Colombian Expectation vs Realty: Education
I grew up thinking that Europeans have it all. That for the fact that they come from a more developed place in the world they have a better educational preparation, that they are smarter and better at almost everything.
I got told they would get education, housing, transportation for free, and even some states support them to buy their materials, so studying was at the reach for any person, from any social class.
And like a little girl expecting to meet her own little fantasy world I went to Europe prepared to see the very comfortable and “lazy” European students.
How wrong was I…
Students in Europe do get education for free. But if you are not danish you do not get support even if you are a European studying abroad.
The only way to pay your bills or get a small portion of that state support called SU — dedicated to danish students — you need to work at least 15–20 hours a week.
All that with studies on top!
I realized that students didn’t knew more that I did about our field of study, or even about the world.
We just had different focus, because every state is very smart and what you learn at school is what the government in that country wants to you learn and get to know about the world around you.
Most of them have no idea how come half of South America has no seasons, they don’t know that there are cities with more than 10 million inhabitants above 2.000 meters from the sea level.
How would they? If the focus of their education is devoted to their own continent.
I realized how biased was my education was as well when — mentioning them again — I met my Indian and Pakistani friend. I realized how little I knew about their history, their territory, their culture.
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