My professor was disappointed. Almost no one had done the
required reading. Thus, class couldn’t proceed smoothly. The professor proceeded to criticize us. I felt as if the sheer power of my annoyance would
launch me straight through the ceiling. Last week the professor vaguely changed the
one-page syllabus. He’d told us that no more readings were required. Apparently,
his actual intent was to cancel the readings after this week’s class.
This was not the only time I’ve experienced this feeling.
Since starting studies at Uniwersytet Wroclawski, I’ve often felt frustrated
with the instructors’ methods.
I graduated magna cum laude from USC’s Marshall School of Business
as a global scholar. Professors assigned readings there as well. One needed to
do them in order to receive a high grade in the course. Class was related to
the texts. Not dependent on them.
The syllabus mediated any dispute. It was a contract between
student and professor, often over ten pages in length. The document delineated
the exact required readings and the date of the class they were due for. If the course involved a presentation, the syllabus
spelled out its exact expectations. I’ve
studied abroad in Europe before. The same was true.
We also make presentations for the same class in Wroclaw. Mine
isn’t on a topic covered in class. The professor’s rubric is less clear. You’re expected to discover the knowledge
yourself.
I had to Google my assignment’s basic concepts. As I did this, I couldn’t help but think that I’m
paying 600-something euro per semester to this university. Google is free.
In Europe, students rarely buy books. Getting the readings
involves some use of a photocopier. My faculty in Wroclaw has a ‘copy-point’
where professors leave their texts for students to Xerox. Recently, Polish class
mates informed me of its unofficial importance. If a reading isn’t there, it doesn’t
merit doing.
But, this rule is arbitrary. One of my professors is from Chisinau.
She teaches a course on Russian politics. Her class consists of asking students
about the readings. At times, I feel
like I’ve been dragged in front of the Moldovan inquisition. Once, she
admonished me for not doing a rare reading in the library. The other students
clearly hadn’t either. I told this to the Polish students. They were surprised,
but attributed it to the fact that the professor is simply stricter in this
course than in others they have with her.
Cultures and universities are intertwined. There exists a
tacit code of expectation in both. You have to figure it out as you go along.
Even when it’s frustrating for both parties.
Last week I made another presentation. I had trouble finding
some readings for the topic. The professor
responded with a flippant email saying that they were listed as ‘paper’ in the syllabus,
and were in the library. Before the presentation, I informed her that past
readings with this designation were at the copy-point; she apologized. At the
end of my presentation, she said that she was impressed with the original
conclusions I’d drawn. “My Polish students just explain the information” she
said.
The Polish word for ‘learn’ translates literally as ‘to
teach oneself’. This is reflected in the Polish didactic method. But maybe it goes
both ways. There is much for each can discover from the other. I must adjust to learning in the Polish sense,
while continuing to transcend the text in my own way.
