Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Good afternoon. Good afternoon, and welcome.
We are now at Cluj Napoca's City Hall.
Here present are Oana Steopan and Cristian Culcitchi as reporters
of the "COMENIUS" project.
Our interviewee is the vice mayor Adrian Popa.
First, we would like to ask you, if you have already heard about our project.
When you first arrived I asked you about it.
I am aware of the COMENIUS project, as in pre-universitary programs but I didn't know about this one.
I am glad to hear that projects like this one take course in our country.
We will begin with a simple set of questions, but we can discuss a bit further,
if you feel like sharing more with us.
Regarding your school, we would first like to ask you
to state the first three things that come to your mind when you think about the time when you were a student.
First, my colleagues.
I graduated the "Nicolae Balcescu" high school.
I was a student there from the first grade and up to the twelfth form.
We, twenty-four pupils, remained together for twelve years.
There were magnificent moments spent with them.
The second thing, that comes to my mind, is of course connected to the uniforms
and the corresponding license numbers.
And the third one would be the classroom.
It was situated pretty close to the teacher's room
and there were advantages and disadvantages.
The teachers were sometimes, probably too close. Sometimes too close,
but every time they went to class, they would walk by our classroom.
Therefore, we were strictly supervised and often "slapped over the wrist".
What I actually mean is, that a teacher would pass by, make the necessary observations and then go on to class.
Since you have told us about your classroom's position,
could you describe the building a bit to us?
Yes. The building is very old, very beautiful,
with a very big yard. This was an advantage. Every one who graduated the Balcescu high school, nostalgically remembers
how we used to meet, every break, in that yard, and get to know everybody.
We actually got up to the point, where we knew each other from all generations.
And I would like to mention that, together with my classmates,
we remained very good friends up to this day. We practically grew up together and know each other very well.
And the building, I repeat, is a very old one, very beautiful, with spacious, tall and bright rooms.
It did naturally need restorations every now and then, but that didn't occur that often.
I will never forget, for instance, the stoves they used for heating. It was really quite fun.
In your opinion, are there great differences between the contemporary school and the one you graduated?
Looking from the outside, only the bodywork and the paintwork have been changed or improved.
New windows have been applied, the floors have been restored and new desks have been brought in.
When we had our ten-year meeting, this being in 2001,
I went back in my classroom, and the atmosphere was the same.
This was very important. The atmosphere had stood the same.
Considering the educational system, what do you think has changed?
At present time, as far as I know, because I haven't visited any schools for a while,
the students have a freedom of expression, which we didn't use to have.
We didn't have it, not because the teachers wouldn't have allowed us, but because of the period.
It was that time between '89 and '91, in which we couldn't exactly say everything we wanted to.
Not necessarily because of the system, but because you felt some sort of restraint, not like nowadays,
when you can interact very easily with teachers. There was a greater distance between students and teachers back then.
And in those final years of high school, I suspect '90-'91,
did you feel any differences, considering the events that occurred in 1989?
Yes, 1989 was very interesting indeed, and the beginning of the nineties was actually a bit chaotic.
It was the period when some teachers were being accused of having represented the communist party
or of having belonged to the "SECURITATE" secret service. It was a transitional period
during which nobody really understood, in the first two years, what democracy really was.
It was a total chaos. Teachers had stepped down
students and fellow colleagues were really exceeding the limits of common sense
but luckily some of us were already grown up enough to tell the difference between right and wrong.
Some of us were really trying to calm things down, because there was a "mini" revolution in every school and every class.
If somebody had problems because of low grades, they could immediately accuse the teacher of having done something connected to the communist party.
I'll say it again: the term of "freedom" was badly understood.
What was your favorite object?
Mathematics.
My parents, who are now retired, were both math teachers
and taught me math and supervised me all the way. Therefore, I also graduated the Mathematics - Informatics Faculty.
Definitely, math was the easiest subject for me.
Did the teachers have any influence in your disliking or liking math? Yes, my teacher, Mrs. Stanoiu did,
she was a true lady. There was a constant relationship of deep respect between her and us.
The teacher plays a very big part in class. He/she doesn't have to be harsh and give only low grades
in order to obtain respect. Through Mrs. Stanoiu's presence and her ways of communicating with us,
she made us the best class in math, and also the most disciplined one during her class.
Could you describe a typical lesson that your class took part in?
ln general, it depends on the subject. At that time, we had those exams, the so called "TREPTE".
Everybody prepared for the first TREAPTA exam, because we were also studying for the admission exams for our faculties.
The admission exams were rough. There was also a great competition for every available place in the faculty.
Therefore, beginning from the 9th grade, everybody knew where they wanted to go. For instance, who wanted medicine,
began to study Biology, Chemistry and Physics, while paying not so much attention to other subjects.
The others who wanted more exact sciences, tried to learn more Physics, Math, Chemistry, etc. concentrating on a specific path.
In classes, where we weren't so confident about the subject, we behaved very nicely, hoping to pass on unnoticed.
That has remained the same up to this day. Yes? Well, I guess that not very much has changed since then...
By the way, regarding the students, between our generation and yours,
do you think that we have changed so drastically? Are we so different compared to you?
I would say, that the main difference lies within the limits of respect. Today, the respect which students have for teachers,
teachers whose job isn't easy, of course, I was also a student who was constantly dreaming of freedom and of the school coming to and end,
I know that's the way of thinking; how easy it is for the teachers, they don't have to do anything before coming to class.
If the teacher’s not in the mood of teaching, he/she would simply give a pop quiz. That was also my way of thinking at that time,
which is wrong, because a teachers prepares very hard for the classes he/she has to attend to the next day,
in advance. That's why a good teacher who comes well prepared to class
I think that he/she manages to impose respect simply through their preparations. Naturally,
there are also less professional teachers, because we can't all be the best,
teachers who don't master the subject very well. Chaos and other events can therefore occur, regarding the behavior of the students,