study, out of 943 students attending the last class of the new-type gymnasium, only 7% replied
that they thought of following technical/vocational education. The rest
of those planning to continue their studies showed preference for the
general lyceum." The above foundings were verified by reality. In 1978,
1.9% of the graduates of the new-type gymnasium showed exclusive
preference for technical/vocational lycea. This situation forces the government to conduct entrance examinations so that the desired increase
in the student population be attained. Such a measure is criticized by
many individuals because it does not respect the student's liberty and
personality. It must be noted that the shift toward technical education
either by compelling students, or out of failing, or out of fear failing,
the entrance exams creates an uncomfortable psychological condition in
students which could impede their future progress.
This situation is now handled in a different way by those who study
educational matters in Greece. Some experts consider the situation quite
serious and suggest that it should be a major concern of Greek education and the economy. On the other hand, others believe that the economy does not actually need graduates of technical schools. They indicate
that "school is not the only place that technicians may receive education." The training and specialization that an individual receives in the
enterprise or business in which he/ she is employed can be more effective
and less expensive for the country. Some individuals do not consider
the state rush for a shift toward technical education necessary, even if
we admit that it produces trained individuals who are needed by the
economy. The turn to technical education, they assert, will come by
itself, whether it's wanted or not, and there will be many families and
students who will seek that kind of education. This expressed social
preference will identify the amount of positions that should be filled
by the state, the private sector, and enterprises or businesses. Until then,
we should proceed slowly by "seeing and doing. . ."" A massive turn
toward technical education might create other different kinds of prob.
"See: J. Kitsaras, Professional Aspirations of our Youth, Athens, 1967 (in
Greek); H. Mendras, et al., Six villages d'Epire: Problemes du developpement
socio-economique, Paris, UNESCO, 1961.
13 K. Bada et al., The Effect of Cultural Factors in School Achievement of the
first two classes of Elementary Schools, Athens 1980 (mineo, in Greek).
14M. Kassotakis, pp. 127 128 and 203-209.
1%. Psacharopoulos, To Vima, November 20, 1980.
-
Technical and Vocational Education in Greece 87
lems that would result from the inability of the Greek economy to absorb an abrupt massive production of technicians
The above assertions seem to be true. On the other hand, a situation
has been created that must be analyzed and interpreted. Even if there is
not a need to increase substantially the number of students who orient
themselves toward technical/professional education, it is important that
those who do orient themselves toward it do so out of interest and not
out of desperation. Under this perspective, it becomes very important to
investigate the reasons why students do not wish to orient themselves
toward technical/ vocational education. Compulsory measures for students' orientation should not exist in a democratic educational system;
instead, the reasons that created an undesirable situation ought to be
determined and all efforts should be made to eliminate them. In this
manner, both interest in and desire for technical/vocational education
will be created.
6. The Reasons for not Choosing Technicall Vocational Educational
Table I indicates the main reasons why Greek students do not wish
to attend a technical lyceum, while table II points out the reasons why
the graduates of the general lyceum consider K.A.T.E.E. as a solution
only in the case that they fail to enter other types of schools.'
TABLE I
The Major Reasons for the Negative Attitude Toward
Technical/ Vocational Lycea
Reasons
1. I am afraid that, from these
lycea, it will be difficult for
me to continue my studies at
the university level.
2. The graduates from these lycea
will have a low social status.
3. I am not interested in the professions for which these lycea
prepare someone.
Boys
(425)
Girls
(398)
no.
%
'70
327
77
no.
266
67
178
42
175
44
170
40
171
43
"For the reasons of rejecting the technical lycea, see also: E. Papanoutsos,
"Technical Lycea: We Need them; Why don't we love them?" in To Vima,
August 31, 1980.
88
JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
4. These lycea do not give a good
education.
5. I am afraid that I will not be
able to find a job after graduation.
6. There is no such lyceum near
132
31
155
39
93
22
52
13
55
13
52
13
38
9
48
12
30
7
52
13
us.
7. My parents do not want me to
follow this direction.
8. Other reasons.
Source: M. Kassotakis, p. 132.
TABLE II
The Major Reasons for the Negative Attitude
Toward K.A.T.E.E.
Reasons
1. I do not like the profession for
which these studies prepare me.
2. These types of studies do not
interest me.
3. These studies do not have prestige within society.
4. These studies do not provide
security.
5. My parents do not wish me to
follow these types of studies.
6. Other reasons.
Boys
(295)
Girls
(268)
no.
138
%
47
no.
150
%
56
135
46
136
51
109
37
112
42
47
16
35
13
24
8
37
14
62
21
43
16
Source: M. Kassotakis, p. 206.
From these data, it becomes obvious that the main reasons why
gymnasium graduates do not turn toward technical/vocational lycea is
the fear that they will face difficulties entering a university level school
after their graduation. It was noted earlier that a great majority of Greek
Technical and Vocational Education in Greece 89
students have the desire to attend a university level institution. Their
fear that they will not be able to fulfill that desire by attending the
technical lyceum taps a serious issue which has been recently discussed
a great deal—namely, the subject of equivalence of the two types of
lycea. Law 576/77 makes the two types of lycea equivalent. Various
political leaders, as well as Greek educators, have repeatedly supported
this equivalence. A distinction should be made, however, between the
theoretical and realistic equivalence of these two types. There isn't enough
proof until now to persuade the mass of the Greek people that a realistic equivalence exists. First of all, there is a negative tradition regarding technical education, which, for a number of years, was considered the asylum of those students who, for various reasons, did not
follow general education and, consequently, were rarely able to advance
themselves in higher levels of education. This tradition about technical/
vocational education remains deeply rooted in the minds of the Greek
people. According to the recent entrance examination results, the students who entered higher education institutions were few, with the exception of those students who succeeded in entering the K.A.T.E.E.
Furthermore, the same law (576/77) prescribes that students of technical lycea who wish to continue their studies at institutions of higher
education have to enroll for additional courses. It must be noted that, in
the general lycea, where a great majority of students concentrate, there
are required courses for all students, whether they wish to continue to
higher level studies or not. This distinction reveals a different perspective
about the nature of the two types of lycea, and justifiably creates a disbelief in the masses regarding their equality; consequently, equal educational opportunities are not guaranteed in entering higher education
institutions.
In addition, it must be stressed that the teaching personnel of the
technical schools (not as mandated by the law, but in actuality) cannot
be considered the same with those of general education, which has
monopolized the interests of the state for years. One must also add that
the hesitation (and, in many cases, the fear) of students in following
technical/ vocational education increases by the fact that the shortage
of educational hardware is greater in this type of school than in those
of general education. Certainly, it must be mentioned that during the
short period of time that has gone by since the renovation of technical/
vocational education, it has not been possible to fill all its gaps.
Another important reason for the formation of students' negative attitude toward tedmical/vocational education is the stereotype of social
status that is usually assigned to the occupations that these students
are prepared for. This attitude is due to the fact that the Greek people
nourish the belief (which is perhaps erroneous) that occupations involving technical and vocational skills are inferior to office jobs and
other career positions. This occupational stereotyping assumes that anyone who does not earn his/her living by using "pen and paper" is considered to be a blue-color worker. Financial benefits certainly play a role
90
JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
in formulating the social status of occupations, but, by themselves, they
are not sufficient in creating it. 17 If this would apply, the graduates
of technical/ vocational schools should have a higher social status in
Greek society, since their average annual income, as indicated by table
III, is greater than that of other graduates who happen to command
higher respect in Greek society.
TABLE III
Annual Income According to Level and Type of
Education in Greece
General Education
Educational
Income in
level
drachmas
1. Elementary School 136,000
Graduates
158,000
2. Graduates of
Lower Level
Secondary Schools
3. Graduates of
183,000
Secondary Schools
4. Graduates of
231,000
University Level
Education
Technical/Professional Education
Educational
Income in
level
drachmas
1. Graduates of
Secondary Schools
2. Graduates of
Higher Education
at Non-University
Level
193,000
236,000
Source: G. Psacharopoulos, To Vima, Nov. 29, 1980.
All these opinions regarding the jobs of technicians become less important with the economic development and industrialization of countries. As Psacharopoulos points out, "the more developed a country is,
the less frequently women spend in the hairdressers and the men care
to use a jacket and a necktie for a visit to a friend's house. Greece is
now at the stage of development where the hairdresser as well as the
jacket and the necktie play an important role (although there is a tendency
for this habit to decrease). Consequently, the dislike toward technical/ vocational education is consistent with the rest of the characteristics
of the modern Greek family. . ." Under the present situation of Greek
society, one can perceive the admiration that is assigned to the word
"scientist." All parents and students in Greece feel admiration for and
,
'See also E. Papanoutsos, To Vima, August 31, 1980.
Technical and Vocational Education in Greece
91
aspire to become "scientists," a term that is associated with graduates
of university level schools. The degree to which this association is consistent with what constitutes "reality in Greece" is another issue for
analysis and beyond the scope of this article.
Another important reason that contributes to the unwillingness of
students to enroll in technical schools is the view that they do not
receive a good education. This view equates education with classical
studies, in which the general schools place great importance. This has
created the impression that any other form of education which attempts
to combine philological studies with practically useful knowledge is not
considered valuable, or is inferior to, classical general education. It should
be emphasized that I am not trying to undermine the importance that
classical studies have in education; I simply wish to clarify that classical
studies are not the only type that have educational value. As Langevin
states, we should attempt "to place value in each field of knowledge.
All fields, including the more simple technical and manual activities,
have -educational value. Let's not forget that man's hand created his
mind. Thoughts stem from actions and ought to return to actions."'
As Canogne and Ducel point out, there is no room for choice between
humanistic and technocratic ideals in education. The solution may be
found in reconciling the two. Since this idea has not yet been adopted
in Greece, technical and humanistic education must be incorporated
within the technical schools as a synthesis which may bring positive results in developing individuals with necessary specializations and wellintegrated personalities."
It should also be underlined that another reason for the lack of
interest in technical/ vocational education is the total absence of technical/ vocational education courses in the obligatory general education.
One develops an interest for something when he/she receives knowledge of it or generally becomes familiar with it. That is not true, however, for students in Greece receiving their obligatory education, at
least as far as technology and its application is concerned. In the past,
the intention was to introduce technical courses in the new gymnasium,
but, at present, they have been implemented only in a few gymnasia.
A substantial reason for the current status of technical education is
the fear that students might not find employment upon graduation.
There is a need for specialized technicians in Greece, and the rate of
the country's growth portends that such needs will increase in the near
future. The fear for unemployment exists because, until recently, there
was no job security for graduates of technical/vocational schools. No
legislation has been mandated to the effect that enterprises and other
organizations should hire individuals with a diploma from technical/
"Refers to A. Leon, Formation general et apprentis.rage du metier, Paris,
P.U.F., 1965, p: 10.
"See: F. Canogne and R. Ducel, La pedagogic decant le pros& technique,
Paris, P.U.F., 1969, p. 8.
92
JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
vocational schools and place them in specialized technical positions.
Very recently, the government announced measures in an attempt to
deal with this serious issue regarding the fortunes of graduates of technical/vocational schools. It should be further noted that there are indications by employers that the quality of technical and professional
education is not at the level that it should be. This fact makes certain
employers hesitate to hire individuals from technical education, and
without previous relevant experience, for important positions. In other
cases, several enterprises prefer to train the personnel they need, undermining the products of formal public education in this manner.
Furthermore, it must be added that the graduates of general education have the capability of seeking employment in many fields because
of their general educational orientation, while that is not true for the
specialized graduates of technical schols. Finally, it should be pointed
out that there is a lack of systematic information flowing to the people
at large, as well as to the students, regarding technical education and its
various specializations. At the time of the implementation of the educational reform, few parents and students knew exactly what the secondary
level technical lycea were all about. Similarly, they had no knowledge
of the K.A.T.E.E., as table IV indicates.
TABLE IV
Self-estimation About the Degree of Knowledge Regarding
Technical/ Vocational Education
Degree of
information
Information about Technical
and Vocational Lycea
Students of
Gymnasium
1. None
2. Moderate
3. Good
4. Very good
Information about
K.A.T.E.E.
Parents
Students of
General Lyceum
33
48
35
52
39
39
15
4
11
2
17
5
Source: M. Kassotakis, pp. 152, 209, 244.
Certainly, with the passing of law 309/76, through which reform
took place in general education, career guidance was mandated to be
introduced in the new lower secondary level gymnasia in order to grant
orientation to students in various studies and professions. This type of
Technical and Vocational Education in Greece 93
guidance has been recently introduced in schools in the form of a course.
This orientation usually takes places in the form of massive information in the classroom; such a method, as is known from various studies,
is not successful in changing or modifying attitudes of individuals regarding various professions. In other words, all these efforts are mainly
limited to the schoolroom, and are not extended to the parents of the
students and to the public at large. Furthermore, there are no individuals
who have specialized to undertake this important training. All the instructors who teach the course in guidance are teachers who have undergone a brief in-service training. In the final analysis, I believe that, if an
essential equivalence between technical and general education is secured,
if a fundamental improvement of technical/vocational education occurs,
and if the graduates of the technical/vocational schools can be assured
that they can be employed upon graduation, there may be a change in
the negative attitudes that have been traditionally associated with technical
and vocational education in Greece.
GREECE A NATION IN CRISIS
0. Iatrides, editor
IN THE John
A collection of twenty essays, originally presented in shortened form at a symposium spon1940s sored
by the Modern Greek Studies Association, on a pivotal period in Greek
history.
$35.00
GREECE A BIBLIOGRAPHIC
COMPANION
IN THE John
0. Iatrides, editor
most complete bibliography to date on
1940s The
wartime Greece and the Jewish community
there. Paper, $15.00
UNIVERSITY PRESS OF
NEW ENGLAND
HANOVER AND LONDON
Certain Features of Higher Education in
Greece and the Failure of
The Attempts To Reform It
by KOSTAS GAVROGLU
It is not the purpose of this essay to trace the historical development
of the Greek university nor to present a systematic analysis of its social
function. There is no central thesis to be "proven" or an exhaustive
analysis of a particular observation or conclusion about Greek higher
education. What will be attempted, instead, is a phenomenology of the
Greek university—a phenomenology which, by bringing out all those
features that, in their totality, exhibit the specifity of the higher education system in Greece, becomes, at the same time, a necessary prerequisite
for any serious study of higher education during the period following
the Second World War.
A. The Reproduction of the Greek University and
Greek Research
The aim of university education is not confined only to educating
people able to practice jobs. Another equally important function of the
university is its ability to reproduce itself. And although there are many
social institutions whose reproduction depends on other social institutions, the university, by definition, should functionally be capable of
its own reproduction. "In order for a university to exist it is not sufficient to train professionals capable of applying the scientific disciplines
to the various professions. It is necessary to produce teachers capable of
teaching future scientists. As is the case for all living organisms, the
same is true for the university: its ability to reproduce itself is a precondition of its survival. Thus in order for a university to exist, it is
necessary for university teachers to train other university teachers, who
will be their successors."'
The Greek university has proven itself incapable of such a function,
and its reproduction depends almost entirely on foreign universities:
"Among the approximately 200 professors and senior lecturers who
have been appointed in the last two years, approximately 150 come from
'G. Katiforis, Anti, October 16, 1976, p. 18.
95
96
JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
European and American universities, where they had equivalent positions or titles."' It is, furthermore, almost certain, as Katiforis stresses,
that the remaining 50 received their post-graduate education in foreign
universities. The situation after 1976 becomes even worse: it is not
only those appointed who come from foreign universities, but the same
applies to a very high percentage of all the applicants (on the average,
there are about five applicants for every professional position) . It is
also the case that, among the applicants, those who already occupy
junior positions are extremely few, and the number of them who are
eventually elected is really insignificant.' Among the nearly 500 professors appointed after 1974 in the twelve universities of Greece, the number of people who already occupied junior positions at the time of their
appointment were not more than 5%!
This situation is not, of course, independent of the state of research
in Greece. The very little research done in Greek universities has not
acquired the status of an institutional feature of university life. The
research done is on a personal basis and outside the dominant trends
that make up the activities of the university community. What follows
is indicative of the existing "climate":
(a) The universities are primarily "geared" to granting first degrees.
Apart from certain series of courses which lead to post-graduate diplomas
(among them, electronics in the University of Athens, operational research in the National Technical University, economics in the Higher
School of Economic and Trade. Sciences), there are no organized and
systematic post-graduate studies to provide the background for doctoral
research!
(b) University research is basically financed by government agencies
and very little by industry or international agencies. The money spent
for all research in 1977 (including the research institutes, industrial
research, etc.) was 0.27% of the GNP, with about 10% of it for
university research—by far, the worst among the European Common
Market countries, which, on the average, spend about 1-1.5% of their
GNP for research. The situation at the University of Athens—the largest
and oldest among the twelve Greek universities—is characteristic. Only
2% of the university budget for 1980 is appropriated for research,
'G. Rallis, letter in Kathimerini when he was Minister of Education, August
24, 1976.
'One should not conclude from this that junior positions are occupied by
unfit persons, but should take into consideration both the conditions under which
this personnel works and the way new professors are elected: in most cases the
scientific achievements of the applicant become a small perturbation to the picture
that "other" criteria make up. It is only recently, and only in some faculties,
that the election procedures have tended to become elementally decent.
'A study of the problem of graduate studies was completed by a committee
set up by the Ministry of Education. The report (widely known as the "Doxiadis
Report") was published in June 1977. In June 1980, a bill for graduate studies
was made public, but was not sent to the parliament until the following November.
Certain Features of Higher Education in Greece 97
and, in absolute value, the money given is less than what was given
for 1979, despite an inflation rate of 25%. What, however, is worse is
that the sole criterion for distributing this money to the various faculties
is the number of chairs (and hence professors) each faculty has, and
not the relative significance of the program, the number of researchers
working for it, etc.'
(c) In 1976, there was an attempt to list all the research done in
Greek universities. It was found that there were 890 ongoing research
programs :e "These programs are financed by the state and what is impressive is the lack of a mechanism for evaluating the general direction
of scientific research and the distribution of the expenses for the various
research programs."' The research done in the universities is within
the administrative bounds of the "chairs" and is decided almost exclusively by the professor. There is no coordination among "chairs" of
similar scientific- branches, and the bureaucracy inherent in the chair
system leads to the duplication of instruments, scientific magazines, etc.
(it is a common phenomenon to have underused instruments, computers,
etc., in more than one chair in the same university).
(d) The lack of research is also reflected through the unreasonably
high prestige university teaching has both within the university community and socially, and it is reasonable to assume that the authoritarian
teaching methods and the harshness of the examination systems become
an academic alibi for the absence of research. The process of propagating knowledge should, at the same time, be the reconstruction of the
process of its genesis and development—the expression, in other words,
of a systematic and disciplined way of disputing established knowledge.
Such a way of teaching cannot be performed by people who do not
actually do research. On the other hand, teaching methods such as the
existing ones, which are, of course, "in accord" with the content of
teaching, have consistently served the ideological demands for obscurantism—the dominant trend in education, especially after the end of
the civil war in 1949, until very recently.
