K a t a r z y n a S t a n k i e w i c z University of Gdańsk, Poland
THE PERCEPTION OF POLAND AND POLES IN THE
EYES OF FOREIGN STUDENTS
1ABSTRACTS
Th e purpose of this article is to present Poland and Poles as seen by foreign students, who come to Poland as participants of European student exchange programs, and to analyze the roots of stereotypes as well as the possibilities to modify the stereotypes held by foreign-ers. Exchange students are considered to be a peculiar group of foreigners since they stay in Poland as “temporary migrants”. Th e article contains the fi ndings of empirical research and references prior research and confi rms their fi ndings. Foreign students see Poland as a poor and backward country whose inhabitants are very religious and patriotic. Foreign media, which are a source of stereotypes, infl uence foreign students’ perception of Poland before their arrival in Poland. Participating in the student exchange confi rmed some of their stereotypes, but it also off ered a chance for students to confront stereotypes with critical aft erthought and to create positive opinions about Poland and Poles.
Key words:
perception of Poland, stereotype of Poles, educational exchange, foreign students, Erasmus Programme, cultural contact, intercultural learning
1 Scientifi c work funded by the Polish MNiSW in 2008–2013 (Research project No. N N106
1. Introduction
Foreign students are a peculiar type of foreigners as they come to Poland under very specifi c conditions and purpose. Most of them do not need to take jobs as they live off of their scholarships or their families support them. Th e only duties they have are connected with their studies. Th ey can participate in student life2. At the university, they are mingle with Polish students as well as (or even mostly among) students of other nationalities, who are in similar situation. Such foreign students play several diff erent social roles; apart from studying, they are foreigners, young individuals, and “ambassadors” of their own countries. Th ey can assume the role of cultural mediators, which may be not limited to the time they spend in Poland3. However, assuming the latter role depends strongly on their attitude to-wards what is “Polish” (their opinion of the country and individual competence). Foreign students usually come to a Polish university with some sort of a notion about Poland and Poles in their mind and, during the stay, verify the initial as-sumption. Th e shape and character of the initial perception is determined by a number of factors. Foreign students derive their knowledge from several sourc-es; they are infl uenced by stereotypes that exist in their closest environment, mass media, etc. When they arrive in Poland to study, they come into contact with Polish students; they socialize with others in Polish environment, participate in academ-ic activities and take language courses. As they partacadem-icipate in these activities, they confront their knowledge and opinion of Poland with other those of other foreign students. Once they return to their home country, they may confi rm the existing stereotypes and opinions, but they may also confront them with critical aft er-thought, discussion with others, and create a positive image or even act as Polish ambassadors abroad. A question arises as to how to support breaking attitudes and opinions based on negative stereotypes and how to create a positive perception of Poland and Poles in the eyes of foreign students. From this perspective, research of foreign students’ attitude towards their host country is crucial and the results of such a research should be followed by pedagogical recommendations and an im-plementation plan4.
2 E. Nowicka, Wprowadzenie [Introduction] [in:] Gość w dom. Studenci z krajów Trzeciego Świata
w Polsce [A Guest in the House. Students from the Th ird World Countries in Poland], E. Nowicka, S. Łodziński (eds.), Warszawa 1993, p. 24.
3 J. Mucha, Oblicza etniczności. Studia teoretyczne i empiryczne [Faces of Ethnicity. Th eoretical
and Empirical Study], Kraków 2005, p. 104.
4 Th ere is a quite extended literature on this topic. See e.g.: P. Carvahlo, Studenci obcokrajowcy
w Polsce [Foreign Students in Poland], Warszawa 1990; Gość w dom. Studenci z krajów Trzeciego Świata w Polsce [A Guest in the House. Students from the Th ird World Countries in Poland], E.
No-Th e purpose of this article is to present the perception of Poland and Poles as seen by foreign students who come to Poland as participants of European student exchange programs (Erasmus Programmed being the most popular among others) and to point out the sources that create the perception along with the possibilities to modify said perception. We will present students’ opinions about Poland and Poles as they were before coming to Poland and then changes of the opinions that took place aft er their sojourn in Polish environment. Th e research results shall be basis for pedagogical recommendations in the scope of positive modifi cation of the perception of Poland and Poles as seen by foreign students to be used in mul-ti-cultural approach to teaching process.
