Hello there. My brother is currently teaching abroad in Romania. He is teaching at an elite private school in Bucharest. So far, he has had a great time. He said he really likes his coworkers, and he thinks his students are smart and passionate. He has even said he could see living in Romania long term (we are from the UK).
Unfortunately, an issue has come up at school that has made him uncomfortable. It started when some of his students began to put minimal effort into assignments. When he was teaching in the UK, he dealt with students like this by giving them lower marks that fairly reflected the limited work they did. When he tried doing this at the school in Romania, however, he was told by his supervisors that he needed to stop. The supervisors explained that some of these students had extremely powerful parents (nationally known political figures, important businessmen), and the school had an arrangement with these parents that the students would get good marks no matter what.
My brother values his integrity, and so his first impulse was to ignore his supervisors and continue giving his students the marks that they earned, while also helping any interested students to improve their marks. I agree with this response in theory, but I am worried about the repercussions this could have. He thinks he may be sacked, but I worry a little bit that something worse could happen (like him being falsely accused of a crime). I've spent most of my life in the UK, and I've never been to Romania, so maybe my fears are ridiculous (in fact, I assume they are). I certainly apologize if they offend anyone.
I really don't know much about Romania. For that reason, I'd be very grateful if some Romanians and/or expats who have lived in Romania could share their thoughts about my brothers situation. Cheers!