'Report by I. Migas, P. Roumeliotis, "Scientific Research," August 1977, for
Development Program of the Center of Programming and Economic Research
(KEPE). KEPE, o/xia tov Ilpdrcomov Maxpoxpov too 'AvcotTQauic 'c 'EXXdboc
1973-1987D ["Model Plan for the Long Term Development of Greece 1973 1987")
-
vol. "Technology," 1972. F. I. Mitsis, 'ArnoXoytalthg Ton "Epyou Tqc IIpuTavacc.c
ToB 'Axabrit.t.cazob "Dm/4 1979-1980 [The Rector's Statement for the Academic
Year 1979-19801 Athens, December 1980. It should be noted that there are
many differences among the twelve universities. Six have only one faculty, three
have two, and the rest have six, seven, and eight faculties each.
'One cannot help but notice that the questions of the questionnaire were
formulated in such a way as to maximize the number of research programs; many
programs should not be considered as distinctly different programs but part of
the same one. The question least answered was the one about the financial
needs of the various programs, and the way money was spent for programs in
progress, etc.
Migas, P. Roumeliotis, p. 4.
98
JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
For all these reasons—which we should keep in mind when trying
to understand the attempts to modernize higher education—whatever
processes undermine the aura of teaching, and make it a livelier enterprise with modern content, even if they are within the bounds of
technocratic attitudes, acquire a radical character in Greece today.°
B. "Overeducation" and the Class Composition
-
of the Student Body
Starting in the beginning of the 1960s and for about the next ten
years, there was a sharp increase in the student population of Western
universities. In Greece, for example, during the period 1964-1974, there
was a nearly 50% increase in the student population. However, one
cannot mention this trend without, at the same time, posing the question
concerning the class composition of the student body. The situation for
the begining of the century is analyzed in Tsoucalas's work, and it leads
to two very interesting and important conclusions about the class composition of the students enrolled in Greek universities without taking
into consideration the Greek students studying abroad (today, about
25% of the nearly 100,000 students enrolled in Greek universities study
abroad) .°
(a) Compared with other countries, Greece had one of the highest
percentages of enrolled students to population.
(b) There is a relatively democratic representation of society in the
student body, suggesting that criteria of selection on the basis of a student's class origin were by no means dominant.
Let us now very briefly see to what extent the present situation
displays similar trends.
(a) It is not our purpose here to go into a detailed discussion of
what is meant by "overeducation,"" the possible reservations that exist
about this term, and the ways such a feature may be gauged. In our
opinion, the three indices which are presented in Table I (percentage of
university students to the whole population, the percentage of university
students to the total school population, and the number of university
students for some amount of the Gross Domestic Product) are sufficient
to indicate whether the basic features of such a trend as "overeducation" continues to "characterize" higher education.
8.An important step toward this direction has been law 118 of 1976, whereby
assistants or senior assistants who have a doctorate acquire the right to teach.
9 C. Tsoucalas, 'RcipTv]avi xoel 'Avarcapaytoyt: '0 Kotwovtx6g PRog TGiv
sEwrcaLbsut oce6v Mvixcevcop.61v av v TAXabx (1830-1922) [Dependence and
Reproduction: The Social Role of the Educational Mechanisms in Greece (18301922)], Themelio, Athens, 1980, p. 448.
"See also article by C. Tsoucalas in this issue.
99
Certain Features of Higher Education in Greece
TABLE I
No. of students
for 1 million of
GDP in ECU
(1977)
Germany 2.36
France
2.90
Italy
5.32
Belgium 2.55
Britain 2.41
Denmark 2.92
Holland 2.78
Ireland 4.49
Greece
3.91
No. of students
for 1000 people
of the total population
(1977)
17.38
18.19
17.70
17.58
9.34
23.26
18.72
11.11
9.61
Percentage of
students to the total
school population
(1976-1977)
7.9%
7.1%
7.8%
7.0%
4.4%
11.3%
6.9%
4.0%
5.11%
The Gross Domestic Product is expressed in European Currency Units, and the
basic data has been taken from Basic Statistics of the Community (1980) and
Statistics of Education in Greece (1979).
These numbers, it should be stressed, are only to be taken as indicative of a trend rather than as conclusive data. A more systematic
presentation will have to take into account the differences that result
from the number of students who are enrolled for an unreasonably
long time (about 10% of the university students in Greece are enrolled
for seven or more years when the average programs last 4 years), those
enrolled for a second degree, the number of people who contribute to
the GDP, and the production per person, etc. Nevertheless, what is observed is quite interesting: when the number of enrolled students is
compared with the GDP, Greece's position is among the top three,
whereas Greece finds itself among the bottom three (with significant
differences from the rest) when the number of university students are
compared to the total population and the total school population." One
should add here that, concerning the last two indices, Greece's relative
position among the ECC contries has worsened since 1964, and the differences with the other countries has increased despite the fact that
five out of the eight countries had a rate of increase of the university
student population smaller than that of Greece." All this leads one to
"It is interesting to note that, in 1912-13, the number of students per
10,000 people was 38.6 for the U.S.A., 12.6 for Greece, 11.5 for Germany,
9 for France, 8.9 for Holland, 6.8 for Britain; C. Tsoucalas, Table 80.
12A. Kintis, 'H 'Avercrivri liccLEsir4 crap TXXiBot. [Higher Education in
Greece}, Gutenberg, Athens, 1980, p. 52.
JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
100
believe that it is not possible to talk conclusively about "overeducation"
today with the same degree of confidence as for the recent past."
(b) The class composition of the student body presents the following
picture (according to father's occupation).
TABLE II
The quotient of the percentage of students
to percentage of population"
1936
1964
1974
I
II
III
0.39
0.52
0.68
2.4
1.1
1.3
8.6
2.3
1.7
I = workers, farmers. II = services, small businesses, etc.
III = executives, industrialists, doctors, etc.
The following comments could be made about this table:
(a) A university which would have "faithfully" reflected the class
structure of society would have had the quotient 1 for all categories.
It is interesting to note that such a trend is actually observed for categories
I and III. The same can basically be said about category II, especially
if one takes into account an inherent difficulty in determining unambiguously the content of category II.
Thus, and despite the fact that one should not hasten to reach overall
conclusions, the conclusion reached by Tsoucalas that, among the criteria
for selecting students for higher education class criteria are not dominant,
seems to continue to be valid.
(b) A closer study of the analytical statistics suggests that the probability of entering the university for students of category III is higher
than that of students from category I. It has also been claimed that the
latter have a higher percentage of failure in the university courses than
the former."
"One of the problems might lie in the definition of "overeducation," and
the assumption about the time independent character of the various parameters
which enter into the statistical normalization of GNP and different student
populations.
14 C. Tsoucalas, p. 439, Table 83; G. Mitralias, ell Kotvtov
(PpttypOg atio 'Exicctaisuctyp ["Social Origin: Hindrance to Education"l,
Ikonomicos Tahidromos, December 15, 1978. The ratio is found, for example,
for 1964 in the following way: 15.2% of the students have fathers in category
III, and people of category III represent 6.7% of the economically active population.
15A. Kintis, p. 65. Also I. Lambiris-Dimakis, 11p65 l4ia 'EXX.tivtxt Kocvtov to-
Certain Features of Higher Education in Greece
101
(c) The "democratic" class composition of the student body is not
reflected homogeneously for all faculties."
(d) One should also mention the role of a unique institution, the
frondistiria (preparatory schools). They were—until this year—the basic
mechanism that prepared high school students for the old entrance
examinations given once a year during August. Usually, during the two
last years of high school education, students were also sent to frondistiria,
and that was one of the prior investments of poorer people to their
children's education. For two years, students were trained to meet succesfully the entrance examinations, and those alone. However, and what
is important for our purposes here is that, despite their apparent parasitic
role, frondistiria had a weirdly "equating" function so far as developing techniques for training students to pass the exams, more or less
independent of the specific education given by the schools, whose standards varied widely. Starting last year, the university entrance examination system changed. Now, students in the last two years of their high
school take exams the results of which, together with their progress
grades on specific courses, make up the final grade, which now becomes the criterion for entering the university. This new system accentuates the class filters which always existed, but which were less
evident due to the specific function of frondistiria referred to above.
In this respect, the first results of the new system should not be surprising: the "good schools" had a failure rate less than 5%, while
schools in petit bourgeois districts were about 35% unsuccessful, and
schools in working class neighborhoods had a failure rate above 65%."
C. Attempts at Reforming Greek Higher Education and
Their Failure
The law which regulates the internal workings of the universities
was passed in 1932, and, since then, it has not been possible to realize
any major reform in the Greek university, despite the fact that various
governments have, from 1966, displayed a disposition for modernizing
the universities. Whatever plan was proposed failed to become law,
even after 1974, when there have been very important changes in all
Xoy tijg litztBetin [Toward a Greek Sociology of Education], EKKE, Athens,
1974.
16 M. Meimari, I. Nicolacopoulos, encepayowctstr) 'AvaXuari Adlottivtov)
["Factorial Analysis of Data"), Review of Social Research, vol. 33-34, 1978,
p. 226. For example, the faculties of the technical universities are "crowded"
around category III; faculties such as forestry, theology, and agriculture around
category I i (farmers); faculties such as physics, chemistry, biology, and mathematics, around category 1 9 (workers).
"For an interesting article, see G. Kiki, N. Polivios, A3r4, July 15, 1980,
4 MayiXo iT000crcá euratuxtac i.totOrrc@v 6=6 epTcoxoTs vcov tics. ["Big percentage
of failure for students from poor neighborhoods").
102
JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
other levels of education." In this part, there will be an effort to trace
out some conclusions deduced from the course of these unsuccessful
attempts to modernize the Greek university. There are, I believe, two
major questions which have to be posed, which, even if they are incompletely answered, will contribute to the understanding of the complex processes of reform—and counterreform—in the last fifteen years.
Why has it not been possible to reform the Greek university, especially
since what has been done for other levels of education is surely more
radical when compared to what has been proposed for the universities?
What model of a university explicitly or implicitly appears through these
proposals for reform?
The dominantly comprador character of the Greek economy, the
specific needs for specialized technical personnel, as well as the overpopulated tertiary sector, did not create the conditions necessary for a
modern university. Greece's dominant capital did not develop through
the process of the country's own industrialization, but through the services it rendered, as shipping and finance capital, to the world-wide
operations of international capital. As regards Greece itself, it organized, from "above," the country's economic and industrial development
to the exact extent that this "development" was necessary for the interests of its alliance with international capital. The fact that Greece's
dominant capital did not primarily develop from the process of the
country's industrialization while, inversely, Greek industry is the infant
of an already developed finance capital, determined, in a fundamental
way, almost every aspect of Greek social life and, in particular, the
country's educational system.
One cannot overemphasize the special role of engineers in the economic development of a country. A close look at how engineers are
"The basic documents that are relevant for this section are the following:
the proposals drawn up by committees set up by the Ministry of Education,
1966 (Edition of University of Athens); 1973 (Vima, January 17-23, 1973) ;
1975 (Editions Ermis); 1977 (published by Mr. A. Taliadouros, the committee's
chairman and presently the minister of education) ; 1978 (sent only to faculties
and the Central Councils of the scientific personnel and that of the students);
law 815 of 1978; presidential decree 407 for the University of Crete, 1980.
Furthermore, and after a government decision, a committee composed of all the
university rectors and representatives of the scientific personnel and the students starting on January 1980 worked out -the most comprehensive (and the
most liberal) set of proposals. A working group composed of professors, scientific personnel, and students worked out the initial plan that the rector's committee finally decided upon with some changes. K. Gavroglu, lipuTd.vacov, `01.14.8ot 'ErranIstg: ALI:co:1)o* xac.1 'Avueicatcv ["Committee of Rectors,
Working Group: Differences and Contradictions"), Abri, October 5, 1980. The
last two plans have been sent to the various faculties to express their opinions,
and, at the time of writing, only two faculties out of the thirty-five have answered. There are no clear indications as to what the government intends to do.
Finally, there is a wealth of information in all the faculty answers to the ministry
for the previous plans (especially for 1966 and 1975).
Certain Features of Higher Education in Greece 103
educated and what they do afterwards will provide some clues to understanding overall developmental policies and the extent to which they
"pushed for a modern education." The "output" of higher technical institutions, and especially of the National Technical University (NTU)—
the oldest, largest, and, until recently, the only such institution—were
engineers that were basically prepared only for the simple application
and maintenance of the products of foreign technology or for participating in the creation of the infrastructure of Greece's dependent
comprador economy. Since industrialization was planned and executed
from "above" through the relations of the dominant foreign economic
centers, the Greek economy in general and Greek industry in particular
did not need engineers who could solve original technological problems
through their own efforts. It was sufficient for them to read and understand the different instruction manuals and to be able to supervise the
normal functioning and routine maintenance operations of the industrial
process. Greek industry did not need highly qualified scientific personnel. It needed people who could be easily switched from one post
to another and were able to cope with different unrelated tasks. Correspondingly, the education in the NTU had an "encyclopedic" character without offering either a firm general theoretical grounding or real
specialization. The curriculum was overfull (more than 45 hours/week
obligatory), while the technological courses could thus only be taught
at the level of a more or less general introduction to each subject. In this
way, there was a characteristic "independence" of the technological
from the general courses. The latter were not considered as the basis
of the former but as more or less independent, but more abstract,
disciplines."
But the role of an educational system is not limited to offering
a corresponding knowledge content and technical training. Concurrently,
and perhaps even more importantly, it aims at creating and reproducing
the conditions that each trainee is destined to confront in society. In this
respect, the seemingly unrelated bits of knowledge that the different
courses offered were in reality inserted in an internally consistent system
of relations that trained and prepared students for the acceptance and
reproduction of the social function of the engineer, as that function
was defined in Greek society. After graduation, the young engineer
was ready to accept that his country was poor and helpless, that it could
not develop its industrial or technological potentialities without decisive
foreign help, and that he himself was condemned just to supervise the
routine operation of the industrial process, submitting without question
"A course like thermodynamics, for example, did not have any connection
to engines in the students' mind. The connection, if ever, was found after graduation, in the engineer's professional practice. This curriculum structure is the
degenerate offspring of the classical German tradition, whose influence had been
particularly strong when Greek universities were founded and which remained
effective for many years, offering an ideological framework for the over-burdening
of students and for the extreme scholasticism of the courses taught.
104
JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
to the arbitrary decisions of those placed above him. But during the
period of study and after graduation, an important social compensation
counterbalanced the leveling effects of this whole system. The very
strict entrance examinations to the NTU, together with the relatively
privileged social and economic status of engineers, as compared to that
of the other graduates, offered important social prestige to NTU students and alumni which, based as it was on the very real material advantages that the relatively few Greek engineers enjoyed, created an
elite ideology that could more or less successfully resist the daily misery
of student and professional practice."
All these characteristics and tendencies contribute to the formation
of, and, at the same time, are reflected in, the curriculum of the universities." For example, one cannot get a degree in many modern (and
many not so modern) scientific branches. Subjects such as molecular
biology, systems engineering, social psychology, history of science, etc.,
are, at the very best, presented in a single course of an equally general title.' It is also the case that one cannot get a degree in history,
psychology, sociology, anthropology, etc., but, for some, it is possible
to have them as specialties within the philosophy diploma. On January 1, 1981, Greece became a full member of the European Common
Market. And though Greece has been preparing" for this since 1976,
-
"Some further comments about the situation in the NTU can be found in
A. Baltas, G. Boudouris, K. Gavroglu, P. Giouleas, K. Stephanis, "Some
Thoughts that Guided an Attempt at the Reorganization of the Physics Program
in the NTU," presented at the Tenth Congress of the European Physical Society,
York, September 20-27, 1978. Furthermore, one has to mention, that in the history of the NTU, there have been professors who have honored their post, inspired their students, and attempted to relate the education in the NTU with
the real problems of the country. A really outstanding example is N. Kitsikis,
whose contribution to the development of the faculty of civil engineering in the
NTU has been such as to guarantee today a different role to civil engineers
from those of other engineers. The way Kitsikis considered industrialization and
the role of the NTU in this process are exemplified, in an excellent manner, in
his welcome address to the students on November 13, 1943, when he was rector—
and Greece under German occupation. Kitsikis, a staunch democrat, was dismissed from his post after the end of the civil war.
"An additional difficulty here is the way high school teachers are trained in
Greece—and the special role of the philosophy faculties in this process.
"One cannot dispute the objectively progressive character of the process of
formation of the new sciences and their acquiring an autonomous status. For the
basic physical sciences, these procedures have their historical origin during the
period the bourgeoisie was consolidating its hegemony in Europe. Gresham
College, the first institution where the "new sciences" were taught separately
from philosophy, was founded in 1579. Greece definitely did not follow such a
pattern of development, and one cannot claim that specific needs of production
forced a specific orientation of university education. It is interesting to note that
the faculty of physics, mathematics, and chemistry was founded in 1904, and until
then was part of the faculty of philosophy. The NTU did not acquire the status
of a higher education intitute until 1914.
105
Certain Features of Higher Education in Greece the only relevant courses taught in universities are courses in Community Law, and none in economics, regional development, or agricultural policy.
Furthermore, the money spent for R and D by industries, and the
actual research done by them, is a by no means absolute indication of
the extent of the national character of the industries themselves. As can
be noticed in Table III, Greece does not follow the trends that seem to
exist in the other EEC countries: Greek industries financially contribute
the least for R and D, whereas the government contributes the most.
What is important, though, is that R and D is executed primarily by
the government, whereas in all the other countries (with the exception
of Ireland), it is the industries themselves which execute this kind of
research. If one adds to this the very little amount of money given to
A and D anyway, it becomes reasonable to assume that Greek industry,
in its totality, does not "feel" the need to "develop" through its own
means, thus minimizing the need for a "modern university.'
TABLE III
Financing (first column) and Execution (second column) of
R and D in the Countries of the European Economic
Community"
Industry
Germany
France
Italy
Belgium
Britain
Denmark
Holland
Ireland
Greece
Government
50% 63%
39% 60%
48%
58%
17%
25%
51%
56%
47%
22%
63%
41%
37%
50%
32%
26%
64%
62%
41%
54%
31 %
26%
36%
54%
62%
46%
65%
73%
10%
29%
27%
23%
53%
59%
,
Universities
— 20%
— 16%
22%
— 26%
— 8%
— 31%
— 23%
— 16%
— 15%
—
The fundamental problem faced in the reform plans is not to propose
a. new model for -a number of universities which will eventually be
"From the report of the EEC Committee for R and D for candidate countries
(Greece, Portugal, Spain), March 27, 1979 (XII 371). The report notes that
the data from Greece are for 1971 (and are the latest that the. Greek government
officially gave), whereas for the other countries it is for 1975.
"All three relatively new universities (Patras, 1966; Ioannina, 1970; Thrace,
1973) have the chair system. The University of Crete, some of whose faculties
started functioning in 1977, has a different structure (resembling the American
system), but there are still no appointments made on a permanent basis and
according to the regulations of the new system.
