Feb 8, 2010
This whole different school system is really starting to annoy me. This entire semester has been such a weird combination of high expectations and low interest that I’ve been kind of lulled into a sense of ease. Then in the last week I’m surrounded by people freaking out over exams? And the best part is no one tells me the significance of what’s about to happen until two days before it happens.
Maybe I should clarify a bit; I was under the impression that the Italian school system was a joke. All semester the profs have been telling us ‘memorize this’ and ‘know this, it will be important’ without ever coming back to use the information again or even pausing to check that we understood. No teacher gives a damn about the students here—I’ve tried repeatedly to seek out help only to find there’s no such thing as office hours in this country. The only way American universities get away with classes of five hundred kids is by breaking down the mass into smaller quiz sections or some similar system. Here that just doesn’t happen. There’s lecture and the rest is up to you. So I assumed this disinterest in student success permeated every level of the system and the exams would follow the pattern.
Well I guess I deserve the ‘assume makes an ass out of you and me’ retort because that’s definitely not the case. I didn’t realize just how much the Italians love their standardized tests. Apparently even 10-year-olds are evaluated before they make it to the next level of school here. By the time you get to high school (except it’s called scuola superiore here) failing one of those exams puts a major hold on your life. There’s no such thing as a GED in Italy—it’s graduate or turn into a teenage beggar. Geeze, if that’s the pressure for a high school exam, what’s going to happen with these college exams?!
Oh, and did I mention they’re next week?
Feb 14, 2010
I have studied. For six. Days. Straight. I even turned down Davide’s soccer scrimmage. My body feels like it’s eating itself I want to go exercise so badly. Tomorrow is my main exam and I think I’m ready for it. I’m down to cram-studying the infinite names and dates they expect us to memorize. In the end I’d probably be cramming like this even if I was back in the States, so I’ve decided to forgive the system. I just hope next semester goes smoother now that I know what’s going on.
Feb 20, 2010
THOSE EFFING DIMWITS.
Well I took the test and thought I did fair enough considering my circumstances. For starters it was crazy trying to write about the American economy in Italian. Plus they asked for so many tiny, specific facts I think the prof must expect us to eat the textbook so we could regurgitate the facts. Harder still was when we got called in to have an oral portion—since when did anyone assess your knowledge by of how fast you can think of the four factors that played a part in every 20th century economy collapse? It was difficult, no question, but in the end just about on par with the harder economic tests I’ve taken back home. I didn’t get dragged over hot coals, at least. But then I spent the last five days bouncing in my seat waiting for results and guess what? They came today. And guess what? Mine weren’t there.
THEY LOST MY TEST. I don’t even know how you lose an oral exam.
The best part is—now back to the pattern I thought pervaded all along—they don’t care. As soon as I saw my name wasn’t on the spreadsheet I marched down to the administrative building and slammed my hands down on the secretary’s desk. In retrospect maybe not the most genteel move but at the moment it felt very satisfying. Except that the secretary just raised his hands and said there was nothing he could do. He wrote my name down and made a note that I wanted to see the department head before dismissing me.
Yes, yes, I went straight to the department head. Call me a tattletale but I’ve given up pounding on the professor’s door; I had nowhere else to go. But it still didn’t do me any good. I just walked away from that secretary’s desk with steam positively billowing out of my ears. I’m amazed no one could hear the kettle screaming in my head.
When I can look past my own rage I’m really scared. The way Davide talks about these exams they can make or break your career. Oh, geeze, I may be in the process of falling in the deep end.
Feb 21, 2010
I went in again today to the administrative building. I—it—this is ridiculous. I’m past being mad, even furious. I’m straight up numb. I talked to the same secretary with the same results. Then I walked three blocks to the University President’s office and chewed his secretary’s ear off. As I was marching back to the Department building I ran into Davide.
