upon first arriving on ohio university's campus in athens i got the impression that everyone always had to write a paper (or two or three) for tomorrow and another project breathing down their necks, students talked about bob or mary when meaning their professors, and nobody ever worried about getting a seat in the classroom. everyone was either preparing for or coming from a conference,
the hectic mood can be explained easily. ohio university runs on a quarter system. each quarter consists of ten weeks and everything needs to be finished within that time frame: homework, midterms, project proposals, projects, final papers, and final exams – in addition to readings for two sessions per class per week. an average of four to five classes is not unusual,
neither is it to wake up with the thought: “oh my gosh i still have to work through 60 pages for my class a, write a response paper for class b, and come up with a set of smart questions for class c.” besides working ten to twenty hours a week. meanwhile the laundry piles up, grocery shopping is done at night (thanks to the 24/7 opening hours), and sleep sometimes becomes a luxury.
most german state funded universities run on a semester system including leipzig university which i attended. each contains a nice break to finish 20+ page papers after class work is done: roughly six weeks in winter, about three months summer. no professor expects students to turn in essays before the end of break, negotiations about the deadline are common, papers usually don't get graded until half a year runs by. instead of projects and exams most classes demand only attendance for a 1 1/2 hour session once a week and one (group) presentation, which will later morph into an in-depth research paper over break. attendence interpreted loosely, seldom no roll calls.
steel and glass: leipzig university's rather new center of humanities hosts among many other departments american studies which recently switched to bachelor and master system a hate-love project for staff and students.
please not the window sill
whereas in ohio university cozy groups of about 15 students enjoy an almost intimate atmosphere in most classes that i experienced, leipzig university seminars were often full to the brim. it was quite normal for students to sit on a window sill, extra chairs in all corners of the room, or occasionally in the hall way.
only two strategies secured a good spot for sure: a) coming at least half an hour early or b) having a friend reserving a chair at a table. of course everyone hates one if in midst the angry mob a single lonely chair is reserved (sign: jacket over backrest) and the friend does not turn up or a second before class starts one squeezes through the crowd stepping on a couple backpacks and feet before reaching the coveted empty seat and hugging the dear friend who is tremendously relieved that the defending of the seat was not in vain.
scripps hall: right next to alden library one of the central building of the e.w. scripps school of journalism provides class rooms, lasher learning center, computer labs, and an auditorium.
closed doors and office hours
professor-student ratio depends on the department as other issues but for are poor for many studies. german professors are overwhelmed hence office hours are reduced to sometimes a minimum of an hour per week, grading can take up to a year easily.
once a u.s. professor teaching in at leipzig university said: “just because the doors are always open in u.s. college departments doesn't mean you can come in and just because they are closed in germany doesn't mean you can't.” well put I thought. sometimes even an e-mail to the secretary is necessary to get an appointment in a couple of weeks.
the scarce encounters between students and professors along with the idiosyncrasies of the german language help to keep the distance between the two. title and last name are the absolute must-do when addressing a german professor and of course the professor will address the student with ms or mr and last name in return. at ohio university it is quite disturbing that professors introduce themselves with their first name and expect the student to use it, too. it needs extra overcoming to accomplish this trick for most german students in athens.
burgstrasse 21, leipzig: entrance to the school of communication and media science including the department of journalism and the communication studies library
at home in the library
another convenience i appreciate at ohio university is the library. it allows bottled water and backpacks which is very convenient. leipzig university library offers a limited number of lockers with the following consequences: a) scouring for a free locker can take around ten minutes at peak times, b) not only backpacks, books, and food items need to go in but also jackets and coats, c) you always need a euro to use the locker anyway, d) and the locker area frequently turns into a picnic zone since each sip requires walking back to the locked away bottle of water -- of course there are no public water fountains in germany.
the ideal university would probably combine elements from both sides of the atlantic. although leipzig university lacks material resources there are many mental ones that make it a great place to study. on the other hand having the physical capacities plus enough ambitious faculty for growing student numbers as at ohio university definitely enhances studying quality. it fuels the students' enthusiasm to excel instead of eating up energy by scrambling for a professor's appointment or a seat in the room.
now i can hear the indignant voices: "but the u.s. university system is soooo different from germany and can not to be compared!" this post only tried to provide glimpses into the daily student experience on both sides of the atlantic. comments are welcome as always.
by the way, ohio university in athens and leipzig university in saxony, germany have been in close cooperation for over 15 years now. both universities have been "sister universities" since 1992. according to the anniversary brochure ohio university serves roughly 28,500 and leipzig university about 30,000 students
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2 comments:
I was not aware that the educational experience in Germany was so different from the U.S.
Very informative and interesting.
Spencer Anderson
Thank you. I got another response from a friend about addressing professionals. Here is the comment:
Your article about the different culture between US and Germany universities was really interesting. We Americans are very casual about using first names! When I ask, almost all my patients ask me to call them by their first name, but most of them are at least 50 years old! It is interesting how different groups of people use language. Here in the south, I seem to have a lot more older adults patients calling me "sweetie, honey, Miss, kid, babe," etc! I try to encourage them to call me either by my first name or Dr. and last name, since we're supposed to have a professional relationship, and it's hard for me to imagine any professional relationship with "honey!" But, maybe that's just a southern thing that I'm not used to yet. I notice men don't seem to get called those things though! When I have a patient that I'm going to work with for several sessions, I'll often tell them (as gently as possible) that they should call me Dr. But, if it happens on the phone (often right as the conversation is ending), sometimes it seems like too much of a hassle to correct them when they call me sugar or whatever.
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