In this article, results from a boarder research were used; a research which was conducted during doctoral dissertation on cultural transfer in teaching Polish as a foreign language. Th e research focused on three levels of cultural transfer: as-sumptions accompanying the teaching language and culture process; implementa-tion of those assumpimplementa-tions in the organising and teaching process; recepimplementa-tion of the cultural transfer by the language course participants, which were all refl ected in the research procedure. For the purpose of this article, research results concerning reception of the cultural transfer were mainly used which pursued primarily a quality strategy and are not representative in nature. Th ey can be seen as illustra-tion of other researchers’ theses as well as a starting point for a further research.
When researching students’ knowledge, attitude and opinions, a diagnostic survey instrument was applied on the available random purposive sampling in the form of a questionnaire and an open in-depth interview focusing on the problem. Research was conducted in 2007 among students from three selected Polish lan-guage teaching centres at universities in Cracow, Warsaw and Toruń5, hosting Erasmus programme students. Our respondents were participants of intermediate Polish language course. Material from 44 correctly fi lled out questionnaires was subject to detailed analysis (including 29 from the Jagiellonian University in
Cra-wicka, S. Łodziński (eds.), Warszawa 1993; Z. Bokszański, Młodzi Europejczycy o Polakach. Opinie
studentów uniwersytetów europejskich [Young Europeans about Poles. Opinions of the Students of
European Universities], Łódź 1997; J. Bartmiński, Stereotypy mieszkają w języku. Studia
etnoling-wistyczne [Stereotypes Live in a Language. Ethnolingustic Study], Lublin 2007; J. Rokicki, Studenci obcokrajowcy o Polsce i Polakach [Foreign Students on Poland and Poles], “Przegląd Polonijny”
[Re-view of Polonia] 1998, Vol. 4, p. 75–112.
5 Th ree centres were selected, each diff erent in character and approach to teaching Polish as
a foreign language. Th e fi rst two have a long tradition of working with foreign facilities and they accept the greatest number of foreign students among Polish universities, while the last one is lo-cated in a relatively smaller city, with not such a great tradition and hosting a few dozens of students every year. In the academic year 2006/2007, these three centres hosted in total 20% of all Erasmus students in Poland.
cow, 8 from the University of Warsaw and 7 from the Nicolaus Copernicus Uni-versity) together with texts from 7 interviews with students from Germany who were learning Polish in Warsaw and Toruń.
Th e nationality of questionnaire participants partly refl ected the dominating trends in statistical data concerning number of foreign students interested in com-ing to Poland6. More than a half of the respondents came from Germany, other respondents represented Western and Southern Europe (mainly Spain, France, Italy), Czech Republic and Slovenia. Considering the domination of the German group, the results from questionnaires were supported with open interviews with students from Germany. Th erefore, the presented results and refl ections are based on the “German” picture of Poland and Poles.
Both questionnaires (including open questions) and the interviews concen-trated on the following issues: student’s preparations for departure, contacts with Poles and Polish culture before and during their stay, available resources and their scope, the picture of Poland, Polish culture and Poles and opinion on the subjects covered during the language training.
2. Student goes abroad…
European integration created new possibilities of educational exchange between EU member states. Th e development of the Bologna Process, aimed at the creation of a compatible and comparable European Higher Education Area, is conductive to studying temporarily outside one’s home university, in a selected EU country. Th e principal goals of Bologna Declaration were, among others, development of co-operation between educational centers as well as increasing the mobility of students7. Th e idea of students’ mobility became popular and is, in principle, uni-versally available to all students.
One of the most popular EU educational exchange programs is the Erasmus Programme. Th e Erasmus Programme operates within the framework of the Life-long Learning Programme, which is available to European and to selected non-EU countries’ (e.g. Turkey being a candidate country) universities’ students as well as their research and administration staff . Students get the opportunity to go abroad to complete a part of their studies there, do an internship, and learn a new
lan-6 See e.g. on the Polish website of Erasmus Programme,
http://www.erasmus.org.pl/sites/eras-mus.org.pl/fi les/Erasmus-07–08-internet.pdf [access: 25.11.2011].
