mazbook1
Mar 18, 2012, 8:15 PM
Post #30 of 31
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Re: [YucaLandia] Writing Expertise vs. Education Levels
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YucaLandia (and anyone else interested),
In my experience, and it's pretty extensive, having graduated 3 (soon to be 4) from primaria (grade school), 2 from secundaria (soon to be 3, from junior high), 3 from preparatoria (preparatory school for going to university, NOT high school as the same 3 years are thought of NOB) and now have those 3 (one my wife!) in university studying architecture, veterinary science and psychology (all on a degree level - licenciatura - usually considered to be a Bachelor of science, but read on), so I do know quite a bit about the Mexican educational system. Besides all that, I have put 4 employees all the way through university during my residence in México.
In México, once a student leaves secundaria, there is essentially NO general education at all. It's all about career paths. When students enter prepa, they state their "general" career path, i.e., the sciences, engineering or related fields, or the arts, history, language, literature, law, etc. From that moment on, they study ONLY those things directly needed for their chosen career path, nothing else. Once in university, they enroll in a specific career path. My employees going to university got degrees in computer science (2), law and accounting. There are only MAJORS, no MINORS, when they get that degree. They have studied NOTHING EXCEPT THINGS DIRECTLY RELATED TO THEIR CHOSEN FIELD! If they want to study something additionally, they must have the time and money and drive to do so. Of my graduates, 3 of them took the time (4 years of weekend classes) and spent the extra money to get certified in English, but none of them had the slightest clue about Mexican history (except what they were taught in primary and secondary school), Spanish literature, and on, and on and on. I quickly realized that in the terms of their chosen careers, that licenciatura was much closer to a NOB Masters degree than to a Bachelors. As a matter of fact, my wife is now a diplomada in psychology, equivalent to a Bachelors, but to become a practicing licensed psychologist, something that requires a Masters NOB, she must go 2 more years and get her licenciatura, something that she is doing.
It is still somewhat frustrating to me to realize that folks I SHOULD think of as "educated", really aren't, at least in the way most university graduates are NOB. Here educado/a means polite, well spoken, etc., rather than "educated" as we from NOB think of the meaning.
As always, the Mexican system is just different, not better, not worse, just different. A graduate chemist in the U.S. would probably be astounded at how much more a Mexican graduate chemist knows about chemistry than he does. But he would be really astounded to know that the Mexican chemist knows absolutely nothing about anything except chemistry. Personally, I would do the 2 or 3 extra years necessary to get a Masters in my chosen field, rather than give up my minor and additional courses that were required for me to get a Bachelors. But that's me, raised and educated in a totally different culture. I'm sure, no, I know, that a Mexican graduate in my field would be just as puzzled when he discovered that I had quite a general education, history, economics, literature, philosophy, etc., and knew as little as I did about my chosen career. Works both ways!
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