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Tag: comparative education

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By Hannah Radner

It is week eight of ten in the Michaelmas term at LSE, and I am truly feeling the effects of a direct enrollment program as opposed to a provider program. The LSE General Course, while it is made up of all study abroad students, provides no special accommodation; at times, our status as General Course students puts even more pressure on us, as the formative work we do throughout the term actually factors into our class grade, while for regular LSE students it does not. Aside from this, we are otherwise considered regular LSE students.

This is clearly the week where everyone is stressed. Essays are due, and everyone regrets not starting them several weeks ago. I am no exception; I had a paper due last Friday, the following Sunday, this Friday, and next Friday, on top of a presentation I am currently working on for the class in which I had a paper due on Sunday. It is all hitting me at once, and I am coping because I have to, but this leads me to my number one piece of advice for current and future General Course students: time management is key. Starting as a freshman at GW, we are amazed at how little time we spend in class compared to high school - only a few hours a day? What do I do with all this free time? You soon figure out that free time is not free until you've used up a great deal of it doing work outside the classroom. At LSE, we have even less class time - eight hours per week, total. I have found that what they lack in contact hours, they make up for in reading and essays.

Essays are different here. In my American classes, we had page requirements, standardised prompts, and even requirements for how many sources we should use for our essays. After having written a few here, I have decided that I like the UK system better. Here, there is a maximum word limit which, according to professor discretion, may or may not include footnotes and the bibliography. They do not care which citation system you use, nor do they care how many sources you have, as long as you make an effective argument. I quite appreciate this as it lets me focus much more on the content of my essay rather than trying to find more sources to which I can attribute my facts, just for the sake of having enough sources. I also don't have to worry about meeting a minimum length; as long as I have not gone over the maximum, I am safe. I am sure everyone at some point in the US has known the struggle of having a minimum of fifteen pages assigned - "but what if I have no more to say after ten?" The only struggle now is making your argument as concise as possible.

The other effect of being in the General Course is the fact that I haven't been able to travel as much as I thought I would. This is not necessarily a bad thing; I came here with the goal of feeling like a Londoner and a fully integrated student. I have been on some trips; weekends in Scotland and Ireland and a day trip to Bath have all been fantastic. I enjoy having time to explore London because that is why I am here. Vacations are for traveling; I am going to Spain for a week in December, and it will be a much welcome reward.

I love my program and not a day goes by when I think about how happy I am with my choice. I know at the end of this year, I will be able to say it is the hardest thing I did in college, but it made me a better student and a more well-rounded human being.

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By Jess Yacovelle

Before leaving to study abroad for a semester, one of the biggest things that GW drills into our heads is that the United Kingdom school system is incredibly different from the United States system. In the UK, students only attend university for three years instead of four. They only take classes from one department, and they only learn about things that pertain directly to their major. Most students only attend classes for ten hours a week or less, and a lot of the assigned readings are optional, not mandatory. Furthermore, a score of 70 or higher is considered to be an A. These differences between the two schooling systems make it a little difficult to adjust at first, but by far the most difficult thing to adapt to are the midterm exams.

As an English and Creative Writing major, I'm rather lucky; I don't have to take any actual exams or quizzes. I don't need to study and cram two months worth of information into my head, or hunt down expensive exam booklets the morning of the test. Instead, I have to write about 15,000 words (or the equivalent of 40ish pages, double-spaced) in various essays.

This is, unfortunately, the biggest difference between the UK and US school systems: the UK has a designated midterm time, during which all of the classes will assign a midterm exam or paper. In the US, professors are allowed to test their students with exams or essays whenever they desire: once a month, once a week, or even twice a semester. Because the American professors have a little more freedom in choosing when they test their students, American students don't have 15,000 words worth of papers due all on the same day.

Yeah, you read that write. I have 15,000 words total due on November 11th in my four different classes.

The fact that there's one designated due date for all of King's college midterms wrecks havoc on the students here. As the date gets closer and closer, you see more students huddled around their computers, franticly studying or writing papers. Because the sad fact about the UK schooling system - what it really comes down to - is that it's impossible to do everything. I can only exert my full attention on my most important classes because there simply aren't enough hours in the day. With two weeks to go until the November 11th deadline, I have hours upon hours of research and writing ahead of me. I mean, I'm a Creative Writing major, for crying out loud! I can write 1,000 words of fiction in an hour, and even I think 15,000 words of academic writing and research in less than two weeks is incredibly excessive.

