The Honorable Barbara Nowacka
Minister of Education
Dear Minister,
As representatives of the Polish community and Poles living abroad, we are deeply attached to our Polish identity. We feel great pride when we think about Polish history and culture.
Therefore, for years we have been defending Polish historical memory and opposing attempts to undermine the good name of our homeland. With particular commitment, the Polish community has responded to numerous attempts to blame Poles for the crimes of the Third Reich. Many of these interventions – whether in the form of press statements, the opinions of politicians, or even the teaching in schools – have had lasting effects.
We believe that one of the natural places for cultivating Polish identity and love for the fatherland is the Polish school. But not only the one that Polish children attend in the homeland, but also the one that teaches them about their history, language and identity in exile. Perhaps from our point of view, that of an emigrant, certain values related to school, education, patriotic upbringing and educational program are more prominent.
Ładowanie formularza
Therefore, we have decided to speak out on the issue of significant and controversial changes in the educational curriculum in Poland. We feel obliged to speak out on this issue, especially since the Ministry of Education made no attempt to consult the Polish community and Poles abroad in the process of preparing the changes to the curriculum.
After reviewing the changes to the core curriculum – both those already adopted and those temporarily withdrawn under the pressure of widespread protest from the educational, social and professional communities in the country – we have decided to join the voices of protest and appeal to you to reconsider the scope and focus of the changes being pushed through.
From a special perspective of the Polish Diaspora, it is unacceptable that in a free and sovereign Poland, the Ministry of National Education is attacking the identity of the Polish school, removing patriotic content from the curriculum and reducing the content on the Christian heritage of our nation.
Among the many objections, it is particularly poignant to remove from the curriculum material showing the extent of Polish losses during World War II – including information on the material and demographic consequences of the German aggression in 1939, the extermination of Polish elites, the looting of Polish works of art, and the predatory economic exploitation of Polish lands. We consider it unacceptable to remove references to figures such as St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe or Rotamaster Witold Pilecki, to Polish heroes who saved Jews during the genocidal German occupation, or to the heroic struggle of the “Indomitable Soldiers” against the Soviet occupiers.
We look with pain at the new textbooks, which bear the scissors symbols with which the publishers (who did not have time to rewrite the textbooks) mark sections of material that have already been excised from the core curriculum. This brings back memories of the worst times of censorship, when historical truth was also put under the knife of censorship. Many of us had to flee from such a Poland. Today we do not want the same kind of Poland to return.
We oppose the removal from the school reading list of the works of our great compatriots – St. John Paul II and Blessed Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński. We believe that young Poles should have the opportunity to learn at school about the intellectual achievements of the spiritual fathers of the Polish resistance against communism.
We express our strong protest against the removal of Władysław Bełza’s poem “Catechism of a Polish Child” from the reading list. The work, which begins with the words “Who are you? – A young Pole”, not only helps to transmit patriotic values and love for the fatherland to the younger generation, but also creates an intergenerational link between Poles of the last century. We don’t understand how such an absurd idea could come from the Ministry of Education.
We also strongly protest against the removal of works by Adam Mickiewicz, Juliusz Słowacki and Stefan Żeromski from the reading list, as well as the reduction in the reading canon of such fundamental works of Polish culture as “Pan Tadeusz” and “Quo Vadis”.
As Poles in exile, we cannot accept the removal from the reading list of works by exile writers who, during the communist period, promoted free Polish thought and our beautiful language abroad. In particular, we protest the removal of works by writers who created in the United States, such as the outstanding Polish poets Kazimierz Wierzyński and Jan Lechoń.
Our outrage at your Department’s proposed changes to the Polish education system is all the greater because they will also affect the curriculum of Polish schools operated at Polish embassies and consulates and attended by our children and grandchildren. We want Polish schools to foster patriotic feelings and love for the fatherland, Polish history and culture. However, we are afraid that this quality will be lost after the implementation of the changes proposed by the Ministry of Education.
Therefore, we call upon the Minister to withdraw the changes in the core curriculum and to prevent any further destruction of the foundations of the national, patriotic identity of the Polish educational system.
Yours Sincerely.
Representatives of the Polish Diaspora and Poles Living Abroad
The Polish government wants to destroy the patriotism of young Poles!
The Ministry of Education is changing the core curriculum, reducing or even eliminating fundamental works and facts about Polish heritage and its Christian character. Outstanding works of Polish literature have disappeared from the core curriculum, and children’s history lessons are being censored in a way that dates back to the communist era.
As Poles living outside Poland, we strongly oppose this!
Changes in school reading:
Works that have disappeared from the reading list include
- Poems by Władysław Bełza, author of the “Catechism of a Polish Child” (“Who are you? – A young Pole”),
- Adam Mickiewicz’s works such as “Konrad Wallenrod”, “The Return of Papa” and “Mrs. Twardowska”.
- Juliusz Słowacki’s works, such as “Agamemnon’s Tomb”, “In the Diary of Zofia Bobrówna”.
- Excerpts from “The Polish Chronicle” by Gallus Anonymus,
- The novella “Ravens and Crows will Peck Us to Pieces” by Stefan Żeromski,
- Satire “Fashionable Wife”
- Poems and essays by Jarosław Marek Rymkiewicz,
- The works of Kazimierz Wierzyński and Jan Lechoń, written in the United States,
- The works of St. John Paul II and Blessed Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński.
Works reduced in size or considered optional include
- The works of the Greek classics: Homer, Plato, and Aristotle,
- “Sir Thaddeus” by Adam Mickiewicz,
- “Quo Vadis” by Henryk Sienkiewicz,
- “Sermons of the Sejm” by Father Peter Skarga,
Polish children will also be deprived of access to a sound knowledge of Polish history. The changes introduced are reminiscent of the dark days of the Soviet occupation of Poland. The following have disappeared from the history curriculum:
- Facts about the extent of Polish losses during World War II as a result of German aggression,
- Information about the extermination of Polish elites and Polish heroes such as St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe and Rotamaster Witold Pilecki,
- Information about the looting of Polish art and the plundering of the Polish economy,
- Sr Matilda Getter, who saved Jews from the Holocaust, as well as the matter of the tolerant policy of Casimir the Great towards the Jews against the background of the modern West;
- Facts about the independence underground fighting the Soviet occupation (Indomitable Soldiers),
“The core curriculum is intended, among other things, to create a common cultural code for everyone,
something that allows me to identify myself as part of a code of shared memory.”
~ Prof. Andrzej Nowak, historian.
As the Polish Diaspora Community we do not agree with these changes! This is because they will apply not only to schools located on the territory of the Republic of Poland, but also to educational institutions in the United States that are under the jurisdiction of the Polish Ministry of Education.
There is no agreement on our part to limit our children’s access to knowledge of our Polish and Christian heritage. We want the Polish school to awaken in our children patriotic feelings and love for the fatherland, Polish history and culture.
Therefore, we ask the Minister of Education, Barbara Nowacka, to withdraw the harmful changes in the Polish language and history curriculum and to abandon the anti-Polish revolutionary course in the Polish education system.