7 See e.g.: the offi cial website of MNiSW:
guage. Th e program has been functioning for over 20 years; Poland joined it in the 1998/1999 academic year8.
Since 1998 the number of foreign students coming to Poland as participants of the Erasmus Programme has been gradually growing, however, it is still propor-tionally lower in comparison to the number of Polish students taking the oppor-tunity to study abroad. Th is may prove a lower popularity of Poland and Polish language among European students and of low attractiveness of Polish universities. Our universities are most popular among the “Old Union” member states; with Germany in the fi rst position (about 25% of all program participants in Poland) closely followed by France, Spain and Italy9.
Foreign participants of the Erasmus Programme in Poland can be considered a peculiar group of foreigners. Th e peculiarity of the group stems from the fact that they study at a Polish university in a relatively closed, international group and they communicate mainly in English, which results in lower frequency of contacts with Polish people, language, and culture10.
Before coming to Poland, students’ ties with our country are usually not very strong (except for the students whose Polish language skills are advanced). Selec-tion of an educaSelec-tional exchange country is oft en a matter of chance. Erasmus stu-dents come for fi ve months up to a year. Many of them do not take Polish language lessons since at the university and, more and more oft en, outside their classrooms they can communicate in English11. Cultural adaptation in the case of this group of students is also limited12 because of the temporary character of their stay here and specifi cs of the university environment.
Janusz Mucha argues that the situation of a foreign student can be compared to the situation of other groups staying abroad for a defi ned purpose, for a defi ned period of time, and with no need to adapt to the host country’s conditions and
8 Polish website of Erasmus Programme, http://erasmus.org.pl/ [access: 20.05.2011].
9 See statistic data on the Polish website of Erasmus Programme, http://www.erasmus.org.pl/
index.php/ida/54/ [access: 20.05.2011]. T. Saryusz-Wolski, Słowo wstępne [Preface] [in:] S. Krupnik, E. Krzaklewska, Studenci Erasmusa w Polsce – raport z badania Erasmus Student Network [Erasmus Students in Poland – Erasmus Student Network Research Report], Polish Website of Socrates-Eras-mus Programme, http://www.socrates.org.pl/socrates2/ attach/erasSocrates-Eras-mus/zalaczniki/broszura_esn.pdf [access: 01.10.2007].
10 See e.g.: S. Krupnik, E. Krzaklewska, Studenci Erasmusa w Polsce – raport z badania Erasmus
Student Network [Erasmus Students in Poland – Erasmus Student Network Research Report], http://
www.socrates.org.pl/socrates2/attach/erasmus/zalaczniki/broszura_esn.pdf [access: 01.10.2007].
11 Ibidem.
culture13. As Mucha wrote, “Th e situation of a student is oft en compared to the situation of a tourist or of a temporary migrant who takes a job in the host country (Gastarbeiter) or a traveling expert or a businessman. Contrary to immigrants, who come and intend to stay for good, the foreign student, the gastarbeiter, and/ or the tourist do not need to fully adapt to the culture of the host country”14. In the case of a student participating in an exchange program in a foreign country, we observe the so-called transmigration, which results from increased migration processes in Europe, which are more and more oft en characterized by their tem-porariness15. Th e new generation travels willingly; young people take jobs outside their homelands, they are more mobile even though said mobility is limited to the EU zone. All this makes the migrants truly European citizens. Considering the temporary character of contacts with foreign culture, the culture shock connected with adapting to new conditions is not very strong and it may be mobilizing. Th e adaptation is connected with everyday existence and rarely results in change of attitudes16. A stay abroad does not need to be connected with a purposeful learn-ing of the foreign culture or gettlearn-ing to know its representatives. In connection with these changes it becomes even more imperative to consider options of supporting positive modifi cation of the perception of Poland and Poles by foreign students.