The bottom line: midterms in the UK are nothing to joke about. While at GW, many students have what we playfully refer to as "midterm month," in London you have one day. That's it; nothing more than one long, endless day and the hellish two weeks that lead up to it.

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By Hannah Radner

Having finished two weeks of classes at LSE, I feel I am finally somewhat qualified to write on the subject of academics here. In these last few weeks I have seen elements that both distinguish LSE from GW and make it similar. Because I love lists, here's a new one of my observations:

1. I have only finished two weeks of classes! This is my first observation. The first week, starting on October 6, was all lectures, which are optional and open to the public. My classes (discussion sections) started last week, and many classes for quantitative courses do not start until this week. The 'shopping period' for courses officially ends on October 31, meaning if I was really indecisive I could potentially not know which courses I was taking until the term is nearly half over. Thankfully I am not in that position, and I probably wouldn't recommend LSE to anyone who ever anticipated doing this because...

2. ...We hit the ground running. Not unlike GWU, most of my lectures dove right into the course material, and I've already had my first in-class presentation. Professors tell us when our papers are due throughout the year. Our reading lists are online and we are expected to check them regularly, though never explicitly told what is due next week. This is probably because we have the ability to pick and choose what to read beyond the 3-4 core class readings we have each week, which brings me to my next observation...

3. ...Study is highly independent. We have so much choice in what we read so that everyone can bring something to the discussion; professors want us to read about specific subjects that interest us within the scope of the course so we are more likely to do our best work. As we all know, it's easier to do work when you like what you're doing. As study abroad students, we can take just about any class we want. Regular students must take courses within their specific programme and follow a core track, and have very little wiggle room or opportunity for electives, which they call options. The only proof we show that we've done the reading comes in the form of our participation in class discussions, essays, and come summer term, exams, which determine 100% of our final grade, which is why...

4. ...I will not cram for exams this year. I cannot lie, I do most of my studying in the week leading up to my exams at GWU, and not much sooner. While professors in the US say it doesn't work, our courses only last for the duration of one term, we are doing constant written work to keep us up-to-date, and we have several quizzes and/or tests and/or essays in the course of a term. When push comes to shove, it's often easy to cram and do well at home because we know more than we think come exam time. Here, it is all on us to revise and study throughout the year so we don't fall behind. In summer term, starting at the end of April, there is one final hurrah of holing up in the library and doing nothing else for a few weeks before exams begin. This time, when professors tell us not to cram, I will not only hear them but I will listen because I am secretly terrified.

5. Having a social life is not optional if you want to remain sane. Daylight is the time to read and study, while dusk till dawn is when people frequent pubs, clubs (LSE has one of each in its student center), films, theatre, sport, etc. The possibilities are endless. Study dates and rendez-vous are also acceptable, as one can often find groups of friends studying together in the library. Misery loves company! (Disclaimer: I don't mean school is miserable, just reading like 400 pages at a time can be a downer sometimes. You know what I mean.)

If anyone needs me, I'll be in the library studying for the exams I have in seven months.

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By marisalgado94

Universidade Federal de Bahia- UFBA

I have now completed three weeks of classes at the Federal University of Brazil in Bahia and in that short time, I have learned so much about Brazil's education system.  UFBA is just one of Brazil's many different public universities and in Salvador, there are multiple UFBA campuses located in various neighborhoods around the city.  Universities in Brazil are much different from the US because students don't live on campus and each campus is centered around a specific area of study.  For public health, we have been attending the Escola de Enfermagem en Canela (the Nursing school that is located in Canela), but there is also an architecture school, a polytechnic campus, and a music school.  The most interesting thing that I learned about universities in Brazil is that public universities are much better than private ones because of the amount of government support that they receive and because they are better educational institutions, spaces are limited and highly competitive.  How does a student get into the university?

It all starts with what sort of primary education you get.  In Brazil, most public schools are only half day and have two sessions- kids either go in the morning or in the afternoon.  Public schools across the board lack the proper resources, funding, and support from the government, and as a result, a lot of students just get pushed through the system.  Private school on the other hand, provide a top notch education for a price that only those in the highest socioeconomic levels can afford.  At the end of your time in high school, all students who wish to attend the government funded and supported public institutions must take an exam.  The results of the exam determine your acceptance to the public university and as a result, those who are better prepared through private primary and secondary schooling take up the spots in the public universities.

For those who do not gain a spot in the public universities, if they still want to attend college they must pay the extremely high fees and costs that private universities charge.  What's interesting is that the elite in Brazil who can afford to pay for private schooling for 12 years then get to attend universities for very low costs while someone who is from a lower socioeconomic level who wants to further their education has to find a way to pay costly school fees.

