- Michael M.: Too much going on. Life in flux, etc..
- Sunshine: Wow, I was soooo happy to see a new post in my rss reader. I was hopping this is already the comeback! :(...
- gandalf: Did you only get caffeine through Dr.p or did you drink coffee as well? I’m interested, since...
- neeka: nine kilos… wow… :) happy holidays to you, michael, and to all your loved ones! veronica
- m: It was a bargain. No strings attached.
Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Maribor, Slovenia.
Portoroz, Slovenia.
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• Natalija Verboten
Show them all the beauty they possess insiiiiide…
Rarely is the question asked: is Slovenia’s children learning?1 This page, based on a speech by Pascal D. Forgione, the U.S. Commissioner of Education Statistics, does ask the question.
The page has results from the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) which involved a half-million students in 41 countries, including Slovenia. Slovenia’s results are mixed, but generally good: among twelfth grade advanced science students, Slovenia finished in 5th place overall. In mathematics, Slovenes finished ahead of Germans and Americans in all levels, and always above the average. Slovenes of all ages also finished above-average when it came to the sciences.
Of course, great results don’t mean much if the country doesn’t provide equally great opportunities for graduated students. The U.S., as you can see, has atrocious results. But that doesn’t matter as long as they’re able to import tens of thousands of H1-B aliens every year. Conversely, having brilliant math and science students doesn’t help Slovenia as long as they (cough) are attracted to better chances elsewhere.
Comments
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Do you consider the ultimate goal of education to prepare pupils for the needs of the industry? You realise, of course, that there may be some other aspects of life, beside the economy.
Q: As far as I can tell, the arts and all those “other aspects of life” that we all love to enjoy, need to be supported somehow. An obvious way is through profits in industry and subsequent taxes. If you have a better way of generating revenue, I can only tip my hat to you.
I couldn’t help noticing that all of a sudden the term Slovene is being used instead of Slovenian. Now hopefully this is just an innocent coincidence and not some childish provocation as a result of recent posts?
Ah….its good to see we’re beating the germies and yanks. (for those who take themselves way too seriously, its only a joke!)
*** WARNING : Hyperactive readers who are easily agitated by those who share a different opinion or feeling may be offended by this post. Viewer discretion is advised. ***
Slovenia: Michael uses Slovenian as an adjective and Slovene as a noun. That’s just his preference and it hasn’t changed.
Meanwhile, the rest of the world will continue to either:Use Slovenian exclusively (the majority, fortunately)Use Slovene exclusively (still very common in England, although Eurosport usually sticks with Slovenian)Try to make sense of why there are two terms and say that Slovenian is an adjective and Slovene is a noun–but frequently mix up the two anyway (e.g. www.cia.gov)Use Slovenian and Slovene interchangeably in the same article (e.g. much of the international media)Mix up Slovenia and Slovakia or Slavonia (e.g. Rand McNally’s World “Factbook” several years ago stating under the entry of Slovenia that Eastern Slovenia was still be contested by the Serbs
As I’ve said before, I prefer to use the term Slovenian instead of Slovene purely because it is less ambiguous and therefore good for the promotion of Slovenia. Yes it is a free world and people can do what they please, but in the end I sincerely believe common sense will prevail and no Slovenian will object to anything that improves our country’s promotion in the world.
I agree
Slovenia: I’m not surprised you agree, considering that you and “Andrej” have the same IP address. Remember: having a dynamic IP only helps if you disconnect/reconnect between commenting.
The Slovenian/Slovene issue seems to be a major obsession for some people here. I would suggest getting a blog (they’re free in a lot of places) and pushing that agenda there. As much and as long as you want. Because I’ve had enough of it already.
Al’ prav se pise kasa ali kasha….
…or as ol’ Frankie said it himself
Michael: I think accusing some people of having an obsession simply because you don’t agree with their opinion indicates an obsession of your own to shut down legitimate debate. Remember we live in a free country where people have a right to express an opinion or are you against freedom of speech and democracy? Perhaps you should set a blog up in Cuba.
And as for pushing an agenda, well your an expert at that.
