$Unique_ID{COW01457} $Pretitle{287} $Title{Greece Chapter 2D. Language} $Subtitle{} $Author{} $Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army} $Subject{greek education percent schools demotic students university language katharevousa form} $Date{1986} $Log{} Country: Greece Book: Greece, A Country Study Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army Date: 1986 Chapter 2D. Language Greece is linguistically homogenous. Since 1951 the Greek census has recorded neither mother tongue nor religious affiliation. In the mid-1970s observers estimated that only 2 to 3 percent of inhabitants did not speak Greek as their first language. This minority spoke Turkish, Macedo-Slav, Vlach (a Romanian dialect), Albanian, or Pomak (a Bulgarian dialect). The language of the majority, Greek, is a direct descendant of the Indo-European language spoken by civilizations occupying the Greek mainland, the Aegean Islands, and nearby Asia Minor many centuries before Christ. Greek villagers use the term Vlach to refer to shepherds, thus confusing an occupation with an ethnic group. The ethnic Vlachs, also called Koutsovlachs and Aromani, have lived in the Balkan Peninsula for centuries; those in Greece traditionally were shepherds, though they now may also depend on agriculture, forestry, or city jobs. Frequently mistaken for Vlachs were Sarakatsani, also transhumant shepherds and concentrated in Epirus. They are Greek Orthodox, like most Vlachs, but speak only Greek as opposed to Greek and a dialect of Romanian. Sarakatsani culture and social institutions differ from those of the Vlachs, and relations have often been strained because of competition over winter grazing land. In the early 1970s there may have been as many as 100,000 Vlachs, and in 1974 some 80,000 Sarakatsani; more recent official figures were not available in 1985. The 1951 census reported a little over 40,000 Slav speakers living mainly in Macedonia and close to 19,000 Pomaks living in Thrace (Bulgarian-speaking Muslims exempted from population exchanges in the 1920s). It also reported 22,000 Greek Orthodox identifying themselves as Albanian speakers in the provinces of Attica and Voiotia, in the northeastern Peloponnesus, and in nearby Aegean islands; by the mid-1970s most of those of Albanian descent identified themselves as Greek and did not strive to maintain Albanian cultural traditions. At various points in its history, Greek has suffered from what is called the literary fallacy, that is, a tension between the evolving spoken language and a preference for a literary model from the classical period. As a consequence Greeks have switched between forms of Greek depending on the circumstances of use. This was true still in the 1980s when three forms of Greek-koine, demotic, and katharevousa (as well as mixtures of the last two)-were being used in the country. Koine (literally, common), was the language of the common people during the Hellenistic period and was used in the New Testament, Septuagint, and the writings of the early church fathers. Also an important international language, it was the language of Greek literature for 10 centuries, and the early church used it to appeal to potential converts, adopting it as the church's official language in A.D. 330. The Greek Orthodox church has continued to use it in the liturgy (see table 4). Demotic was historically the language of the common people as Greek continued to evolve from koine and today is the form of Greek used in informal situations by all Greeks. It assumed its morphological and syntactic form by the seventh century A.D. Its evolution, especially during the Byzantine period (sixth to fifteenth centuries), can be traced only with difficulty because it was essentially a spoken, not a written, form. Demotic was employed only in popular literature, as opposed to a form modeled on ancient Attic Greek that was used for formal speaking and writing. Demotic was not considered appropriate or adequate for use in serious literature or in explaining abstract or scientific ideas. By the fourteenth century, elements of the spoken language were being used in poetry, but even up to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries serious literature and translations from Western languages were not written in demotic (except in Crete and Cyprus). In the nineteenth century a movement developed-parallel to that supporting katharevousa-to promote demotic. Yanis Psiharis (1854-1929), a scholar with a great interest in the speech of the common people and an expanded definition of "Hellenic," wrote the first serious book in demotic in 1888, My Journey, a novel that was to become a model of style in the new demotic literary movement. Even though learned works continued to be written in Katharevousa in the 1970s, poetry and novels were written in demotic by such twentieth-century authors as Nikos Kazantzakis, Constantine Cavafy, and George Seferis. In 1976 the government of Constantine Karamanlis adopted a form of demotic called common or standard modern Greek (Neohelliniki). It is a compromise, being neither the purist demotic of literature nor the less rigorous version of katharevousa formerly used for scientific and technological material; standard modern Greek combines demotic structure with katharevousa vocabulary and phrases. Literally meaning "pure," katharevousa was the language of officialdom and education as recently as the rule of the colonels (1967-74). It was an artificial language, invented by Adamantios Korais (1748-1833) in an attempt to improve written and spoken Greek by arbitrary corrections drawing on classical and Hellenistic Greek. It became the official state language by successive laws in 1834 and 1836 because of support from youth influenced by Korais, from the bourgeoisie, and from the intelligentsia. Although Korais wanted to combine elements of demotic (the people's language) with classical elements, after official adoption katharevousa became more and more unintelligible to the uneducated, as well as more imprecise. Language became a political issue in the early nineteenth century as Greeks began addressing