Tuesday May 16th was the first day of classes at the University of Ghent. It is about a 15 minute walk away which is a distance I’ve started to get used to. It still weirds me out just slightly how much people walk and bike around here. This probably contributes to the overall lower average weight of people in this city.
You would never know by the portion sizes at meals here. I don’t think I’ve emptied a plate at any meal yet since I have been here; these portions put Texas to shame! I’ll have to start asking for less food since it seems I’m defeating the whole sustainability purpose. Also, Belgium has a ridiculous love for fries that I was not expecting in the least. You can get a type of potato product at any restaurant at anytime anywhere. I dare say they are a much bigger deal than Belgium waffles.
But back to walking, we have to cross a couple lanes to get to the campus, some bike lanes and some car lanes. Let me tell you that one is distinctly more dangerous than the other. I’ll give you a hint; it’s not the car lanes. I look 8 times as much before crossing the street now thanks to speedy twisted pieces of metal on two wheels.
Back to the education, we began the morning with an introduction to the University, its history, and its smaller components such as its departments, campuses, and faculty. University of Ghent is different from the U of A since its campuses are divided by departments and can be located all over the city. An interesting distinction between the Flemish and American naming system for higher education is that they say “faculties” in instances we might say “departments” or “colleges” which caused a tiny bit of confusion when the university was introduced with having “eleven faculties,” and for a moment, I considered the possibility that they might only have 11 staff members.
Definitely not the case considering more than 11 faculty members are scheduled to lecture to us for this program. Then, we learned the basics about the Belgium school system including higher level education. One of the most interesting tidbits of information I learned was that the Belgium bachelor’s degree is less prepared to enter the professional setting compared the US bachelor’s degree. Therefore, more Belgium students get their master’s degree, which are again at a lower level than the US master’s degree, but higher than the US bachelor’s degree. Also, Belgian students can skip their master’s degree to move straight to their doctorate if they can prove that they are knowledgeable enough in their field.
Then, high schools are separated into 3 types: general high school like in the United States which most students follow with higher education, technical high school which specifies in a particular job field like public relations and does not always need higher education, and vocational high schools which do not qualify students for higher education but prepares students for job fields similar to US vocational schools such as car mechanics or masonry. I found this quite fascinating, and it gives students an option to be a skilled worker for those who the traditional school setting is not the right choice for job preparation.
Another speaker presented about policy regarding sustainable practices. The speaker from Dow Agriculture discussed sustainability challenges than he has to accommodate from the business side and how he collaborates with the science to bring the lab data to the common public. Often, he has to consider more about people’s thoughts and desires even if they can seem contradictory to the science. An emphasis of the presentation was on the farmer and his part in the implementation of sustainable practices.
A main takeaway of the presentation for me was a disconnect between what the science or the activists want and what the farmers want. It is expensive to begin to be sustainable, and farmers are already in a poor economic position. It is also had to tell a multiple generations, experienced farmer to change his ways based on tests done in labs by some unknown source to him, especially if it will make his product more expensive and therefore less likely to be bought and profited from.
Sorry some of my blogs could be mistaken for the notes I take in class, but I think some of the moves than Belgium has been making in the direction of sustainable practices could teach some American’s a thing or two. I have noticed that professors here are more openly critical of their system than American teachers. They are more willing to admit that some practices are terrible and inefficient, that they didn’t work and hurt people or situations. I believe this introspection on the professional level is what has helped Belgium and Europe made more changes than the US because they know they are not some sort of “European dream” or think they are the greatest country in the world that can do no wrong. Perhaps if more Americans could look inwards rather than pointing fingers outwards, we might better admit what we are doing wrong more honestly.
But past the school stuff, Belgian culture has given me a couple surprises. While the United States is panicking about the gender of the person in the stall next to them in the isolated bathroom, every hostel bathroom has both a men’s and women’s stall in them. There is one community shower room for both genders. Public restrooms might separate the genders by a half wall such than when walking in, you can see into both sides clearly. And guess what? No one cares. Everyone just carries on with their day. I also saw my first sidewalk urinal type outdoor structure while touring the city. I will say, I am glad we don’t have those in the United States.
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Read more from Kaylee at https://letsghentlost.wordpress.com/blog/
To find out more about the U of A Faculty-Led: European
Agriculture-Food Chain Sustainability program at http://studyabroad.uark.edu/SUSTEurozone/
