so my last post seems to have caused quite a stir...

Let me defend myself here for a moment:

I'm not saying the Danish system is not good. It's wonderful that anybody has the opportunity to go to college. I think what I mean is that I cherish my education with a particular fervor, because I had to earn it (sort of). A degree is not a magical piece of paper, but I think the point my Danish friend was trying to make was that since you go to school for something incredibly specific (i.e., he goes for performance arrangement, which as far as I can tell means booking shows), when you do time in that, but then decide to be, say, a motorcycle mechanic, it is not as if you've given yourself part of a liberal arts education, you have learned how to do one thing, like midwifery (apparently the subject with the hardest entry requirements in Denmark).

If Europeans want a liberal arts education, for the most part they have to come to America or Canada to get one, so only the wealthy have access to that, since international students obviously don't get a shot at financial aid. So, to sum it up, there are pros and cons to every system. The American system benefits from a wide variety of choice and an emphasis on a well-rounded education, as opposed to something that is more like trade school, in which you only take classes about one thing. The Scots/Brits are all surprised when they hear the classes that we, the US students, are taking during our semester here, when compared with our majors. If you want to take Scottish ethnology, you better be a Scottish ethnology major!

Second, I am not defending the toys that sports people get at my uni. I think giving them mopeds is ridiculous. I'm simply saying that the benefit that I saw was that people who were drawn to give money to the University to build a stadium were also encouraged to give a matching donation for a scholarship fund, which created, I think, at least a few million in new academic scholarships for students. I unfortunately enrolled at the University a year too early to reap the benefits for National Merit scholars...

Stay tuned for details of my first ceilidh, how delicious haggis actually is, and my exciting Scottish night on the town. And maybe some pictures too.