This was one of the few times it was actually helpful that Italian boys are so pushy. He insisted on coming with me to ‘help me out’ and wouldn’t take no for an answer. Of course next time he asks me to coffee after soccer—sorry, football—practice I’m screwed, but it made the difference today. He walked up to the secretary’s desk, asked if he could see the results spreadsheet for my exam and the secretary jumped on it immediately. What the hell, he didn’t even have to flirt!
The secretary pulled out a huge binder that probably had a four-inch thick spine and started flipping through it. I can’t even guess what kind of info is in there because even in classes with hundreds of student and no individual attention there were probably five pages of tiny, packed text for each one of us. That’s more consideration than I’ve gotten this whole semester from the professor. Anyway, the secretary got to a page near the back cover and turned the book so we could see as he turned from pages titled “Vumbaca, Regina” to “Vuocolo, Vito” to “Woods, Gabrielle”. Only difference is mine was blank.
After that point Davide had to do all the talking for me for multiple reasons. First, he obviously got more done than I ever could. But right now I don’t even have the energy to be offended by the sexism of that. Second, I forgot all my Italian at that point. Although maybe that’s for the best because nothing I had to say beyond that point was useful in resolving the situation. It did, however, include a lot of English four letter words.
The final verdict was that my problem was not in the jurisdiction of the department. Davide agreed to accompany me tomorrow to the office that actually scans the tests. Maybe we—meaning he—can get some answers there.
I still can’t believe that this can happen with such a high-stakes exam.
Feb 28, 2010
My econ exam is gone. My future is gone with it. The way the Italian system works this kind of mistake is career death, no matter whose fault it is. See, in Italy all the way back in high school you decide what career path you want to take and go to distinct schools that specialize in that area—istituto tecnico or liceo. I guess the idea is that kids can actually enter the work force effectively when they leave high school, especially the kids who choose to the istituto tecnico that trains for more concrete jobs like accounting or business or economics. The exam they have to take at the end of high school to get a diploma conceivably has their entire career hinged on the results.
If that’s the pressure put on kids in high school can you imagine the implications of failing an exam in college. And that’s what’s now on my official transcript. Throw on top of that how few women successfully force their way into the professional workforce (a discrimination I ran in to more than a few times this last week) and I shudder to imagine my future in this country.
Davide really has been a blessing through all this. Even after three days almost entirely dedicated to running between physical offices, shouting in the phone and sending ever more nasty emails to no avail he is still trying to convince me that things will clear up. He laughs when I’m on the verge of crying.
No matter what he says, though, I know there’s no hope of saving this test. I don’t know exactly what happened but if one thing has been made clear through all this it’s how big a bureaucracy this university is. And somewhere in its bowels my test fell out of the pile to be graded and is lying in some cobwebby corner where no one ever cleans. There it will stay until time finally composts it into a pile of dust to join the other neglected filth in jamming the cogs of the bureaucratic machine a little more every year.
A big problem, according to Davide, is that a lot more kids are continuing on to college now that the economy sucks and they can’t get jobs fresh out of high school. He’s from the other type of high school, the liceo that spits out would-be doctors and lawyers and professors that need to continue on to college anyway. Hence his department is used to the large number of kids clamoring to get into classes. Whereas my istituto tecnico department is being overwhelmed right now. Thus mistakes, like losing my exam, happen more frequently without a system of address. That doesn’t nearly make up for destroying my future but at least that’s explained, now.
The world is just a very depressing place to be right now. I think I need to go take advantage of the low drinking age for a little while.
March 7, 2010
Ha. Ha. Ha. Davide, you’re so funny. An effing riot. And by the way, I take back everything I’ve ever said about you being a blessing.
I now know why he could be so composed as he told me horror stories about one bad exam throwing a serious monkey wrench someone’s life. Because that’s totally different from anything I’ve taken. The grade school exams are state-sponsored, roughly like the SAT, while what I took was just another course final test. There was nothing but one little grade dependant on that exam. What’s more, I can take the test again next semester without even taking the class and clear up the course failure (actually there’s a makeup exam offered this week for that exact reason but I missed the signup date). There’s still a huge exam required before you can get a diploma but even that you can take as many times as you need.