the issue of national identity. The issue at hand was what particular form of Greek was most germane to the establishment of a modern, independent Greek state. But there was no consensus on what the most desirable choice should be. The situation was complicated because some Greeks sought to identify with Attic Greek used in classical times, while others favored the form of koine used as official Byzantine Greek that was synonymous with the status quo of the church and the Phanariot elite (see The Ottoman Occupation, ch. 1). Still others wanted a modified form of demotic because they equated "nation" with the majority of the people. Ancient Greek, or the Greek used by the church, could not be adopted officially without modification because of the need for a nationally comprehensible language in light of regional variations, unfamiliarity of the uneducated with any form but demotic, intrusions of foreign words (often associated with foreign domination), and lack of a strong demotic literary tradition. After the 1976 law was promulgated, the most obvious change was the switch from katharevousa to standard modern Greek for secondary and university education. (Demotic had been used in lower elementary grades more or less continuously since 1917). Some parts of the government lagged more than others in effective implementation of linguistic change-the armed forces, the courts and lawyers, the church (although sermons and pastoral work were in demotic), certain segments of the bureaucracy, and some areas of higher education. Before the colonels' reinstatement of katharevousa in 1967, a newspaper might have had official notices and weather reports in katharevousa, editorials and poems in demotic, and news in a mixture of the two. By 1985 most newspapers (with the exception of those of the right wing) were published in demotic. In general, changeover was not automatic for those people accustomed to a lifetime of use of katharevousa in certain academic, intellectual, and formal contexts; nor could katharevousa, at least in its written form, be dispensed with entirely yet, since older laws, church communications, and materials such as government publications, speeches, forms and notices, and social science books remained in the old form. Thus, katharevousa still had to be studied in school, although it was no longer the language of instruction. It should also be noted that by the 1980s common modern Greek was replacing not only katharevousa but also many dialects in the course of only one generation, owing to universal education, military service, better transportation, and rural to urban migration; dialects tended to be preserved in northern Greece, on larger islands such as Crete, on smaller Aegean islands, and in villages. Education In Greece in 1985 nine years of education, through age 15, were free and compulsory. Secondary and higher education was also free. All teaching was conducted in common standard Greek, and all state schools were coeducational. Education was centralized under the Ministry of National Education and Religion. Education is highly valued and eagerly pursued in Greece. People of all social classes are proud of the country's tradition and reputation for being the birthplace of classical thought. The strong urbanization trend of the 1960s and 1970s and the overall modernization of Greece have caused much discontent with the rural way of life, and education is seen as a way out. A not uncommon reason given by rural migrants to the city for their move is the desire to send their children to good schools. Most Greek villagers have high educational aspirations for their children, in particular their sons. To be a learned person is valued in itself, but more commonly villagers view secondary schooling and university degrees as vehicles for upward social mobility. Although villagers may overestimate the professional advantages of a university degree, underestimating the importance of family influence, such a degree has been essential in providing the skill in writing and understanding katharevousa, required until 1976-77 for civil service or business employment. Over the history of the Greek state, the Greek educational system has been stable, resisting change even to the point of being rigid, because of the use of katharevousa, insufficient funding, centralization, and the role of the Orthodox church. Major reforms (introducing demotic Greek, critical thought, and vocational education) were attempted at several points-1913, 1929, 1959, 1964, and 1976-77. In the 1980s, nevertheless, Greek education expert Alexis Dimaras commented that Greek education needed better planning and a modernized infrastructure to keep up with the rest of Western Europe. He believed that too much emphasis was placed on traditional academic subjects, such as ancient Greek, and acceptance of provided material instead of instilling an analytic outlook and offering individualized teaching; the educational system did not teach the skills needed by the work force. In the 1970s there had been some reforms in this direction by adding stress on mathematics and physical sciences at the primary and secondary levels and by attempting to channel students to fill the need for mid-level technical graduates. Government under the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (Panhellinion Socialistiko Kinima-PASOK) had tried to meet educational needs by increasing funding; in 1981, the last year under New Democracy, the Ministry of National Education and Religion received 8.4 percent of current expenditures, although under PASOK the projected 1985 budget specified 12.3 percent. In the 1980s the system of primary and secondary education was centralized under the Ministry of National Education and Religion so that curricula, schedules, methods, and texts were uniform; the work of school inspectors and supervisors was to ensure this uniformity. The ministry also controlled appointment and promotion of teachers. The ministry received assistance in policy, curricula, and in-service training from the Center for Educational Studies and In-service Training (Kentro Ekpaideftikon