So tonight, I brought my friends from Vermont and Germany to the English conversation class. Usually, it’s just me and the other Italians, but tonight we had some other interesting perspectives. Additionally, my friend Sasha came. He’s from Russia.
We talked about many things, but the thing that interested and confused me the most were the different types of schooling we all have received. It seems in Europe that there are simply far more options you can choose from, especially in high school. They have the technical schools, but they also have high schools for classical studies and also science/math. In Germany too, there are many choices, somewhere between 4 and 5. And then, there’s always the possibility that you might not want to go to high school and you choose art school.
Additionally, the styles of learning and grading are markedly different from region to region. In Italy, for example, critical thinking is almost disencouraged. When you go to the exam the teacher expects you to have memorized the Big Book- which has all the important things some famous person has said. Usually, you don’t actually read the book; rather, you usually read excerpts of what he has written with your teacher’s commentary on the side. Once the exam comes you are expected to know the book cold. When my friend Sasha went for his oral exam his teacher asked if he had read the book. When Sasha responded “no,” the teacher simply responded that he would see him next “time.” Add
Another horrifying thing is that many teachers also require you to by the book and to prove you have bought the book. They require, or at least strongly prefer and give better grades, if you bring the required reading to the exam. The reason, of course, is that the teacher is the one who wrote the book and they want to know that you bought it and didn’t just photocopy it. This way they ensure that they’re getting a cut of the purchases.
Although this frankly frightens me, I’ve heard that many students manipulate the crooked system by just sharing the books. One person will by a book and bring it to the exam. After that person has finished with the 15 minute exam he or she, will hand it over to the next person so as to fool the teacher. Great system- yeah.
Yet another thing that always gets me is the lack of writing that is required. Normally, students have no homework for the year and only start studying a month before the final exams. They have no essays which they have to write and no presentations they have to give. In many other schools across Europe longer papers and presentations in front of the class are required. However here they only have to cram for the final.
Although Urbino University is terribly disorganized, the education system, I’ve been told, is pretty much uniform across Italy. I simply don’t get it. Therefore, we changed the conversation to Scuba diving- turns out there is a really nice place near here if we want to go, and if you have the right license you can teach all over the world. Sign language is pretty much universal!
