The East PacificBoard

Within the Directorate, a traditional postsecondary education is highly valued culturally and politically. Due to the meritocratic nature of the government, the vast majority of political leaders have master’s degrees or doctorates. Meanwhile, bachelor’s degrees are required for most middle-upper class jobs. The highly competitive job market can often value education even over job experience. Those who do not have a degree in their field are typically expected to pursue one, or pursue a different career.

Primary and secondary school is relatively straightforward. Private schools are exceedingly rare and often overlooked by the government in favor of public schools due to the ability to standardize curriculums and control what students learn. Private schools that do exist are beholden to strong regulations to prevent elitism in schooling. Public officials within the Directory of Education are banned from sending their children to private schools. Requirements set by the Directory of Education are carried out by individual school districts, which are branches of local government.

To promote from eight-year primary school, students must demonstrate basic language skills with reading and writing proficiency, alongside a comprehensive understanding of basic mathematical concepts, up to and including algebra. Basic Zemedievan and world history is taught, tailored for younger audiences. Activities meant to stimulate the mind and encourage learning while providing engaging fun are prioritized. Primary school certificates are necessary to enter secondary school, but may be skipped by immigrants and children of special circumstances through aptitude tests. In this way, primary homeschooling is permitted as long as it’s made to suit the national standards.

Secondary school has more classes, more subjects, and more choice. Six classes must be taken a year, and all courses are year-long. Across the four years of secondary school, four science classes must be taken, alongside four mathematics classes, four Slaviskas language and literature classes, three history classes, two foreign language classes, one culture class. Finally, two years are required for physical education and the remaining four classes are reserved for elective courses.

Science requirements include chemistry, biology, physics, and psychology. However, one or two elective science classes such as geology, environmental science, anatomy, and pre-engineering are almost always offered, and often taken by students interested in entering a prestigious university or pursuing a scientific education and career. Math requirements include algebra, geometry, calculus, and statistics. Both requirements may be fulfilled by accelerated honors classes as well, which are available in most Directorate schools.

Language and literature classes include Language I, Literature I, Language II, and either World Literature or Creative Writing, though these can be replaced by honors classes. The only language and literature electives offered are Film Studies and Poetry, and they’re typically only found in very large schools. These classes closely relate to the culture requirement, which can be fulfilled solely by the Cultural Studies class, but also with Art, Digital Media, or Music Studies. Usually, however, schools only offer 1-2 of these options. Dance and music programs, which are offered in many large schools, can fulfill these requirements as well. In schools where dance and music teams are student-centered and not institutional, this does not exist.

The three years of history must be filled by Zemedievan History, World History, and a third history class taken from electives. Most commonly, Yastreovakian History, History of Science, and Medieval History are taken to meet this requirement, although Art History, Prehistory, and History of Language are also occasionally offered. What electives are or aren’t offered largely depends on the size of the school. Schools in small towns and villages, then, don’t have many options. In some parts of the Directorate, Yastreovakian History is the only history elective offered. Accelerate honors classes are offered only in Zemedievan and World History.

The vast majority of foreign language requirements are filled by Valish, but some larger schools include other major ones, such as Kampfian, Dancian, and Delphin. Common electives outside of the requirement fields include Economics, Home Economics, Religion, Robotics, and Computer Science. In rural areas, Religion I and Religion II are offered as consecutive courses, but in urban and suburban areas, they are condensed as one class. Accelerated or honors programs are not offered in electives or foreign language courses, although programs on the latter are in production by the Directory of Education, likely to be rolled out in the next decade.

University requirements are way broader, looser, and easier to understand, in order to maximize student choice. Twenty credits are required in the categories of Humanities, Mathematics, and Science. In the field of social science, 15 credits are required to graduate. Finally, 10 credits in foreign language courses are required and 5 are in philosophy and ethics. Running on the trimester system, each class is 5 credits. Overall, the 90 credit general education requirement serves as the basis for a simple college degree. Typically, around 90 are required for a specialization in a certain field, as well, totaling to 180 credits, with an average of 15 per trimester, or three classes.

Most local Zemedievan colleges offer a few vocational degrees and certificates in addition to a basic array of Bachelor’s and a limited offering of common Master’s degrees. These are typically offered in broad, general fields, like physics, chemistry, biology, literature, history, or business. For specialized fields, Zemedievans migrate to larger cities, where universities are more competitive, better funded, and larger in scope. The largest and most prestigious national universities are Sventykla College, University of the Triglav, Pryzova Institute of Technology, University of Anykliai, University of Sarmiestas, and Kurmariai Institute of Technology.

Like many other countries, Zemedievan universities are structured by colleges, which dedicate themselves to specific fields of study, within which departments organize course offerings and curriculums. In addition to the College of the Humanities and the College of the Sciences, there are often engineering and education colleges, which are extensive fields in the Directorate. Medical school and law school are also governed within universities as independent colleges, for the most part..

The educational experience prioritizes lecture learning over all other pedagogical approaches, but larger courses do separate time each week for open discussion and review of lecture concepts. Independent study is heavily discouraged, but guided, structured research alongside a faculty member can often substitute for course requirements, as can certain practical research experiences established through faculty connections. These two are the main ways with which students form professional bonds and enter their chosen industries.

Student governments exist within all universities, from the smallest local college’s elected Student Council to the larger universities’ extended structure with a legislature and executive, alongside many engagement programs. In terms of student governance of university, apart from event-planning, their authority is largely academic – any student government which seeks to recommend policy or form binding resolutions relating to any manner considered ‘political’ is subject to forceful disbandment as part of the legal prohibition on political associations.

This prohibition also applies to clubs on Zemedievan college campuses. However, despite the ban on political groups, clubs centered around cultural identities, religions, sports, community service, various fields of study, hobbies, and more. These groups stand at the center of university culture within the Directorate. Forming study groups is common enough within larger classes, where the learning environment is less social, but many students often prioritize their organizational ties over their class ties when making friends.

Teachers and professors are highly respected within Zemedievan society. Educating, especially educating children and underprivileged citizens, is seen as a noble profession worthy of praise. Certain tax relief programs targeting educators in times of economic recession can be seen, and, even outside that, it is socially unacceptable to treat teachers poorly. Parents who seek to undermine chosen curriculums rarely see change from the empirically-formulated pedagogy of local primary and secondary schools.

The role of local government in education is rather limited, often concentrated in the power of appointing and removing local superintendents, school board members, university presidents, and other administrative officials. Funding and general education requirements come from the national government, whereas the finer points of curriculums, courses, and other academic policy lay in the hands of those chosen administrative officials, who are given a degree of freedom in that realm in order to spur innovation and competition.