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when I was a toddler), I openly acknowledge from the onset that
I am an “other”—that is, an outsider—providing insights into an
education system whose intricacies I have no way of understanding
in their entirety given that I was not raised here and given that I
lack a certain cultural baggage that Albanian students in-country
maintain.
However I have had conversations with countless individuals in my
time here from all sides of the spectrum—students, secretaries,
professors, administrators, etc.) and I am able to, for the most
part, understand the language of instruction so as to follow the
general logic and flow of lectures/seminars. Though I understand
the Albanian language, my ability to write in shqip at an academic
level—particularly for an op-ed piece free of egregious errors and
on a tight deadline—is still a work-in-progress; for that reason, I
have chosen to present my ideas in English.
First, there are obvious similarities between public US universities
and public Albanian universities. Both systems have students on
all levels of the spectrum when it comes to interest: there are
students who are deeply invested in their studies, there are fairweather students, and there are students who enroll only to “get
a degree” and then “get a job.” I suspect that this is true anywhere
in the world. Furthermore, both systems have highly capable
students and professors. Talent and potential is apparent; these
potentials are simply honed and channeled in different ways, so as
to emphasize different skills.
The American education system prepares its students with a
scattering of knowledge—a little bit of everything, a “light”
specialization in a particular field (deeper specialization is what
professional/graduate school is for)—so that they may have
transferable, adaptable, research-based skills useful in any
environment. Albanian education wants its students to know the
foundations of their respective fields as thoroughly as possible—
what I believe to be a deeper specialization of facts in a particular
field—while allowing students to still maintain a scattering of
knowledge in related fields. (A literature student, for instance, might
take a foreign language, a sociology course, a Latin course, among
choices for their workload). This results in a particular set of skills
and a particular body of knowledge for a particular field, which
may be transferable to other fields, should an Albanian student be
conscious of this.
Already, we can see differences arising: transferable skills vs.
somewhat transferable though often “set” skills. Additionally, most
American universities allot four years of undergraduate studies
(with students graduating earlier, if they meet requirements). The
Albanian education system, on the other hand, has three years
of undergraduate studies, plus two years for potential Master’s
studies. American universities do not require their students to take
as many courses per semester as Albanian universities do; an
American student might take five courses per semester (more if
By: Krisela Karaja