Day 28: Learning Your ABCs in: Bulgarian, English, German, Italian, Spanish, and Russian. Can you keep up?

This post is all about the Bulgarian education system since today we visited two high schools here in Sofia: The First English Language School and the American College of Sofia.

The education system here in Bulgaria is slightly similar to the U.S. system because of all the standardized tests the students have to take, but the education system is not very organized at all. Unfortunately about 20% of students leave school after each "jump" in school (from Primary to Pre-High School, from Pre-High to High School). So only about 60% of Bulgarians enter into high school level education. Unfortunately in the rural communities this percentage is even lower. 

The Ministry of Education does not listen to the teachers on how to improve the education here, either. The teachers are quite disappointed and disillusioned by this. It seems to me like they felt like they were powerless. The country as a whole doesn't seem to fully respect them. Besides that, they get a very low salary. The lev is about equal to the U.S. dollar and most Bulgarian teachers in the public sector only receive 400 lev a month...not enough to really live on!

If students do go through to college, most of them leave Bulgaria because of the low wages. They can make five times more if they move to Germany or the U.K. (which are the top two countries Bulgarian students immigrate to). When students graduate high school about 60% go on to the University level although the best of the best go abroad.

(This is a picture of our tour guide at the American School of Sofia. She was adorable!)

One very interesting fact, though, is that these students have very high expectations! They come into the school knowing Bulgarian and maybe some English if they have been having private lessons (which many do at the schools we visited). Then by 7th grade (age 14...they are one year ahead of the U.S. system) they pick a second foreign language to learn. Remember: they already know Bulgarian and English at this point. The most common second languages are: German, Spanish, Russian, and Italian. Imagine knowing three languages by the time you graduated high school! And this is compulsory! I would never survive :) My Spanish is terrible! And I haven't even begun to start on a second foreign language (unless you count the 12 words I now know in Greek!).

(The student garden at the College)

Another interesting fact is that since the fall of Communism, Russian language teachers have retrained themselves to speak English and are now English teachers. Russian is usually not as common any more. I sat with a Bulgarian teacher at lunch today and she is a Russian Jew and she told me she never tells her students that she speaks Russian. The older people speak it, but the younger generation does not. This relationship between Russia and Bulgaria has interested me quite a bit.

My biggest question has been: Was Bulgaria better under communism? This takes a long answer though..but the short version that I have heard from Bulgarians so far is that during communism everyone was poor but you knew you would have food and someone would (kind of) take care of you. Now in democracy everyone has to fend for themselves and all their pensions and money is gone because of the high inflation rates and because banks went bankrupt after communism fell. Now there are some really poor people and some really rich people.

Bulgaria has been such an interesting country to learn about. The people are so friendly, the taxi drivers are crazy, and the food is delicious! 

Ben -- I think the most interesting thing about Bulgaria, so far, is the Bulgarian history. It's long, complicated, and interesting. I think you should do some studying on this for your summer reading :) I'm sure you'd get into it!

Elsa -- Bulgarian life style is similar to ours but definitely includes more time to eat and enjoy meals. The picture to the left is of the Bulgarian McDonalds (I thought it was great how they spelled it, so I took a picture for you). But most Bulgarians don't eat fast food. They always have breakfast which includes cheese, croissants, yogurt, fruit, and coffee or tea. They have a good hour and a half lunch and then a siesta. Finally they have at least two hours for dinner. It's a very relaxed pace of life...it's nice.

Jaz -- Many Bulgarians would like to visit Chicago or New York. Many students apply for study abroad or apply abroad for college. Most young people I have met here (20 or older) have been at least to New York and are hoping to travel around the U.S. more. Remember that the U.S. is MUCH bigger than Bulgaria, so it's overwhelming. Bulgaria is about the size of Ohio.

Alright, finally I leave you with a picture of Kristen and Bob. Tonight we sat and chatted in Bob's room (he has the huge room and so we've started calling him Prez). I have been making quite a few good friends on this trip! Everyone is so nice; we are definitely a good group!