My academic culture shock in Scotland

by: Christine mastalio
Staff Writer

Editor's Note: This will be the first in a series of editorials by Christine Mastalio. Mastalio is spending the semester at Stirling University in Scotland.

As I am somewhat of a history nerd, I was excited to start class here at Stirling University and learn about the centuries of history surrounding Stirling Castle and the area. I was in for more than a history lesson though.

I expected the standard introductory week, where professors lay out the course and students erase the cobwebs from their brains. Instead, I got a stack of stapled papers: my reading list.

Two hundred books were listed in alphabetical order and I was expected to find out the answer to the question, "Which monarchy was more aggressive to their neighbors, Scotland or England?" by the next week.

This happened in two more successive classes, with different questions of course.

By the end of the week, I had attended class for a total of seven hours and did not even know the names of my professors, because they never bothered to introduce themselves. My head was reeling from the shock of the differences between Stirling and SAU.

Lectures here are deadly silent and it would create a cultural earthquake if I asked a question. Different lecturers appear every week and usually give a list of dates and names before sending you off to prepare for tutorials.

Tutorials, or seminars, are two hours long and meet once a week. They are supposed to be student-based discussions, although the lack of focus and clear expectations forces the tutor to give mini-lectures most of the time.

At Ambrose, even in advanced classes, you are told what to do and given specific reading lists. Here I am basically paying to teach myself in a subject that I have no background in.

Every week in the United States I was writing two to three short essays. Here I have four essays and two tests the whole semester. My course in modern Europe, one of the most documented time periods in history, meets only nine times in the semester.

As if three months were too rigorous for students, we also get a week off in the middle of October. I find it easy to go for four or more days without even thinking about school, and not suffering consequences for it and I’m doing the work.

Even those who chronically skip class at SAU seem to have a better work ethic than most Scottish students. By the second week, many had already missed two tutorials of the three you are allowed before failing.

Class is secondary to just about everything else you can name. There is less value placed on education here, probably because it’s free for native students.

As time goes on, I am learning the advantages to the independent system. Sleeping in until eleven or later everyday is a nice change from eight or nine o’clock mornings. No school on Wednesdays and Fridays means I can travel, sleep and do whatever I feel like.

The freedom to read any source I choose means I can structure my course and truly form my own opinions. Lectures are also not compulsory. I doubt anyone would notice if I never came at all.

At first, I wandered around with eyes as big as saucers trying to figure out what was expected of me. I missed my frantically paced, over-scheduled life. Now, I am enjoying the relaxed pace of academic life here in the beautiful country called Scotland.

The real culture shock will probably hit when I come back to SAU and start the academic rat race again.