Classes in Dijon vs. Classes in Columbus

How many of you can guess which nations have the best universities?  Usually when I think of the higher education, I think of the long European intellectual tradition, the tradition that gave us Sartre and Kant and Newton.  It makes sense that the best universities are to be found in European nations, right?

Well... that's only partially true.  US News and World Report in their annual university ranking survey ranks the United Kingdom, having four schools in the top ten, and the United States, having six schools in the top ten, as the best countries in which to seek higher education.

The rest of the list is dominated by both the UK and the USA, which, as you can see based on my assumptions, surprised me.  I think that there's a stereotype among Americans that European universities are prestigious and glamorous, but evidently, the data suggests that if you want to get a good education, it's better just to stay in the States.

In fact, my adviser from the Office of International Affairs at Ohio State told me before I left that most French universities "sucked."  I was skeptical of her assertion; I'm not one to take things on here-say, but the research seems to confirm her idea.  France is on US News' list only a handful of times, and lists from different sources show a similar trend.

At the University of Burgundy, I actually don't take classes in the university proper.  I take classes in a program called the CIEF (Centre pour des Edutiants Internationaux de Francais), which is a special program designed specifically for international students who want to learn French.  My class time is split up between language classes, where they simply teach us the raw basics of French, a civilization class about the basics of French history and politics, and culture classes which teach more specific subject areas like economics, literature, and philosophy.

I wonder how much of my experience here is the result of the structure of the CIEF, as opposed to the general university system itself, because much of it is set up very differently from the United States.  Firstly, I'm noticing a much larger focus on classroom rapport and accountability.  At OSU, there are numerous classes in which the teachers never take attendance and in which in the only grades are the exams.  Here, there is homework almost every day, and the teachers grade every aspect of your work, from grammar to expression to handwriting, even if the assignment has nothing to do with these things.

That being said, the work load is actually quite a good deal less than that of my classes in the States.  There are no long reading assignments, and most of the homework is in the form of worksheets that can be completed in a hour or two.  The teachers ensure that the students learn by grading hard and monitoring our progress closely.  In the US, the teachers expect us to take responsibility for ourselves and be disciplined in keeping up without prompting.  I've frequently heard professors at OSU say, "You're adults now.  It's your job to make sure you do well."

This is hardly the attitude here.  One must keep in mind that a much larger percentage of the American population goes to college than the population in France.  There's less of an emphasis here on university being the primary medium for ensuring the well-being of one's future.  As a result, American universities take in more students with a wider range of abilities, and I think that the American university would benefit if its teachers were to suddenly decide to grade harder and scrutinize mistakes.  I think that this would ensure a greater accountability from the students.

Still, the amount of busy work and the hovering over shoulders in France is off putting.  There are days when I feel like I'm back in high school.  Two weeks ago, one of my professors noticed the way I was taking notes in her class and proceeded to harangue me about bad study habits.

I admit that I took it a little personally.  I don't think that many people would find me unreasonable if I were to say that it's none of her goddamned business the way I take notes,  all of which were completely in French and have served me rather well in the past, thank you very much.  Of course, after I calmed down, I realized that there no way of her knowing that I found them effective.  Yet, the fact that she felt the need to monitor my habits lingers in my mind as needlessly invasive, and based on what I've heard about other teachers this attitude about monitoring our progress is pretty pervasive.

I'm also finding the teaching style to be more disjointed and less focused than in the US.  It's not uncommon for teacher to go off on tangents and jump around between subjects.  The culture classes, which are all lectures, are sometimes difficult to follow and discussion of the ideas being presented, that is asking questions of the students or asking for input, is rare.  That's not to say that there aren't teachers who ask for discussion or encourage us to question.  However, these things are such prominent parts of American educational pedagogy, that their relative absence is bizarre.  Even if a subject itself is interesting, a course can make it boring or difficult to understand without active participation from the students, and if there's something that I don't understand in a class, it's never because of the language barrier.

Again, I wonder if this is due to the French university system itself, or if it's the result of the CIEF.  I imagine that a lot of the classes are deliberately slowed down in hopes of accommodating for language skills. I've been tempted to sneak into a lecture hall during one of the regular classes and observe to see if it's any different.

I'm not trying to sound ungrateful.  I've learned a lot during my time here, and my language skills have improved.  Still, the classes here aren't nearly as rigorous as the ones at OSU, and I wish more than anything that the teachers would give us a little credit.