University
in Bialystok, Poland
Abstract:
A possible manifestation of citizenship is the affiliation to different
groups, organizations and institutions. The participation can be a final
purpose, but first of all it is a way of making the surrounding reality better.
Sometimes, it is the only manner of changes, but it always becomes the base of
democracy.
1)
Every society expresses its
citizenship consciousness mainly through its participation in the elections and
its engagement in solving different “problems” of local, regional and state
levels. This kind of political activity measured by the electoral attendance is
sometimes called “social capital” or know-how of social self-organization. Has
Poland (and other countries of the region) already reached the optimum in this
area?
2)
Many social initiatives rise from dissatisfaction . The movement to
establish non-public schools and kindergartens in Poland has got such
a
beginning, too. First educational institutions of that type came into being in
the late 1980s. They were manifesting parents’ and teachers’
disapproval of the monopolized and ideology-driven state education,
deemed incapable of any sensible reform. These schools were often
at the
forefront of the change anticipated long before. There were harbingers of the
coming political changes, too. Non-public schools
began
to expand rapidly in the early 1990s following the reform of the educational
system in Poland.
3)
The activity of citizens towards their home country and also to foreigners
can be treated as a measure of citizenship. In this case we mean „foreigners”
as people who come to „our” country temporarily or forever, and who hope to
live and work in there. For some people (mostly from Asia), Poland and probably
other Central European countries become more and more attractive places to live
and earn money. Growing numbers of immigrants from the East make us consider
whether and how to introduce changes on the labor markets and within the
educational systems.