Mexican universities encourage focused studies, not liberal arts

Bonnie Fitzpatrick / Columnist

When a student hears the word “university” in the United States, he or she usually thinks of a four-year bachelor’s degree or a two-year associate’s degree.

A college, as it is most often called by students, is chosen to fit the requirements of an individual. If you want a small college in a rural town in the South, you can find about 50 in the Carolinas alone. If you want a large university in a big city, there are plenty. Night classes, early morning classes, classes with fewer than 20 students, classes that fill an auditorium – the choice is yours.

In the United States we are lucky enough to choose when, where and with whom when it comes to our college education. But is this really the best way?

People outside of the United States have a hard time understanding what we mean when we say “college.” A “college” by definition is an institution of higher learning that grants at least a bachelor’s degree. Though in most cases in the states, a college is a school or division of a university.

In many other countries, Mexico in particular, “university” holds a much different meaning, and college isn’t even a recognizable word.

When I entered Elon, the school did not yet have university status. Literally, I was only going to college. At 18, I entered without a clue as to what I wanted to major in, what I was interested in pursuing as a career, or really why I was going to college in the first place.

Where I grew up, it was just accepted that the next step in life after high school was to go to a college or university. It didn’t matter if you wanted to work for a while, or travel, if you didn’t go straight to college, parents and teachers warned you would probably never go.

Mexican universities do not have room for people like me.

In Mexico, high school studies are much more rigorous than in the United States and students are expected to know what field they want to work in before they enter university. If they do not know after high school graduation, they do not go to university.

As an 18 year old, fresh out of pressed, pleated uniforms, students often apply to a university program of study. They don’t apply to a particular university, but instead apply to the exact major they intend on studying the next four to five years. The programs also generally take a year longer than the same degree program in the United States. If the student is accepted, he or she is placed into a group that he or she will be in classes with for the next years of study.

College kids in the United States think they have it hard when the only open class they need is offered at 8 a.m., two days per week. We choose the classes we want to take, the professor and the time and day.

A little spoiled aren’t we?

Imagine a college experience that is set out for you, and you are given no choice in the matter of even what class you want to take. If two years into school you realize your major is not what you want to do after all, too bad.

And it is almost impossible for a student in Mexico to hold a job or a hobby outside of university, because the usual course load is between 20 hours and 24 hours, opposed to our usual 16 or 18. But after 18 hours, most schools in the United States will charge hundreds of dollars per credit hour. Makes a whole lot of sense, right?

When I began exploring the differences between the university systems here and abroad, I was sure that the way we do it makes the most sense. After all, wealthy populations from other countries often send their children to the United States for university.

It is amazing to me to realize how much time we can end up wasting.

For example, in Brazil, if a student decides to enter into a medical program, he or she starts university at 18 and is a board certified doctor in five years. College and medical schools are combined so it takes half the time to complete a degree. And without required liberal arts classes that have little to do with a student’s major, Brazilian students can benefit from more intense study.

But, in the end, the difference is in the expectations. American university is not necessarily about learning a trade and being prepared to master a career by 23, but it is about learning how to learn.

Without learning what works and doesn’t work in education, how can a person be expected to adapt to different learning environments on the job?

It is also proven that on average, a person will change careers six times in a lifetime. If he or she only studied one area, how will he or she have a general appreciation for all there is to learn in the world?

The next time that you may be wondering why in the world you need to take some dumb liberal arts classes when you are majoring in biology, remember that at least you chose what classes to take, what professor to have and what time best fits your schedule.