The honorable, gracious, most respected lovers of intellect and imparters of knowledge...
If you are a regular follower of the blog (or a friend or family member) you have heard about Luli. Luli is my sometimes-crazy-always-funny colleague. He is the coordinator for the sheep-breeders association--its mostly he and I that work together for the organizational development of the association. Luli studied agriculture at University and is studying human resource management for his masters degree...but in the meantime he is getting a special certification in mechanized animal husbandry farming something. For the last few months, on days we have meetings in Skopje, Luli usually tacks on a meeting with one of his many professors and I get a little exposure to Macedonian University life.
Now I hate to generalize as much as the next PCV, but from my experience and observation it seems that University Professors here see themselves as God's gift to academia and the students suffer for it. I received an outstanding education at a small liberal arts college, the University of Portland (Go Pilots!). I benefited from close relationships with many professors--I cannot imagine having an experience where I didn't feel a close connection with my professors. My situation in graduate school was also similar; although Western Michigan is a huge school with over 30,000 students, my graduate department was small and I knew my professors very well.
Well in Macedonia it seems quite a bit different. I have heard many students talk about how the professors like to make students wait for hours for a quick chat about a paper, demand students write their papers emphasizing techniques or theories they like rather than allowing their students to explore the divergent theories, and I have been with Luli more than five times when his professors make appointments and then don't show up (not to mention the fact that some students purchase their grades!).
Today Luli had to meet with one of his professors and I went with him to wait inside the building because it was so darned hot outside. I was shocked to see the professors "office hour" was at 12:00 on Monday only. Yikes! Luli managed to squeeze in first but I think I counted about 27 students waiting to meet with the Great Professor. It was really eye-opening. I took this picture right as we were leaving the hall, (Luli is right in the center) there were about 10 students behind me and many more on either side of us. I must say I feel very fortunate to have had the educational opportunities I have had (thanks mom and dad) with professors who are more concerned about their students learning than how much they are revered.
Now I hate to generalize as much as the next PCV, but from my experience and observation it seems that University Professors here see themselves as God's gift to academia and the students suffer for it. I received an outstanding education at a small liberal arts college, the University of Portland (Go Pilots!). I benefited from close relationships with many professors--I cannot imagine having an experience where I didn't feel a close connection with my professors. My situation in graduate school was also similar; although Western Michigan is a huge school with over 30,000 students, my graduate department was small and I knew my professors very well.
Well in Macedonia it seems quite a bit different. I have heard many students talk about how the professors like to make students wait for hours for a quick chat about a paper, demand students write their papers emphasizing techniques or theories they like rather than allowing their students to explore the divergent theories, and I have been with Luli more than five times when his professors make appointments and then don't show up (not to mention the fact that some students purchase their grades!).
Today Luli had to meet with one of his professors and I went with him to wait inside the building because it was so darned hot outside. I was shocked to see the professors "office hour" was at 12:00 on Monday only. Yikes! Luli managed to squeeze in first but I think I counted about 27 students waiting to meet with the Great Professor. It was really eye-opening. I took this picture right as we were leaving the hall, (Luli is right in the center) there were about 10 students behind me and many more on either side of us. I must say I feel very fortunate to have had the educational opportunities I have had (thanks mom and dad) with professors who are more concerned about their students learning than how much they are revered.
posted by MinimumWager @ 2:13 AM
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