Let me begin by saying that the University of Complutense is the best university in Spain. So whereas in the U.S. I attend a university ranked in the 40s, in Spain I am attending the very best. So it is not without a great degree of disappointment and sadness that I have come to the following conclusions:
1. There is an utter disregard and disrespect for this "best" university in Spain. A large part of my frustrations with this country began in the first weeks when I noticed graffiti EVERYWHERE... Defacing public monuments, buildings, and especially all over the university. Whereas at OSU students "chalk" campus with notices of meetings, clubs, and political preferences, Spanish students PAINT sidewalks, university buildings, etc. with their protestations. It's free speech taken to an absolutely ridiculous level. And this phenomenon is not just a European thing in general. In fact, when I visited Prague, I had to specifically go to the Lennon wall to see graffiti, as the Czech authorities don't mess around when it comes to defacing their monuments and heritage. Spain could learn something from the supposedly more "backward" Eastern bloc.
2. For a country with a) recycling bins EVERYWHERE and b) bans on many U.S. made cosmetics due to supposedly lax American standards regarding their composition and chemicals therein (see recent news article regarding former beauty queen applauding EU standards on safer cosmetics), Spain doesn't seem to give a damn about smoking, or for that matter what people do with their cigarette butts when finished with them. Day after day, I step through hoards of cigarette butts, pop and beer bottles (as yes, beer is served in the university cafeteria), trash, and other gross-ness just to enter my building at the University. If someone finishes their coffee or beer or cigarette, they just throw it down because, and I quote, "It gives the cleaning people a job to do." (Translated from Spanish, of course.) So students trash the exterior and interior of the buildings, often smoking beneath very clearly marked "No Smoking" signs, because, eh, who really cares if the University is nice or not? Certainly not a bunch of rag-tag students going there practically for free... Which brings me to:
3. How can students be expected to have respect for their University (the BEST university in Spain) when they pay less than 2000 euros a year for their education? and:
4. What incentive do students have to succeed when the only goal in the Spanish education system is to "pass"? Grades are posted on the doors at the end of each semester with very vague terms next to each student's name... Terms like "sobresaliente" if a student did particularly well or "aprobado" if they did a little less well. Because unlike in the U.S. where a grad school looks at one's transcript to determine how hard a student worked, often taking into consideration the graduate area of focus and whether a bad grade in an irrelevant area matters, in Spain the end goal is a degree and not any levels of differentiation therein. In such a system, there is no incentive to work harder, because in the end, nobody will ever know whether you had "aprobado" or worse in all of your classes.
I had been voicing the above frustrations for the past two months to everyone who will listen (and many, like my roommate, who listened by default of sharing a room with me), but it wasn't until today when I decided to share it with the world. The event (because of course something must of set me off on this course, haha) began this morning upon arriving at the aforementioned BEST university in Spain. After stepping carefully through the cigarette butts and empty bottles and making my way to the stairs of my building, a bunch of those rag-tag students already alluded to blocked my path, shouting that today there was a "Huelga" (strike) and therefore "No hay clases." They shoved a pamphlet in my hand and insisted that today there were no classes. I asked, timidly, "And for the foreigners?" And they said for them too. Well unlike the Spainards, I am paying a good deal of money to go to the BEST university in Spain, so I attempted to shove my way through the picket line, past their shouts that "No puedes pasar!"
Once safely inside, I found the building to be eerily empty but in complete chaos at the same time. Students were leading chants and had completely plastered signs of protest against Plan Bolonia throughout the halls. While waiting to enter a class, I watched in horror as a delinquent pulled the fire alarm and in even greater astonishment as a university official did NOTHING to stop or apprehend him. Where the hell is the accountability in this system? Where are the cops?
Amusingly, I later learned from one of my professors (who, unlike the rag-tag students, supports Plan Bolonia, which I will get to shortly), that cops are not permitted to enter University buildings. Not permitted to enter?! What about my safety?! Apparently it's up to the rector, or dean, of the University to maintain order. Right.
Their means of "maintaining order" next manifested itself in bolting, literally, the side door shut so that the rag-tags couldn't enter and disrupt classes at that entrance. In the event of an actual fire, we would have burned to death as the nearest fire entrance was literally bolted shut. It would have been like the textile factory in New England prior to workplace reforms. Fantastic.
So after a university-wide strike against Plan Bolonia, I decided to educate myself on the plan and enumerate its purpose for each of you.