This educational system has, for many years, privileged the wealthy and marginalized the poor as private school students funnel into public universities, leaving little space for students who did not have the same type of access to education.  Because social class and race are so intricately woven together in Brazil, a large number of Afro Brazilians who wanted to attend universities were unable to because of their inability to shoulder the financial burden of a private institution.  Some universities saw this as an issue and have for many years instituted quota systems in order to diversify their student bodies while also providing opportunities for hard working students.  On a national level, however, affirmative action laws were only instituted by the Brazilian government in 2012.  Although it is still early to tell, the hope is that this will level the playing field and allow for a new and diverse group of students to be attending universities and create a new generation of leaders in Brazil whose backgrounds are more reflective of the population as a whole.

While education in Brazil has a ways to go, I believe that the tide is turning for the better.  I have enjoyed my time at UFBA.  In the next few weeks, I hope to find ways to get more involved on the campus, find ways to take advantage of academic resources as I begin my research, and make some more Brazilian friends!  Every single day here has been a new adventure and I continue to fall in love with the people, the culture, and slowly but surely improve my Portuguese. Fingers crossed for my first exam tomorrow... espero poder passar!

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By mcbitter

During my time here in Paris, I’ve been able to check out academics at not only Sciences Po but also at my friend’s university in Lille, France (I visited the campus and sat through her constitutional law class). Experiencing both these schools has made me realize that there are some things people back at home might wonder about school in France!

Do Sciences Po students have an equivalent to dreaded all-nighters at Gelman?

  • Yes and no. The library on campus (which is full ALL the time) is only open until about 9:30 pm on weeknights, which we were all stunned to discover! The French students have told me that when they have a ton of work, they just go home at the end of the day to finish it (and yes, they do have those late nights too).

What are French classes like?

  • What I’ve heard is that the typical French style of teaching is a professor lecturing at you for two hours. This was exactly what happened during my friend’s constitutional law class in Lille. I’m not sure if I would be able to stand that - thankfully there’s a lot of interaction in all of my classes!
  • Another important part of classes at Sciences Po is the exposé. Here’s how I understand it. In about a half hour’s presentation, you’re working off a discussion question (the “problematique”) given to you by a professor. You have to give your opinion, frame your argument, and provide evidence to back it up. You can also engage the class in discussion after you’re finished. I have an exposé slotted for mid-November, so we’ll see how it goes!

What are professor-student relationships like in France?

  • The French students in my program are absolutely amazed at how personal American students are with their professors! French students don’t really know much about their professors aside from the material that their teaching. My GW marketing professor (hi Professor Maddox!) demonstrated the exact opposite of this, as she would give examples from her daily or personal life to add to whatever we were talking about in class. Professors still provide letters of recommendation and such for their students, but overall, the two groups are very distanced.

Overall, it’s been really cool to see the differences between colleges in the States and in France. I’ve still got a month and a half to go though, so I’m bound to discover more!

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Thoughts on my classes here at my university in São Paulo:

  • No electives, only your designated course path! I'm taking classes from three separate departments, which is shocking to some here.
  • The student-professor relationship is much more casual than anything I've experienced before. In one of my classes, we talked about the idea of considering a professor as part of your extended family or of using familial idioms in your conception of a professor, and whether or not it was problematic to call a professor "tia," for example. All of this went under the assumption that if not "tia," your professor was called by their first name. The idea of calling your professor by their last name was, as discussed in the class, shocking and counterproductive to the pursuit of collective learning.
  • Some of the Brazilian students straight up read magazines or talk on the phone in one of my classes. In the other two, if you don't do the readings beforehand, you will be singled out and probably mocked. (Kidding. Just shunned.)
  • Brasil speaks (very) frankly about its colonial history and about the fact that it was a colonizing power/a colonized country, and that the ruling class or powerful group remains rooted in this "colonizador," as it's called here. I can honestly not imagine any university course in the States speaking so frankly about the United States as a colonized space; obviously, the colonial history is different here than in the U.S., especially in the fact that the US was colonized by families seeking a new home and Brasil by single men seeking to exploit resources, but both were--and remain--countries that were built from colonized areas.
  • Brazilian students have a nice system set up in which a few people are assigned the reading each week and they are the ones who present or participate in discussions, leaving me and the rest of the class to nod along in implicit agreement.
  • People do not, in general, like the U.S.'s economic or political strategies, except for the odd neoliberal thrown in there, but they very genuinely view the U.S. as the pinnacle of social and economic development and liberty. For example, during Ferguson--which was widely publicized here, as well as globally, for a few days--two of my three professor and my host mom said to me, "I saw a black person died in the United States. Black people die here all the time." That is, verbatim, what my anthropology professor said. I was unsure of how to respond, or of how to address that depth of a misconception. Issues like racism can be compared between here and there, because certainly racism exists in both places, but, equally certainly, it takes a different form; racism in these two locations cannot, however, be stacked against each other or measured on a scale. It just won't work.
  • A smoke break is taken quite literally. The professor and the students go into the hallway to smoke a cigarette, then go downstairs for a coffee, then back up to smoke another one. I repeat, in the hallway.

