Getting Educated on Education

By: Alex Rallo

October 9, 2013

As I sat in the registrar’s office to confirm my schedule, I could not help but think to myself, “Alex, you’re really getting the best end of the bargain here.” I had signed up for three courses, a grand total of eight in-class hours per week, and with that alone, I was an official, full-time student at the University of Edinburgh. I felt invigorated, even liberated. Here, eight classroom hours was the norm. I was ready to have endless amounts of free time in comparison with the hectic life I left back at Georgetown. Yet, I quickly realized that as an American student who has been indoctrinated and bred to live for work, school, and organized activity, this gift of time would require a real, conscious adjustment.

I found myself falling into my old ways of attempting to make a daily schedule every morning, but here, I could not fill it with jobs, clubs, and other commitments. I felt a void in my life. I signed up for the University’s Baking Society and Modern Dance Society and thought, “That should do it. A little more structure and grounded commitment is what I need.” However, I found that the Scottish definition of “organized activity” was much more laissez-faire than the American interpretation. I pictured the societies to be close-knit groups that would regularly meet to accomplish some list of goals. Rather, I found most societies to have weak requirements for attendance, as most members show up whenever they can and feel like it. This scenario completely contrasted that of America, or at least Georgetown, where I have found that the majority of students have a personal stake in their groups, strive to gain leadership within them, and often times over-commit.

While it may seem like I am painting the Scottish as laid-back and unconcerned about their futures, that is not the case at all. According to the US News and World Report review of international universities, the University of Edinburgh is nestled among the rankings of the most rigorous, esteemed American universities, “beating” Georgetown quite significantly. Its graduates are successful and, despite the few hours of class time, it’s known to pack an academic punch. It seems as though success and the extent of learning are not necessarily contingent on the amount of time a student spends in class per week, leading me to question various aspects of the American education system.

The first aspect is the waning power of an undergraduate degree accompanied by a rising price tag. Undoubtedly, a college degree is a vital stepping stone to financial success and the American dream. However, in the past decade, it has also become an understood necessity to then continue onto graduate school to gain specialized skills (and extensive student debt). While graduate programs are also important here at Edinburgh, the university truncates the route to a higher degree with many students starting pre-professional work in their freshman year. Why has the American education motto become “More money. More time."? Where can we draw a line between necessary education and overpriced excess? Why not adopt a similar methodology in which we focus on specialties, rather than generic, “fluff” degrees?

Second is the stigma of online learning. Critics of online degrees claim that classroom discussion and social factors are key to mastering material. They argue that the price tag of college is justified, for online classrooms sacrifice quality. In Edinburgh, however, there is very little discussion in the classroom, and many upper level classes do not have tutorials, or smaller meeting sections where students gather to go over that week’s topics. With minimal in-class time, much of the learning onus is on the student, and self-motivation trumps classroom participation. Yet, this does not invalidate the worth of a student’s education. By reason, since online learning is also primarily self-motivated, why should it be treated as an inferior alternative in America, especially for people who would otherwise be unable to afford a college education? With the rising price of American education (a 1,000+ percent increase since 1980), I would not be surprised if the backlash against online learning wanes and the United States experiences a systemic shift in favor of the underdog.

While the adjustment to having more unstructured time has proved challenging, I fear that I will experience a greater culture shock returning to my beloved America—home of the free, the brave, and the overworked.

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