It has been about 10 days since I came to the USA. This is my first time to come to the USA, so at the beginning I had no idea about everything surrounding me, especially, about how my studies would be going. But actually, as time goes by I have gotten to know how an American University is. So, today, I would like to write about the differences between American and Japanese Universities.
First, I have noticed a difference between an American University and a Japanese University in terms of the style of a lesson. In Japan, students attending a class never talk to the professor during the lecture, even if they have a question about the thing that the professor is talking about. They just listen to the lecture, and the professor keeps speaking. Even when the professor asks something to the students, nobody answers unless the professor calls his or her name. And even if the professor points at someone and calls a name, sometimes the person just says, "I don't know," because they do not have much confidence about whether the answer is true or reasonable and they are afraid of making mistakes.
In contrast, in the USA, students attending a class often talk to the professor during the lecture whenever they have a question or they have an opinion. So, a professor in the USA sometimes has to stop the lecture to talk about or explain the thing asked by a student even during the lecture. When the professor asks something to the students, someone answers the question voluntarily, and someone else would answer the question if his or her answer is different from the first person. At that time I think the students don't worry about whether their answers are right or not, but they answer because something occurs to them.
Secondly, I have noticed a difference between American and Japanese classrooms in terms of the relationship between teachers and students. In Japan, a professor is considered to be a person who teaches a particular subject. So, a teacher just teaches his or her professional thing to the students and never talks about private things to the students, even outside of class. We have to put a huge distance between ourselves and the teachers, and have to call them Professor Sato, for example. The professors call us also by our last names, with Mr. or Miss. (Some professors call the students' last names without Mr. or Miss.) So, we never talk about private matters with them. In this case, the private matters include daily stuff, such as our failure in a course or our part-time job, or whatever is being used in daily conversation. In contrast, in an American university a professor does teach, of course, their professional subjects, but they tend to talk about their personal matters to some extent, even in lessons. I have heard from some professors about how their husband or wife is and also about their daily affairs. Outside the class, the students talk to their professors about their lives, for example, when they meet in the cafeteria or snack bar. I mean they have a daily conversation with each other. Some students call their professors by their first names if the professor does not mind, and the professors always call the students by their first names, even in the classes.
Thirdly, I have noticed a difference in regard to the classroom manners of both the students and teachers. In a classroom of a university in Japan, students have to be formal to show respect to a teacher. Drinking a soft drink or chewing gum during a lesson is considered to be bad manners. I would say a student who has his or her feet on a chair nearby would be told to leave the class. In contrast, American students do the things mentioned above, but unless they interrupt a lecture, they are not considered to be bad. As for the behavior of teachers in Japan, they always stand up during their lectures and never sit down. In contrast, in the USA, they sit down on a chair or even on a desk in the front of a classroom during lessons, although they sometimes stand up.
Lastly, I have noticed a difference between American Universities and Japanese Universities in terms of the volume of homework or preparation for the next lesson. In Japan, few teachers request that students prepare for the next lesson or do homework. Even if they do, we do not, since we do not provoke conversation and the teacher can not find out if we have done it or not. In contrast, in an American University, the students are required to study hard to prepare for the next lessons in order to discuss particular things when the time comes. And also, teachers often ask the students to read certain books or to write reports due on a certain day. I would say these are homework. If the students ignore them, it is easily found out that they are lazy or unmotivated, and as a result of that they would get bad scores.
I am thinking about these kinds of differences not because I am trying to judge which is better, but because I have felt the differences by facing the two of them. I would say the differences come from the cultural differences, not just from the differences in their educational systems.
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