3. Poland – the unknown
Young Europeans select Poland as a place where to study for a number of diff erent reasons. Some of them may have relatives living in Poland or possibly a Polish girlfriend or boyfriend, so they come here to be closer to them and at the same time to learn the language and to get to know better the country, where their loved ones come from. Th ere are also those, whose ancestors come from Poland, for example parent(s), but they do not know the language very well and they are not familiar with Polish culture very much because their parents – cultural neophytes – did not consider passing on this value as worthy. Second generations tend to try reducing the backlog. Th ere are also students who are interested in Poland or
13 Ibidem.
14 J. Mucha, op.cit., Kraków 2005, p.105.
15 W. Danilewicz, Społeczne konsekwencje migracji zagranicznych [Social Implications of
Cross-Border Migrations] [in:] Migracja, uchodźctwo, wielokulturowość. Zderzenie kultur we współczesnym
świecie [Migrations, Refugees, Multiculturalism. Th e Clash of Cultures in the Contemporary World], D. Lalak (ed.), Warszawa 2007, p. 158.
Central-Eastern Europe due to the scope of their studies or fi eld of specialization. Th ey come to Poland mostly to practice the language, which they use in their re-search and to broaden their knowledge. However, it is oft en the case that the deci-sion to come to Poland is a matter of chance for an Erasmus student. Such a student oft en has limited knowledge of Poland and of other Central-Eastern European countries. Th ere are also those who wish to experience “the East”, but the more European and “civilized” variety fi rst. For them, Poland is oft en the fi rst step in their journey through post-soviet states and Russia.
Th e majority of questionnaire respondents admitted that their knowledge of Poland before they came here to study was average or poor and that their prior relations with Poles were occasional or rare. During interviews, all eff orts were made to establish what knowledge they actually had. Respondents whose studies included a study of Poland would stand out among others. However, their knowl-edge was detailed only in one specifi c area, e.g. Polish history in a selected period of time or Polish foreign aff airs. Other respondents oft en admitted that their knowledge was limited to some basic facts of Polish history, to major Polish cities and to a few famous Poles, mainly Pope John Paul II and Lech Wałęsa. However, the fact that they knew Wałęsa’s name did not mean that their knowledge of the breakthrough point in Polish history exceeded slogans and rudiments. To a great extent, the stereotype of Poland in the eyes of foreign students was created by foreign media, where Polish subjects are not frequent17, as well as by local informal opinions about Poland and Poles that prevailed in their original environments.
Th e character of such opinions also depends on Polish emigrants and visitors who temporarily stay in Western Europe. Students oft en had contacts with Poles before they came to study in Poland and those contacts infl uenced their own opin-ion about our country and citizens. According to my respondents, majority of Poles whom one can meet in the West are seasonal workers, oft en not speaking any western language, not even English, most of them are uneducated and with rather low cultural standards. Another group of Poles abroad, especially those in Germany, are emigrants, who are typically willing to assimilate, but feel ashamed or inferior when talking about their origins and who have lower than average material and social standing. During our interviews, respondents would oft en talk about children of Polish emigrants, who, according to them, are deprived of a clear cultural identity; who know the local language and culture on a very basic level and, at the same time, do not know much about Poland and Polish culture. Th e
17 See more in: Wizerunek Polski w prasie krajów Unii Europejskiej [Poland’s Image in the Press
best sources of information about Poland were Polish students studying at foreign universities (mainly Erasmus students). People who had contacts with such stu-dents knew relatively more about Polish culture and specifi cs of the country, how-ever, not many of my respondents had any closer contacts with such Polish stu-dents.
Th ere was also a small group of students whose knowledge of Poland was de-rived from their visits in Poland in the past, when they came mainly as tourists. Th e purpose of their short stays was to visit major Polish cities and major tourist attrac-tions, but such stays did not contribute much to our respondents’ knowledge of our country. On the contrary, they oft en strengthened their stereotype opinions18.
4. Discovering the culture
As we established in the course of our interviews and questionnaires, despite the fact that our respondents were staying in Poland, they did not have many opportu-nities to broaden their knowledge of Polish culture, which may have been a conse-quence of the specifi c character of the Erasmus program. Th e majority of students’ contacts with Poles were limited, oft en next to non-existent. Th e rare opportunities included contacts with academic teachers, Polish language teachers, and with peo-ple providing everyday services, such as in cafeterias or supermarkets.