106
'JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
founded; the difficulty lies in proposing a strategy for transforming
the existing university. The extreme difficulty of such an enterprise is
witnessed in the proposals of 1966, which were also the first attempt
to modernize higher education. What was proposed was the founding
of six new universities which would be modeled after the American
system, and no changes were proposed for the existing universities, thus
displaying both the inability of the government to intervene and "force"
changes in the existing universities, as well as its naivete in thinking
that it is possible to have two radically different university systems
coexist—especially within Greek conditions.
Plans which were put forth later proposed various changes for the
existing universities, and the central issue in all of them became the
abolition of the chair system. Presently, with the chair system, the professor who holds a particular chair legally has the right to decide what
to teach, how he will teach it, what he will examine, what textbook to
suggest, what books will be ordered for the library, and who will be
appointed to and who will be fired from the other positions.
The abolition of the chair system is a very complex procedure, and
the following can be considered as the minimum elements which should
make up a satisfactory and effective strategy for transforming the existing system in such a way as to create those conditions which will prohibit
the reproduction of old relations under a new regime.
(a) The process by which various chairs would merge and make up a
sector should at least be characterized by such an epistemological exactness so that the various sectors will be neither a renaming of chairs
nor a mechanical grouping of many chairs.
(b) All the groups that compose the university community will
have to be represented in the various bodies which make decisions about
educational and research matters."
(c) Lectures are considered as the only form of teaching and everything else is regarded as assisting the lectures delivered by the professor.
Establishing the equivalence of the different forms of teaching legitimizes laboratory practices, problem solving sessions, seminars, etc., as
forms of teaching and the people who perform them as teachers, weakening, at the same time, the privileged status of the lecturers—a privilege
that, stems solely from the fact that it is the professor who delivers them,
and not because such is necessarily and for every course their role in
the totality of the educational process.
25The plan proposed by the working group set up by the Rectors' Committee
has the following: professors, readers, and lecturers, 60%; students, 20%; assistants, 5%; graduate students, 5%; technical personnel, 5%; admini strative personnel, 5%. In all the Greek universities (twelve actually functioning plus two
in Crete), there are approximately 900 professors, 150 readers, 900 lecturers,
and 2,500 assistants.
"K. Gavroglu, gTop.stc `Ei9p6v: Tel c1,86va.^co ittac auvettomic ("Sectors of
Chairs: The Impossibility of a Symbiosis"), Vima, March 30, 1980.
Certain Features of Higher Education in Greece 107
(d) The scientific content of each chair is determined by law prior
to its proclamation. Upon appointment, the professor proposes changes
so that the new content perfectly suits his own interests, and this
legitimizes him in having the same interests unchanged for. usually 10,
20, or even 30 years. Thus, the person who holds the chair is administratively and scientifically entrenched—an entrenchment which guarantees the non-interference of other professors. It is remarkable, and
shocking at the same time, that, in the history of the Greek university,
there has never been a scientific debate, and the couple that took place
about language and archeology had explicitly political motivations and
were, characteristically, between well-known progressive and reactionary
professors. Any set of reform proposals would have to anticipate a radical
change in this situation."
Comparing all the proposals for a reform law, one finds a tendency
to abolish the chair system, but, at the same time, there is a definite
resistance to creating conditions so that the abolition of the chair system
will transcend the bounds of a legal and bureaucratic regulation. It is
interesting to note that the response of the overwhelming majority of
professors is even more conservative than that: they would definitely
prefer the preservation of the existing chair system, without objecting
so much to increasing the number of professors per chair—under their
own chairmanship..
The professors have been the protagonists in all the efforts aimed
at preventing changes in the universities. It would, thus, be wrong to
consider the professors either as civil servants who are mere executives
of government policy in the universities, or as de facto allies of the
progressive movement in the university. The university professors in
their totality, and with extremely few exceptions, resisted with vigor
whatever new could be—even informally—established, and only under
the pressure of the student movement adopted, in few instances, meekly
progressive positions. The professors have historically attained a relative
autonomy both from the government and the progressive university movement, and their responses to the various attempts for reforming the
university have always been in the direction of reinforcing their power,
and thus enhancing their relative autonomy. Their responses are, at least,
interesting: one section says that such proposals undermine the fabric of
the universities, another group says that what is proposed is very incomplete, and, since the proposals do not solve all the "important"
problems, the universities might as well remain in their present state,
and, finally, the rest do not say anything.
Some Concluding Remarks
There has been an attempt here to present some of what I consider
the more fundamental aspects of higher education in Greece, and the
"See footnote 19.
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JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
emphasis was neither on achieving a relatively complete presentation
nor an in-depth analysis of the possible repercussions of these aspects.
All this aimed at bringing forth those elements which differentiate the
Greek university system from that of other western countries, for, I believe, that very little of what has been written—especially since 1974—
about the Greek university concerns the universities in Greece as they
really are. The rest refers to a theoretical construct: a university which
functions in an autocratic bourgeois society.
It is the case that the lack of post-graduate studies, and the nonexistence of serious and systematic research that transcends the bounds
of the doctoral dissertation of the professors and some of the other staff,
create an immense problem as regards the ability of the Greek university to reproduce itself. One should add to this the predominantly
comprador character of the Greek economy—something that does not
contribute to those conditions which would have "necessitated" a modern
university.
During the last thirty years, the Greek ruling class has shown itself
to be basically content with the existing university. The inability to
proceed to changes in higher education has also been determined by a
specific political context: when it comes to questions of liberalization—
and this is especially so in the case of the universities—the ruling class
did not, and for historical reasons could not, make the political choice
to severe its ties with the most backward, conservative, and obscurantist
elements inside and outside the university.
The transformation of Greek higher education is an extremely complex, multiform, slow, and uneven process. For all these reasons, the
role of the progressive movement, and the left in particular, becomes
decisive in the way these changes will proceed and the characteristics
they will acquire. The question of reforming the Greek universities has
become—once again—timely. Higher education in Greece has been in a
continuous crisis for the last thirty years—a crisis whose permanence has
given the impression that it is an inherent feature of the universities in
Greece. Whether this situation will continue or not remains to be seen.
Some Aspects of "Over-Education" in
Modern Greece*
by CONSTANTINE TSOUCALAS
The exceptional propensity for education in the Greek countryside
is an established fact. What has been treated as a manifestation of a
more general "passion of the Greek people for education and culture"
constitutes, in fact, one of the main distinctive features of modem Greek
society. It is the purpose of this paper to point out a number of elements that substantiate this Greek particularity and to formulate a series
of hypotheses concerning the social and economic foundations of this
particular aspect of Greek cultural and educational reality.
Comparative statistical data proving the exceptional penetration power
of education in Greece are ample. Very briefly, we can put forward the
following aspects of the question, which, although they pertain to higher
education, serve to illustrate the more general striking social role of
education in the process of social distribution. Thus we shall speak
successively of the development of the rates of scholarization in higher
education, the specific orientation of studies, the degree of class discrimination in university studies, and the modes of financing higher
education in Greece. In all these respects the situation is, as we shall
see, strikingly unlike what one might expect in a country still largely
underdeveloped.
In the first place, the exceptionally high rate of growth of the
Greek student corps should be pointed out. Between 1955 and 1965 the
rate of enrollment growth in universities was, by far, the highest among
all countries of the OECD, and it has been growing steadily ever since
(see Table 1). It should be added that Greek students abroad should
also be taken into consideration although they are not included in the
statistics given above. Their ever-growing number is spectacularly high.
They represented in 1971 over 19% of the entire number of foreign
students following courses in all European universities! Thus, it is obvious that the extremely marked propensity among Greeks toward high
education is, comparatively, even higher than the image presented by
*This article is reprinted, in an edited version, and by special permission of the
author, from the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Volume 268.
'UNESCO. 1973. Second Conference of the Education Ministers of the
European Member States. Bucharest, November-December, 1973. Published under
the title: "L' enseignement superieur en Europe. Problemes et perspectives.
Etude Statistique. ED 73 MINEUROP II Ref I, Appendix No. 10 (roneo).
Paris.
109
1 10
JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
international statistics. Whatever theoretical and methodological objections one might have toward linear projections, it is interesting to note
that, according to the OECD, by 1985, Greece might have up to 94%
of its youth enrolled in institutions of higher education, followed by
the United States with 75% of the equivalent age group, and, at a
distance, by all other developed countries.' Finally, the spectacular "overscholarization" in Greece becomes even more eloquent if one compares
the number of enrolled students with the GNP. In 1961, that is, before the
growth of scholarization had gained momentum, there were 2.5 students
in higher education for overy $100,000 of gross product in Greece,
2.2 in Italy, 1.4 in the United States, 1.2 in Canada, and 0.9 in France.'
If one includes Greeks studying abroad, this discrepancy becomes, once
more, even more marked.
TABLE 1
Growth of Enrollment in Universities, 1955-1965
(1955: 100)*
GREECE
Yugoslavia
Norway
Turkey
Canada
France
Spain
Austria
Portugal
Italy
Belgium
Sweden
Finland
Germany
360
260
230
225
200-2 2 5
100-200
*O.C.D.E.: Developpement de l'enseignement superieur 1950-1967. Rapport analytique. Paris, 1971. p. 84.
This situation is expressed by the exceptionally high ratio of persons
having a degree from an institution of higher education as a percentage
of the total population; in Greece, as early as 1961 and in spite of the
2003E. 1971. Developpement de l'enseignement dans les pays de l'OCDE
depuis 1950. Cahier IL: 131-137. Paris.
'Rade', E. R. & A. R. Jolly. 1969. "Projecting the demand for educating manpower: a case study," in Economics of Education. Vol. 11:80. M. Blaug, Ed.
Penguin. London.
Some Aspects of "Over-Education" in Modern Greece
111
almost general interruption of normal educational activities during the
ten-year period of war, German occupation, and civil war (1940-1949),
this ratio is particularly high (see Table 2).
TABLE 2
University Graduates—Percent of Adult Population (1961)*
Sweden
Yugoslavia
GREECE
France
United Kingdom
Belgium
Norway
Germany
Italy
Denmark
Austria
Holland
Spain
4.3
4.3
3.6
3.4
3.4
3.3
2.8
2.7
2.6
2.2
1.7
1.7
1.4
*O.C.D.E.: Project regional mediterraneen. Grêce. Paris 1965. p. 61.
The paramount importance of higher education in the process of
social distribution in postwar Greek society is thus beyond doubt. It
should be noted, however, that this phenomenon is not new. Already in
the nineteenth century, the overswollen Greek university corps was repeatedly noted; and, in 1912, Greece found itself in a leading position
as far as the number of enrolled students in relation to its total population is concerned. With 1.26 student for every thousand inhabitants,
Greece was just behind the United States and preceded Germany (1.15),
Sweden (1.13), Switzerland (1.03), France (0.90), and Great Britain
(0.68) . If in the interwar years the relative position of Greece in comparison to other European countries seems to have receded slightly, it is
a fact that the spectacular propensity toward high education, which we
established for the postwar period, seems to obey more ancient and
traditional cultural and educational patterns.
The academic orientation of the Greek student corps is also very
particular. Its main features are a striking preference for law and the
social sciences and a concomitant very pronounced reluctance to study
technology and science. Thus, not only is the percentage of law and
social science students the highest among all countries of the OECD,
.
'See Ben David, Joseph. 1963-1964. "The growth of the professions and
the class syetern," Current Sociology 12:256-277.
112
JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
but the percentage of technology students is the lowest. What is more,
this sectoral orientation is stable; for all the very high rate of growth in
overall enrollment, the internal composition of the student corps does
not seem to have undergone significant transformations. Once more, this
particular orientation seems to reflect traditional patterns. The predominance of legal studies is marked during the entire nineteenth century,
and, in 1912, law students represented 56% of all students in Greece,
41% in France, 28% in Yugoslavia, 25% in Switzerland, 18% in the
Netherlands, 14.5% in Germany, and only 10.7% in the United States.'
In the third place, the social composition of the student corps will
be examined. This aspect is of particular importance as it reflects the
degree of objective class discrimination in the recruitment of university
students and indicates the function of class selection of the educational
mechanism within the process of reproduction of the global class structure,
In this respect also, the situation in Greek higher education is quite
atypical. Despite the inherent methodological difficulties of international comparison of selective class discrimination—social categories and
classes being defined on the basis of different criteria—there can be no
doubt that the degree of class selection in Greek universities is exceptionally low. Almost a third of the students come from the country and
10% are of working class origin. This percentage is particularly high
if compared to the relative participation of lower classes in higher education in other countries. In France, for example, not more than 15%
of the entire student corps in 1961 was of peasant or working class
origin, although peasant and workers represented more than 60% of the
active population.e More generally, the comparison between the relative
chances of access to higher education of the various social categories
defined by the OECD gives the following relation between the most
represented and the least represented social category, relative to their
participation in the active population: Greece, 1:7.7; Belgium, 1:9;
Yugoslavia, 1:9.5; Italy, 1:27; France, 1:33; Germany, 1:36; Spain,
1:57; and Portugal, 1:125.'
Thus, it is obvious that the degree of democratization of higher
education is exceptionally pronounced. The same feature has marked
Greek higher education since the nineteenth century. The above ratio
was, between 1930 and 1935, approximately 1:22 in Greece, 1:39 in
Hungary, 1:88 in Sweden, 1:156 in Germany, and 1:275 in Italy.'
Traditionally, it would seem that Greek universities are more open to
students of working class and especially peasant origin than most other
'Ben David. See also Bourdieu, P. & J. C. Passeron, 1964. Let Heritiers. :77
Paris; and Touraine, A. University et society aux Etats Unit.: 66. Paris.
8Bourdieu & Passeron. : 137.
70CDE. Developpement de l'enseignement superieur, 1950-1967.: 47.
8Anderson, C. Arnold. 1965. "Access to higher education and economic development," in Education, economy and society: a reader in the sociology of
education.: 258. Halsey, Floud & Anderson, Eds. The Free Press. London and
New York.
113
Some Aspects of "Over-Education" in Modern Greece universities in Europe, irrespective of the degree of social and economic
development.
Finally, it should be taken into consideration that the exceptional
rate of scholarization is not due to preferential public financing of higher
education. On the contrary, public expenditure in education in general,
and in higher education in particular, has been, since World War II,
parsimonious, to say the least. As a percentage of the GNP, public education budget allocations were, in the 1950s and early 1960s, the lowest
in Europe, with the exception of Spain. 9 It is characteristic that the cost
of education of Greeks in foreign universities between 1949 and 1962
was 21/2 times larger than the entire public funds allocated to higher
education Y° Grants are practically nonexistent and facilities for students
marginal. The overall contribution of public funds to higher education
is thus negligible. It is a fact that the entire cost of financing higher
studies is private, and, in view of the high percentage of lower-class
students, is to a large extent assumed by very poor families.
TABLE 3
Percentage of Student Corps Enrolled in Various Fields*
Technological Sciences
1955 1960 1965
Legal and Social Sciences
1955 1960 1965
GREECE
Japan
Turkey
Italy
Spain
Portugal
Yugoslavia
U.S.A.
Germany
Holland
Switzerland
Austria
Denmark
Norway
Canada
45.5
40.8
50.5
33.6
32.1
20.9
22.1
29.4
26.9
25.3
22.5
27.0
25.4
16.4
11.6
46.8
42.5
41.3
40.9
28.9
23.6
32.4
27.6
21.6
24.9
22.6
25.0
26.1
11.7
10.5
44.5
42.5
29.8
33.4
21.8
23.5
29.6
28.5
25.5
29.0
24.4
25.2
25.7
14.3
9.6
GREECE
U.S.A.
Turkey
Canada
Belgium
Italy
Sweden
Germany
Spain
U.K.
Portugal
Yugoslavia
6.2
8.8
5.7
16.2
11.3
11.7
15.2
17.7
5.4
15.6
20.6
17.8
7.4
9.5
5.4
13.6
12.6
11.4
14.4
16.9
8.5
18.5
19.5
21.9
6.5
7.1
7.6
8.8
10.7
11.1
11.9
13.5
18.9
19.2
20.1
23.1
*O.C.D.E.: Developpement de l'enseignement superieur, 1950-1967. Rapport analytique. Paris, 1971. pp. 135, 142-144.
'OCDE. Project regional tnediterraneen. Grece. : 77.
wMadison, A., A. Stavrianopoulos & B. Higgins. 1966. Aisistence technique
et developpement de la Grece. : 23. OCDE. Paris.
114
JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
This readiness of poor families, especially among the peasants, to
undergo great economic sacrifices in order to ensure higher education
for their children has been often underlined. A great number of recent
anthropological studies in various regions of Greece have focused their
attention on this apparently ubiquitous phenomenon." The propensity
toward higher education in Greece can be considered an established fact.
It is to the interpretation of this aspect of modern Greek culture that
we shall now turn our attention.
The problems posed by "overeducation" in Greece clearly transcend
the field of educational sociology. Probably much more inmportant is
the fact that the high propensity toward education has contributed
strongly to the creation of a pronounced national self-image in which
idealistic glorifications of a Greek "essence" have played an important
role. In fact, it is largely on the supposed racial predilection for all
forms of "culture" and education that the ideological and cultural continuity of modem Greece in relation to the classical age has been constructed. In few modern nations has the national conception of historical
continuity been so operational in shaping the collective destiny as in
Greece. And it is no accident that deep-rooted idealistic and even "racist"
national images, completely detached from concrete social and economic
realities, still survive to an amazing degree in large segments of the
Greek population. The real historical problem that should be posed,
however, is not the one of the discovery of possible formal similarities
between modern Greek society and classical antiquity. It is much more
important to inquire into the social and economic factors that have rendered possible the construction of a modern ideology on the same cultural foundations that modern thinkers have considered distinctive to
ancient Greece.
It is clearly impossible to enter into a discussion of this problem,
which is one of the central problems of modern Greek development.
The intention of this paper is only to propose some very general lines
of interpretation that might be of aid in a materialistic approach to the
question of the remarkable tenacity of the propensity toward education.
In this respect, two main lines of analysis should be taken into consideration. In the first place, the actual structural determinations of postwar
Greek class structures should be examined. In the second place, particular
forms of development of modem Greek society during the nineteenth
century, and the strong ideological and cultural patterns these forms
helped to establish, should also be taken into consideration. It is only
Ioanna. 1973. Towards a Greek sociology of education.
Vol. 11:132. Athens; Sanders, Irwin D. 1962. Rainbow in the Rock: The People
of Rural Greece. pasim, Harvard University Press. Cambridge, Mass.; Mendras,
H. 1961. Six villages d'Epire. Problemes de developpement economique.: 40-44.
UNESCO, Paris; Burgel, G. Pobia. Etude geographique d'un village cretois.: 67.
Athens; Pechouxx, P. Y. Les paysans de la rive orientale du Bas-Nestos.: 48-49;
52. Athens; Moustaka, Calliope. 1964. The internal migrant.: 20-24. Athens; et
cetera.
Some Aspects of "Over-Education" in Modern Greece 115
the conjunction of these two factors, the present structural determinations, and the historical patterns condensed in "tradition," that can
provide a framework of interpretation for the present strongly atypical
social reality.
