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Finland, the country who is light years ahead of Romania in education, is moving away from structured learning and a Romanian Senator opines that it's BS, which, in our view, makes him a 'zambaccian' or a person who is incapable to understand his mistakes, nevermind assume them, a person whose mindset prevents them from accepting new, revolutionary ideas.

After briefly going through the just-published PISA 2015 results, here we expand on our knowledge of the top-performing Asian countries, which share some important characteristics.

Based on my mistaken belief that there may be people reading this, I go ahead with my recommendations, after the intro and Asia. PISA is not just a set of tests, it comes with suggestions and recommendations.

While writing about Jihadi Jay Abdo, I had started writing about foreigners who study in Romania and half-way through I realized that this deserves a separate article. I had previously assumed (nature) that the Romanian prime-minister’s (Ponta) many scandals, some centered around his plagiarizing of his doctoral thesis will taint Romanian education and significantly decrease its appeal. Further investigation revealed that many are still interested, although it is hard to determine to what extent the scandals have caused the Romanian tuition fees to be the lowest in Europe, or that is due to other market forces. As usual, the links are listed at the end.

Transitioning from the old teaching style to the new ethics is hard to accomplish in Eastern Europe. In Romania, it is even more difficult to do so with conniving garbage at the helm of the government. And if you’re wondering, the PP in title stands for Plagiarizing Ponta.

The results of the latest PISA testing have come out. Will I manage to write about the educational styles in Canada (which is 4th, tied with Finland, after Singapore, Japan and Estonia) and Romania (48th out of 70)?

Ministrul Justitiei are un raspuns balansat si inteligent.

Azi la tenis o prietena imi spune ca degeaba-i Finlanda tara unde se traieste cel mai bine, ca ea a mers cu Finnair si n-a avut loc sa-si puna picioarele (ea nefiind tocmai inalta). Eu i-am spus ca probabil spatiul de picioare nu se ia in calcul in astfel de topuri, si oricum - gandindu-ma la topurile ONU - nu-i Finlanda prima. Dar de fapt e.

About two months ago, Maftei, my math teacher in high school, has passed away (fb-maftei). I felt sorry, and that’s why the expression he used to invite us to the blackboard (“iesi pe straße” or “come out on the straße/street”) found its way in the title of this article, which is about the high-school physics teacher Sever Iosif Georgescu and his (or his kids’?) attempts to erase the negative events of his past. This is the third installment in the Georgescu, Iosif SEVER saga:

Whereas in English "Caracal" refers to a “medium-sized wild cat”, in Romania it’s a small town, possibly named after the long disappeared animal. Recently, what may very well be a serial killer has been arrested after some agonizing, train-wreck of a police investigation. This would be the first such criminal there in a long time.

A while back, I was having an argument (well, it’s more like I was trying to have a conversation with my designated troll, banned since) about the downside of population decline (PD). He demanded to know why is it bad (which is what I was trying to say) and I thought I provided some studies, but while searching, I was unsatisfied with the quality of the studies I had found. (The title term refers mostly to economy (i.e., population drops below the level required to carry the economy or more specifically old age pensions) whereas PD refers to demographics.) Since then, I’ve found a bit more so here it is.

Never have I hesitated to make my views on Romanian immigration known. I think that most people leaving the country for good are better off living in Ro (though European tourism needs to expand, especially among college students, who also have Erasmus to take advantage of). That is why I’m conflicted about “Maria’s Manifesto”, a rather incongruent and emotional appeal to “patriotism”.

As I'm starting this article, there's a ton of things I want to talk about, and I'll be lucky if I have the time to get into 2 of them. First, Simona Halep's amazing win against Serena Williams, then I'd like to talk about Romanian accomplishments, education, verbal aggression, debating skills, and Sfinx / Dan Andrei Aldea. Let's see how far I manage to get.

Pana sa stabilim utopicul Romanistan (vezi prima parte), ar trebui sa ne facem o idee cam cati romi sunt in Europa. Si cum romii au fost ucisi si persecutati de secole in mod mult mai eficient in Europa de Vest, ii gasim astazi oficial in Europa de Est, unde sunt incontinuu parasutati dupa ce sunt vanati de politiile vestice. Cumva, Romania pare sa se fi impus ca destinatie preferata a acestor “renditii”.

Recently, a friend asked me to provide Romanian lessons. I directed her to Duolingo (invite) and, as I occasionally listen to Romanian eTeatru (or “teatru radiofonic”), it occurred to me that this is something worth sharing with the rest of the world.

The current culture clash about some Norwegian child welfare agency having seized a Romanian couple’s children over physical discipline and the ensuing protests coming mostly from religious groups has a recognizable background: it’s a rehashing of the century-old conservative vs liberal quarrel. I have respect and admiration for Norway and their altruistic, enlightened and generous foreign policy and foreign aid, but this case may be more than just that.

I’m not a nationalist and though I wish my Romanian friends “La Multi Ani” for our national holiday, a small part of me is uneasy, because nationalism means association with people who share your ethnic background, some good, some bad, but in our case (and, of course, excepting those I know personally), mostly bad.

N-am gangurit demult pe seama intamplarilor de-aici, si s-or adunatara multe, asa ca-mi voi da drumu’. Roman cardar, Rosia Montana Redivivus, tiganii Obama, capsunari lefteri, criza care inca nu se simte pe bune, indienii ne invadeaza, online boom, crime si prostii si-n final, festivalul filmului romanesc in Toronto. Ready or not, here I cum!

@BAndreescu_ (#BiancaAndreescu, ofc) catapulted herself so fast to stardom that I am having difficulties forming a mental picture of her. And so are most of her new fans, attracted to her rising star like loving insects to the blinding light. I’ll be giving you 3 reasons, not counting the intro, but if you can only remember / have time for one, remember creative visualization.