Th e majority of students took advantage of cultural and entertainment off ers prepared for foreign students19. Even though respondents had opportunities to see Polish students during such events, Poles would be only one of many nationalities present there and such a Polish group would be rather modestly represented.
Th e majority of respondents did not manage to make Polish friends. Some exceptions were those individuals who found a Polish partner and this way gained access to his/her circle of Polish friends. Th e former group of respondents com-plained during our interviews about the lack of Polish friends, which they claimed to be a typical Erasmus program feature. One respondent stated that, “Integration with Polish students is very diffi cult. An Erasmus student has more free time than 18 M. Warchala, Polska i Unia Europejska – wiedza, stereotypy, sympatie i antypatie [Poland and
the European Union – Knowledge, Stereotypes, Sympathies and Antipathies] [in:] Obraz Polski
i Polaków w Europie [Th e Image of Poland and Poles in Europe], L. Kolarska-Bobińska (ed.), Warszawa 2003, p. 75.
19 Th ere are, as an example, events organized by the European student organization: Erasmus
Student Network (ESN). See more information on the Polish website of ESN, http://www.esn.pl [ac-cess: 20.05.2011].
others. Apart from that, many of us come here not knowing the language; there-fore, it is easier to spend time with other Erasmus students; and we oft en live to-gether in one dorm...”. Contacts with Polish students would oft en be limited to learning each other’s languages together (language tandem), however, not many decided to pursue such a form of meetings.
Research shows that a limited grasp of the Polish language limits the respond-ents’ access to Polish newspapers and literature, which they might otherwise be using as a source of information on Polish culture. Our questionnaire shows that majority of foreign students seldom read Polish daily or weekly newspapers. Dur-ing the interviews, they pointed out diffi culties in understanding the language of press releases. A similar situation concerns literature. If anyone decided to read anything, it would be contemporary literature rather than other genres. Similarly, foreign students rarely had contacts with Polish literature that was translated into their languages; they complained that Polish market rarely off ered translations of Polish literature.
Important sources of knowledge of Poland were lectures and seminars at the university. Th e selection of subjects depended on students’ specifi c interests, how-ever, this off er was limited due to students’ low grasp of Polish and there were not many related courses available for English speakers. Most respondents partici-pated with great interest in Erasmus program courses about Poland, Polish his-tory, culture, art, etc., which were crucial to broadening their knowledge.
However, names of streets and monuments were oft en more eff ective in this aspect than lectures or workshops. It is worth pointing out that in many cases these are the elements that make learning about Polish heritage easier for a foreign stu-dent. In students’ opinion, the “greatest Polish people” are those who are most fre-quently commemorated, such as Adam Mickiewicz, who comes in fi rst place and whose monuments are erected in bigger Polish towns; Frederic Chopin, who comes in a close second; Nicolaus Copernicus; and, more recently, Pope John Paul II.
Unquestionably, learning the Polish language played a crucial role in the proc-ess of my respondents’ learning of Polish culture and developing their own opinion about it. Th is was true not only in the case of learning Polish during classes off ered to foreign students at the university, but also in the case of the less offi cial tandem learning, which we mentioned before.
In the course of tandem language learning, both tandem partners, who do not have training in the methodology of teaching, learn each other’s mother tongue. Th ey reveal a tremendous amount of creativity and innovation in fi nding interest-ing materials and subjects to diversify the learninterest-ing process as it happens only by means of conversations. Tandem learning is attractive to students not only for
perfecting their knowledge of a language, but also for the opportunity to learn a foreign culture. Conversations oft en reveal aspects of the day-to-day culture of the other person’s country along with its pop culture. In classes, the students com-monly use newspaper and internet texts to teach, but they also listen to popular songs together, and talk about everyday life in Poland and Poles20.