In the first place, the actual factors of the structural determination
of social distribution in Greece should be considered. In this respect
there is nothing very particular about Greece. As is the case in most
underdeveloped and less developed countries, the internal evolution of
the class structure is largely determined by the specific and complex relations of dependency that link the Greek social formation with the advanced capitalist countries. It is this dependency that is mainly responsible for a large number of "deformities" that accompany the increased
integration of Greece in the international capitalist market. The rapidity
of urbanization, the rapid growth of services and especially services
centered around the state apparatus, the slow growth of industrial employment, and the general orientation of social distribution toward counterproductive activities, are typical manifestations of the new forms of
capitalist penetration of international capital into less developed countries. This typical trend toward tertiary occupations is accentuated in
Greece because of the specific conditions that accompany the rapid integration of the country into the world economy and the concomitant
subsumption of practically all sectors of local economic Life into the
functional necessities of the central capital. Thus, a number of factors,
including the international role of Greek shipping, the importance of
tourism, and, more generally, the constant flow of capital from abroad,
have probably accelerated the growth of services to an extent higher
than in other countries.
The accentuated international mobility of the labor force, which is
one of the main features of recent international developments, has also
contributed to the swelling of tertiary activities. On the one hand,
migration of unskilled labor toward central Europe leads in the long
term to massive repatriations of workers, who implant themselves mainly
in the tertiary sectors. On the other hand, a constantly increasing number
of scientists and technicians of all branches abandon Greece for the highly
developed countries, and especially the United States. Between 1961
and 1965, one-fourth to one-half of scientists of all branches left the
country, 12 and this process was undoubtedly accentuated after the military
takeover in 1967. If the brain drain does not swell the ranks of tertiary
activities within the country itself, it certainly contributes to the general
trend toward nonproductive activities.
Thus, the newly defined structural determinations of social mobility
push a growing number of persons toward unproductive activities. This
has direct effects on educational demand. More so than in other sectors,
formal education is of paramount importance in the services where professional and career outlets and perspectives are, to a very large extent,
"Adams, W. & H. Rieben. 1968. L'exode des cerveaux: 196-197. Lausanne.
116
JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
a function of the level and quality of the education received. The rapid
extension of objective "vacancies" in the tertiary sector has thus a multiplied effect on the demand for education facilities on all levels and
particularly on secondary and higher education. In this respect, the
phenomenon of the brain drain also has significant social effects. To
the extent that the limits of occupational possibilities transcend state
boundaries, international mobility of highly qualified labor extends the
objective range of social mobility through education to an unprecedented
degree. Thus, it is obvious that the trends we pointed out correspond
closely to the latest factors affecting social stratification in Greece, factors
that are closely linked to the development of the international integration of the country within the capitalist market.
These new trends are not specific to Greece, however. The "distortion" of social distribution toward nonproductive occupations is a common phenomenon to be observed in a series of underdeveloped countries rapidly being penetrated by the international market. The concomitant tendency toward preferential unproductive education is also a
frequent feature of such countries. On the other hand, the characteristics
we pointed out in Greek higher education are not remarkable because
of the general orientation they betray but because of the exceptional
degree and the marked tenacity of this orientation. For, it should be remembered, overscholarization, nonproductive orientation, and relatively
feeble class selection have distinguished the Greek university system
ever since its appearance.
It will thus be necessary to go back into the past and try to determine the historical and social foundations of the Greek propensity toward education. In this respect, it is very important to define the main
forms of structural social mobility during the nineteenth century. For it
is largely these forms that determine the exceptional tendency toward
higher education during the same period, thereby establishing global
cultural patterns that survive to the present day.
The most important aspect that marks structural social mobility in
Greece from the first years of its independent existence can be found
in the conditions that determined Greek independence. The Greek state
encompassed only a small fraction of the Greek population. For almost
a century, Greek communities abroad were much more numerous, more
urbanized, and richer than the communities within the independent state.
Furthermore, the former developed both numerically and economically
much faster than the latter. Rapid penetration of capitalism in the Near
East accounts for this exceptional evolution, which, for a series of historical reasons that we cannot enter upon here, was centered around the
activities of the ethnic minorities, among whom the Greeks found themselves in a dominant position. The conditions that underlay the expansion of capitalist activities favored the rapid expansion of large comprador strata composed of merchants, agents, lawyer intermediaries, civil
servants, and speculators of all kinds. Local manufacture disappeared as
early as 1830, and local production was oriented toward exportable
Some Aspects of "Over-Education" in Modern Greece 117
goods demanded in European markets. Thus, Rumania and southern
Russia until the middle of the nineteenth century, Asia Minor for the
entire century, and Egypt, the Sudan, and even Ethiopia since 1880, became the privileged, and sometimes the almost exclusive, realms of the
Greek comprador petty bourgeoisie in constant expansion.
This large unproductive class, which reached its peak just before
World War I, expanded so rapidly that it could not replenish its own
ranks by normal processes of reproduction. A structural flow of migration consequently resulted, mainly from the Greek countryside. Within
half a century, the Greek communities in Egypt rose from a couple of
thousand to a quarter of a million, and even in Asia Minor, where there
was a large indigenous Greek population, a large fraction of the urban
population came from independent Greece. Even in Smyrna, the traditional Greek stronghold, approximately half the Greek population in
1920 originated from the free kingdom. Thus, the expanding comprador activities of the eastern Mediterranean constituted, for almost a
hundred years, the permanent pole of attraction for a large number of
Greeks, mainly from the islands and the countryside.
On the other hand, if the specific conditions of capitalist penetration in the Near East account for the social and professional structure
of the Greek communities, the latters' spectacular development had significant retroactive effects on the structures of the independent state.
Here again, we are presented with various extremely atypical features
that can only be explained if considered under the light of external influences. The spectacular development of Athens, which contrasts with
the stagnation of all other urban centers of independent Greece, is not
the least important of these "anomalies." For all its reduced geographical
and economic hinterland, the Greek capital was, just before World War
I, the largest and wealthiest Balkan city, with the exception of Constantinople. Even more important is the fact that Greece presented,
toward the end of the nineteenth century, the highest proportion of
tertiary occupation in Europe, surpassing even the great industrialized
countries that were undergoing their "service revolutions.""
It is obvious that this exceptional socioprofessional structure cannot
be ascribed to domestic processes of capital accumulation and circulation.
Whatever the degree of exploitation of indigenous productive labor
might have been—and it should be kept in mind that the embryonic
state of industry made of the peasantry the only productive class—the
extension of the indigenous unproductive tertiary activities is too rapid
to be explained in such terms. The decisive factor lies elsewhere: during
the entire century a constant flow of money originating from the rich
Greeks of the diaspora poured into the country, accelerating monetarization, encouraging further migration, and manifesting itself, among other
ways, by the emergence of an extended rentier class, proportionally as
"Mulhall, Michael G. 1892. The dictionary of statistics. : 419. Routledge.
London.
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JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
numerous as its equivalent in late Victorian England. It is mainly
around the circuits of rapidly circulating money—circuits in which the
state played a prominent role—that the vast petty bourgeoisie that distinguished nineteenth century Athens managed to evolve and proliferate.
Thus, the peculiarity of structural social mobility in modern Greek
society becomes apparent: in Greece, as well as abroad, the Greek urban
strata are mainly composed of an inflated middle class in constant expansion. Consequently, the most important structural flow consists in a
massive passage from the countryside to unproductive petty bourgeois
activities in the town. The peasant exodus is negatively marked by the fact
that, in its typical form, it does not lead to the formation of an urban
proletariat, a common feature of most urbanization processes in the nineteenth century. The relatively reduced expansion of the urban proletariat,
combined with the exceptionally rapid inflation of the petty bourgeoisie,
are therefore the determinant factors in the definition of the specific
forms of horizontal and vertical mobility in modern Greece.
Considered in the light of the more general structural determinations,
the social role of education in the process of social distribution becomes
apparent. Direct passage from the peasantry to the urban petty bourgeoisie largely presupposes the acquisition of an ideological and cultural
background which the family environment, as such, is incapable of providing. The individual possibility of integration within the service sector
depends on the capacities of "candidates" for social mobility to function
with some efficiency within a social world very different from their
rural environment. The access to education thus constituted the most
important prerequisite so that that integration within the new social
system could be envisaged with a maximum chance of success. Organization of upward mobility through education was largely a family
concern, and anthropologists have repeatedly pointed out the exceptional power of Greek families, the internal cohesion of which seems
largely unimpaired by the spatial dislocation involved by migration. We
cannot possibly enter into the vast problem of inquiring into the relations between family structures and the propensity toward education,
but it is certainly no coincidence that migration and education have
always been much more pronounced in regions dominated by free family
smallholdings than in regions dominated by the chifliks. The immediate
relation of the former to the market and the concomitant entrepreneurial
preoccupation of freeholders are absent among peasants tied to the
chifliks. The former form of economic and social organization encourages
long-term family planning within the context of the growing pressures
of the market economy. It is no accident that both emigration and education are predominantly masculine and largely planned long in advance.
The unique conjunction of factors that determine the forms of structural
mobility offered an important outlet to large segments of the Greek
peasantry. While remittances strengthened the family budgets, selective
migration relieved population pressure. One of the main results of this
state of affairs was that, despite the factors pushing toward disaggrega-
Some Aspects of "Over-Education" in Modern Greece 119
tion of smallholdings, there seems to have been very little loss of
family land, while concentration of landed property and the emergence
of a dogs of kulaks is negligible.
In brief, education provided the basic mechanism for ascending
mobility on a massive scale precisely because of the objective rapidity
of the expansion of social categories in which educational prerequisites
were of paramount importance. The traditional readiness of poor families to assume untenable financial burdens in order to ensure their sons'
education, and the global propensity toward education among the Greeks,
cannot be explained if one does not consider the vast professional outlets education provided for almost a century.
One more problem needs to be examined. In view of the low degree
of development of nineteenth century Greece and the reduced financial
capacities of the Greek state, the rapid construction of an educational
apparatus large enough to satisfy the growing demand might seem difficult to explain. Once more, it is the Greek bourgeoisie abroad that
provided the bulk of the funds needed for the building of schools and
universities and the financing of studies. Great sums of money in various
forms flowed constantly into the country. The cumulative value of the
ten greatest donations until 1880 surpasses the entire budget expenditure for education for the first fifty years of the independent Greek
state. Most rich Greeks abroad considered it their duty to bequeath at
least a fraction of their fortune to cultural and educational activities in
Greece. This preferential offering of large funds for educational functions poses a problem of interpretation. If should undoubtedly be considered within the context of the more general cult of education among
Greeks. But the preferential orientation of funds toward the Greek state
more so than into the Greek communities abroad cannot be interpreted
exclusively in ideological terms. A number of structural necessities inherent in all educational systems should be considered. Probably more
than any other social mechanism, the internal rationality of the educational apparatus demands an institutionalized continuity and permanence
only to be ensured by a central state authority. Only thus can the fundamental productive function of education be fulfilled in spite of all
conjunctural difficulties and pressures. Greek communities abroad conspicuously lacked this mechanism. Not only was the internal community
organization incapable of assuming such a task on a grand scale, but
the central state authorities of Ottoman Turkey or of Egypt were openly
suspicious, if not menacingly hostile, toward all manifestations of cultural expansion among the minorities. It is not surprising that both in
secondary and university education, the urban communities abroad never
caught up with metropolitan Greece, for all their immeasurably greater
economic power, with respect to the rate of scholarization of their youth.
From a functional point of view, the preferential financing of educational institutions in Greece thus served to reproduce the entire Greek
social system in constant expansion.
The internal relation between the specific forms of structural social
,
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JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
mobility and the propensity toward education in nineteenth century
Greece is thus apparent. But this state of affairs was radically modified
when, in 1922, Greek communities abroad collapsed, leading to the
complete transformation of the socioeconomic foundations of Greek
society. The sudden restriction of the perennial outlet for petty bourgeois activities abroad, combined with the interruption of the flow of
capital, modified the internal structure to a significant degree. The
reproduction system that had been formerly eminently functional became
largely dysfunctional overnight. The concentration of a vast unproductive urban population within the narrow limits of the Greek state demanded a rapid reorientation of the educational system toward productive activities. The ruling class had no illusions in this respect. In fact,
the entire educational reform put forward by the Venizelos government
in 1929 aimed at the drastic reduction of the number of students both
in classical gymnasia and in the universities. The prime minister even
declared in 1930 that he would abolish eighty secondary schools even
if it were to cost him his downfall. At the same time, the liberal government tried to establish the foundations of technical and professional
education on the primary and secondary level. In other words, what was
aimed at was the creation of a modern system of class education, introducing class selection at an early stage by creating a double educational circuit, accompanied by an institutional difficulty of passage from
the one circuit to the other. Thus, while the upper and middle classes
would continue to enroll in classical gymnasia and universities, the lower
classes would be channeled toward technical education, from which it
would become increasingly difficult to have access to higher studies. It
should be noted in this respect that, until 1929, the Greek educational
system was completely linear and unidimensional, primary education
leading to secondary and thence to higher education, and no specialization or side orientation impeded the access to higher education on institutional grounds.
The reorganization of the educational system was in this respect a
failure, however. For a few years the number of students in high schools
and universities was reduced by almost 30%. But, after 1932, enrollment
went up again, and, by 1937, it had surpassed the pre-1929 level. Also,
and this is more important, the rare technical schools created were systematically snubbed by Greeks, who continued to prefer sending their
sons to classical gymnasia, despite the vast reduction of professional
outlets. It is a typical phenomenon of the extreme power of deeply entrenched cultural patterns, which persist even when the underlying social
and economic structures are completely transformed.
The reemergence of similar patterns in postwar Greece are a manifestation of the same principle. It is true that the new economic and social
determinations since 1949 largely explain, as we have seen, the actual
phase of tertiarization of the Greek social structure. The newly defined
role of Greece within the framework of the international capitalist
market has contributed to the formation of new poles of attraction for
Some Aspects of "Over-Education" in Modern Greece 121
unproductive activities. But as we have seen already, the quantitative
degree of "over-education" and the specific orientation toward unproductive activities are too high to be explained by a simple response of
Greek society to new structural realities. The excessive supply of gymnasium and university graduates has actually led not only to pronounced
unemployment and underemployment among them, but also to a concomitant dramatic devaluation of the social value of academic degrees.
Thus, the persistence, especially among the peasantry, of an extremely
powerful propensity toward education, acquired at the cost of great
economic sacrifices, is highly significant. All international experts who
have been called upon to propose blueprints for the needs of the Greek
educational system have emphasized the extreme reluctance of the majority
of Greeks to abandon traditional orientations. The same experts have
repeatedly pointed out some of the disruptive effects of the limited
supply of highly qualified manpower. To emphasize this point unduly
is certainly false. If the lack of specialized manpower is strongly felt,
this results more from the effects of international labor mobility than
from a total lack of indigenous technicians. Most technology graduates
end up in the United States and emigrants for Germany are preferentially recruited among qualified workers. The obstacles toward development are mainly the result of the specific articulation of Greece within
the world market. But the counterproductive orientation of the leading
urban strata has undoubtedly contributed to a typically distorted and,
in some fields, eminently dysfunctional social structure; the problems
this has created are insoluble within the context of the present equilibrium of social and political forces. However, Greece did not have to
wait for the side-effects of its ever-increasing economic and political
dependency in order to present the typical socioprofessional tendencies
of peripheral countries; the sources of structural "deformity" were already
there.
Research in Higher Education
by MARIA ELIOU
The state of scientific research in Greek higher education has farreaching consequences. The fact that university research continues to
function only sluggishly undermines the universities° educational task,
isolates them from the social area to which they belong, heightens the
country's economic and cultural dependence, weakens social criticism,
and hampers the procedures of social reform. However much teaching
might form a basic axis of the university's task—which it does to such
an extent that it is often confused with the whole of its existence—research is of central importance in defining the university as an institution devoted to higher education, that is, as a place where a critical
analysis of the production, communication, and use of knowledge is
attempted.
Thus, our first attempt to approach the role of higher education is
concerned with its relationship to knowledge. A university is a place
where knowledge is communicated (theoretical instruction), where the
application of knowledge is prepared (professional training), and where
knowledge is produced (research). A second approach would incorporate thinking around the relationship between knowledge and power,
that is, between knowledge and its uses; the university is an area of
action in this sense, too. All the different dimensions of the role of
higher education, interrelated and inter-supportive, participate in
processes which alter them.
The immense accumulation of knowledge, evident today in every
field of science, leads inevitably to division into isolated sections, which
creates a need both for scientific tools capable of giving a more general
view and for an interdisciplinary approach to the object of study. This
development strengthens the connections between the communication of
knowledge and the other dimensions of the role of university education.
The vital need for organized scientific research in the universities thus
becomes clear. It should also be clear that university research cannot be
treated simply as a process by which knowledge is produced; it is, at
the same time, a tool for the evaluation and criticism of knowledge.
This means that scientific research is also a method of teaching with a
multiplicity of functions: it contributes to methods for the successful
communication of knowledge, but it also aids the intellectual and scientific formation and awareness of the teacher, especially of the university
123
124
JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
teacher. Research is the touchstone of the educational level found in the
universities.
Realities
University teaching which does not provide teachers and students
with the opportunity to familiarize themselves with research turns the
universities into either vocational training centers of secondary school
level, into educational establishments where only general encyclopedic
knowledge is imparted, as in the Young Ladies' Colleges of former
times, or into examination centers with no real educational content.
This is the direction in which Greek universities are heading as they
allow themselves to sink in accordance with the laws of inertia. Nevertheless, voices from inside the universities have frequently pointed out
the need for universities to have funds for research, for them to be
released from the nightmarish bureaucratic procedures of public accounting, which render inoperative even the minute funds granted today, and the need for an integrated system of past-graduate studies.
In his analysis of Article 16, Paragraph 1, of the constitution,'
Aristovoulos Manesis points out that its wording establishes not only
"the negative demand for state authority to refrain from intervening in
the acquisition and communication of knowledge," but also "the positive
demand" of university teachers and students "for the state both to
provide the means necessary for free scientific research and teaching and
to ensure the more general conditions necessary for this."' Financing
of scientific research, especially in universities, is hopelessly low in
Greece. The OECD countries spend, on average, 0.35% of their gross
national product on university research; 3 in Greece, according to the
official figures of the Department of Scientific Research and Technology,
the equivalent proportion is a mere 0.05%. 4
It is also characteristic that Greece is usually absent' from comparative
studies carried out by international bodies on research, or just succeeds
"The Arts and Sciences, Research and Teaching, Shall be Free, and the
State Shall be Obliged to Develop and Promote Them."
2A. Manesis: "Constitutional Protection of Academic Freedom," in 0 Politis
(The Citizen), No. 6, 1976.
'OECD, Comite de la politique scientifique et technologique, Evolution de
la recherche universitaire dans les pays membres de l'OCDE depuis 1965 et son
impact sur effort de recherche fondamentale nationale, (note du Secretariat,
15.10.1979).
