Assignment #1

Over the course of my time here I have to write two blogs on specific assingments from Willamette. So I thought I might as well get one out of the way. Here is the prompt:

2. How is the education system you are experiencing different from what you are accustomed to in the U.S.? From your perspective as a student in the U.S. how is it beneficial and disadvantageous?

Consider the perspective of your host-country’s students, how is it beneficial to them? Is it unfavorable to them in any way?

The education system here is vastly different from anything I have encountered in the United States. Firstly, the academic year starts in February, with the first semester running February to May and the second from July-December. Also, the year is further divided into terms, with each semester containing 2 terms. As I think I've mentioned before, there is a huge lack of communication between departments. Also, every department is allowed to run each course the way it chooses. For example, my history class is running the same course for the entire semester. However, my anthropology course is divided into separate topics, one for each term, complete with different professors and final exams for each course topic. Class times are also different. Instead of happening mon/wed/fri or tues/thurs, classes meet between 4 and 8 times per week, but there is no schedule of days, and each class is at a different time, and possibly a different venue everyday.

I think this system is unfavorable in that it can be chaotic, especially for foreign students trying to come in and figure out how the system works. It is confusing to begin with, and the lack of communication only increases the confusion because you will invariably have to talk to a number of different people in different departments before you are able to figure one thing out. The changing of class times and venues can be good in that it helps offset the monotony of one's weekly schedule. Similarly, having multiple professors teaching one course exposes students to a wide variety of teaching styles and perspectives. On the negative front, it means the student is constantly having to learn new standards of expectations from each new professor.

Aside from the general structure or courses, most classes do not require you to buy textbooks. Instead you go to the library and check books out on short loan and either read the chapters in the library or copy the readings and then returning the book. This means that the library is used far more than at Willamette. The problem is that there is not adequate study space for this amount of traffic. Also, while the idea of copying readings instead of buying textbooks is cheaper and thus beneficial for many of the poorer students, there are not adequate copying facilities and the books are only loaned out for 1 hour at a time. Needless to say, this makes obtaining the class materials quite time consuming. There is currently construction going on to expand the library. I think this will be highly beneficial for Rhodes students because it will give them more space to study and hopefully, more copy machines will be added to cut down on congestion.