Journal Entry 17: Education: Passing Down an Unlit Torch

My school had already warned me that I may not find the classes in my study abroad program very challenging at first. I’m beginning to question the quality of education that the people here have been receiving. During the first week of classes, many professors did not even show up (and many Ghanaian students do not show up for this reason) which means you have even less time to narrow down your courses (considering most courses are just once a week). I just came from having my second lecture in a sociology course, and I don’t know what to expect. The class was much bigger this week than it was last week, because many of the students did not show up originally. I haven’t learned anything new yet, and the teacher seems to be giving us textbook information, or information that I could’ve looked up online myself.

The classes here so far seem to have a lot less structure than the ones in the States. For my classes, there isn’t necessarily consistent homework, and there is a longgggg list of reading materials, but no information regarding when to read each book and how much of each book to read. One of my professors just said “make sure you have read 70% of the books on this list by the end of the semester”.  In another class, another American student asked what reading we should have done by the next class, and the professor didn’t really answer her question. I’m beginning to suspect that the professors don’t necessarily expect the students to do most of the reading, and that causes me to question what anyone is learning here. If the teachers have low expectations for their students, how are they supposed to learn anything, and what does that say about them? My next question then would be, why do they have low expectations for their students?

This is only the beginning, and hopefully I’ll get a little more from the classes, but as of now I’m seeing a trend (as many of the professors have gone to this university): Teachers with little expectations, teaching future teachers to have little expectations.