Training
Greece's education system is one of the most centralized
in Europe. The system consists of three sections: elementary
level, upper secondary level and higher education. The
elementary level covers the last year of the preschool and
then grades 1–6. After completing this first compulsory
education, the high school continues, which covers three
years (classes 7-9). High school is also compulsory. It is
then optional to study in high school and higher education.
About 7 percent of Greek primary and secondary schools
are run privately. However, there are relatively few who
read there. Less than 1 percent of the country's students
attend private schools. See TOPSCHOOLSINTHEUSA for TOEFL, ACT, SAT testing locations and high school codes in Greece.
Secondary schools have different orientations. Students
can study at the general high school (three years),
technical vocational education (three years) or art-oriented
education. The latter varies in length and includes, among
other things, artist education and musician education.
Greece has joined the Bologna system and thus has divided
higher education into undergraduate, master's and
postgraduate education. To be admitted to higher education,
the applicant must undergo a college degree. The higher
education is given at more than 20 universities and about 15
technical institutes or colleges.
More than 659,000 students are enrolled in some form of
higher education (2016). 51 percent of these students are
men and 49 percent are women. Compared to other countries,
more students in Greece choose to study higher education in
another country.
Adult education has increased since 2003. It includes
about 30 so-called second-chance schools, 50 adult education
centers and about 40 parent schools. The latter provide
distance education.
In the year 446, Athens governor, Pericles, entered into
a peace treaty with Sparta that lasted 30 years and that
respected each of the parties' sphere of influence. During
Pericles' reign in the 5th century BCE, Athens developed
into the commercial, political and cultural center of the
region. The control over trade at sea and the accompanying
prosperity enabled him to initiate several reforms of a
democratic nature. The period is characterized by scholars
such as Anaxagoras, the playwrights Sofokles, Euripides,
Aristofanes, and Fidias who were considered the best
sculptors of the Greeks. During the same period, the Greeks
made great strides in science. Much of the development took
place in medicine and astronomy have since been largely
surpassed, but their contributions in particular geometry
and mathematics have left indelible traces in today's
science.
In the second half of the 5th century, there were
constant clashes between Spartans and Athenians over control
of the region. The struggles of the period are known as the
Peloponnesian wars. Both parties were exhausted by the
continuing wars, and this allowed the Macedonian king Philip
II (359-336 BCE) to conquer the region. Alexander the Great
conquered new territories (336-323) and extended the
Hellenic influence to North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula,
Mesopotamia and all the way to India. This empire built by
Alexander the Great over a period of eleven years
contributed to Greek cultural influence in the Orient.
During the years of conquest, a large number of trading
cities were created and Alexander encouraged to mix the
defeated peoples' cultures with the Greek and thus became
the progenitor of what is known as Hellenism. When Alexander
died, the Macedonian empire collapsed and a series of wars
and rebellions came to ravage the Greek peninsula.
Roman colonialism
The decline of Greek civilization was due to its internal
struggles, its subsequent ravages and poverty. This opened
the way for Roman expansion. After a series of conquest
wars, of which the Macedonian lasted from 215 to 168, the
Romans around 146 gained full control of Greece.
During the Roman Empire, Christianity in the 3rd century
possibly came to Greece, which was also subject to a series
of invasions. It became part of the Eastern Empire in 395,
whose dominance first ceased in 1204 with the formation of
the East Roman Empire, which divided the region into a
number of vassal states. With the shaking of the Catholic
Church in 1504, the Greeks decided to follow the Orthodox in
Constantinople.
Ottoman Colonialism
The Turks invaded and conquered Greece in 1460, dividing
the country into 6 provinces forced to pay tribute. Turkish
domination continued for 400 years despite internal
rebellions and external attempts to expel the Turks -
especially cited by Venice who was eager to take over the
region because of its importance to trade with the Orient.
First, Passarowitz peace in 1718 formalized the
incorporation of Greece into the Ottoman Empire. In 1821,
the Greeks revolted and succeeded in liberating Tripolitza.
Here, a national assembly drafted a constitution and
declared the country independent. The attempt was drowned in
blood by the Turks when in 1825 supported by Egypt regained
control of the city.
|
