A Small Rant on Italian Education

One of the reasons we choose to study abroad is to learn about another culture, to go beyond our comfort level and see life from a different perspective. However, in cases when the host country is very different from the home country, this can be a very frustrating experience. Coming to Italy from the States, I find the lack of organization in the academic system annoying, to say the least. So I will break from my tolerant, open-minded attitude for a post and let you share in my exasperation.

Some of the classes at UniBo started this past Monday. Of course, not all of them could start at the same time, because that would smack of conformity, and Italians have been a bit wary of it ever since Mussolini. On Saturday, (Yes, the Saturday two days before the class started) I found out that one of my classes had changed times. Now this literature class was at the same time as another class I was taking. And I'm just not close enough to sainthood to be able to bi-locate. Ok, so I re-worked my schedule. But it doesn't end there.

I had been noticing some funny things online about my anthropology class last week. The schedule disappeared from the website, but the syllabus was still there. There were no notifications that it had been canceled, and the times and places were written in the syllabus, so I still went on Tuesday morning. The doors of the classroom were locked. I asked the secretary in the office next door, and the response she gave me made me certain that she never even knew classes took place in the building. She might not be too far off, either. Luckily, as I was walking away, I overheard a few students talking about the class. I inquired as to its whereabouts, and I was told that the professor is on maternity leave and they still haven't found a replacement professor. "Hopefully within the next two weeks," the girl said.

"Are they going to put it online when they have someone?" I asked.

"Hopefully, but this is Italy," she responded with an indulgent smile. Silly American trying to rush things...

There you have it folks.

Sure, it could have been a surprise for this professor to discover she was pregnant, but it could have hardly been surprising seven or eight months later when she can no longer go to work. Maybe the fact that her stomach was as large as a NBA regulation basketball and impeded her movements would have helped her to remind her employers that she needed a replacement!

Or, perhaps this is, after all, Italy, and it isn't that big of a deal...

Signed,

the Sengenblogger