You have got to learn to calm down, take a deep breath and CHILL OUT, Michael!
I think accusing some people of having an obsession simply because you don’t agree with their opinion indicates an obsession of your own to shut down legitimate debate.
It’s not that I disagree Andrej, alias Roman, alias Slovenia. It’s that I don’t care. At least not enough to talk about it repeatedly in different threads that have nothing to do with the topic.
This post was about education in Slovenia, not about what form of “Slovene” people prefer. The previous post was about blog awards, not about what form of “Slovene” people prefer. The post about Slovenia’s first blog meeting was about Slovenia’s first blog meeting, not about what form of “Slovene” people prefer. It keeps coming up, and it’s clear that some people have strong opinions about it, and that’s fine. But I’ve had enough.
If that makes me a tyrant like Castro, then you’re more than welcome to flee the island.
It’s that I don’t care.
Ding ding ding! You hit it on the nose, right there.
Your blog is brilliant. Not only is The Glory of Carniola a joy for Slovenians and others to read, through your wit and daily updates you are attracting visitors who’ve barely heard of Slovenia to learn about it.
This is a good thing. But with such fame comes the power to influence.
You don’t care about what you call Slovenian people. But many of us do. We are at a unique point in time where we have the opportunity to choose how others will refer to us evermore!
Slovenian is already used exclusively (as both the adjective and noun) throughout most of the English speaking world.
This is a good thing. Not only is Slovene an awkward and totally unnatural term for a people belonging to a country whose name ends in –ia, supporting the already dominant term helps reduce confusion that comes with there already being so many similar terms resembling Slovenia (e.g. Slovenian, Slovene, Slovakia, Slavonia, etc).
Many people are referring to Slovenian people as Slovenes as direct consequence of this site. Michael, I respectfully request you to consider this and the notion that this topic is worthy of open debate (albeit in its own thread on The Glory of Carniola, for you and your readers).
I’m not sure how much of an issue it is for Slovenia, but one approach that’s sometimes used in reference to multiethnic countries is to apply the “short” form to members of the ethnic group and the “-ian” form to citizens of the country–e.g. a Slovakian is a citizen of the Slovak Republic who may or may not be an ethnic Slovak. But I suppose this isn’t applied any more consistently than Slovene-noun/Slovenian-adjective, so maybe it just muddies the waters even more….
…but one approach that’s sometimes used in reference to multiethnic countries…
Multiethnic countries? Every country in the world is multiethnic. But Slovenia–unlike Croatia, Bosnia, Switzerland, and the United States–has always been considered a relatively homogenous country. Yes, Slovenia has indigenous minorities of other ethnicities (Italian, Hungarian) and immigrant minorities of other ethnicities (Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, and even English-American), but they are all welcome to become Slovenians. When necessary to disclose one’s ethnicity, we can do so. i.e. ethnic Slovenian, Serb, whatever.
I remember Saso Udovic stating that he was “so proud to be Slovenian” when his team was up 3-0 against the then still called Yugoslavia in Euro 2000. Yet, you will find many racist ethnic Slovenians who blast football and Slovenia’s achievement in the sport because so many on the team (like Udovic) are “not really Slovenian” according to their last name. I think Greece may have it right with their government stating that there are no ethnic divisions in Greece. Slovenia is tiny and if people want to integrate into Slovenia, nobody should care where they are from. If you move to Slovenia you should be treated as a Slovenian, no more and no less. No special priveleges and no penalties. Slovenia is too small and Slovenians too few for division.
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I do not understand the reference to the Slovak Republic. As far as Slovaks are concerned, they want nothing to do with the word Slovakian. This is the exception to the -ian rule because the official name of their republic has always been Slovak Republic but these days Slovaks will tell you they wish to have their country addressed as simply Slovakia. (And, Slovak actually sounds better than Slovakian. Further, there can be no mistake as to which country Slovak refers.)
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On a side note, the Ukraine is trying to get the world to write their capital as Kyiv instead of Kiev: en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kiev#Kiev_or_Kyiv.3F Fat chance, I’d say.