'See also D. Deniosos, "Scientific Research: Distribution of Expenditure by
Sources of Financing and Purpose," Kathimerini, 8/17-18/80.
5 See the OECD study in 3 above and also: OECD, Recherche et dêveloppement
en matiere d' enseignement, 1974; and Council of Europe, Educational Research
Policies in European Countries, 1978-1979 survey, Documentation Centre for
Research in Europe, Strasbourg 1979.
Research in Higher Education
125
in finding itself a place in some isolated paragraph, if, that is, the
compilers of the study have managed to lay their hands on any usable
information. Thus, in the well-known UNESCO composite study,
Apprendre a etre,' which incorporates the achievements and research
in the field of education all over the world at the beginning of the
1970s, Greece is not referred to once in the body of the text. It is, however, mentioned in two of the appendices, where it is shown, along with
Cyprus, as having the shortest period of compulsory education in Europe,' and as holding, by itself this time, the last place in Europe in
the table of public expenditure on education as a percentage of gross
national product (and the twelfth place from the end of the table of
the 100 or so members of UNESCO for which appropriate figures
were available). Thus, when expenditure on education is so low and
when its distribution through the educational system is such that expenditure per student, at quite a number of universities, is equivalent
to the expenditure per secondary school pupil,' it might seem pointless
to seek achievements in the area of scientific research at the universities.
However, it is not only the level of financing of research (and
education) which distinguishes Greece from the countries with which
it attempts to compare itself. We also have to deal with the procedures
necessary for any such financing, procedures which are characteristic of
a sick administrative mechanism, which are so binding as to defeat their
own purpose, and which manage, even today, largely to cancel out not
only the heroic efforts of those who try to carry out research in the
universities but also the state research and technology program itself,
an ambitious innovation of the Department of Scientific Research and
Technology.' The lack of any research substructure and of organized
research in the universities is consistent with the lack of a system of
post-graduate studies!' The report of the post-graduate studies research
group to the Ministry of Education" contains a description of the existing situation as well as specific proposals. However, three and one-half
years after its submission, not even the first step has been taken to
deal with the matter. Three and one-half years during which higher
education has not ceased to be subject to the vibrations created by the
various measures taken—in both the past and present—hastily and un'Edgar Faure et al., Apprendre a etre, UNESCO, 1972.
'By Law 309/1976, compulsory education was extended from six years to
nine years.
Drettakis, "Current State Expenditure on Education, 1962-1972," in
Social Research Review, no. 25, 1975.
'Set up by Law 706/1978, "Concerning the Promotion of Scientific Research
and Technology."
"The fact that some groups exist or that some classes are offered at the
post-graduate level, as well as the fact that some research is carried out in the
universities, mainly in the medical schools, does not detract from the fact that
there is no system of post-graduate studies and no organized university research.
'National Printer's Office, Athens, June 1977, 250 pp.
126
JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
systematically." In this way, the technological and cultural dependence
of the country establishes itself inside the universities.
An unpublished survey" produced a wealth of material concerning
the origin of, activities about, and opinions on university problems of
the teaching staff in the universities." We make note here of some facts
relating to foreign cultural influences on Greek higher education, as
shown by the scientific background of teachers in that system. According to the replies gathered, 29% of the junior lecturers had taken postgraduate courses for varying periods of time, but only 10% had taken
such courses in Greece. Only 9% had doctorates. Of the lecturers, 81%
had taken post-graduate courses and been awarded doctorates, but only
8% had taken post-graduate courses at Greek universities. Of the professors and assistant professors, 39% had prepared and submitted their
doctoral dissertations in Greece (the proportion rises to 74.6% in the
medical sciences, but reaches only 22% in law and economics), 16.3%
combined studies in Greece with studies abroad, and 42.6% prepared
their doctoral dissertations abroad and submitted them there. The differentiation between the replies according to age, as shown in Table
1, is statistically significant and shows that younger age groups are
turning more and more to foreign countries for post-graduate studies.
TABLE 1
Geographical Area Where Professors and Assistant Professors
Prepared and Submitted Their Doctoral Dissertations,
by Age Group.
Age
Groups Greece
No. %
60+ 22
50-59 44
40-49 51
-39 5
Total 122
44.0
47.3
35.4
20.0
39.1
Abroad
Total
Greece and No
Answer
Abroad
No.
No. % No. % No. :%
13
35
69
16
133
26.0
37.6
47.9
64.0
42.6
13 26.0
11
11.8
23 16.0
4 16.0
51 16.3
4.0
3 3.3
1 0.7
- 6 2.0
2
50
100
93
100
144
100
25
100
312
100
"Such as the notorious Law 815/1978, "Concerning the Settlement of Matters Related to the Organization and Functioning of the Universities."
"Maria Eliou, Ch. Alexopoulos, L. Anastopoulou, A. Tzanimis, S. Tsili,
University Teachers, a study by a group from the National Social Research Center,
directed by Maria Eliou, Athens, 1979, 323 pp., typewritten.
"The study dealt with all the university teaching staff employed in 1977.
Many hundreds of university teachers were involved, comprising 39% of all
the serving professors and assistant professors and a randomly selected repre-
127
Research in Higher Education
Interesting information was also produced about the sources of financing
for the professors' and assistant professors' post-graduate studies. Table
2 shows that 23.4% of the total received wholly foreign financing,
and 17.7% were supported completely by personal and family funds,
while 14.1% of the professors and assistant professors who responded
to the study received wholly Greek financing from the state and other
sources. It is evident that Greek financing plays a secondary role in the
post-graduate preparation of future university teachers.
TABLE 2
Distribution of Main Teaching Staff at Universities by Sources of
Financing for Post-graduate Studies (Percentages)
Sources of
Financing
Personal
Funding
Family
Personal and
Family Funds
8.7
6.1
2.9
State Scholarship
Foundation
Other Greek Source Foreign State
Foreign Organization International Organization
Many Sources
Concurrently
or
Successively
No Reply
Total
8.3
5.8
11.5
9.0
2.9
43.9
1.0
100.0
It should also be noted that 56.2% of the professors and assistant professors had worked at universities or research establishments abroad, twosentative sample of 10% of the total number of serving lecturers and junior
lecturers.
128
JOURNAL OF THE. HELLENIC DIASPORA
thirds of them for periods longer than three years. The countries which
accepted the future professors and assistant professors for the preparation of their dissertations were, in order: West Germany, the United
States, Great Britain, France, and Italy. The United States is the country
which accepted most of them on its academic and research staff, followed—at a distance—by Great Britain, West Germany, France, and
Italy.
Prospects
In referring to cultural influences as expressed in the scientific background of the teaching staff in Greek higher education, our aim was
not to deny the highly positive role played by the differentiation of
scientific experiences and the complementarily of cultural patterns nor
would we wish to advance some theory of mythical self-sufficiency.
What we do wish to point out, however, is the lack of a research substructure and tradition in Greece, which means that the state of higher
education is reminiscent of a ship without ballast being tossed by the
waves. The negative element is not the experiences of studying and
working abroad, which enrich both the individuals who undergo it and
the countries which are in a position to absorb it, but the lack of local
counterbalances, in Greek terms of reference, which would resist such
a widespread emigration. It has become common knowledge nowadays
that, even in cases where foreign technology is simply transferred to a
country, the receiving country must have a high level of research already
in order to make the appropriate choices concerning, and carry out the
adaptions of, the technology which will be most to its benefit. This,
however, also holds true for all areas of scientific knowledge. The
OECD report on research and development in educational matters" has
this to say: "The absence of an environment conducive to researchers on
a national scale, hinders those countries which are less well-provided on
the scientific level benefiting from the common international wealth of
knowledge, since it has proved even more difficult to choose the appropriate information than to approach it...." (p. 14).
The question of research, both in universities and in independent
research centers, ought to be regarded as a national priority. It is saddening to discover that the state is allowing the years to pass without going
beyond the expression of good intentions. Thus, the most positive decisions arrived at by the recent interministerial meeting and published on
December 16, 1980," do nothing more than repeat, for one more
time, previous proclamations, thus simply underlining the distance be"See footnote 5 above.
"The promulgation of a law to settle the professional standing of research
workers and a proposed presidential decree to make research funds in the universities productive "outside the rules of public accounting."
Research in Higher Education 129
tween expressed political intentions and administrative practice (or, perhaps, between the political intentions expressed and those meant?), or
between the forces which confront each other inside the administrative
mechanism itself—the strongest of which are not, perhaps, the most
obvious.
An incision is vitally necessary in the area of research. If the Greek
Orthodox bishops studied in Jesuit academies, if most Greek politicians had behind them long and successful service in foreign parliaments, and if the Greek Chiefs of Staff had made their careers in the
Foreign Legion, perhaps the questions about our national standing which
would arise might lead to some more general understanding of the problem. Today, at a time when higher education and research move in an
area somewhere between non-existence and dependence, these questions
are covered up by the fact that, while individuals might have the recognition of the international scientific community, the country is simply
an object of condescension.
University research, in the countries where organized research exists,
has created a scientific tradition, and functions critically, tends more and
more to move between the two poles of, on the one hand, the exchange
of information and methodological tools with the international scientific community, and, on the other, the need to answer the questions
raised by the local community. Teaching and research, the preparation
of staff and scientific awareness, are joined to action through the exercise and the realization of the social responsibility held by both teachers
and students. The universities listen to the words and the silence which
surround them. The universities receive and send out vibrations, intuit
questions before they are asked, and interact with the whole of society
and with its constituent parts. The multidimensional role of higher education and research does not refer to- the attempt to achieve pioneer
status; it forms the object of generalized educational, political, and social
thought.
In reports from international bodies" it is pointed out that it is in
the nature of higher education to contain certain contradictions between
the exercise of social criticism and the need to serve a particular social
and economic system, and between democratic ideology and the reproduction of unequal relations. These contradictions are not easily surpassed, but they are not insurmountable. The social role of higher
education and research is formulated continuously through procedures
which incorporate a whole series of conflicts: (a) between the principle of social responsibility (which leads to membership, gathering to
a common cause, and, sometimes, dependency) and the need for autonomy and freedom as conditions for the exercise of that responsibility;
(b) between pressure for the analysis of problems already existing and
the prospect of investigating needs which have not yet found expres'See OCDE-CERI, Les relations entre 1' enseignement supirieur et la collecticite (rapport general, 27.9.1978).
130
JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
sion; (c) between the fact that questions can be posed more easily by
the state mechanism or organized interests and the priority for a social
policy for the people; and (d) between satisfying the community's expectations in teaching and research and contributing to the formulation
of those expectations.
Who would be able to recognize problems affecting the Greek universities in matters as central as these? It is clear that the level of education offered by Greek universities, their national standing itself, their
chances of operating as an area in which problems are defined and
analyzed—as an area in which study is made of the alternative solutions
offered to social forces for the formulation of their choices—and their
chances of fulfilling their complex social role, will depend to a great
extent on whether or not the appropriate research substructure is created
in the universities.
—translated by J. L. Selman
Two
New Books
from
Wire Press
Wire Press
3448 19th St.
San Francisco,
CA 94110
Some Economic Aspects of
Education*
by STEFANOS PESMAZOGLOU
The "Underutilization" of the Educational System
The article that follows demonstrates, on the basis of a series of
economic and other quantitative indices, the gap existing between Greece
and the EEC countries as regards the public financing of education.
Beyond the statistical quantitative analysis involved, however, lay the
crucial factors determining quality in all levels of education. At this
point, I shall refer to certain particular characteristics which lead to
the conclusion that the entire system of education in Greece is marked
by "partial educational employment" and a very large share of "covert
educational unemployment." The lack of serious financing of the educational mechanism and the absence of long-run consistent planning
create serious quantitative and qualitative problems in all branches and
at all levels of the educational system. A brief picture of the situation
follows:
1. Primary and Secondary Education and the Cost of
The Para-education System
In primary and secondary education teachers are also assigned administrative and accounting duties, thus laying a heavy burden on their
schedule. It is for this reason that the Federation of Secondary Education Teaching Personnel (OLME) insists on hiring specialized administrative and accounting staff. Furthermore, teachers are underpaid and
are forced to work in frondistiria (private preparatory establishments)
or give private lessons. Remuneration remains a major problem as the
quality of education deteriorates. This is a clear case of "covert education" since, instead of giving an extra effort in their preparation
for school courses—a clear case of hidden overtime work—teachers teach
in frondistiria. But it is not just teachers, it is students as well who
are educationally underemployed. Students believe that, in order to succeed in university entrance examinations, they must follow frondistiria
*This article presents some of the condusions reached in a wider research project
under way in the Research Department of the Bank of Greece.
131
132
JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
courses; this automatically entails a serious time limit in their preparation for the official school curriculum. With the introduction of the
new examination sysitem during the past three years, attendance at
frondistiria has been extended to cover the last three years of secondary
education. The cost of this "para-educational" system (Parapaideia)
has been steadily rising through the years; according to official estimates, there has been a leap upwards in the last three years. All frondistiria and institutes of foreign languages (also a flourishing concern) are not liable to official control, and so there are no reliable
statistical or other data kept, although official estimates consider that
a minimum cost of the para-educational system for 1979 should be
well over five billion drachmas. This whole area of para-educational
institutes can well be described as "terra incognita." The above estimate
is made on the basis of the total number of student applicants in
higher educational establishments multiplied by an average estimate of
fees. It does not take into consideration the cost of private lessons.
The extreme gravity of this whole situation can be understood if one
considers that the total public expenditures budget for education at
the secondary level totaled seven billion drachmas. It is highly probable
that the cost of the parallel educational structure surpassed the total
amount budgeted for secondary education in the last three years.
2. Teacher's Education: Lack of land Need of Scientific
Information and Professional Preparation
To the extent that the quality of schooling at all levels and all
types of education is a direct consequence of the teacher's degree of
preparation, the disparity between developed and developing countries
is remarkable. In highly developed countries, to acquire an educational
diploma, teachers are trained for nine to ten years in primary education,
seven to nine years in secondary education, and take up special training
in universities. Whereas, in developing countries, one to two years of
vocational training and general education is considered to be sufficient.
The table on third level distribution of students is indicative of the
extremely low percentage of students preparing for an educational profession. Data for 1975 show Greece at the very bottom of the list of
all EEC countries, Spain, and Portugal. The 3.8% of total university
student population following educational studies compares with an
average of over 20% for the EEC countries (33.3% for Germany) and
over 10% for Spain and Portugal. In Greece, priorities in education are
upside-down.
The disparity in teacher's remuneration, while inducing a difference
in expenditure per student, is, in itself, proof of the qualitative dissimilarity among the educational systems of various countries. A basic
demand of students in teacher's training colleges (Paidagogikes Akadimies) in Greece has been the extension of their study period and an
improvement in the quality of studies. But it is not just the need to
Some Economic Aspects of Education 133
add one more year of preparation in teacher's colleges (Paidagogikes
Akadimies), but also in higher third level education (Faculties of
Philosophy, Science, and Technology) ; it is absolutely essential to secure both the scientific formation and the professional preparation of
teachers with a special professional diploma if we want to secure the
full utilization of the educational system.
Furthermore, "covert educational unemployment" is intesified with
students' partial educational employment There is a significant number
of working students in secondary education; this is also true of primary
education in cases where students take part in family labor, particularly
in agricultural areas, but also in small artisan family shops, in which
the inadequate preparation of teachers is complemented by underemployment of students in primary and secondary education.
3. Student and Teacher Underemployment in Vocational and
Technical Education
In vocational and technical schools at all levels, there is a high percentage of teachers and students with second employment. A systematic
survey of the situation is yet to be conducted. On the basis of some indications in quite a number of specializations, vocational training is substituted for employee over-exploitation as a precondition of possible
future employment. It is also interesting to note that a growing number
of students go abroad to technical and vocational institutes as a result
of their lack of confidence in the technical and vocational structure in
Greece.
4. Third Level University Education: Underutilization and
Underemployment
(a) There is a high percentage of working university students, particularly in the mass faculties, who cannot attend lectures or seminars.
(b) There is only a partial commitment of all to university studies;
this lack of interest is linked to the lack of any post-graduate studies
and research programs.
(c) Professors hold various jobs and downgrade their university assignments. Reports submitted to the Ministry of Education on conditions prevailing in higher education show professors taking extensive
leaves of absence and engaging in other activities (the press, their own
writings and translations, as well as involvement in public or private
enterprises as legal, technical, or economic consultants, etc.) .
(d) The inadequate organization and low quality of education provided by universities, in conjunction with the total absence of postgraduate studies and research in Greece, force a high percentage of students to pursue their studies abroad (more than 40% of the total university student population). The lack of any long-run planning in educa-
134
JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
tion and of a very serious effort for the in-depth restructuring of third
level education, with all the investment cost implied, has led to the following extraordinary situation: foreign exchange for students, totaling
2.6 billion drachmas in 1975, i.e., two-thirds of government expenditures
on higher education, has now surpassed total public expenditures, on
the basis of official Bank of Greece estimates which do not and cannot
account for the widespread practice of illegal invisible transfers. (An
analysis of the number of students by scientific orientation and country
of study is under way.)
The underemployment of both teachers and students at all levels of
education in Greece is an extremely serious problem. It is not just a
problem of formulating a new policy aiming at the extension of the
economic basis of the current educational system. Full utilization and
full employment of the present potential goes hand in hand with the
need of in-depth reform of the system itself. It has become obvious
that immense resources may be economized—equaling the total public
expenditure for secondary and university education—by reducing the cost
of the para-educational system and by serious savings on foreign exchange for students in most undergraduate and scientific disciplines. It
is not just a matter of serious material and financial considerations but
also of inspiring confidence in students, parents, and teachers—society at
large—that the educational system has started to work.
The Financing of Edacation in Greece
There is no overall strategy of financing education in Greece. An
overall strategy" would have meant—in the face of the absolute need
to increase dramatically all the funds related to all levels of the educational mechanism—the coherent elaboration of policies to broaden or to
mobilize new financial possibilities with reference to the potential yield
of each source. Such a financial strategy would have meant the need to
take into account the financial possibilities and finance mechanisms of
the whole socioeconomic system: i.e., state budget, local authorities,
private and business sector, households. Such a long-run plan for education should be linked with long-run economic and social objectives
elaborated within an overall development orientation. On the basis of
such clear policy decisions, and parallel to the orhaustion of all possible sources of internal financing, Greece could apply for extra-financial
support by foreign or international organizations for very specific purposes. Such an educational strategy does not exist. On the contrary,
there is no official interest, no official research, and no control of the
two basic sources of private household finance:
(1) Private household financial support of the whole Para-educational system, which indudes all sorts of institutes, from the learning
of foreign languages to the frondistiria. According to official estimates,
their cost must by now have surpassed total public expenditures for
secondary education (see Table 5).
"
Some Economic Aspects of Education 135
(2) The second basic source of private household financing of education relates to the university—tertiary level—education of Greek students in foreign countries, which, for the last years has surpassed total
current public expenditure for higher education.
