Home Sweet School

School has always been a necessity for me. If I wanted to get where I wanted in life it was necessary that I spent the thousands of dollars on an education where only half the classes apply to my major. However, here in the Czech Republic, Czech students go to school for FREE. Free tuition has always been something that Americans have hoped and prayed for and in Europe it’s a reality. Even tuition for those of us who aren’t Czech is super reasonable here. For a bachelors in English the tuition is 750 euros which is the equivalent of $854.51 for the whole year. It honestly makes me question my school choice and how much money I am spending on college.

Here in Olomouc classes are typically an hour and a half long, which is somewhat comparable to my courses back home, maybe even a little better. One of the main differences in my course work is that I have classes back to back that don’t start until 3pm and get over around 6:15-7:15pm on Monday through Thursday. On Friday, I have class at 10:30am and get done at about noon, which to be honest isn’t too bad because then I have the rest of the day to do some site seeing or begin some travel. I didn’t get to choose my courses so we didn’t have much say on when they were or what they were, but overall it isn’t a bad set up.

As for teachers in the Czech most of them are soft spoken and have A LOT to say. It can often times be hard to concentrate on what’s going on. It is very easy to get distracted and not pay attention in the classroom because they allow you to have your phones and computers out at all times. However, we all do our best to pay attention and be respectful to the professors that gave up their time for us and often times struggle to get through a whole lecture in English which is understandable of course.

 The classrooms are set up very similar to those in the United States in that the teacher is at the front and the students are in rows of desks. While this set-up is getting less popular in most of my college classes it is a commonality here. I am studying to become a teacher back in the States and it is proven through a lot of research that most students do not learn well in rows. The better set-up is when they can collaborate with others in the classroom, not only the teacher but peers. Here you can see that learning is uniform. However, I had a teacher here last week tell us that he has the capability to take his students out to cafés and beer gardens for class when it gets nicer. Whereas, in the United States that is frowned upon, the students must stay on campus for class and there is no other way about it in most cases.

While I am enjoying the more laid back approach to college in the Czech Republic I will also look forward to my return. It will be nice to get back to outspoken teachers, who provide me with just the information I need and adapt to my learning styles. While I may not enjoy spending the thousands of dollars on school I will appreciate the American standards of schooling and getting back into what I am use to. I am grateful for this experience and am glad that I am being pushed out of my comfort zone but nothing can compare to my home sweet school.