In university language courses, culture is present in a totally diff erent manner. It is not a “didactic priority”. It is revealed “by the way” when teaching the language, oft en en passant as students would put it. Th e presenting of Poland and its culture is oft en connected with national holidays. Customs and traditions were discussed in line with the calendar. Another important element that was taught in classrooms was Polish art, particularly poetry. Adam Mickiewicz was (by far) the most fre-quently quoted Polish poet and writer, followed by Czesław Miłosz. Respondents admitted that during Polish language classes they did work with literary pieces or parts of them, but they were not able to give examples of titles or authors. Literary pieces were mostly used to complement language skill development and they were adjusted to the learners’ language skill level. Characters and protagonists would typically be introduced through biographic entries due to hermetism of the literary texts.
Apart from language courses available in the academic year, bigger academic centers organize summer language and cultural courses. Such “summer holiday” schools off er more free time and relaxed workshops; cultural subjects are oft en connected with local tradition and history. Summer programs have a rich culture, tourism, and entertainment program. On weekends, students can take excursions to prominent Polish tourist attractions. Destinations of such excursions are oft en selected for their historical value; thus, Gniezno and Cracow are common places for such trips. In aft ernoons, students participate in the cultural life of the local town; they meet to sing Polish songs together, experience Polish cuisine, etc. For summer course organizers, the sky is the limit when it comes to their invention. Individual teachers have an important role to play. Th e majority of them are young people, more or less comparable in age to the courses’ participants, therefore their interests are similar; they may lack extensive teaching experience, but they are greatly involved in the work and they have a lot of creativity in their approach to teaching the language and culture aspects21.
20 M. Pasieka, G. Krajewski, Stacjonarny tandem językowy – o rozwijaniu kompetencji
międzykulturowej [A Stationary Language Tandem – On Developing Intercultural Competence],
“Języki Obce w Szkole” [Foreign Languages at School] 2002, Vol. 3, p. 16–22.
21 E. Zawadzka, Nauczyciele języków obcych w dobie przemian [Foreign Language Teachers in
Th e unique character of Polish language courses and summer holiday language camps organized for Erasmus students turns the learning process not so much into an opportunity to broaden one’s knowledge of Polish culture, but into a place where diff erent cultures meet and learn about each other in the context of Polish culture, which is represented here by the teacher. What determines the extent of that context depends on the teacher’s attitude. Th e international character of such groups brings about comparisons between cultures. Th e teacher, who determines the content of the course and the direction of discussions, initiates most of the cultural and intercultural topics that are discussed at language courses. Th e selec-tion of a student book is crucial for introducing subjects on Polish culture at a lan-guage course; a student book that focuses on grammar and vocabulary issues leaves little time to use additional materials and introducing supplementary subjects to the process of language teaching22. When asked about presence of intercultural topics, students confi rm that they come about naturally due to the international character of the groups. It is a great subject for discussion and it is becoming a more and more popular subject among teachers and academics who deal with foreign language teaching didactics.
5. Perception of Poland and Poles
A relatively uniform Perception of Poland and Poles emerges from the fi ndings of the research23. Th e research shows how other European countries perceive our country, which has not undergone any crucial changes since joining EU. Th e fact of Poland joining the EU seems to have contributed only a little bit to Europeans’ awareness of our country, but seems to have broken a considerable “area of ignorance”24. However, Poland’s accession to the EU has not challenged stereotypes functioning in the societies whose citizens had regular contact with Poles before 22 K. Stankiewicz, Przekaz kulturowy w podręcznikach do nauczania języka polskiego jako obcego
[Cultural Transfer in Teaching Polish as a Foreign Language Coursebooks] [in:] W poszukiwaniu
nowych rozwiązań. Dydaktyka języka polskiego jako obcego u progu XXI wieku [Seeking New
Solu-tions. Teaching Polish as a Foreign Language On the Th reshold of the 21st Century], W.T. Miodunka,
A. Seretny (eds.), Kraków 2008, p. 337–346.
23 See e.g.: Obraz Polski i Polaków w Europie [Th e Image of Poland and Poles in Europe],
L. Kolarska-Bobińska (ed.), Warszawa 2003; P. Szarota, Niemcy i Polacy. Wzajemne postrzeganie
i stereotypy [Germans and Poles. Mutual Perception and Stereotypes], Warszawa 1996; Wizerunek Polski w prasie krajów Unii Europejskiej [Poland’s Image in the Press of the European Union
Coun-tries], M. Warchala (ed.), Warszawa 2002.
the EU expanded (Germany, for example). Th is perception clearly shares some characteristics regardless the specifi cs of the group that was asked, but there are some minor modifi cations depending on respondent’s nationality.
