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Programs Abroad: Advancing Nothing More than Resumes?
By
Ruth Hupart
The
Oxford Advanced Studies Program lets high school-age students
from many countries take classes and live in the dorms at Magdalen
College in Oxford, England. The course lasts for four weeks. Here
is my experience.
After waiting on line for twenty minutes, I was relieved when
it was finally my turn to fill my tray with dinner. Unable to
recognize the food presented before me I asked the cafeteria woman,
as politely as I could, to please tell me the name of several
dishes.
“Shar,
‘tis fursh lib and eh coo bloh,” she responded in Yorkshire tones.
The closest translation for her garbled words that I could come
up with was, “Sure, it’s some lovely frogs’ legs with a hint of
cow’s blood.”
My classes at the Oxford Advanced Studies Program were nearly
as incomprehensible as the dining hall wait staff. While I was
perfectly able to understand the clipped British accents of my
Shakespeare and physics teachers, their educational philosophies
were completely foreign. Nothing in all my years of public schooling
prepared me for the shock of hearing a teacher tell me, “I’m not
interested in your opinions.” Although these may not be his exact
words, they convey the all too blunt message. I could have forgiven
my teacher for having such a closed-minded point of view if his
opinions alone were enough to sustain my interest for each hour-long
Shakespeare class. Instead, each class consisted of copying simple
notes from a dry erase blackboard and listening to the instructor’s
muted and monotonous voice drone on for nearly an hour. After
the first three days, no one even tried to bring up a dissenting
perspective in class. We were forced into submission by our teacher’s
implications that our minds were only fit to learn the basic plots
of Shakespearean plays and the general themes and that original
interpretation was beyond our mental capabilities.
Despite my feelings that the Shakespeare class was completely
unsatisfying, the Oxford Advanced Studies Program did have its
high points. Although my intellectual maturity was under question
in the Shakespeare classroom, this was the first summer program
I attended where I felt that I wasn’t patronized by counselors
or R.A.s. The R.A.s (R.T.s, rather, for “residential tutor”) respected
us as human beings and I felt comfortable talking and joking with
them. They, in turn, felt comfortable with giving us free reign
in the city of Oxford. This freedom was bliss. At a Johns Hopkins’
CTY course two years ago I wasn’t permitted to cross the street
without supervision. In Oxford we were encouraged to explore the
culture of the centuries old city of scholars. Widening our cultural
understanding was also enforced by the several nationalities that
were represented in the student body. There were students from
Japan, Kuwait, Bahrain, and countless other countries. Another
of the program’s high points was that it gave a taste of the Oxbridge
system of education. In addition to group lessons, each week I
had a one-on-one tutorial with my instructor. The universities
of Oxford and Cambridge are famous for their tutorials, which
are designed to give each student a thorough understanding of
a chosen topic. While my Shakespeare tutorials were necessary
ordeals, my physics tutorials were usually characterized by animated
conversations about why different instruments produce different
sound qualities or how it’s possible that the universe may be
shaped like a saddle. The physics teacher was a qualified man
whom I respected and who had a great deal to teach. But there
were only five hours of class each week, and none of this time
was spent doing lab studies. It boggles the mind how a basic science
course can be taught without the fun and experience of experimentation.
A class that had the potential to be full of intellectual discoveries
became merely mediocre because the academic timetable was so poorly
planned.
My expectations surrounding these classes were high. The words
“Oxford Advanced Studies Program” made me feel like I was going
to be immersed in an intellectual and academic environment for
four weeks of my summer vacation. I didn’t find out until later
that it is general knowledge that an overseas course of study
for American high school students is only code for “Party! Get
the chance to write on your college transcript that you studied
in Oxford one summer! Don’t forget, a bonus of studying here is
that the legal smoking age is 16!”#
Ruth
Hupart is a junior at Ardsley H.S., New York.
Education
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