Angela Ledom

12/10/09

Educational Psychology

Diversity Project

Diversity Project: Georgia Franjou

Georgia Franjou is an international student here from the Mediterranean island of

Cyprus. She’s pursuing her masters degree in clinical psychology from Pittsburg State

University. Georgia presented information comparing the educational system in her

country to ours, in which she shared some similarities and some differences.

One similarity was that most children in Cyprus enter kindergarten at around age

six, depending when their birthday falls. Another similarity is that they have separate

elementary, middle, and high schools in her country just as we do here. They also teach

some of the same courses in her country, such as PE, chemistry, physical science, math,

and physics. In Cyprus, their history classes consist of learning about ancient Greece and

the history of their country. Readings of Homer are also taught. The class size of 30 is

about average to ours depending on how big the school. In addition to public schools,

Cyprus does have private schools too just like we do here, and they also require a fee to

attend.

Along with the similarities, there were some differences as well. Once students

enter high school, they have orientation leaders who help them find a career path. They

then take the classes to prepare them for that career and classes that interest them. The

first year, their freshman year, all students take the same classes, but the next year is
when they start taking the classes designed for their chosen career. Students have to pass

an entrance exam to get into the university of their choice. Instruction of all subjects is in

English if the student is going to a university in England. However, if they are going to a

university in Greece, the instruction is in Greek. She reported that most students go to

college, and only about 1% do not go on to further their education. When student go to

college, they don’t really change their career paths they start, and students are not prone

to prolonging their education. Education is an important thing for the people of Cyprus.

Another difference is that the students in Cyprus who attend the university only pay for

books, but students attending a university in Greek may have to pay some other fees.

Also, the involvement in clubs and sports activities isn’t promoted in her country as it is

in America. Being involved in sports or extra-curricular activities is based on your

performance or your past experience. In Cyprus, there are two universities; one a

technical or graphic arts and the other a university for arts or sciences. To go to law

school or medical school, for example, a student would have to go to Greece or

elsewhere. The length of the school day is another difference from our school day. The

elementary schools start at 7:45 A.M. and end at 1:05 P.M. Their school year goes from

September to June. The middle and high school starts at 7:30 A.M. and ends at 1:35 P.M.

and goes from September to May. That’s a shorter school day than ours here, but the

school year is about the same. These are some of the differences in school systems that

Georgia shared with us.

I found her presentation very insightful. It was interesting to learn about the

school system in her country. The one piece of information I found really interesting was

when she talked about the special needs students. In her country, if the student has a mild
disability, then the school would provide some aid such as a nurse, but it sounded like the

parents would have to possibly fund that support. She said it could be partially funded by

the government because their health care is free, but she wasn’t sure where that fell under

their healthcare program. Also, for severe cases of a disability, then those students would

attend an institution specifically for certain disabilities. I just this was very interesting

because special services are very important in our school system and here in America, all

children have the opportunity to a free and appropriate education. Another thing that was

interesting was that in her country there aren’t many discipline problems in the classes. In

the elementary school, if there’s a problem, the student is referred to the principle. At the

middle and high school level, students could be expelled for refusing to behave. They

could also be expelled for having too many absences. I think this goes back to her

country’s belief about education. Education is the opportunity to have money, so going to

school is very important. I really leaned a lot about the education system in Cyprus

compared to ours in America.