My research among Erasmus students confi rmed the stereotype that is de-scribed in reference books. A stereotype of a foreign country is oft en created in opposition to one’s own country. Poland tends to be perceived as a strongly Cath-olic and traditional country, even backwards. Th e respondents’ visits to bigger Polish towns modifi ed this image into a picture of a more ambivalent country combining modernity with tradition in a paradoxical manner. Other associations are connected with poverty and crime; both of those features are associated not only with Poland, but also with the East in general. Other associations concern Polish history from the experiences of WWII and the annihilation of the Jews through communism era to the 1989 breaking point. Th e average Pole is also viewed as a religious and conservative person, oft en hardworking and friendly. Research shows that the perceptions of Poles are formed by their characteristic features, emotions, and attitudes rather than through their competence. Th e per-ception of a Pole in Europe is much diff erent than that of a European with the latter being well educated and – most of all – modern.
Joining the EU changed the perception of Poland from a geographical view-point; Poland “moved” west, which is clearly confi rmed by the results of interviews conducted with Erasmus students. Th e distinction between East and West should be analyzed not only in special categories, but also in cultural aspects. Th e tradi-tional perception of the two categories is based on contracts between order, civi-lization, and tolerance as opposed to chaos and conservatism: “[Th e] East is cha-otic, partly civilized as opposed to humanistic, tolerant, and rational West; also inferior as regards morality”. Before 2004, Poland was referred to as an Eastern European country, but students participating in the research in 2007 tend to talk of Poland as a border country or a Central and Eastern European country. In the case of insuffi cient knowledge of the country, Poland is still treated as an Eastern country; maybe a more “civilized” sort of Eastern. German students describe a lack of organization and planning in Poland as an “Eastern” feature and defi nitely dif-ferent from “German standards”.
My respondents, who have been in Poland for some time, defi nitely draw a line between young Poles who are modern and older generation who fi t the existing stereotype. In many statements, the subject of Polish Catholicism occurs along with a refl ection on its specifi cs. It is unclear for young people just how much Catholicism translates into Poles’ spiritual dimension and to what extent it is just a part of tradition; the latter connection they also observed. Th ey do see a
consid-erable role of the Church in the state and also noticed the infl uence that the clergy and Church hierarchy have on forming Poles’ opinions. Polish Catholicism is con-nected with “Polish conservatism” and devotion to traditional values, family being one of the values. Th e stay in Poland also confi rmed the stereotype of a Pole who is nice and friendly to foreigners, who may have problems with English or any other foreign language, but is very open and hospitable. Respondents associate some historical events with Poland, which confi rmed the results of prior research. For them, Poland is a country experienced by war and the place where “Solidarity” was founded. In their opinion, history is very important for Polish society, espe-cially the more tragic parts of it. A “historical” Pole is in love with the tragic his-tory of Poland, he is oft en seen as an exceptional patriot, which was also found in prior research. When describing Polish patriotism, students stress its confronta-tional aspect conducive to Poles’ closed attitude towards the new and towards in-fl uences from other cultures.
German students coming to Poland had clearly developed a stereotype of Po-land, which did not derive from their knowledge of the country and they would openly admitted that. Foreign media and public opinion present Polish society as strongly defi ned by Catholicism and tradition, especially when it comes to the role of family and women. At the same time, emigrants from Poland tended to deny their Polish roots and did not seem to care much about customs or tradition. Stu-dents quoting such opinions oft en failed to see that inconsistency. Many men-tioned poverty and backwardness as features of Poland painted by media. Accord-ing to some respondents, the low level of education of seasonal workers and the diffi culties at school of children of Polish origin were the foundation of the stere-otype of Poland as an economically underdeveloped country. Th e negative stere-otype of Poland created by the media in the 1990’s included criminal aspects as well.
