Letter Home from a Czech University,
Colder, barer, and in some ways better than U of Toronto.
By Yasmeen Qureshi
"...We were growing frustrated by what we called the Czech way. We missed our course outlines, fancy textbooks and PowerPoint presentations. But although I still found parts of it frustrating, I also realized that in Canada, while we have access to great research facilities, brilliant professors, computers, and a plethora of opportunities, we're missing more important things that they've got down.
To start with, the Czech professors were more unconventional, spontaneous, and personal. One of our Czech professors spent the majority of our class time showing us films then facilitating discussions, because he thought it would help us get a sense of what it was like to live under Soviet rule. There was no state of the art film projector, and the films were subtitled, but that wasn't important. Our prof didn't care if he covered all of the course material. He was concerned with trying to get us to understand Czech culture, and its latent fear of outsiders.
Here at U of T, my profs mostly present impersonal formulaic lectures, supplemented by course readings. They rarely take the time to stop and discuss, because the classes are too large, and they are always concerned about getting through all the course material. And although we have tutorials to supplement the lectures, they tend to simply focus on interpreting the readings. There never seems to be time to discuss the importance of the issues, or critically analyze their root cause." continue reading
1 comment:
Really, it has been some time since I graduated, but listening what my younger family members say, I think our universities' teaching staff still has the slightly old-style of Sir Professor, who is always serious and strict. Studying should be fun!
Take care
Elli
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