Melton kai Epimorfoseos-KEME). Less than 10 percent of students were in private schools, and many of these schools catered to foreign residents or wealthy students. All were required to follow official curricula unless given special dispensation; to receive diplomas, graduating students had to pass a special examination. There was no need for a separate religious school system because religious instruction was compulsory for Greek Orthodox pupils. Although one observer characterized the private schools as better than the public ones, another reported that a higher percentage of private students failed to gain entrance to the lycea (sing; lyceum; grades 10 to 12). Preschool was free but not compulsory for ages three and one-half to five and one-half years and mainly available in urban areas. In the school year 1978-79, about 45 percent of this age-group attended preschool. There was little formal instruction. Primary school started at age five and one-half, continuing until 11 and one-half. In March 1981 schools switched from a six-day to a five-day week, although the total number of hours was not reduced. There were 899,546 primary school students in 1979-80, usually in schools with one to 15 teachers and 15 to 450 students. Most commonly, there was a separate teacher for each grade and an average one-to-29 teacher-student ratio (although classes were likely to be larger in Athens). The teachers were rewarded with relatively poor pay and low prestige. Students graduating from primary school received a certificate called apolyterion (the same name given to certificates from secondary and middle technical-vocational schools). As a result of reforms in the 1970s there were two cycles of secondary education, the first offered at the gymnasium (pl., gymnasia) and the second at the lyceum. The former covered seventh through ninth grades and taught mostly traditional subjects, such as geography, literature, and history, to which courses on industrial arts and career awareness were added in the 1970s. Because attendance at the gymnasium was compulsory, there were no entrance examinations. In contrast, the lyceum, which included grades 10 to 12, was selective and did require entrance examinations on composition, literature in translation, algebra and geometry, and history or physics. Lycea were of two kinds-general and technical-vocational. About 82 percent of candidates passed in June 1978; in the early 1980s about 20 percent of those who passed went to technical-vocational lycea, and the rest (who were said to include better students) went to general schools, which were in greater demand. A total of 411,305 students were at gymnasia and 207,383 at lycea in 1979-80. Private schools represented 5 percent of the total students at gymnasia and 8 percent of those at lycea in 1978-79. There were a total of 1,092 public day gymnasia plus 30 public evening gymnasia and 170 private gymnasia, of which 25 were night schools; there were 714 daytime and 30 nighttime lycea versus 177 private lycea, of which 28 were night schools. In 1981 secondary schools adopted a five-day week. Technical-vocational education was reorganized in 1977 so that three options existed: middle private and public schools; lycea; and Centers for Higher Technical and Vocational Education (Kentra Anoteras Technikis ke Epangelmatikis Ekpaedeuseos-KATEE) for further education. The lyceum could prepare a student for higher education or for work; it might offer mechanical and electrical engineering, chemical and metallurgical engineering, business administration, social services, agriculture, or building and architectural design. In 1981-82 about 70,000 students attended technical-vocational lycea. Reforms were designed to provide technical-vocational schools equal prestige with general schools through shared entrance examinations and faculty credentials; faculty credentials varied according to the kind of subject and the kind of schools, whether university, KATEE, or technical-vocational teacher training school. Depending on the subject the general lyceum student aspired to take at the university, in the last two years he or she would pick, in addition to a common core, classical option A (ancient Greek, Latin and history) or scientific option B (mathematics, physics, and chemistry), the latter the only preuniversity option offered at technical-vocational schools. Option A, for example, could lead to theology, philosophy, law, or political science and option B to engineering, medicine, and physics. In 1980 the Panhellenic examinations were instituted at the end of eleventh and twelfth grades as a replacement for the national examinations formerly held for university entrance; only 40 percent of the technical-vocational students took them as opposed to all the general lyceum students. The Ministry of National Education and Religion administered the essay form test simultaneously all over Greece; the test covered modern Greek and subjects of option A or B. Forty percent passed in 1980, but only about one in five being examined in the 1980s was admitted to higher education. Public recognition of this competition (and also that to enter lycea) encouraged enrollment at private "cramming schools" called frontisteria. In 1977 about 83 percent of university students had attended such a supplementary school beginning either in the second or third year of lyceum or after finishing it. In an attempt to reduce the importance of the admission examination, the ministry divided the test over the second and third years of lyceum and included marks in these two years as a basis for admissions. These measure, however, resulted in extending the pressure period and encouraging teaching oriented toward the examinations. Those who failed were left with the possibilities of seeking employment, going abroad to study, attending a private college (one of which had a market for its English-language-educated graduates in business and industry), or attempting again. There has been strong demand and competition for higher education. It has not been equally accessible to all despite the 1964 university reforms, which