Overall, my university here is an incredibly liberal and progressive space, and I am learning so much about how Brazilians view themselves, the global sphere and community, and the United States. I am also learning exactly how much time it takes my sociology professor to smoke two cigarettes. I'm hoping that what I take back with me from these classes (including this aforementioned tidbit) is relevant to what I continue to study, but even if not? Everything I'm learning here is awesome.

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By mcbitter

Does the life of a typical college student look the same in the United States and in France? Or does 3,828 miles create a world of difference?

During my two weeks in Paris, I've had a lot of opportunities to interact with French students and figure out the answer to this question. As you might guess, SciencesPo students are very similar to those at GW in some ways (the resemblance can be almost scary), but in other ways, we could be from different planets. Here are a few of my observations!

In general, many of the French students seem to be involved in the myriad of opportunities that SciencesPo offers - intramural sports, political groups, you name it, they have it. I've seen this firsthand through the five SciencesPo students in my program. I asked one of them what groups he was involved with, and I was still listening to his answer five minutes later (not really, but you get the point). In my experience, many GW students are the same way, getting involved with things like Greek life, student leadership roles, and academic organizations. In fact, one GW organization - the Student Association - has a French twin at SciencesPo! The BDE, or Bureau des Elèves, is their version of student council and seems to be one of the most well-received groups on campus. This past week, they hosted a party at the Moulin Rouge called the Soirée d'Intégration, a kind of beginning of the school year event.BDE Logo

One thing that is very different between the lives of American and French college students is campus jobs. At GW, I have had a position on campus each semester (shoutout to GW Jumpstart and the Center for Career Services!). At SciencesPo, having a campus job is far less common (and I'm not even positive if many are offered). Internships during the year don't seem to be very common among French students, either. One of the students in my program was telling me that he always tries to get an internship in December when they're on winter break. Overall, this concept was pretty foreign to me, especially coming from a place like Washington, DC, where student jobs and internships are in abundance.

Speaking of DC, you would think that SciencesPo and GW had a lot of shared elements due to the city environment, but that's not exactly the case. SciencesPo doesn't have dormitories, so students either live in apartments around the city or with their families. Everyone uses public transportation to get to school, and commuting can take over an hour every morning. (Mine is about 35 minutes.) It's not uncommon for students to live together, though, just as upperclassmen at GW frequently choose to do. Because there are no students living on campus, SciencesPo is pretty much closed on the weekends - aside from the library, which is open on Saturdays.

All of that said, if you sit in SciencesPo's garden around noon, the scene could very easily be one at an American university. The garden, or le jardin, is where many students congregate to de-stress from classes and schoolwork. I'm fond of grabbing lunch at the nearby campus food places (you can't beat a baguette du jambon et beurre that costs two euros!) and sitting down on benches or the grass with friends. Additionally, people are fond of grabbing an espresso together after class, and there's even a Starbucks nearby for us Americans who crave it!

Overall, learning about the similarities and differences between French and American students has been an interesting process. Adjusting to a new school kind of felt like being a freshman again, as it adds a whole new layer of things to learn, but it's not too difficult once you get the hang of it!

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By bevvy2212

I have been in Paris for a week now and even though France and the U.S. are both modernized, developed countries, I definitely did not mistake myself for being in the U.S.

 

  1. College—French Style.

GW automatically enrolled us in the Welcome Program that is offered by Sciences Po, which I am truly grateful for. Even though going to classes is a bit of a bummer in comparison to those who aren't participating in the Welcome Program, I have benefited greatly from the classes. The French, they are a classy bunch, and they like to think their education is a superb and exquisite pursuit to true knowledge. Hence, their expectation of us had quite hit the roof. They like to question everything, just like Descartes had put it, “I think, therefore I am.” For the full week, we learned how to dissect question prompts to pieces. For example, we were given an essay prompt, which was “Should we live in a world without borders.” From first glance, this seemed like a pretty easy topic to go at and I would have probably attacked it from all the wrong angles according to the French standards. Our professors walked us through the process, dissecting each important word and gave those words boundaries. For example, we had to narrow down the word, “borders”. Does it include political borders, or national ones, or geographical ones etc. Then we would have to derive a paradox from the question, like, border has a negative connotation to it yet humans need borders in order to establish their individuality. So towards the end of the week, I was really paranoid and started to question everything… It is as if I am in Inception or something. Where am I? Am I REALLY in Paris? Is this real? Am I real?