Most frequent stereotype opinions about Poles that occurred during the re-search were: “each Pole is a Catholic”, Poles steal, they collect used or unwanted things (scrap), Poland is patriarchal, and “the East starts there” (in this context, the East is understood as the unknown, unpredictable, and “uncivilized”). Almost all respondents referred to the stereotypes while distancing themselves from such thinking. In the course of discussions, it oft en appeared that they had built their perception of Poland using these stereotypes and that they had based their behav-ior on them, especially at the beginning of their exchange program. Students men-tioned popular jokes in their countries, which revealed basic stereotypes. One of the respondents, when asked about stereotype opinions about Poles replied, “Poles steal a lot. One needs to be careful. Th ere is a joke, which shows it very well: “Go
to Poland for holiday; your car is already there”. […] I thought I didn’t believe in stereotypes, but when I arrived here, I held my bag very tight”.
In the course of our conversations, students oft en noticed the contradicting image of a Pole, which emerges from the stereotypes; a perception of the one who steals and at the same time is a passionate Catholic. One of my respondents ri-posted it jokingly: “He steals during the week and on Sunday he goes to church to atone for his sins”.
6. Educational exchanges as an opportunity for changing
the perception of Poland and Poles
Research shows that an educational exchange is the student’s opportunity to val-idate the dominant stereotype of Poland and Poles in their home country. In cases when students were not interested in contacts with Poles, this stereotype was strengthened. Sensitivity to stereotyping was developed in the course of reg-ular contacts with Polish students as well as with students from other countries; then openness and tolerance were inspired which resulted in breaking of ethno-centric attitudes. Th e most important to positive modifi cation of opinions about Poland and Poles were long term relations with Poles, which involve achieving common ground e.g. while organizing a cultural or entertainment event together or during tandem language learning. Th ese situations facilitated intercultural learning25 based on open mind and foreign representatives’ mutual will to get to know each other.
Due to relatively more diffi cult contacts of foreign students with Poles, a Polish language course becomes a space where they can learn about Polish culture and where they can discuss common opinions about Poland and Poles, which they know from their home environment. However, neither Polish language teachers nor authors of student’s books seem to be aware of this exceptional role.
An environment of intercultural learning created by educational exchange with special participation by a Polish partner can enhance a number of ways to facilitate modifi cation of the perception of Poland and Poles. Firstly, exchange students could be placed in dormitories with Polish students, which is a rare practice. Sec-ondly, tandem meetings could be organized for all the foreign students by the
25 A. Th omas, Psychologie interkulturellen Lernens und Handelns [in:] Kulturvergleichende
universities. Lately, lectures in English and intercultural workshops could also be available for Polish students.
Th e peculiar specifi cs of educational exchange students should also be carefully considered. Erasmus students tend to be relatively little interested in Poland and Polish culture; they participate in the program more for the sake of spending time in an international group. However, if this group was extended by adding Polish students, both in formal and informal relations, then the intercultural learning ef-fects would also include foreign students’ attitude towards Poland and Poles.
We need to remember that “foreign students” meet Polish students also abroad, in other countries, where Polish students participate in similar exchange pro-grams. Considering this aspect, it is very important to prepare Polish students for this program and to make them aware of the role they will be playing and of how much depends on them in the scope of promoting our country and breaking negative stereotypes about it. Awareness of the stereotypes of Poland and Poles which are prevalent abroad may also be helpful to them; it may help them serve as Polish “ambassadors” at a foreign university and it may help them deal with the cultural shock.
Numerous intercultural learning situations that occur within the framework of university life may be used to turn foreign Erasmus students into cultural media-tors or even “ambassadors” of our culture26, however, in order to achieve that we would have to present such aspects of Polish culture and Poland that would festi-nate not only with specifi c Polish messages, but also with universal ones; we would have to present such aspects of the culture and country that are able to seduce a foreigner with its charm and uniqueness, to encourage them to learn more about Poles as worthy people, who may abound with contradictions and paradoxes, who may not exactly fi t the perception of an ideal European, but who are certainly in-triguing individuals.
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