The continuous growth of these two phenomena seriously weaken
the possibilities of reorientation of this basic source of financing of the
formal educational structure. Furthermore, a strategy of financing for
the entire educational system would have meant the right sort of initiatives and incentives for the mobilization of the private capitalist sector
of the economy in the following directions:
(1) The financing of technical and vocational education by specialization and by the sectoral branch of the economy, as a prerequisite
for a modernization process in the industrial sector—with all due state
and trade union control of such activities, to avoid the substitution of
technical vocational education for the intensification of exploitation of
"trainee" workers;
(2) The financing of specific research projects and the setting up
of research institutes especially linked with the technological and managerial needs of the economy and society at large. Greece, with a minimal
research percentage in overall GNP, has practically no research financed
by the industrial sector;
(3) The financial backing of university education, especially in fields
linked to high technology and therefore to a highly skilled and educated
scientific work force.
The image one can reconstruct of the educational system in Greece
is very vague; there are no statistics or information on the whole network of the para-educational system. No official control, and no knowledge on what exactly is going on. There are no serious statistics and information on the role of vocational and technical education—mainly
private until recently. Even data related to private schools are not reilable, since payments are undervalued in reports by private schools.
Finally, there are certain post-graduate studies and branches of U.S. universities functioning in Greece, with Greek students, which are not included in the official statistics, since such educational activity is prohibited
by the constitution.
Table 1 gives an impression of the relative weight of education in
total public expenditure. A comparison is made in the overall distribution of public current expenditures between defense expenses, educational, and health and welfare expenses for the postwar period (19481979). It is crucial to note that the low percentage allocated to education, which only once or twice surpassed 15%, was built on an extremely low percentage in the first postwar period (1947-1955). The
burden of defense expenses is also all too obvious for the entire period:
reaching their lowest limits only in those years where educational expenses surpassed the 15% upper limit.
3,715
7,812
12,307
21,076
1950
1960
1965
3:1
3.4
4.8
10.6
13.8
16.0
3
88
179
830
1,702
3,364
48.1
48.9
47.8
38.0
30.5
1,245
1,816
3,738
4,672
6,433
Educational
Expenses
Defense
Expenses
2
2:1
17.2
8.8
5.0
8.0
446
328
388
988
Health and Welfare
Expenses
4
4:1
%.--4
0
3. Provisional National Accounts of Greece for the year 1979.
2,329
11.0
E,-,„
0
7c1
Z
33,525
15.0
5,648
13,836
36.7
9.3
37,742
1-4
1970
0
12,987
12.7
8,670
8.5
45,422
1975 102,007
44.5
01.1
1-3
16,423
13.2
11,788
42.1
9.5
1976 124,332
52,357
M
tn
13.9
21,362
14,799
9.6
65,808
1977 153,840
36.9
Z
18,404
9.9
41,1
14.9
27,657
1978 185,150
76,106
to
1979 233,530 91,510 39.2 33,128 14.2 24,815 10.6 1-,
i-4
tz
Z
Source: 1. National Accounts of Greece, 1948-1970, for the years 1948, 1950, 1955. r)
IV
2. Public Expenditure, 1958-1978, for the years 1960-1978.
1955
2,589
1948
(In million drs.)
Total Public
Expenditure
1
Percentage Distribution of Public Current Expenditure: Relative Indicators for Education, Defense, Public Health
TABLE 1
14.98
2.13
14.2
13.94
13.26
12.79
14.96
16.4
13.83
2.03
1.88
1.83
1.85
2.11
1.95
9,738
8,755
7,820
7,175
5,648
4,546
2,837
68,000
65,000
28,336
20,502
62,800
37,742
214,922
58,953
1979***
56,075
1978**
474,380
1977
456,702
1976
431,164
1975
415,491
304,420
1970
390,000
1965
145,458
1960
Notes : * It is the earliest date with available analytical staff stics on educational expenditures.
** Provisional data.
*** Estimates.
Sources: 1. National Accounts of Greece (1958-1975), Athens, 1976.
2. Provisional National Accounts of Greece, Year 1979, Athens, 1980.
Gross National Product
(at market prices) 134,086
Total Public
19,101
Expenditure
Public Current Expenditure
2,640
On Education
Public Current Expenditure as
A Percentage of G.N.P. 1.96
Public Current Expenditure as
A Percentage of Total 13.82
1958*
In million drs.
At constant prices
Public Current Expenditure on Education: Total and as a Percentage of G.N.P. and Total Public Expenditure
TABLE 2
138
JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
Table 2 gives a picture of the development of public current expenditure on education in absolute terms, as well as a percentage of GNP
and total public expenditure. This table permits a more analytical statistical picture for the whole period, 1958 to 1979. Public current expenditure, as a percentage of GNP, remained at a level around 2%, and, as a
percentage of total public expenditure, around 14% (with a maximum
16.04 in 1965 and a minimum 12.79 in 1975), i.e., with no overall
radical change in the relative importance of education.
Table 3 gives a picture of total capital expenditure in education and
as a percentage of total public capital expenditure, with a minimal percentage for the whole period up to the mid-1960s. The structure of
capital expenditure shows an overwhelming importance for transportation and irrigation, nearing 50% of total capital expenditure for the
decade 1960-1970.
TABLE 3
Public Capital Expenditure for Education
At current prices
in million drs.
1961
Public Capital Expenditure
On Education
67.4
Public Capital Expenditure
On Education as % of Total
Public Capital Expenditure 1.3%
1965
1970
1975
1979
411.3
1,149.9
4,585.4
8,288.9
7.7%
8.9%
14.1%
13%
Source: National Accounts Service
Table 4 indicates the structure of capital expenditure (public) by level
of education. For the decade 1961-1970, cumulatively more than 2/ 3 of
public capital funds were invested in secondary level education. It is only
after 1975 that there is a public allotment for higher technical education.
By 1979, there seems to be a near equal distribution among primary,
secondary, and tertiary level education.
TABLE 4
Capital Expenditure by Level of Education (in million drs.)
By Level of Education
1961-1970 1975
Total
4,619.4 4,585.4
Primary
968.3 1,010.1
Secondary and Vocational 1,615.5 2,076.4
Tertiary (University)
1,020.7
685.0
Higher Technical
449.2
1976
5,540.4
1,233.5
2,059.0
1,139.6
310.4
1977
6,210.8
1,661.3
2,082.4
1,432.1
443.3
1978
7,914.8
1,889.0
2,889.4
1,663.2
238.2
1979
8,228.9
2,033.1
2,576.9
2,056.7
329.6
139
Some Economic Aspects of Education
Table 5 gives some indications, on the basis of official statistical data,
on private expenditure in education by level and type. This table is
given with all the above-stated reservations on the credibility of the
data available. The importance of the private sector seems undervalued,
especially for the "para-educational" network. But even this undervalued
picture is of interest.
TABLE 5
Private Expenditure 017 Education: By Level and Type
At current prices
in million drs.
Levels and/or Types
1976
1977
1978
1979
1980
Primary Level
Secondary Level
Tertiary Level
Technical and Vocational (Type of
education at all levels)
Frondistiria and Institutes of
Foreign Languages
Writing Material
School Books
Payments to the State
2,037
1,866
5
2,457
2,245
5
2,709
1,892
5
3,033
1,804
5
3,458
1,847
5
1,289
1,404
1,490
1,471
898
1,992
2,067
372
33
2,534
2,292
435
32
2,988
2,457
480
27
3,638
2,862
484
23
Total
9,661 11,404 12,048 13,320
4,300
—
—
—
—
Source: National Accounts Service.
The importance of the private sector in both the primary and the
secondary level seems to be diminishing during the last three years as
a result of the new law: marginal private schools have closed whereas,
within this overall tendency, the three or four best private schools seem
to be extending their educational activities. It is also true to note that
after the introduction of the new law on technical and vocational education, the private sector is in the process of rapid elimination. On the
contrary, the whole network of "Parapaideid' seems to be extending
rapidly.
Often, within the costs of "underwritting materials" are included
costs for the tax purposes of private schools.
Some General Remarks on the Comparative Statistical Data on
Greece, the Other EEC Countries, Spain, and Portugal,
Relating to Current Expenditures by Level of Education,
Purpose, and Structure
Some basic remarks or trends from the comparative analysis of ex-
1965
1970
1972
1973
1974
1975
1965
1970
1972
1973
1974
1975
1965
1970
1972
1973
1974
1975
1965
1970
1972
1973
1974
1975
1965
1970
1972
1973
1974
1975
Total Educational
Expenditure
Total Educational
Expenditure as %
of Total Public
Expenditure
Current Educational
Expenditure as %
of Total Educational
Expenditure
Total Current Public
Educational Expenditure
as % of G.N.P.
Total Current
Educational Expenditure
as % of Total
Public Expenditure
20.27%
10.47%
10.90%
—
—
13.72%
13.21%
3.07%
3.41%
—
7.28%
10.46%
—
2.40%
3.03%
74.8%
75.7%
—
70.7%
75.8%
10.3%
13.8%
—
14.0%
14.4%
—
14,522.033.08
17,385,717.25
—
—
3,832,442.25
7,387,513.61
GERMANY
17.28%
13.06%
—
6.41%
7.13%
—
—
5.68%
58.8%1
—
58.2%
—
82.2%
86.9%
—
—
—
—
—
—
62.6%
64.1%1
4.32%
4.95%
15.46%
—
13,585,201.64
—
18,800,580,01
4,194,965.25
6,911,159.47
FRANCE
75.8%
74.4%
3.84%
—
—
91.7%
91.5%
—
—
22.1%
22.8%
16.9%
—
—
16.7%
15.2%
—
2,406,430.62
2,930,598.00
—
3,922,934.94
16.9%
—
583,173.84
1,084,906.21
__
DENMARK
711,538.64
—
—
BELGIUM
9.32%0
9.06%
—
4.64%
5.61%
3.40%
4.11%
—
85.9%
86.3%
81.0%
83.9%
—
10.8%
—
—
—
10.8%
117,028.80
197,244.00
—
—
367,484.31
512,017.98
IRELAND
In millions of dollars
TABLE 6*
Public Current Expenditure for Education in the EEC Countries and Greece: 1965-1975 EV
IV
Z
I>,
0
04
I-I
X
tz
X
tri
t-i
L-,
tz
Z
0
4b.
4.23%
4.70%
4.79%
5.47%
10.38%
11.49%
12.26%
12.19%
12.36%
-
6.14%
6.76%
7.15%
20.75%
23.43%
3.26%
3.80%
-
10.72%
10.98%
10.19%
10.17%
-
90.0%
89.2%
4.32%
4.18%
4.68%
4.46%
12.42%
10.44%
1970
1972
1973
1974
1975
1965
1970
1972
1973
1974
1975
Total Current Public
Educational Expenditure
as % of G.N.P.
Total Current
Educational Expenditure
as % of Total
Public Expenditure
23.48%
19.48%
78.9%
79.7%
...
3.95%
6.61%
7.26%
-
...
7.83%
1.45%
1.54%
1.71%
90.5%
90.8%
81.6%
7.3%
8.0%
-
9.6%
12.2%
77.5%
84.5%
84.5%
84.1%
88.3%
Source: Statistical Yearbook, 1977, UNESCO.
'Expenditure of the Ministry of Education only.
*This table has been elaborated by Chara Loukakou of the Research Department of the Bank of Greece.
3.77%
82.4%
82.2%
4.97%
75.5%
74.2%
75.5%
73.2%
3.25%
83%
97.2%
1965
1970
1972
1973
1974
1975
1965
Current Educational
Expenditure as %
of Total Educational
Expenditure
28.5%
23.7%
26.3%
29.4%
13.4%
13.6%
14.6%
14.5%
14.0%
-
14.2%
14.8%
13.5%
13.9%
-
13.8%
11.7%
1965
1970
1972
1973
1974
1975
Total Educational
Expenditure as %
of Total Public
Expenditure
5,749,446.92
7,172,349.60
252,565.93
343,000.60
136,199.64
207,975.87
5,093,737.60
6,352,320.00
9,241,148.84
10,408,326.90
12,882,042.5
1,200,041.81
2,451,353.76
28,734.00
44,888.00
66,637.76
93,763.48
-
2,952,960.00
4,000,097.60
7,781,039.91
8,683,949.52
1965
1970
1972
1973
1974
1975
Total Educational
Expenditure
GREECE
U.K.
HOLLAND
LUXEMBOURG
ITALY
142
JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC' DIASPORA
TABLE SIX
Table 6: The data presented in this table cover total public expenditures, both current and capital, on public education, and, where applicable, subsidized private education. They comprise, if not otherwise
indicated, educational expenditures at every level of government, i.e.,
central or federal, state, provincial, and local.
For a large number of countries, expenditure is expressed as a percentage of the Gross National Product (GNP), at current market prices.
In some cases, and depending on the availability of data, use is made
of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at market prices or GDP at factor
cost. It should be noted that, owing to the difference in the concepts of
these two types of national aggregates, the respective proportions of the
national aggregate allocated to education are internationally not comparable.
Total expenditure on education is, in general, related to total government expenditure, i.e., current budget(s) and investment budget(s) of
all government levels. Where capital expenditure on education is missing,
the percentage is calculated in the general government budget (s) only.
penditures on education in the nine EEC countries and Greece, Spain, and
Portugal as depicted in public expenditure tables:
1. Total current public expenditures on education: the growth rate
for Greece was lower than that of all EEC countries during the period
1965 1975. Average annual expenditure rose by less than ten per cent;
-
the corresponding rate for all EEC countries was above ten per cent
(19.6 per cent for the Netherlands). (See Table 6)
2. Total public expenditure on education as a percentage of public
expenditure in 1975 fluctuated between a minimum 10.8 per cent
(Ireland) and a maximum 23.7 per cent (the Netherlands). In Greece,
this percentage was well below the EEC minimum (eight per cent).
Considering that the average percentage of the EEC countries is around
fifteen per cent, the fiscal burden of education in Greece is nearly half
the EEC average. (See Table 6)
3. The study of trends in the share of expenditure on education in
total public expenditure for the 10-year period. 1965-1975 shows that
there was an increase for most of the EEC countries or a negligible
decrease for some of them, whereas, for Greece, the corresponding share
dropped appreciably from 12.2 per cent in 1965 to 8 per cent in 1975.
(See Table 6)
4. Current public expenditure as a percentage of total expenditure
(plus capital percentage) on education in 1975 ranged from 73.2 per
cent for Luxembourg to 91.7 percent for Belgium. In Greece, this percentage almost reached the EEC maximum (90.8 per cent). (See Table 6)
Some Economic Aspects of Education 143
5. Current expenditure as a percentage of total public expenditure
on education in the 10-year period 1965-1975, shows a marked trend
of increase in both the EEC countries and the three Mediterranean countries, Greece, Spain, and Portugal, culminating in a ninety per cent limit
(See Table 6)
Corresponding trends in current expenditure as a share of total
public expenditure on education are witnessed all over the world.
6. Current public expenditure on education in 1975 as a percentage
of GNP range from a minimum of 3.4 per cent (West Germany) to a
maximum of 7.15 per cent (Holland and Denmark). The corresponding
share for Greece is 1.54 per cent, well below the EEC minimum. (See
Table 6)
7. The share of current expenditure on education in GNP for the
10-year period 1965-1975 shows an increase as regards the EEC countries, whereas, for Greece, the corresponding share shows a decrease
(1965: 2.6 per cent; 1970: 1.71 per cent; 1975: 1.54 per cent).
8. A breakdown of current expenditure on education by purpose
shows that (a) the share of administrative expenditure ranges from 1.4
per cent (West Germany) to 3.8 per cent (Ireland), whereas the same
share for Greece stands above the EEC maximum (3.9 per cent). The
EEC average is around three per cent. (b) The share of scholarships
and grants in 1975 ranges from 2 per cent (Belgium, Netherlands) to
7.4 per cent (Ireland). The corresponding share for Greeie is only 0.2
per cent. (See Table 7)
9. The percentage share of teachers' salaries in current expenditure
on education ranges from a minimum of 70.4 per cent (West Germany,
Ireland) to a maximum of 82.6 per cent (Luxembourg). In Greece it
approaches the EEC maximum (79.6 per cent). (See Table 7)
TABLE 7
This table shows, in general, all public current expenditure, on public and subsidized private education. Total public expenditure has been
given so that the reader may calculate the absolute figures on the basis
of the percentage breakdown by purpose. While, for many countries,
the elements of this breakdown refer, in general, to national accounts,
it should be noted that certain categories of expenditure are not altogether
comparable.' teachers' salaries, for example, often include those for
auxiliary personnel and, in other cases, all kinds of additional allowances,
as well as pensions paid to retired teachers and professors. As far as
scholarships are concerned, these occasionally include diverse welfare
allownces for pupils. Administrative expenditure represents, for the
greater part, central and local administration. Boarding costs are generally
included with welfare services.
Year
1965
1975
1965
1970
1975
1965
1970
1994
1965
1970
1975
1970
1975
1973
1965
1972
1975
EEC COUNTRIES
Belgium'
France'
Germany (Fed. Rep.)
Ireland
Italy 3
Luxembourg
Netherlands
7.73
2.5
3.6
--1.1
2.4
--7.6
4.1
6.1
5.2
4.0
--3.7
6.3
--1.4
7.4
• •
• •
16.8
1.0
1.4
2.8
16.5
---
7.6
3.5
3.8
76.7
79.9
75.5
82.6
18.24
14.2
17.7
0.9
1.6
1.3
••
0.7
0.7
3.1
2.2
2.0
15.0
21.3
19.64
19.8
25.4
11.8
20.5
16.64
18.2
---
9.44
10.94
23.6
---
Not
Distributed
2.4
.... _
2.3
72.6
62.1
70.7
62.2
73.4
••
1.3
3.4
_
1.8
1.9
--22.9
78.5
77.5
70.4
76.8
78.5
72.5
••
2.9
3.0
1.0
1.1
1.4
72.4
72.3
2.2
2.8
--3.6
Welfare
Services
Total Adnainistra- Emoluments Other Direct
tion
of Teachers Instructional
Public
Expenditure
Current
Expenditure
Scholarships
and Grants
Public Current Expenditure by Purpose: EEC Countries (and Greece), Spain, and Portugal
TABLE 7
,-n
Ow
Oa
Z
to
t-,
t-,
tri
Z
IFi
t1
>t-,
0
Ina
c•-•
0
1966
1970
1974
1974
Spain2
Portugal'
2.7
66.2
22.8
1.7
3.0
- - -
0.6
2.8
3.2
0.2
14.5
20.4 )•
18.0
3.6
9.7
6.24
6.2 4
12.84
13.5 4
- - -
Data not available.
• • Data included elsewhere with another category.
)0. The figure immediately to the left of the arrow includes data
relative to the columns where this symbol is indicated.
Explanatory notes in symbols used:
• •
••
• •
• •
79.6
79.6
75.8
69.3
70.5
4.4
3.9
-4.0
4.8
Source: UNESCO, Statistical Yearbook, 1977.
'Expenditure of the Ministry of Education only.
2 Figures in millions
3 lncluding Administration.
