Most college students graduate from their undergraduate program in 4 (or more) years, most of whom are then drowning in debt as they head into a largely favorable job search. Most college students live in a dormitory and join clubs and activities within their campus life.

But these trends are largely western ones and when studying abroad, whether in high school or more directly, in college, you will notice that universities abroad are very different.

Starting with the terminalogy, the word “college”is a very American term and one that is not used as much even in Europe, but obviously not in South America. One, because the language is Spanish of course but, two, because the preferred term is university or “la universidad.” In Rosario, my stationed city, it was referred to as the “facultad” (relating to our word ”faculty”) but shorthand, or amongst friends, they would simply refer to it as the “facu.” It took me a while to get all these terms straight and to remember that if I tried to say the word “college” in spanish they immediately thought I was talking about a high school.

Rosario was a large university city so there were a number of universities throughout the region, but the universities were not completely separate, they were devoted to different fields of study all under the term “UNR” the public university system that exists in Argentina. You see, a college education in Argentina is completely free! All of the universities are publicly funded by the government and students simply need to enroll and maintian the grades to get their college education. So they could enroll in their medical school, law school, engineering school, communications school, etc. to pursue the degree they wanted without paying a cent. Many needed apartments or had to move from smaller surrounding towns so their cost of living was high but those from Rosario would simply live with their parents until they would graduate and begin to make their own money.

The obvious upside to this system is the government funding which makes universities free, but this in turn creates many faults in their system. Because Argentina is one of the few countries to do this, people flock there from other south american countries to study and a large portion of the internal population enrolls in the universities, this creates a supply and demand problem, as there are too many students and not enough resources to educate them all well. Every year in Rosario as the new medical students flood in they need to get to class an hour early to get a desk and half an hour early to get standing room in the back of the class, and as exams roll around many of them need to drop out as they have not been taught well and are unfamiliar on how to teach themselves via textbooks because of their somewhat poor high school education. What’s more the teacher’s themselves are not prepared to teach that many students well and are not getting paid anywhere near enough to motivate them to better their teaching. Strikes are frequent and long and the government isn’t stable enough to provide more funding. The faults are undeniable and causing Argentina to be in a loop where they need educated citizens to contribute positively to their infastructure and better their governmental system but with their current systems in place they are unable to produce those citizens.

Although many people in the U.S. believe that college education should be free, the issue is much more complex than what it seems and the funding required from the government to put such a system in place is intensive. In the U.S. we have a wholistic college experience with dormitories and clubs, football games and homework sessions, tutors and the HUB. In Argentina, going to college is trying to get into class, working your butt off to teach yourself and then hoping that you enroll in what you actually want to study, otherwise you have to wait a year to change what you study.

I don’t love paying tuition, but I do love the college experience in the U.S.

As I mentioned in my last post, schools in Argentina are different from those in the U.S. in the sense that they don’t include clubs and sports teams within their academic sphere. But that is not the only difference between these aspects of society.

While abroad I attended the small catholic school in Rosario known as Santo Domingo Savio, it is named after a saint and holds religious services during the school days at times. I am christian but it was so interesting to see catholic perspectives and customs within a different culture. Not all of the students were catholic but all who were accepted had to have relatively good school marks and maintain them to continue their academic career there.

As in the U.S. the schools in Argentina vary greatly between private and public schools and the schedules and academic expectations are quite different. So I can speak for my personal experience and the differences that I saw but I am hesitant to assume that these differences apply to all other schools in Argentina, yet they likely apply to most. My school day would start at 7:20 in the morning and would be made up of 5 different classes until 1:10 in the afternoon. Although within this time there were three recesses that were supposably only 10 minutes long but always lasted between 25 mins to a half an hour. That is to say that the general work ethic of Argentinians and attention to time deadlines is rather relaxed. One aspect of the schooling which I liked and which many U.S. schools are beginning to apply, is that of learning academies, or specified paths to lead students down more of career paths within their high school experience. My school had a “sociales” (or social sciences) path and an “economia” (economics) path. I was enrolled in the social sciences path and took classes like sociology and psychology along with basic math, writing, and history courses. Outside of the 7:20 – 1:10 we would also then have a computer class and gym class once a week, at some point in the afternoon so we would head home after one to get lunch and then walk back for another class if necessary.

