Reflections On…Academics

Posted on May 24th, 2010 under Uncategorized

Living in St. Andrews has really been life changing.  In the next few posts, I’ll reflect on some of the important areas where I think I’ve gained a new perspective or learned some important lessons: academics, theology, travel and on what I’ll miss when I go home after a year here.

The King James Library in St. Mary's Divinity School

I’ve been really blessed to have taken some excellent theology and philosophy courses here at St. Andrews.  Studying abroad as a junior has been ideal because in the UK system I am taking classes which allow me to explore issues in more depth than I would if I had been taking them in America.  That’s not to say that one system is better than the other; there are different strengths and weaknesses in both, as I’ll discuss below.

In the American system, a student leaves the university with a solid understanding of their major subject as well as a foundation of math, science, literature, and history, to name a few general education requirements.  As a student who has come through this system, I really enjoy being able to converse with scientists about what they’re doing because I feel like I have a general knowledge of how basic scientific principals work, even if it’s only a rough outline.  It’s nice to be able to appreciate the work that students and scholars are doing in other disciplines.

However, one of the draw backs of the American system is that sometimes these requirements can divert a student’s attention away from what she is interested in in the interest of fulfilling a requirement.  For example, next year, as a senior, I’ll still be fulfilling my math and science requirements as opposed to other courses.  Now, to be fair, I’m taking these courses now because I opted not to take them earlier, that’s how the cookie crumbles.

The benefits of the system also extend into a student’s major.  The system here is organized so that students can take courses on a wide variety of subjects within their discipline.  This was really great for me because it meant that I could take a smorgasbord of different classes to see what I really liked.  I didn’t enter college expecting to be a biblical studies student.  Instead, I discovered this, if you will, by taking these classes and finding out that this was what I liked to do.

After all’s said and done, I appreciate the strengths of the American system and breadth of knowledge I’ll have when I leave.  It was really nice being able to visit the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia and understanding the astronomy exhibits and photographs.  Whereas the American system emphasizes a breadth of knowledge, the UK system focuses on depth of knowledge. The difference here is in emphasis.

In the UK system, you enter university having already decided what you want to study.  This allows you to focus in on your area of interest at a very early point.  By the time you get to be a fourth year student in divinity, for example, you take two classes a semester (just TWO!), but the catch is that you do a LOT of work in those two areas.  Once you start taking two classes a semester, you’re expected to do thirty hours a week for each class, to give you an idea of the amount of work you’re expected to do.  A divinity student comes out of St. Mary’s with a very thorough understanding of the Dead Sea Scrolls, or theological anthropology, for example. This means of course that you can study fewer topics, but that you really learn the topics you do study.

I think that I’ve been able to get the best of both worlds.  I have the benefits of taking a broad amount of courses at Eastern, which means that I’ll leave with a pretty good understanding of a whole boat load of stuff (that’s the plan, anyway J ).  I’ve also had the excellent opportunity to study at St. Andrews during my third year.  This means that I’ve had the opportunity to pursue biblical and theological topics to a degree that I would not have been able to do in the United States.  I think that this way of studying has worked particularly well with my study of contemporary theology and the Book of Revelation, both of which were composed of an intensive amount of independent reading.

I hope this gives you an insight into some of the key differences between the American and UK system.  Of course, the American system gives graduates a great education within their field, I’m not saying otherwise. I would not be a biblical studies student if it wasn’t for the excellent classes I’ve had at Eastern.  I also don’t want to say that the UK system doesn’t turn out well rounded scholars.  It’s a difference of emphasis.  Both systems are effective at reaching their goals.

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