removed tuition costs and opened two new universities. University or equivalent training was attended by 4 percent of Greeks aged 20 to 24 in 1960 but had increased to 17 percent in the early 1980s. Forty-six percent of university applicants were accepted in 1964 as opposed to 17 percent in 1977; although slots were increased by one-third, applicants increased by over three-fold, ratios of applicants to places varying depending on the discipline (medicine, for example, having a 10.8-to-one ratio as opposed to 2.7-to-one for philosophy). As a result, many Greeks studied abroad (27 percent of all students at home and abroad)-over 35,000 in 1978-79, including 15,000 in Italy and smaller but substantial groups in Britain, France, West Germany, and the United States. A government language examination for those planning to study abroad permitted those who passed to receive a two-year military deferment and the right to take money out of Greece. Greek universities in fact depended on foreign universities to train future professors at the graduate level and conduct scientific research. In the early 1980s Greek institutions of higher education were self-governing but under the Ministry of National Education and Religion. They were supervised and funded by the state and regulated largely by legislative decrees. Institutions of higher education were divided into anotati and anotera. The former, university-level institutions, necessarily public (the government prohibits private ones), offered courses lasting at least four years. Members of the faculty were elected and they were free to administer budgets and decide admissions criteria. The latter, also called intermediate level, offered courses lasting three years or less. Teachers were selected by the ministry, and the anotera had less control over their budgets. The KATEE and teacher training institutes (primary, preschool, home economics, and physical education) were typical anotera; in 1981-82 there were 14 KATEE centers with 22,272 students, offering courses such as business administration, engineering technology, and health occupations, as well as on-the-job training. Good students might transfer to the university after graduation. Admission was not automatic to the KATEE-the ratio of applicants to places in 1978-79 was 7.6 to one. The School of Fine Arts was founded in 1834, the National Technical University of Athens (commonly called the Polytechnic) in 1836, the University of Athens in 1837, the University of Salonika in 1925, and the Panteios School of Political Science in Athens in 1930. The universities in the two major cities dominated until the 1960s and 1970s when universities were added in Patrai, Ioannina, Thrace, and Crete; additional universities are to be created in Thessaly and in the Aegean and Ionian islands. In 1981-82 the University of Athens had 35,535 students and the University of Salonika 22,064 out of a total of 89,957 university students in Greece. The most recent figures available (1977-78) for fields of study of university students divided them into 52 percent studying social sciences, 37 percent studying sciences and mathematics, and 11 percent studying humanities. Medicine was the longest course of study, lasting six years as opposed to five years for agriculture and forestry, dentistry, veterinary medicine, and engineering (and four years for the rest). Lyceum and gymnasium teachers were required to hold a university degree in their respective fields. In 1978 attempted reforms were difficult to implement, but until then the traditional Greek university structure had been organized around chairs administered by professors of one or more associated subjects; chairs were grouped together to form a division, and divisions were combined to form a school administered by the faculty. The division awarded the undergraduate degree, called ptychion. Graduate education was inadequate; in some schools postgraduate courses of one or two years requiring qualifying examinations existed, but only doctoral tutorials, not courses, existed as of 1982. Universities were highly politicized. Adult education was reorganized in 1976-77. Afterward, the national ministry concentrated on policy, coordination, and guidance, while provincial and local authorities were responsible for programs and courses of study at adult education centers and night schools. In addition to enrichment and professional development, one focus of provincial-level programs was to combat illiteracy. According to the 1981 census, 20.4 percent of the Greek population-almost 2 million-were illiterate. Over three-quarters of illiterates were women. Some 6.7 percent of those aged 15 to 64 never attended school, and 20 percent of this age-group was illiterate. Some of such illiteracy was attributed to the inadequate education provided by one- or two-teacher schools in rural areas. According to the 1971 census (later figures were not available), among the population over 10 years of age, 33 percent had not completed primary school, 50 percent had finished only primary, 11 percent had finished only secondary, and 3 percent had completed higher education. The mass media provided information and news. In the 1980s about 85 percent of Greek households had a television, and about 97 percent owned a radio. The government owned and operated the two national television networks and the four radio networks. The content of broadcasts was influenced by the party in power, and the opposition has complained of the unfair advantage received by the ruling party, although opposition views do receive an airing. Opponents and critics of the government are free to express their opinions in the press, but libel laws are strict. Modern Greece has generally enjoyed freedom of the press, except between 1967 and 1974 under the junta when reporters were jailed and publications confiscated. Only a few Athens daily newspapers broke even financially, so that survival often depended on direct or indirect government support through loans or advertising; the Socialist government has, however, proposed termination of such support (see table 5, Appendix A).