Magdalena - Romanian Schoolgirl Breaks the Bias Through Education

This is my friend, Magdalena, who grew up in Romania in the late 80s, which was during the Communist Regime and the former Soviet Union.

This is story #6 in an 8 part series for International Women's Day I'm writing, featuring powerful stories of women who have broken the bias.

In 1989 the Romanian Dictator was executed and the Iron Curtain fell which brought many countries into disarray. In the mid-90s her parents decided to emigrate with their 2 young daughters to Germany, where some of their extended family were already living.

This meant Magdalena and her sister who was 5 years older, had to start at a new school in Germany, without speaking German and English. They were the only students from Romania, and there very few other immigrants at their schools.

Magdalena told me that none of the children wanted to play with her because they couldn’t communicate with her. The worst part was that for years, teachers labelled her as “slow” and this brought more isolation and bullying from her peers.

When Magdalena was 11 years old, a teacher told Magdalena that she would never make it to high school because she was too “stupid” or in German translation, “not good enough for higher education”. Her parents refused to accept this and fought for her to continue her education.

Magdalena shared, “My parents would explain to me that in Germany there are just some people who don’t like foreigners”, but Magdalena thought to herself that there were three other foreign boys at the school who did not share the same struggles as she did.  

In one school she had a male teacher who favoured the male students and was very dismissive with all the girls. He would ask questions to the class and ignore Magdalena’s raised hand in the front row.

She poured herself into books and learned all she could. She could tell the male teacher was annoyed when he had to give her an A in science class. This propelled her further to perform better than the male students he favoured.

By age 14, Magdalena realised that education would bring her to places she wanted to be. She developed a fascination with sciences and art. These subjects came to her easily and she loved to experiment in both.

When Magdalena was able to achieve the sufficient marks to register for high school, she managed to achieve the best of the class and top 3 in the middle school’s graduating class. She was more than proud of her achievement. This opened up the possibility to enter high school, where she finally could flourish.

Magdalena told me that, “Years later my parents ran into the teacher from primary school that said I would never make it to high school. The teacher asked my parents, ‘How is your daughter Magdalena?’ They said their proudest moment was informing this teacher that their daughter was studying at university in Munich. The teacher was stunned.”

At this point she had spent 5 years overcoming the reputation that Romanians were gypsies or pickpockets. The kids never said these things to her, but adults would sometimes make jokes regarding this, and it hurt her feelings that people had this bias.

Magdalena ended up obtaining two degrees in Archaeology and Design, combining her love of creativity and science. She graduated with a Bachelor´s degree in Archaeology amongst the top 10% of her year at the Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich (one of Europe’s prestigious universities – by the way).

Since age 18 Magdalena used her love for languages and her passion for travelling to explore the world. It´s no wonder that she became a tour guide after graduating from uni and she also travelled and worked at Archaeology project sites. She visited places like Iceland, Mexico, Syria, Nepal and Australia.

She fell in love with Australia. What struck her when she visited in 2012 was the unmistakable heart of the people. She loved the multi-cultural aspects because everyone is a foreigner, the care for the community, and the country’s landscape. Magdalena shared “There are so many beautiful places to see without leaving the country – the Blue Mountains, the beaches, the rainforests. It’s rich in biodiversity and resources. This is the only place where I feel like I belong. I am happy here.”

While Magdalena’s family remains in Germany, she is a Permanent Resident now, and pursuing her dream as an Archaeologist and Graphic Designer.

Thank you Magdalena for helping us to #BreakTheBias, and to show others that ‘Education is the doorway to success!’