The Bologna Process was signed into law in 1999 by education ministers throughout the European Union in an effort to initiate public university reform, especially with regard to funding. It involves the adaptation of a more standard system of degrees and credits, and promotes the mobility of students, teachers, and researchers throughout the entire system of signatory states.
***Let me interject here with the first potential problem here in Spain: a more standard system of degrees and credits might actually provide incentive to do more than just "pass," especially if a student has hopes of moving beyond the equivalent of a Bachelor's degree to the masters and doctorate. Heaven forbid the system become more standardized and actually institute QUALIFICATIONS that must be met!!***
And now moving along to what I have seen as the problem all along: Funding.
The Plan Bolonia proposes a new system of university funding whereby the university, rather than the state, will become increasingly more responsible for its own funding. It's important to note here that this does "not mean an absolute decline in public spending but that the university system shifts from public to having a mixed system of financing." Obviously for this to take place, students will actually need to take some ownership for their education in terms of, dare I say the inimical word, LOANS!!
"Con el sistema de préstamos, los estudiantes se hacen más conscientes del coste de su educación, tienen más incentivos para exigir una enseñanza de calidad, y deben esforzarse en los estudios y en el trabajo, para poder devolver la financiación recibida. De hecho, cabe pensar que la gratuidad de la enseñanza superior no sólo no promueve el esfuerzo de los estudiantes, sino que tiende a crear problemas de selección adversa, atrayendo a la Universidad a estudiantes que no tienen posibilidades de completar los estudios; especialmente si existe un sistema de becas que proporcione ingresos además de cubrir las tasas."
Informe Universidad 2000, cp.5 Financiación, pg.270
Basically the above paragraph says that with the loan system, students become more aware of the cost of their education, have more incentive to demand quality education, and must apply themselves in school and at work in order to repay funding. It goes on to say that the current system of free higher education fails to promote the efforts of students and attracts students who have no chance of completing the studies (like the rag-tags I have before described.)
Now there are a lot of pros and cons with Bolonia, so I cannot definitively say whether or not the plan is entirely good or bad, but I can say that if these students were paying for their education what we pay in the U.S., they wouldn't be striking and purposely wasting away both their money and their education. This isn't high school. "Snow days" in the real world of college and work cost money and lots of it. But when education is free, why not get a group of rag-tags together to strike and leave the professors alone in their classrooms? After all, it's one day less of homework and note-taking.
So the bottom line of all of this is my absolute rejection of the egalitarian notion of free (or nearly free) education. In theory it sounds very pretty: Let everyone have access (this is the key word) to higher education and the chance at a better life. In reality, it doesn't work so nicely.
Which brings me to a key point. Although our colleges and universities cost a dozen times more a year, the quality doesn't even compare. As I stated before, the best university in Spain can't compare to OSU, and OSU isn't even one of the top 10 schools in the U.S. That basically means that we have a ridiculous number of universities with better facilities and more opportunities for students, beyond the realm of public protests and free speech, than anything in Spain. Though I am on scholarship, those without that luxury are not denied ACCESS. Take my sister, for instance. She may be in debt up to her eyeballs, but by seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, recognizing that her job requires a degree that for her can only be obtained through debt, she works hard to meet specific QUALIFICATIONS, like passing the Praxis, and will one day see the result of her hard work in the form of a teaching job.
But for those naysayers, or for those unwilling to work hard and take some ownership for their education, we have the more egalitarian Spanish education system for you or your children to enter....
I, for my part, can't wait to return to OSU with a whole new appreciation for the American system of higher education, to stretch out on our pretty Oval, free of cigarettes and bottles, and to sit in class with students who, like me, actually enjoy learning and who take the good [quality of education] with the bad [higher costs].
So folks, that wraps up, for now, my treatise on the quality of higher education in Spain. As this is a ridiculously long post, I plan to return to it as a work in progress, constantly editing and fine-tuning my observations (as I haven't the energy to do so now). Judge not, as the egalitarian image of the EU portrayed by many liberals is just that - egalitarian. It points to free education as the goal, but neglects (whether by ignorance or avoidance, I cannot say) to point out the bad, unintended but real consequences therein.
If I have the [mis]fortune of experiencing firsthand the Spanish health care system while I am here, you may expect a blog on my observations there as well, as my inclination is that it will be much the same... (Considering you are free to drink and smoke there as well).
Until next time..:)
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