Interview with Austėja Linartaitė, President 2016-2017

On Tuesday this week, the students of EEB2 were faced with choosing their president for the coming school year. Both candidates made compelling speeches expressing their motivation and goals for the upcoming year. With a small difference of 14 votes, the students elected Austeja their president for this year. What happens now? We asked when we talked with Austėja about her plans for the coming year. 

Interview de M. Spronck, Conseiller S7

Présentation : Je m'appelle Christian Spronck, je suis marié et j'ai deux merveilleuses jeunes jumelles (quatorze ans). J'ai été gradué non-licencié en professeur de maths et physique. J'habite à Liège, sous Magne, et là c'est ma troisième année à EEB2.

Donc ce n'était pas votre premier choix d'être conseiller ?

Ouhla non, c'est une longue histoire d'ailleurs.... quand j'avais seize ans je me formais pour être pilote de chasse à l'école Cadet de l'Air, dans la Force Aérienne ; en même temps que je faisais ma secondaire, jusqu'à mes dix-huit ans. Et donc j'ai obtenu mon brevet de planeur (glider). Au final j'ai arrêté parce que je n'aimais pas la mentalité de l'Armée. Ensuite, j'ai fait un an de maths à l'université mais j'ai aussi arrêté parce que l'ambiance ne m'allait pas. Par contre, j'ai fait un régendat, ou graduat en maths, ce qui m'a plus plu parce qu'il y avait plus de contact. Je suis sorti en 1993 pour devenir éducateur (conseiller) pendant quatre, cinq ans un peu partout, surtout dans un internat à Liège. Ce qui m'y a intéressé c'était de comprendre les problèmes des adolescents pour pouvoir les aider.

Comment êtes-vous donc arrivé ici ?

Je suis plus tard retourné en école secondaire comme professeur de maths, d'ailleurs dans la même école que Mme Mirolo – j'ai eu son fils comme élève ! Mais après treize ans à cette école et au total vingt-huit ans du même genre de boîte, j'ai voulu partir, et c'est ainsi que j'ai postulé à EEB2.

Et vous voilà.

Et me voilà. J'ai aussi enseigné dans une prison.

Merci beaucoup pour cette petite récapitulation... Parlez-nous maintenant de votre journée typique.

Je commence tout d'abord avec un grand sourire [rires]. Une fois arrivé à l'école, je surveille les absences et les retards.

Ce n'est pas trop frustrant ?

Non, ça va. [ça ne va clairement pas] J'écoute aussi les élèves en difficulté, puisque en plus du travail d'administration je me prend aussi en charge des étudiants. C'est un travail important. Dernièrement, je me charge aussi de l'organisation du Bac – ça demande beaucoup de travail, c'est sûr. Ça fait deux ans que je suis en charge de ça.

Interview with Mr Spronck, S7 conseiller

Presentation: My name is Christian Spronck, I'm married and I have two wonderful young twin daughters (14 years old). I graduated unlicensed as a teacher in maths and physics. I live in Liège, below Magne, and this is my third year at EEB2.

So being an educator wasn't your first choice?

Oh no, it's actually a long story... When I was sixteen I wanted to become a fighter pilot at the school Cadet de l'Air, at the Air Force; and at the same time I was completing my high school education, I was eighteen at the time. Eventually, I got my glider certificate! In the end I stopped because I didn't like the mentality of the Army. [piercing stare] Later, I did a year of maths at university but left because the atmosphere didn't suit me. However, I completed a teaching graduate in maths, which I liked more because there was more social interaction. I finished school in 1993 to become an educator for four or five years all over, I spent most of that time in a boarding school in Liège. What got me interested in being a teacher was understanding the problems that adolescents go through and trying to help them out.

How did you get here?

I later went back to high school as maths teacher, at the same school as Mrs Mirolo – I had her son as a student!-, but after thirteen years in that school and in total twenty-eight in the same kind of establishments, I decided I wanted to leave, and that's when I applied to EEB2.

And here you are.

And here I am. Oh, I also worked as a teacher in a prison.

Thanks a lot for this recap... Tell us about your typical day.

I first begin with a big smile [laughs]. Once I'm at school, I check the absences and lateness.

It's not too frustrating?

No, it's OK. [It clearly isn't] I also listen to students who are in trouble, since on top of the administration work, I'm also in charge of the students. It's an important job. Finally, I'm also in charge of the organisation for the bac – it demands a lot of work, that's for sure. I've been working on it for two years now.

What do you dislike about the European school?

No student coming out of high school is ready, they just don't know what they want to do. The level of certainty is simply way too low, and pursuing your studies or whatever comes after becomes difficult. I also find myself puzzled by certain things that happen in the school, or wrong ideas that can spread around very quickly. Then again, no school is perfect.

Interview with Mr. Park

On Monday 19^th October, Professor Jinwhan Park from the Gyeongsang National University South Korea came to eeb2. Mr. Park is the president of “Philosophy with Children and Youth Network” in Asia and the Pacific (PCYNAP), he came to our school to explain this philosophical and ethical idea and I had the pleasure of interviewing him.

When you think of philosophy, you think of the academic one, the one we study, also known as the study of  nature and  its causes, of the principles of reality, of knowledge and our values, all based on logical reasoning. Mr Park's intention is not to teach academic philosophy to children. What he wants to do is teach them more about practical philosophy. By doing that, he teaches children how to be able to make an ethical and logical judgement in a particular situation. "It is crucial that younger students learn how to make a good judgement because some of them might be the future leaders of democratic societies so the sooner they are able to do it the better", he says. 

Interview with Professor Christopher Brummer of Georgetown University

‘To get to where you want in life, you always have to go through a period of hard work.’

Only 36 and already highly successful. I interviewed Christopher Brummer, law professor at the prestigious Georgetown University in Washington D.C. He started his career at a young age in Germany, and has traveled the world since. He is a great fan of Star Wars and has built quite a collection. I spoke with him over skype, and asked him more about his fascinating life.