The French also put a lot of emphasis on exposés, which means oral presentations. I personally really dislike speaking publicly. Don’t get me wrong, I usually can be a chatter box and go on and on for days. But once you put me on a podium, I’m like a deer in the head light. We had to each do a five-minute oral presentation for our classes and mine was on the U.S. policy in the Middle East. It went fairly well, which was surprising. My professor thought I was quite composed and relaxed, which again, was blasphemous. But after it was all over, the exposé doesn't seem nearly as bad. So I guess at least I’ll come back from France, fully able to take charge and give public speeches. *I hope*.

 

  1. Cat calling.

Another aspect of the French culture, or maybe the European culture in general which I find quite appalling, is the amount of cat callings I have received. I admit that maybe I should have swapped dresses for pants, seeing as how most Parisians think winter has descended upon them already, but it’s been 60 to 70 degrees, like, come on. I have felt very uncomfortable walking down the streets in my dresses simply because of the amount of vulgarity and explicit sexual content that was directed toward me. For heaven’s sake I’m in France! I never expected for this to happen. I never considered myself to be a true feminist but after a week in Paris, I feel the strong need to advocate the fact that the way men view women as if they are some fresh meat need to be changed. Like, I felt safer when I was in Peru. PERU! (Not like I’m discriminating against Peru or anything, I love the country.) Way to go, Paris.

 

  1. Pick pocketing

I think I should consider myself lucky that I have yet to be pick pocketed, in the U.S., or in France. But I feel like sometimes, things such as theft seem very far to you unless they actually happen to you. We have been so used to the safe environment in GW that when we are outside of the cocoon of campus, we don’t realize that we obviously don’t blend in with the locals and are easy targets for thieves. My friend actually got her wallet stolen in the Paris Metro. The thieves were two girls, and their moves were unbelievably fast. Luckily for my friend, she was able to hold onto one of the thieves and a nice Parisian rang the alarm in the Metro for her. The thieves freaked and gave her back her stuff. Nonetheless  I know for sure now that I am going to be extra careful with carrying my bags. (Though I can barely find my wallet most of the time, I’d like to see them thieves try.)

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By anishag22

As I prepare to finish the last assignments of my junior year this week, I keep thinking about how strange and simultaneously amusing the academic differences between England and America are. Sometimes it's just hard to believe that there is such a disparity in the workload. I touched on this in an earlier post upon my arrival in Bristol, but now having completed most of the semester I think I can speak to the costs and benefits of each academic system.

Essentially, my workload at GW is at least three times as intense as it is here in Bristol, and that's saying something because the University of Bristol is not a shabby institution: It's part of the Russell Group (the UK's equivalent to the Ivy League) and ranked in the top 30 universities worldwide. And yet, I find myself sitting here in Bristol writing one essay that counts for 100 percent of my grade in my upper division politics class. In America, I typically have at least five assignments/essays/exams that combine to constitute my final grade. In fact, I'm pretty sure "busy work" isn't even a phrase in England, because busy work doesn't exist. To be honest, "homework" doesn't either. I keep up with the readings which of course helps as you're writing the essay, but I am never quizzed on what I've read like I am at GW - it's just assumed that you know how to pace yourself and do the work required to succeed in the course.

As for which system I prefer, it's hard to say because I like elements of both. I strongly believe that both countries should actually alter the current system: American universities should relax a little and allow students more academic independence through less busy work, but UK universities could use a bit more continuous assessment. There needs to be a middle ground. At GW, I'm constantly feeling deadline pressure for something, but at Bristol that's a rare feeling. The downside about American universities is the constant stress and occasional inability to retain information because of the nonstop assessments, but the upside is that you are continuously engaged in the subject matter. The downside about UK universities is the lack of continuous engagement with the subject matter, but the upside is that with the reduced stress  I have actually found myself doing independent research just for the fun of it - I feel more engaged and excited about my courses here in Bristol. In sum, US and UK universities could learn a thing or two from each other, so here's to hoping that both countries can find that academic "sweet spot" in the near future.

 

Until next time -

Xx, Anisha

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