Hello chaps,
I have been thinking lately about perspectives. It is the case in France that people go to the nearest good university, rather than escaping to the furthest end of the country away from their parents like the British. As a result, the university culture is very different, as people tend to end up at the same university as their school friends.
This has a number of effects:
Firstly, if I'm honest, a sense of immaturity, as people are still in their high school friendship groups so do not need to make an effort to impress people to make new friends. They still act like they are in high school. This is not the case at a British university. I have seen behaviour from some students that I have not seen since I finished my GCSEs and their attitudes are exactly the same. It's a bit shocking really. People ask me if I'm forty when I don't want to down a whole bottle of wine before going out for the evening. No, I just don't have the mind of a teenager, thanks. Perhaps this is also due to the fact that London is so much more interesting than Tours and there are much better things to do without having to drink copious amounts of alcohol beforehand.
Secondly, there is an insularity amongst students. For some, Tours is the centre of their world. It is a thriving megapolis to them, where life is more exciting than the small villages from which they hail. Of course, we accept that my studies are in London and have travelled widely. However, I also notice a related lack of interest in other people. Many of them do not want to know about me or my fellow Erasmus students, which is not something that would appear to happen to students who go on exchanges to the UK - all Erasmus students I have come across there have been well integrated into the student body and all parties have benefited from this.
Thirdly, a lack of teaching quality and quality of resources. The universities do not have to compete with each other as much due to students not spreading themselves across the country as much. I have one teacher out here who clearly hates her job and all of her students, which is not surprising given the overall lack of respect that some of the students have for their teachers. It is also the case that universities have less money, as their fees are lower and so there is less of a "market" university system. Either way, one of my exam questions this week was "Write out the following numbers in words - 84 Euros". Frankly, if you don't know how to do that and you are an actual native French speaker, you probably shouldn't be at university in the first place. I remember learning the equivalent in English at the age of nine.
It is no wonder there are so many actual French students who study French at UCL.
I have been thinking lately about perspectives. It is the case in France that people go to the nearest good university, rather than escaping to the furthest end of the country away from their parents like the British. As a result, the university culture is very different, as people tend to end up at the same university as their school friends.
This has a number of effects:
Firstly, if I'm honest, a sense of immaturity, as people are still in their high school friendship groups so do not need to make an effort to impress people to make new friends. They still act like they are in high school. This is not the case at a British university. I have seen behaviour from some students that I have not seen since I finished my GCSEs and their attitudes are exactly the same. It's a bit shocking really. People ask me if I'm forty when I don't want to down a whole bottle of wine before going out for the evening. No, I just don't have the mind of a teenager, thanks. Perhaps this is also due to the fact that London is so much more interesting than Tours and there are much better things to do without having to drink copious amounts of alcohol beforehand.
Secondly, there is an insularity amongst students. For some, Tours is the centre of their world. It is a thriving megapolis to them, where life is more exciting than the small villages from which they hail. Of course, we accept that my studies are in London and have travelled widely. However, I also notice a related lack of interest in other people. Many of them do not want to know about me or my fellow Erasmus students, which is not something that would appear to happen to students who go on exchanges to the UK - all Erasmus students I have come across there have been well integrated into the student body and all parties have benefited from this.
Thirdly, a lack of teaching quality and quality of resources. The universities do not have to compete with each other as much due to students not spreading themselves across the country as much. I have one teacher out here who clearly hates her job and all of her students, which is not surprising given the overall lack of respect that some of the students have for their teachers. It is also the case that universities have less money, as their fees are lower and so there is less of a "market" university system. Either way, one of my exam questions this week was "Write out the following numbers in words - 84 Euros". Frankly, if you don't know how to do that and you are an actual native French speaker, you probably shouldn't be at university in the first place. I remember learning the equivalent in English at the age of nine.
It is no wonder there are so many actual French students who study French at UCL.
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