Another aspect that differs within the school system in Argentina and the U.S., is the fact that students in Argentina have a very comfortable, close relationship with their teachers and call them by their first name. I know that a number of schools in the U.S. take this practice as well but very few in comparison to the commonplace that exists in Argentina. Students will often have their professors’ phone numbers and it wouldn’t be uncommon for students to get coffee with a teacher or hang out with them during recess.

A fact that could be gathered from the short school days and large breaks, is that the level of education recieved in Argentina is much lower than that in the U.S. United States public schools are generally very good and the expected level of understanding in most subjects for high school graduates is much higher than those of Argentine students. As a senior student in my school I was learning basic algebra in math and basic chemistry in my science course. Less is expected of the students in terms of homework and in general the grades reflect a lack of enthusiasm and effort by the students. Rather than letter grades they recieve a mark between 1-10. A C average is truly the norm with the majority of students recieving 7s and many scraping by with 5s and 6s.

Being in a foreign country was revealing as I became more aware of how education differs around the world. I found a new appreciation for our level and method of education here in the U.S., but with that being said it would also be very interesting to compare this to other countries. My friend from France goes to school all day and for six days a week, I can imagine that going from that to Argentinian school was a huge culture shock. The school is such central part of societies in different nations and I believe it would be beneficial for everyone to adventure and be exposed to a different form of learning.

The vast majority of people from the U.S. would characterize their high school experiences by the clubs they were involved in and the sports that they played. Going to a public or private high school in the U.S. is not solely comprised of academics but rather seen as the whole high school experience.

This is not the case around the world. When students visit the U.S. as exchange students it is often very easy for them to assimilate themselves in the student body by joining clubs or sports teams, these organizations are instant ways to meet new people and future friends. But often when U.S. students go to other countries, they find it challenging to join into groups without the aid of these social groups.

But outside of the typical school settings there are often other options for teens to get involved and find a group of friends with common interests. In Argentina, the by far largest option of these is joining a sports club. There are several famous clubs within Argentina but generally there are two or three per large cities and there are huge rivalries within cities. The city where I was at had two large clubs that were primarily focused on soccer, as are most, and were huge rivalries. The two clubs in Rosario are called the Newells Old Boys and Rosario Central. My host family members are huge Central fans and so if I had even thought about being a Newells fan I think they would have made me move out of their house!

The loyalties to these two clubs really are intense. My host aunt is a Newells fan while my host family, as I mentioned, are huge Central fans. In my first month in Argentina when I hardly understood any Spanish and was still figuring out how things work down there, I met my aunt for the first time at a family barbecue. She was so friendly, and despite her not knowing any English, she made me feel welcomed. She has a large and loud personality, just over all she is a very passionate person. She gave me a black and red bracelet which I thought was simply a kind welcoming gesture, little did I know that the Newells’ team colors were black and red. My host mom immediately stepped in to tell her to back off and my host dad took the bracelet from me as they both began to get into a friendly yelling fight about their two teams. In the end I was explained in detail that Rosario Central is the best club from Rosario and that I could keep the bracelet but not ever wear it at home. The whole affair was so confusing as I didn’t understand Spanish and everyone around me was yelling and laughing but looking back on the experience it is so humorous.

I ended up joining a girls’ basketball team at the Rosario Central Club and that was one of the ways that I made friends down in Argentina, despite the language barrier. Many other high schoolers and college students join the clubs for sports teams or social groups, so despite the fact that schools don’t have these organization directly within their infrastructures, the students still have opportunities within their communities to get involved and make friends with similar interests.