Hello Reinard,
How you doing? Nice weather today, eh?
Here’s some more about the education in Ukraine. To be continued…
When I was a pupil
As you already know, I studied in a secondary school in xxx. It wasn’t a difficult time for me as I’m more or less inclined to science. My parents, being teachers, gave me the ability to understand complicated things easily. I could afford myself not to do my home assignments of many subjects, because I could answer questions by simply recalling what the teacher told on the lesson before.
Most times it was enough to earn a good mark. However, sometimes it wouldn’t do and I was caught knowing almost nothing about the subject when it turned to some more profound questioning. It made me feel myself horrible and irresponsible. Few days after the occasion I studied as good as I could. After that, I returned to my usual custom of listening but not studying at home :—)
To be honest I wasn’t a very good pupil, or to say more precisely a student who cares. The reason – most times it was too simple to me. But it wasn’t so for many others who worked harder to have good marks.
The educational system in secondary schools of my country was pretty simple. The educational year was divided to four periods. Each period started with joy and happiness of the pupils and ended with fear of not having good marks on examinations. This periodical exams were not really hard. Though they should be prepared for 
And they were conducted for most subjects. So, it wasn’t funny :–) But, the reality was that you couldn’t be thrown out of the school when you didn’t pass. You stayed. So, the phenomenon of our schools is many many guys who don’t study at all. Or almost. They’re simply not afraid :—) Their age is so young that they don’t understand the importance yet, but on the other hand they are not controlled by the school. This leads to smoking, drinking, stealing and other unpleasant things.
In the end of educational year we had real exams. Often we had two or three, and we had about eight when we graduated. It was a lot harder than any before. But what with the guys who didn’t study, you would ask! Nothing special. The corruption was already there. You could feel yourself comfortable knowing that you can have very good marks if your parents bribed the commission. (The examinations were conducted in written form) It was one more reason why many pupils chose not to study. And really, why study when I can have good results for only few hundred bucks? :—–)
The corruption was not so widely spread as today, so many pupils passed the exams with their knowledge. Myself included )))
XXX,
Ukraine.
