Schooling in Czech

25 November 2014
Michael Yee

I knew that Czech schools partner with many organizations to teach English. New Hope Church partners with Josiah Ventures (click here), and sends a high school group every summer to teach English in camps. But I didn’t know what drew the students to participate.

So I asked this when we met with Brad, who is a missionary with a church in Vsetin. He answered this in two parts. First, many Czech  English teachers, do not speak English. This is because they had to switch from teaching Russian to English after the Czechoslovakia peacefully dissolved in 1993. As a result students are often proficient in English from a reading and grammar perspective, but not in conversational English.

Second, students take an exam in the 8^th grade (age 15) that places them on a track for a secondary school that specializes in preparing getting into either a vocational school or what we would call college in the United States (research at a university, engineering, nursing business, etc.). Basically a student’s grades determine which secondary school he/she can attend. A requirement for completing secondary school is an examination which is required by all universities and colleges. This examination includes an English oral exam taken in front of a panel that lasts about half an hour.  For more information on the Czech school system, click here.

In retrospect, I put a lot of my self-worth into academics. Looking back, this has been a slippery slope. From a Christian perspective I look to Exodus 32:7-8. My studies and grades used to be my idol, my golden calf. It was even more slippery that I was rewarded very well putting my energy and self worth into my studies. I am in awe at the idea of a Czech student in 8th grade aspiring to pursue a profession at such an early point.  God tells us our worth is not really of the “self”. Rather it is worth given to us by God and we are valued in a way that can’t be measured because of the price He made through the death of His son on the cross to make us worthy. I pray that if there is an opportunity to encourage the high school students with this, that I can convey this message.