It’s still going to be a pain. I’m signed up for a full load of courses next semester, including the class that’s prerequisite is my failed econ course (at least the prof will be too preoccupied to notice I don’t meet his standards). I really don’t need to throw another final on top of so full a schedule. Especially since I have a feeling I did perfectly satisfactory this time and retaking it has no benefit for me. Even so, I was making plans to run to London with my tail between my legs and start college over in a new system. Or marry the first wealthy Italian man I could seduce and live life as a trophy wife. I choose a hard semester over being the next Anna-Nicole Smith.
Epilogue
Although often vague, the facts portrayed in the above drama are all real. The Italian school system is very traditional and frequently attacked for its bureaucratic inefficiency and high dropout rate (at the university level this is estimated at 60% but, perhaps more telling, has never been confirmed by a comprehensive national census). It emphasizes memorization over free, analytical thought and is unique in its extensive use of oral exams. Many of the worst factors were addressed in reforms prompted by the 1999 Bologna Declarations that encouraged modernization and convergence of higher educational systems across the EU. The most significant was the introduction of a new three-year degree called the laurea to offer continued education without an eight-year commitment. However this is still only offered in a limited number of departments and is described as a dead-end diploma with no further schooling built directly on it, akin to an associate’s degree. The other key change was to increase university autonomy, giving schools more control over their own finances and types of classes offered. Studies suggest Bologna Declaration-inspired classes are hugely popular with students.
The foundations of the Italian educational system is very different from the US system. School is compulsory only from age 6-15 and is completely free, even for illegal immigrants. Education is organized into scuola elementare for children ages 5-10, scuola media for ages 10-13, and scuola superiore for ages 13-18. Scuola superiore is further organized into two types of academies that focus on different subjects: Liceo emphasizes sciences, classics and linguistics and leads into occupations in the fields of law, medicine and teaching. Meanwhile the instituto tecnico focuses more on accounting, business, and economics. After completing each level of schooling, students take exams to prove they are ready to proceed. The exams can be repeated as many times as is necessary to pass.
The next step, universita, has little cross-department integration compared to the US system. Classes are very rigorous and, although a degree is intended to take 5 years most students end up taking 7 or 8 years to complete the requirements. Exams at the end of every semester, like in compulsory school, can be failed and retaken. A second set of exams is administered three weeks after a semester’s end specifically for students who failed the first time, or students can simply take the same test after the next semester without retaking the class. A final all-inclusive exam is required before receiving a diploma, as well as a 50,000-60,000 word document equivalent to a senior thesis.
Another underlying difficulty represented in the writings above is the continued inequality of men and women in the workforce. Although the numbers are still slowly equalizing, women represent 30% of professional researchers, 18% of academic professors and only 11% scientific professors. The number of women in high administrative positions is entirely negligible. This trend starts in the upper ranks of university where the competitive environment requires aggression and assertiveness not culturally imbued in women. Many of the rules that hinder women place similar restraints on innovative researches as part of the Italy’s status-quo society.
Sources
Interview with Federica Bianci, February 10, 2010
Interview with Razvan Popa, Feb 28, 2010
Interview with Vera Manno, Feb 20, 2010
http://www.justlanded.com/english/Italy/Italy-Guide/Education/Introduction
http://www.infn.it/cpo/contributi/contributi/2pages_elisa.pdf
http://crell.jrc.ec.europa.eu/Publications/CRELL%20Research%20Papers/The%20impact %20of%20university%20reforms%20on%20dropout%20rates.pdf
http://ec.europa.eu/education/policies/educ/bologna/bologna.pdf
Images:
http://www.studyglobal.net/images/milan_students_reading_outside.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2069/2814710002_711e3b2d82.jpg
http://www.disabilityrightsca.org/pubs/Images/Page-1.gif
No comments:
Post a Comment