4 Including other direct instructional expenditure.
1970
1974
Greece
United Kingdom
Denmark
18.5
20.8
20.8
4.1
45.9
31.1
34.8
Italy °1965
1970
1975
7.7
8.8
13.3
0.0
0.1
- - -
0.4
2.9
46.5
38.1
42.4
1.5
0.7
• •
• •
.. -
9.9
13.9
17.7
33.4
40.9
37.0
256.7
342.8
35.9
1965
1970
1975
Ireland
13
1.4
- - -
0.7
3.1
• •
2.7
4,2
18.8
17.7
18.8
34.6
32.7
30.5
244.4
39.3.
31.4
1965
1970
1974
Germany (Fed. Rep.)
3.7
- - -
0.6
0.5
0.2
0.1
2.2
3.2
11.0
17.4
13.7
35.1
43.9
51.3
28.2
28.1
28.1
30.1
29.7
25.1
• •
• •
• •
0.0
1.0
0.0
17.4
6.4
-
2.4
7.3
1.0
5.6
12.0
19.9
6.8
5.6
-
-
2.2
9.5
7.1
Other Types Not
Adult
Education of Education Distributed
Frances1965
1970
1975
0.
II,
12.8
60.4
71.1*
71.10.
1965
1970
1975
Denmark
• •
0.8
4.4
10.8
13.3
15.3
56.5
51.7
47.7
29.4
24.7
25.5
Special
Education
3rd
Level
Year Total Current Pre-Primary 2nd
& 1st Level Level
Public
Expenditure
(mil. $)
1965
1970
1975
Belgium'
COUNTRY
TABLE 8
Public Current Expenditure on Education: Percentage by Level
0
.,:,
tz
=
01
t-,
tri
Z
ti
t7
hi
1-,
0
1-i
0
1965
1970
1975
1970
1974
1970
1974
1970
1974
1965
Netherlands
United Kingdom
Greece
Spain 5 / 6
Portugal
39.5
39.8
75.0
78.70
51.0
44.1
10.7
9.7
31.2
23.2
0.4
0.7
1.3
0.1
15.4
1.7
1.3
1.0
0.7
0.1
7.4
9.8
4.5
0.8
0.7
1.0
1.8
24.9
4.7
5.4
3.7
3.9
13.7
13.4
12.6
10.7
1.2
- - -
Data not available.
• • Data included elsewhere with another category.
). The figure immediately to the left of the arrow includes data
relative to the columns where this symbol is indicated.
0 Magnitude less than half
0.0 of unit employed.
-Magnitude nil.
Explanatory notes on symbols used:
18.2
14.5
0.
)1•
0.7
0.1
0.1
0.6
• •
0.1
22.3
19.2
37.1
39.3
24.7
25.2
15.5
22.0
2.2
2.9
28.3
29.9
3.8
3.2
4.0
17.7
22.1
28.3
39.2
38.6
36.1
30.5
25.5
26.0
2.5
3.6
1.2
2.4
37.3
40.0
45.3
43.3
Source: UNESCO, Statistical Yearbook, 1977.
'Expenditure of the Ministry of Education only.
'Including Adult Education.
'Including Special Education.
4State. Expenditure only, including reimbursements of
Local Staff Expenditure.
'Expenditure of the - central or federal government only.
'Figures in millions.
1 1974
1970
1973
Luxembourg4
148
JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
TABLE 8
Public current expenditures have been presented in this table in absolute figures to enable the reader to see the base on which the various
percentage proportions have been calculated. There is a general problem
of identifying the percentage allocated to technical and vocational education at all levels of education (especially second and third level). The
various types of education at the second level, i.e., general, teacher training, and other second level education, are presented in one column only,
entitled "Second Level." The column "Other types of education," includes other education for which it was not possible to give a distribution
by level. In addition to unspecified expenditure, the column "Not
Distributed," sometimes covers scholarships, subsidies, and central and
local administrative expenditure, where an allocation by level has not
been possible.
10. The share of teachers' salaries in current expenditure on education shows an increase for some countries and a decrease for others,
whereas, for Greece, there is a stability around the 79.6 per cent point.
11. Some basic conclusions arising from the distribution of current
public expenditure on education by level of education in the EEC and
Greece are as follows: (See Table 8)
(a) The share of expenditure on primary education in the EEC
ranges from 25 per cent in Belgium, France, and Great Britain to 35
per cent in Italy and Ireland (Luxembourg is a special case, as it has
no higher level education). The corresponding share for Greece (45
per cent) is well above the EEC maximum.
(b) The share of public expenditure on secondary education ranges
from 30.5 per cent in West Germany to 51.3 per cent in France. As
shown by the preceding remarks, the share of expenditures on secondary
education is clearly higher than that on primary education in all EEC
countries (except West Germany, where these are even, and the special
case of Luxembourg). The lowest disparity in rates is shown by Ireland
and Italy. Conversely, for Greece, the share of public finance of secondary
education is much lower than that of primary education (29.9 per cent
and 44.1 per cent, respectively).
(c) Higher level education in EEC countries absorbs between thirteen
and twenty-eight per cent of public expenditure on education. This is
much lower than in the other two levels, with the exception of the
Netherlands, where it exceeds expenditure on primary education. The
,
corresponding figure for Greece is twenty-two per cent, which is comparatively higher than the EEC average (except the Netherlands), and
is close to the percentage share of secondary education.
12. A study of expenditure per student as depicted in Table 9 in
each level—which is the most reliable index—shows:
Some Economic Aspects of Education 149
(a) for all. EEC countries, there is a progressive increase of expenditure per student from primary to higher level education;
(b) investment per student in secondary education is 1.5-2 times
higher than that in primary education;
(c) investment per student in higher level education is four to five
times higher than in primary education. The same ratios apply for
Spain and Portugal. On the contrary, in the case of Greece, a reverse
trend is witnessed between primary and secondary education. The ratio
between primary and higher level education in Greece is between onefourth and one-fifth of that in most EEC countries.
13. Some tentative conclusions which do not, however, aim at establishing a direct link between "causes" and "results" or explaining extremely intricate educational phenomena are the following:
(a) Denmark, which has the highest GNP per capita in the EEC,
also has the highest expenditure on education per capita. It aIso has
the highest expenditure per student in both primary and secondary education, without lagging behind in higher level education, too; it should
also be noted that it has the highest share of current expenditure in
GNP among EEC countries.
(b) Italy and Ireland, which have the lowest GNP per capita in the
EEC, also have the lowest expenditure on education per capita and the
lowest expenditure per student in all three levels of education.
(c) Greece, although having a GNP per capita on the same level
as that of Ireland, lags behind in all indices: expenditure an education
per capita (one-fourth of Ireland); share of current expenditure on edu-
TABLE 9
This table gives an estimate of public expenditure per pupil and by
level of education. When the data were available, these calculations were
made using public current expenditure for all levels of government, i.e.,
central or federal, state, provincial, and local. The enrollment data used
to effect these calculations were those which included both public and
private education. The figures in the column headed "Public expenditure
per pupil at the first level" are shown in U.S. dollars at current market
prices and are used as the base ( =1) to compare the other levels of
education. To get a better idea of the ratio for expenditure at each level
of education the second column shows the relative growth of expenditure
at the first level, using 1965 as the base year (1965 =1), or the first
year for which data were available.
With the above reservations, the data in this table should be interpreted with great caution. It should be noted that the distribution of
students and expenditure by level of education is not necessarily the
same, and this may explain, to some extent, certain peculiarities in the
data.
TABLE 9
216.4
347.2
637.6
106.5
134.6
162.1
1965
1970
1973
1965
1970
1974
1965
1970
1973
1965
1970
1974
1965
1970
1974
1965
1970
1970
1973
Belgium'
Denmark2
France'/ 2
Germany (Fed. Rep.)
Ireland
Italy
Luxembourg'
1974
174.5
183.9
406.4
Year
Country
290.4
582.8
247.1
226.9
419.6
113.8
213.1
330.0
510.7
699.5
1579.4
Cost Per Pupil
at the 1st Level
(Absolute figures in
U.S. Dollars)
1
2.0
1.8
1.9
1.5
1.6
1.5
15
2.3
2.0
1
1.3
1.5
1
0.9
1.7
2.4
1.9
1.7
2.5
2.1
2.6
1
1.9
2.9
1
1.6
2.9
• •
• •
• •
74.0
4.2
3.9
Second Level
( 1st Level = 1 )
1
1.4
3.1
1
1.4
3.0
Index Number
of Expenditure
at the 1st Level
1965=1
7
3.0
5.2
1.9
2.2
1.9
4.1
6.0
7.9
6.3
5.7
4.9
6.1
5.3
5.4
3.1
3.3
2.4
10 .7
6.2
5.4
Third Level
(1st Level = 1 )
Public Current Expenditure Per Pupil (1st Level) in U.S. Dollars, and Index Numbers of
Expenditure Per Pupil, by Level of Education
5..
0
E
,o
C1
il ")
74
Z
›t-i
0
M
n-3
M
to
Z
to
t-i
tTi
Z
..-1
`0
3.8
5.1
7.1
3.6
7.4
3.0
0.9
1.0
2.2
0.9
1.1
• •
1
1.2
1
6.5
1
2.4
90.0
110.5
20.2
130.5
55.2
130.9
'Expenditure of the Ministry of Education.
'The calculation of the figure corresponding to the first level index includes all expenditure for general education at the second
level.
'Beginning 1970, expenditure refers to France and the Overseas Departments.
4State Expenditure only, including personnel expenditure by the local authorities.
'Calculations have been made using only expenditure on public education.
'Expenditure of the central or federal government.
'Expenditure for teacher training at the third level is included in the second level.
"The calculation of the figure corresponding to the 1st level'index includes expenditure for teacher training at the 2nd level.
• • Data not available.
Source: UNESCO, Statistical Yearbook, 1976.
81970
'1974
Spain"
Notes:
1965
1974
1970
1973
Portugal'
5
Greece
10.3
10.7
10.7
2.3
2.2
2.4
180.1
213.7
313.5
U.K. (England & Wales) 1965
1970
1973
1
1.2
1.7
6.5
6.7
6.8
2.6
2.7
2.2
1
1.6
3.2
169.8
277.1
546.6
1965
1970
1973
Netherlands
Italy
Ireland
Germany (Fed. Rep.)
France
Denmark
Belgium
Country
TABLE 10
1960
1970
1975
1960
1970
1975
1960
1970
1975
1960
1970
1975
1960
1970
1975
1960
1970
1975
Year
(6-10)
(6-11)
(6- 9)
(6-10)
(6-12)
(6-11)
77
104
111
110
107
110
106
109
• •
• •
• •
(11-18)
34
61
71
(12-17)
35
79
88
(10-18)
• •
• •
• •
(11-17)
46
75
85
94
96
144
117
109
(13-17)
65
(12.17)
69
82
84
Second Level
(Gross)
103
109
108
106
Firset Level
(Gross)
School and University Enrollment Ratios
Comparative Data for the EEC Countries (Including Greece), Portugal, and Spain
(20-24)
(20-24)
(20-24)
(20-24)
(20-24)
(20-24)
6.61
16.69
25.48
9.30
13.49
15.52
6.11
13.41
20.15
9.83
19.50
24.29
10.39
18.28
29.69
9.09
17.49
22.01
Third Level
(Gross)
•11
-3
0
rn
tif
to
1
0
0
1970
1975
1960
1975
1960
1970
1960
1970
1974
1960
1970
1974
1960
1970
1975
1960
1970
1975
(6-11)
(7-10)
(6-10)
(6-10)
(6-11)
(5-11)
(6-11)
(6-11)
98
97
131
115
110
123
105
109
105
95
104
105
105
102
101
125
112
114
(11-17)
20
(12-16)
57
85
(11-16)
23
56
(11.17)
73
(12-17)
41
69
83
(12-18)
67
73
81
.
(12-17)
58
7 5
90
(12-18)
29
48
53
(20-24)
(20-24)
(20-24)
(20-24)
(20-24)
(20-24)
7.97
11.65
3.46
20.77
3.95
8.91
3.84
12.01
15.53
8.50
14.07
16.66
13.18
19.51
25.93
0.70
1.56
2.00
Figures within parentheses refer to the formal age group included in all levels (i.e., NET.) Not Gross as in the Table.
The average male-female student population is denoted.
• • No data available for the Federal Republic of Germany.
Source: UNESCO, Statistical Yearbook, 1977.
Notes:
Portugal
Spain
Greece
United Kingdom
Netherlands
Luxembourg
154
JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
cation in GNP (half of Ireland); and expenditure per student in all
levels (Ireland has double the investment per student in secondary and
higher level education). EEC average investment exceeds that of. Greece
by far.
Comparative Conclusions on the Distribution of the Total Student
Body by Level, the Social Composition of the Student Body in
Higher Level Education, and Its Distribution by Faculties
14. Parallel to the distribution of public expenditure on education
by level, an analysis was made of the distribution of the total student
body by level:
(a) Students in primary education in the EEC countries average
45-46 per cent of the total student body (Minimum: West Germany,
33.5 per cent; Maximum: Ireland, 56.8 per cent). Greece is close to
Ireland (53 per cent).
(b) Students in secondary education show an adverse trend:
Maximum in West Germany (57.4 per cent) ; Minimum in Ireland
(38.4 per cent). Greece is again close to Ireland (39.5 per cent).
(c) Students in higher level education belong to two groups: the
TABLE 10
Table 10 represents school enrollment ratios for the years 1960,
1970, and 1975 (or the latest year available). In the UNESCO Statistical
Yearbook (1977 edition), enrollment ratios are calculated both as gross
and net for the primary and secondary levels. All ratios are expressed
as percentages. The gross enrollment ratio is the total enrollment of all
ages divided by the population of the specific age groups which correspond to the age groups of primary and secondary schooling. The gross
estimate includes students attending the different levels of education of
all ages and not only the age specified by the specific age groups. This
is the reason why for all EEC countries (including Greece) and Spain,
in countries with almost universal education, among the school age population at the first level, the gross enrollment ratio will exceed 100 if
the actual age distribution of pupils spreads over outside the official
school age. It is the official school age which is denoted within brackets
for each country and for each level, whereas it is the actual ratio which
is estimated. For the Federal Republic of Germany, the individual enrollment ratios have been suppressed since they are inflated because of an
overlap of durations for these two levels of education between states.
Enrollment ratios for the second level are based on the total enrollment, including general education, teacher training, and other second
level education.
Some Economic Aspects of Education 155
first is around eight to nine percent, while the second is around four
to five per cent of the total student body (Denmark is around 10.5 per
cent). Greece comes in the middle range, with seven per cent.
The substantial disparity between West Germany and Ireland, as
shown in the preceding section, could be linked to the level of economic
development and the degree of specialization potential of the German
economy, as compared with most EEC countries, particularly developing
ones.
15. As to the social composition of the student body, some comparative data showed that there is a high proportion of students belonging to the working class; these students, however, are chiefly absorbed by schools of economic and social sciences. On the contrary,
schools of high technology chiefly absorb students from higher social
strata, whose fathers are usually engaged in free trades.
16. A comparison with other EEC countries, Spain, and Portugal,
shows that, as regards distribution by the faculties, Greece has the highest
percentage of students in social and law faculties, quite a distance from
Italy, which has the highest corresponding percentage in the EEC. On
TABLE 11
1975: Third Level Distribution of Students
Country
Belgium'
Denmark
France
Germany (F.R.)'
Ireland
Italy
Luxembourg 4
Netherlands
United Kingdom
Greece
Spain'
Portugal
Social Sciences
and Law
Education
23.2
20.4
23.2
21.2
17.7
25.1
13.9
22.2
33.3
11.3
6.2
Engineering
9.4
6.5
14.7
15.6
9.8
(21.7)
(29.8)
(1.8)
23.4
24.0
41.0
20.7
29.1
16.1
20.3
3.8
13.1
5.0
19.6
14.6
13.7
17.4
19.3
'Year: 1973.
Data for France not comparable; human sciences include most social sciences.
'For the Federal Republic of Germany, data on education include, since 1974,
teachers' education as well.
4Data for Luxembourg include only students studying in Luxembourg, therefore
giving a distorted picture, since the overwhelming majority of students study
abroad (year: 1976).
5 Data include students of the Higher Technical Institutes (KATEE).
'Including "Universidad de Education a Distancia."
Primary source: UNESCO, Statistical Yearbook, 1977.
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JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
TABLE 11
Table 11 shows third level distribution of students for three main
scientific orientations: Social Sciences and Law, Education, and Engineering. These three groupings correspond to four fields of study according to the international standard classification. Data of the sort are not
usually easily comparable. There is a problem of groundwork study to
determine what courses exactly correspond to the headings, "Social
Sciences" or "Engineering" or "Education." According to the international standard classification, social sciences include: Economics, Politics,
Sociology, Public Administration, Anthropology. Education includes educational courses, Paedagogy (including subjects studied in teacher training institutions at the third level), physical education. Engineering includes Applied Science, Construction, Metallurgy, Technology, etc.
Difficulties in comparability arise from the fact that different countries include the same subjects under different overall headings, e.g., in
France, most social sciences are included in the humanities. Other countries include, in third level university studies, technical institutes which
might formally be some level, but are essentially of a lower level, as
in Spain and Greece, where KATEE and certain other institutes are
included. Finally, under the heading of "Education," some countries
seem to have grouped all educational activities for the preparation of
teachers for all levels and all types of education. It is with these serious
reservations in mind that one should note the correspondence among the
three countries with the highest percentage of students in social sciences
and law (Greece, Portugal, and Italy) that also have the lowest percentage
of students attending education.
.
the other hand, Greece has the lowest share of students in education,
along with Portugal and Italy. Whereas, in engineering and technological
studies, Greece appears in the middle of the range because of an inflated
number of students due to the inclusion of students in the KATEE.
Disparities Between the Educational
Mechanism and the Economic System
1. The unequal distribution of the student body between general and
technical/vocational education has a serious economic and social impact, which is intensified by the fact that students in secondary general
education do not have more job opportunities than those in secondary
technical education; on the contrary, they have less job opportunities.
2. At the same time, there are a host of unspecialized school graduates in the labor market seeking office work without an entry test,
while there is an important demand for technical personnel. This is the
Some Economic Aspects of Education
157
first disparity between the educational mechanism and the economy.
3. There is a distorted distribution of the student body in higher
level university institutions with a pronounced concentration in law and
economic or social studies, as well as in the humanities, in contrast with
technological studies.
4. The same pattern of disparities exists between university graduates
and economic and social needs: a high share of unemployed graduates
from the faculties of Philosophy, Law, Economy, and Medicine is being
witnessed. In 1976, 3,150 graduates from Philosophy were unemployed.
There were 10,949 law graduates in the Athens-Piraeus area for 2,300
possible openings.
5. The disparity between the educational mechanism and the economy
assumes alarming proportions if one also considers covert unemployment
or the underemployment of certain services and economic branches in
contrast with the need to promote other productive sectors.
A distinct disparity is marked between the effective student flow
and the one considered or described as the desirable one. Educators think
that it is imperative to:'
(a) alter the flow of student potential;
(b) redistribute the student body.
