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Friday, October 24, 2008

Midnight Pumpkin Spice @ Gelman

I hope you find my posts about campaigning, the economic crisis etc. interesting, but what I actually came to the US for is of course studying. And I am doing that a lot here. When the semester started, I didn't consider the level of the courses very high or the material very difficult, but now I have to admit that classes over here are not exactly what I was used to in the Netherlands. And that's good, because otherwise I could just as well have stayed in Europe.
The biggest difference to me is what teachers expect from students. In the Netherlands, that's not very much. There teachers only hope that students will come to class and study hard for the exam. Here teachers expect that students come to class, study for the exam, hand in homework, learn for quizzes, prepare presentations, ask questions during class, come to office hours to ask more questions, send e-mails about the material etc. If you don't do such things, you're not seriously studying. And students do make an effort to do well in class, on tests and on homework assignments. In order to make things easier and more bearable, they meet in groups to study, work on examples of exams or solve questions for homework. The main reason for this great difference in dedication between Dutch and American students is probably the tuition fee: if you pay $24000,- (or get a grant of that amount) to be able to go to university, you better make the most of your time there. So the high price of education at GW certainly has some positive effects, and it shows that 'putting a price' on everything can stimulate people to perform better. And here, people really express everything in money. Some while ago we were talking about human rights in class, and one student argued that it's easier to provide some human rights as compared to others because they don't cost any money (such as freedom of speech, freedom of assembly etc. as opposed to the right to healthcare, housing, food etc). To me, putting a price on human rights sounded blasphemous, but I guess it's a reality governments all over the world have to deal with.
Anyway, to give an impression of my academic efforts here: this morning I was working on some pages of econometrics-problems with two other guys, and this weekend we'll meet again to study for the two mid-term exams we have next week. Because I have to hand in homework for my Arabic classes every day and learn for quizzes and tests in that language about twice a week, I decided to spend my evenings at the Gelman library (the biggest library of GW University, open 24/7) and try to figure out what I (should) have learned the last few weeks. Luckily the only Starbucks in DC that's open 24 hours a day is right next to this library, and in the current Halloween spirit they serve great Pumpkin-Spice Frappuccino's there. So my first study-night was quite pleasant and productive. Let's hope I can keep it that way until Friday the 30th, when I have my last mid-term and when I have to get ready for Halloween (better find myself some costume...)

2 Comments:

At 11:13 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ooh, those Pumpkin Spice drinks are really delicious!

(Good to hear the classes are going well too ;-) )

 
At 1:25 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

Klinkt erg druk en erg Amerikaans allemaal! Maar wel tof dat het goed met je gaat. Post eens een foto van je kamer gast, mensen willen weten, je weet toch :)

 

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