by Guest2 on Sat May 21, 2011 5:12 pm
Everyone's paying for their education in some way or another, either directly or through taxes. And most students at St Andrews (especially those from the UK) are putting themselves in a substantial amount of debt by going to university, regardless of how much they pay or don't pay in tuition fees. I can't say I ever noticed people texting during tutorials during my time in St Andrews, but I did notice that the North American students talked more whereas everyone else was more reserved, but not distracting. That was something that baffled and sometimes frustrated the study abroad people, but it's really just a difference in cultures and academic backgrounds. North Americans tend to speak more freely in class because it's more encouraged in the schools they come from, and because they tend to feel less of a need to back up their comments with specific evidence. Not meant to be a dig, just something that became apparent to me as a North American student there adjusting to the system. Actually, in lectures I remember it being the Americans who tended to play Snood or check Facebook in lectures, because usually it was only the Americans who brought their laptops for "note taking." I suppose it depends on the tutorial and subject how much people are texting and doing unrelated things. In any case, from my own experience alone I think that the issue boils down to a difference in universities' attitudes towards students. St Andrews considers its students to be adults and expects them to make their own decisions for the most part, leaving it up to the individual student to carve out his or her own university experience, for better or worse. American universities seem to be more involved, thinking of themselves as institutions that usher youths into adulthood. So that means that comportment as well as academic ability becomes an important and even assessed part of the curriculum. I don't know which system is better or worse - I suppose it depends on what works for individual students - but my advice to the OP would be to ignore those not taking their degrees seriously, and simply put your efforts into your own studies. It's unfortunate that it's distracting, but realistically you should be doing the vast bulk of your learning (assuming you're in honours-level arts modules) on your own, outside the classroom, so try not to worry about not getting everything you possibly can from your tutorials. For me, the value of tutorial sessions was in seeing how other people were approaching the issue, getting an idea of where I stood in scholarly debates as well as in the marking curve. But the most useful element of the tutorial system, for me, was the relationship with my tutors - emailing them with questions, asking for reading recommendations, discussing my essays, etc. So if you feel that something hasn't been discussed adequately in the tutorial, just ask your tutor about it or email him/her. In my experience they were always happy to help.