These problems, however, are not solved simply by taking administrative action, nor are they just problems of a change in attitudes;
causes should be sought in the direction of fulfilling all the basic preconditions of the post-graduate period.
(a) Occupational consolidation of the diplomas of technical employment and vocational schools is imperative.
(b) The inefficient functioning of the labor market must be seriously
considered.' In fact, the concept of a labor market loses its content in
branches where enterprises prefer to recruit their personnel privately.
(c) The insecurity and instability of the private sector generates
a flow of most graduates toward the public sector. The Blanchar report demonstrated lucidly the inadequate functioning of labor inspection.
According to a recent study,' the reasons forcing graduates of the
first three-year cycle of secondary education to respond negatively to
technical and vocational schools are the same as those forcing graduates
of the second three-year cycle of secondary education to underestimate
the KATEE (Higher Technical and Vocational Schools). Recent legislation is not convincing enough for the majority of students. An extremely large portion of students consider technical schools as barring
their entrance to universities, despite the formal equivalence of the degree
of a technical school with that of a general school. The study by M.
Kassotakis shows that ninety per cent of students interviewed were totally
'See M. Kassotakis (1979), Thesis on the need of Vocational Orientation; see
also, Psacharopoulos, articles in the daily, To Vima.
3See the study on the labor market by R. Fakiolas.
3 See p. 1, Note 1.
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JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
ignorant of the vocational activities profiting by studies in the KATEE.
This ignorance extends further than vocations and relative studies,
and even covers traditional professions and corresponding studies. A
large part of the students interviewed had no opinion on the possibility
of finding a job in their own particular branch. This Ignorance is partly
responsible for the massive turn of young people toward studies with
few job opportunities, away from studies where such opportunities are
much higher. Kassotakis also observes that many secondary education
graduates have an erroneous picture of the professions they wish to
follow and ascribe advantages to them which can only be ascribed to
"undesirable" professions, particularly technical ones.
The off-hand attitude and the lack of serious planning in technical
and vocational education has always been a source of distrust.
Technical and Vocational Education as an Instrument of
Economic and Social Policy: Some Crucial Conclusions
1. Usually, technical and vocational education is seen as a means
of specializing labor and modernizing the economy in order to cope
with international competition, particularly in Europe, following the
tariff disarmament upon Greece's accession to the EEC.
2. Technical education can be seen as an instrument of economic
and social policy in fully implementing technical progress on production. The import of foreign technology is not of the nature of importing any material good. The degree of dependence on foreign technology
is linked to the degree of absorption capacity of less developed countries. The qualitative improvement of the technological composition of
capital goes hand in hand with the qualitative improvement of specialized
technical labor.
3. In a broader context, technical and vocational education may be
regarded as a tool of an effective employment policy: inasmuch as the
main preoccupation of the social and political forces of society is not
only to maintain a high level of full employment but also to harmonize
the composition of employment with the choice of aims and methods
of production, it is only reasonable to expect a selective process in technical and vocational studies (e.g., for promoting exports or setting .up
new industrial branches).
4. Technical and vocational education can also be viewed as a tool
for countering covert unemployment (which is often subsidized, in
the case of the state machinery, as well as underemployment, by increasing labor productivity.
5. EEC countries consider technical and vocational education as a
basic instrument for combating youth unemployment. Well-educated and
specialized labor is considered less prone to unemployment adversities.
6. In most EEC countries, technical and vocational education is seen
Some Economic Aspects of Education
159
as a tool of social policy in the context of promoting the role of women
in production.
7. Disparities between the supply and demand of specialized labor
can lead to problems of low productivity and inflationary subsidization
of covert unemployment. Under certain conditions, a well-planned technical and vocational education may contribute to the fight against inflation.*
8. An economic policy oriented toward specializing and modernizing tourist and shipping services presupposes the promotion of respective
skills. Such orientation may yield substantial foreign exchange benefits.
9. A system of subsidies or tax exemptions by the industrial branch
and by the economic sector could operate as a mechanism of incentives
for the active participation of these branches in the educational process.
(The experience gained by EEC countries should prove valuable in this
effect.)
10. Technical and vocational education can be considered as a tool
of an effective regional policy; technical schools can be set up in each
region which will be related to regional skills and needs.
11. The decentralization of economic activities by setting up a system of regional centers operating as development-oriented pivots can be
achieved only by a series of credit and fiscal incentives for attracting
industry. A prerequisite for shoring up this policy is the support of
regional institutions and local administration. Planning and financing
technical schools will help attain these objectives.
12. Technical and vocational education in Greece can also reduce
the invisible component in the balance of payments by way of:
(a) an important increase of foreign exchange from tourists, by
specializing tourist services as a result of the updating of tourist trade
vocational education (as analyzed in the respective chapter) ;
(b) an increase of foreign exchange reserves by providing specialized
shipping services;
(c) an increase of shipping remittances by supporting the increasing
specialization of Greek seamen in the merchant marine. To this end,
the curriculum of merchant marine schools should be properly adjusted
to the needs of modern shipping (as analyzed in the chapter on merchant marine and naval training);
(d) a consistent policy of urging Greek workers abroad to join the
programs of technical and vocational education offered to immigrants—
particularly young people—by the EEC; this will entail an increase in
their wages and an eventual growth of emigrants' remittances;
(e) lastly, inasmuch as a large part of the ever-increasing foreign
exchange for students concerns technological and vocational studies,
'See article by K. Tsaloglou, "The stumbling block in the Greek economic
mechanism," in Kathimerini, February 1979.
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JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
technical education can reduce the burden on invisibles in the balance
of payments—both higher level technological studies and secondary vocational studies abroad (a component of the total student fees).
These five categories amply illustrate the substantial contribution of
technical and vocational education to the improvement of invisibles and,
hence, of the overall balance of payments.
Pedagogical Research and Modern
Greek Education: A Critical Overview
of the Recent Greek Pedagogical
Bibliography
by BABIS NOUTSOS
The purpose of this article is briefly to present fundamental studies
which have been published recently in Greek on the subject of modern
Greek education. Its purpose is also to identify, on the basis of the
abovementioned studies, the tendencies which prevail today in Greece
in the area of the educational sciences. As is apparent, books and articles
in foreign languages, even if authored by Greeks, as well as items in
the daily and periodical press, and general pedagogical studies only partly
referring to specific problems of modern Greek education, are excluded
from this review Finally, only those studies have been selected which, in
my opinion, are distinguished for their theoretical clarity and methodological adequacy, as well as for their contribution to an understanding of
Greek educational reality. The period covered is from 1970 until the
summer of 1980, without excluding reference to some earlier studies.
The article is divided into two parts, reflecting respectively what,
in my opinion, are the two general tendencies which today characterize
the modern Greek scientific contribution to the educational sciences.
In the former of these two tendencies, the emphasis is on the psychological dimensions of the educational process, while the followers
of the latter tendency are interested exclusively in the social dimensions
of the school. There exist in each of these tendencies several differentiations in the respective specific studies, as much in regards to the selection of topics as in regards to theoretical orientation and methodology.
The latter tendency is the more recent one, therefore more attention will
be paid to it.
A. From Theory to Empirical Research
The social and political conditions which prevailed in Greece between the end of the civil war (1949) and the fall of the dictatorship
(1974) hardly favored the systematic domestic investigation of our
161
162
JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
educational system. The political and ideological clashes which erupted
during the attempts to transform the educational system reached theoretical exhaustion in the articles of the daily press and in a few brochures,
without a systematic approach to the relevant problems. Here, however,
one must point out the exception of the journal Paedeia (Education, later
to be renamed Paedeia kai Zoe [Education and Life]) and its director,
E. P. Papanoutsos (16) . Through the columns of this journal (19461960), the new pedagogical and psychological views dominant in foreign countries become known, and the educational demands of the liberal
social forces for reform of the educational system, and its adjustment to
the new needs of Greek society, were projected.
The remainder of the written pedagogical production of this period,
until the mid-1960s, was characterized mainly by the publication of
books and articles which either defended the "Greco-Christian" content of education or continued the theoretical shadow-fights of the
interwar period on the problems of teaching. The "didactic," as a general theory of teaching in accordance with the German pedagogical
orientation, continued to have devoted followers in all educational levels.
At the begining of the 1960s, however, the first few empirical research studies began to appear. Of course, some samples of empirical
research did exist in previous years. Now, however, it was a tendency
which was to become clear. Its main characteristic was the accentuation
and projection of the "psychological dimensions" which are identified
in the analysis of educational problems. The correlation of these psychological phenomena with variables of a social character was rarely
undertaken, and then only in fragments. From this perspective, it would
be instructive to study the Ph.D. dissertations which were approved by
the then existing Schools of Philosophy. No analytical reference to these
research projects will be made here, of course, since their subject matter,
as well as their methodology, do not present particular divergence from
the respective orientations of the international pedagogical bibliography,
and the conclusions at which they arrive appear to bear no direct relationship to the particulars of the Greek educational system.
One must, however, single out the research by Ch. Frangos on the
subject of the consequences of the linguistic problem on education (7).
It is a well-known fact that the dispute between the followers of the
demotic language and the advocates of katharevousa about which language should be taught in school has been at the center of cultural and
ideological struggles in Greek society from the end of the nineteenth
century until today. For the first time, through Frangos's research, an
attempt was made to establish empirically the connection which exists
between the linguistic form of the text and the reading and understanding of it by pupils. The results of the project indicated that pupils in
the last two elementary school grades and the first three high school
grades read the same text faster and comprehended it better in the
demotic language than in the katharevousa. Yet, the demotic language
would not be recognized officially by the state until 1976.
Pedagogical Research and Modern Greek Education 163
It is evident that the tendency toward empirical research, and the
concomitant rejection of the theoretical confrontation of educational
problems, constitute a new step in Greek pedagogical research. However,
the direction of this research, which borrows its theoretical framework
from dominant (then, as well as now) psychological theories (e.g., Piaget,
neobehavioralism, etc.), as well as its wider projection, is certainly not
unrelated to the appearance of certain variations of technological ideology,
which correspond to the specific social and political conditions of the
time. Today, this tendency has powerful underpinnings in university
schools, in graduate seminars for teachers, and, in part, in the pedagogical
academies (teachers' colleges), without being able to displace fully
the old theoretical evaluation of educational phenomena. Nevertheless,
the corresponding scientific production today is experiencing a great
retreat, although that does not mean that its maximum capabilities have
been exhausted.
B. From History to the Sociology of Education
The history of Greek education in the period under examination
constitutes the subject of several books and articles which examine educational activities of the enslaved Greek people before and after the
1821 Revolution, as well as during the first period of the independent
Greek state. These studies, written mainly by historians, are usually
limited to the presentation of information (many times unpublished),
and belong in the general branch of modern Greek history (1).
Specifically, on the history of the modern Greek educational system,
one cannot claim that a satisfactory encompassing work is available today; there are only some older valiant efforts. In this area, however, one
must emphasize the contribution of the work by Alexis Dimaras (2).
He divided the history of modern education from 1821 until 1967 into
eight periods, and, therein, one can follow "the development of matters relating directly to the basic characteristics of the system, and establish what has changed in these sectors and what has not changed."
This task was accomplished as much in the introduction, which came
with every volume, and charted with precision the development of
Greek education, as in the lavish presentation of documentation. This
work is valuable to students of modem Greek education both for its
precision and for the wealth of information which it contains, although
the author consciously opts not to advance to social interpretations of
the characteristics of the educational system.
The fall of the dictatorship (1974), and the new political and
ideological conidtions, favored the appearance of a plethora of studies
and articles on education, and, of course, the recent educational reform
(1976) constituted the specific impetus for this production. The
common denominator of the most noteworthy among the works of
this period is certainly the social vision which defines both the subject
164
JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
matter and the method of research; thus, one is able to speak of the
first systematic appearance of the sociology of education in Greece.
The issues of higher education attract the attention of many scholars.
In this context, one should point out the elaboration of complete proposals for its reform (11, 6), as well as the empirical examination of
particular problems. First in this latter area, the work by I. LambirisDimakis (13), who attempts to examine systematically the student body,
mainly from the perspective of its social and geographic origins. Although this study was published in 1974, its sample refers to students
in the 1964-67 period. Among the most important findings of this
study is that there exist statistically significant inequalities in the ages
of students at the time of admission to the universiy, and in the composition and expectations of the student body regarding class, family,
and geographic origin. According to the author, the university does not
contribute fundamentally to the renewal of the "superior" social class,
and the "main obstacle to open education and an intellectual meritocracy
{are) more cultural than economic." If, however, one were to set aside
one's objections to the author's theoretical views on the issue of social
development, and to overlook some basic methodological deficiencies of
the work, one would agree easily that there is need today for a new
all-encompassing research project on the same problems, if only because
of the fact that, between 1964 and today, four new universities have been
founded and are operating, all in provincial cities.
In this same direction, useful results are derived also from the
study by two researchers of the National Center for Social Research,
which, dealing with the total student population, shows that access
to universities also depends on the socio-professional background of students and on the prestige they assign to each and every university
school. M. Drettakis's work (3) is similar to that, although its sample
is limited to students of the 1972-73 period and to one set of schools.
Drettakis shows that the possibility of access to the university depends
as much on the father's profession as on the educational level attained
by the parents. Finally, one must mention, simply as information, the
study conducted by a team of researchers on behalf of the Ministry of
Education, which was recently delivered to the Ministry (May 1980).
This study, however, remains unpublished. The results of the above
studies, even though their respective authors do not start from the
same ideological starting-point and do not follow the same methodology,
indicate convincingly that higher education in Greece operates essentially as a mechanism for social reproduction, despite its peculiarities
in comparison to other countries (2). Based on the results available until
now from the analysis of the new reform measures (4, 5), one could
draw similar conclusions regarding secondary education.
The tendency to study the educational system comprehensively in its
relation to the country's economic development (12) must also be
pointed out in this context. Despite the correct observations contained
in the book, however, the author's theoretical starting-point does not
Pedagogical Research and Modern Greek Education 165
allow him to identify and to interpret the complexity of social factors
defining the development of the educational system. The findings of a
series of studies dealing systematically with the basic historical foundations of the contemporary educational system can certainly contribute to
the comprehension of this complexity. This series constitutes a sociohistorical approach to education. A prominent position in it is occupied
by the voluminous work by C. Tsoucalas (18), which demythologizes
the widespread perception of "the love of Greeks for letters and education," by showing the real social basis of this ideology, namely, the
specific role played by the school mechanism, from 1830 until 1922,
in the process of social stratification. Based on the operational hypothesis
that the definitive factor in the formation of Greek society—and,
therefore, in its corresponding ideology—must be sought in the particular development of the Greek merchant social strata abroad, and in
their stable, multifaceted relationships with the structures of the independent Greek state, the author initially analyzes the components of
Hellenism (agrarian structure, urban development, development of
diaspora Hellenism). Here, Tsoucalas shows convincingly that the most
fundamental characteristic of modern Greek history is a continuous
structural mobility from the small, independent peasantry to the nonproductive petit bourgeois urban class. The role of education in the
reproduction and securing of this social mobility is analyzed exhaustively
in the second part of the book. In it, the quantitative side of education—
the financing, the internal structure of the school apparatus, and the
content of teaching—are examined. Thus, finally, the phenomenon of
the "overeducation" of Greeks (Greece held the first place in proportion
of students in secondary and higher education during that period, compared to other countries), and the fundamental components of the corresponding ideology, are interpreted. This work by Tsoucalas, which
combines theoretical clarity with methodological adequacy, contributes
as much to the understanding of a large historical period of the modern
Greek educational system as to the interpretation of the historical foundations of many contemporary educational phenomena. Besides, many of
the author's thoughts and analyses in the latter portion of the book might
constitute fertile starting-points for a more detailed investigation of a
whole host of educational phenomena. It is in that direction that another recent project (1 .5) turns, as it examines the social, political, and
ideological reasons why the school curricula in secondary education were
maintained almost unaltered from 1931 until 1973.
The analysis and interpretation of the failure of the educational reforms attempted by liberal urban forces from 1880 until World War II
is the subject of two important books by Anna Frangoudakis. In the
first of these two works (8), she describes with clarity the objectives of
the educational reforms of 1917 and 1929, their supporters, and their
opponents; she also analyzes the social, political, and ideological reasons
for their failure, and interprets the impasse of the liberal intellectuals.
The author's basic thesis in this book is that, on the one hand, there
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JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
was no correspondence between the political and ideological pursuits
of the liberal urban forces, and, on the other hand, the liberal intellectuals could not socially identify the forces which fought against reform. Reading this book, one is led to the demythologizing of a modern
Greek "romantic-idealistic" interpretation of the role of the important
protagonists of modern Greek education, as well as to the thought that
several among the phenomena of that period have not yet been overcome.
In the second book (9), Frangoudakis investigates, systematically
and in-depth, the relationship between educational demoticism and the
more general currents of the social system, aiming further to explain
the compromise which the Prime Minister at the time (1911), E.
Venizelos, made on the linguistic issue. The ideological currents of that
period are analyzed with penetrating force, their typologies are defined,
and the strategies of the respective social forces are described. The
interpretation offered on the issue of the linguistic compromise is interesting and based on an analysis of the position taken by the liberal
urban forces vis-à-vis the national issue.
The problematic developed in these two books allows the reader
better to comprehend why the content of elementary school reading
books until recently (the subject of a third book by the same author
DOD is of a pre-bourgeois nature, in juxtaposition to corresponding
reading books of the interwar period. In this last, well-known, and
smartly printed book, the basic behavioral stereotypes which the school
seeks to instill in its pupils are analyzed and the roles of this pursuit
are explained. Returning to Frangoudakis's first book, one can appreciate comprehensively the results of a consistent effort to grasp the
complex relationships connecting the hard-to-penetrate area of educational ideology with the various levels of social development.
The sociology of education in Greece has definitely taken its first
steps, yet there are still many problems to be resolved. One can discern
two particular basic tendencies even in these sociological approaches.
The representatives of the former tendency perceive education as a subsystem organically linked to the general social system and serving the
total function of society, while those of the latter tendency view the
school as a fundamental apparatus in the process of social stratification
and, therefore, as a fundamental ideological apparatus of the state. Finally,
the sociology of education has several underpinnings, mainly in the universities, and, of course, its future does not depend only on epistemological
factors.
—translated by Dino Panagides
Pedagogical Research and Modern Greek Education 167
REFERENCES - BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Asdrachas, S., "Bibliographical Guide," in N. G. Svoronos, Overview
of Modern Greek History, Athens: Themelio, 1977, pp. 246-254
and 321-324.
2. Dimaras, A., The Reform That Was Not Undertaken, 2 vols., Athens:
Hermes, 1973.
3. Drettakis, M., The Schools of Social, Economic and Political Sciences
in Greek Higher Education, Athens: Papazisis, 1977.
4
5.
6.
The Candidates in Entrance Examinations in Institutions
of Higher Education: Part One, Athens, 1979.
Eliou, M., "Those That the Reform Forgot," Comparative Education
Review, 22, I, New. York, 1978.
Fatouros, D., Change and Reality in the University, Athens: Olkos,
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