Kostas Kargakis lives today in Gouves with his family. Until 2004, he worked as a schoolteacher in Primary Education, and has since retired. One rainy evening in January we sat by the fireplace and talked on subjects of education based on his vast experience and how he confronted them.

What would you prioritize today if you were still teaching?

Just one thing. Meritocracy. Education and party leaders must not coexist. Party appointees control our fate. Especially in the most sensitive sector, the sector of education, many in control were "inappropriate for the under aged." The worst of it is that we can't be sure this has stopped today.  Teachers! We usually speak about battles and mean trade-union battles. We never speak about intellectual battles and those that dare to speak up are ostracized.

What should a schoolteacher do today to overcome some obstacles (busy parents and students, excessive television viewing) and achieve the dream: "The child chasing after the knowledge and not the knowledge chasing after the child?"  

I never understood why those in charge of writing out the education programmes seem so intent on filling them up with so much material! Why is it that only university instructors or committees get to do them? Why in the 35 years that I was a schoolteacher no one asked for my opinion? And another question: Why for so many years while I hear being said that school books are incredibly boring, why has never anyone looked into the problem?

 
And one more question, though it tends to be a rhetorical one: Has any education minister ever been an educator or have they all been dentists, lawyers etc? Unfortunately, anytime I asked an MP that question, I was told that the minister has the political will and know how and capable advisers to advise him accordingly. Of course, how will the minister be in a position to judge that his advisors advise him correctly... but that's another story!  

For a lot of years I taught Greek in sixth grade. Up until the change of the regime you saw that the old reading school books had such charm. They were closer to nature. Afterwards, following the French models, they became magazines with questions and answers, something equivalent to a driving manual, yes/no, right/wrong. How can you sharpen the thinking process of a student with these types of books? Or the image of a mother encouraging her child to repeat the history lesson "word for word," while she washes the dishes? The "learning by parroting" method was such a disappointment.

Then, in the 80s I was hopeful after receiving a memo from the ministry that said "the teacher could use his own initiative or improvise" like we needed the ministry's permission to use our brain.

The kids always liked songs. When I taught I tried to use poetry set in music approaching historical reality in trying to teach through the texts of Greek men of letters. So the kids learned the eloquence of the written word.

Then, I organized theatre productions and taught them to step outside the box and state their social objections. 

A teacher must pass on the message of battle and resistance.