Discipline, spelling and singing order of day

“Romania today sends to school a new generation of astronauts, of pilots and of every other profession one dreams of at 6-7 years old,” says Romanian newspaper Jurnalul Naţional in an editorial. “But beyond the 3 million children starting a new school year, the Ministry of Education is innovating by putting an end to a lie,” the Bucharest daily says. Thus, this year, “middle school (as of 11) will be extended by a year and high school (as of 15) will last three years instead of four,” the paper adds. “These changes show that the State has drawn the lessons from the disaster of the 2011 baccalaureate exams[more than half of the candidates failed] and will: monitor the presence of students and teachers; require the singing of the national anthem; introduce spelling classes in middle and high school to address the lack of comprehension of Romanian students,” the paper says, adding, “because all the exams have proved that the average Romanian student can read but doesn’t understand!”