One of the few advantages of old age is perspective, so I am able to compare the Engineering School I studied in La Plata fifty years ago and the one in the University of Ariel I am teaching now. La Plata was highly politized, the walls completely covered with faction propaganda, all inciting for demonstrations and strikes. In Ariel, politics is absent. Next week there are important municipal elections here, but no mention of it in the campus. The idiotic system of "autonomia universitaria" in Argentina, where the students elected the institution's authorities, mad it difficult to govern them.
One of the features of Argentina was that study in all levels was free and subsidized, and we were entitled to two meals a day for a symbolic 5 pesos. Very good meals. There were hundreds of "students" who did not really studied nor appeared at the exams, that could enjoy the status of student forever. Many students from the provinces and the neighboring countries, Peru and Bolivia, received a monthly stipend from their parents, but never graduated. I understand that this has not changed till now. In Israel, the studies cost about 11000 sheqels per year, and there are no free meals, so there is no tendency to become "un estudiante eterno".
The population is different. In La Plata it was Spanish and Italian, a very homogeneous population, with a sprinkling of Peruvians and Japanese. Here the majority is brown of native Arabs and Oriental Jews, with about 20% Europeans (Ashkenazim and half Russians). I used to be tall an Argentina, but in Ariel the students are taller (180 cm and above) and well built. Most boys practice in the gym and have over-developed biceps and pectorals, specially the Arabs. Most have savage black beards and look like highway robbers. On the other hand, Ashkenazi girls are skinny and fragile, while the others are fat and loud. This semester I saw few Arab girls covered in black, maybe they have adapted the Tel Aviv fashion of mini-shorts cut at half bottom. I don't know, I don't ogle female bottoms.
Engineering is a mature, slowly changing area, so the syllabus has not changed in fifty years. Maths is now much easier, as computers do the calculations. Google and wiki provide much free and accessible information. However, the students here seem more stressed, possibly because they are paying a lot of money and have less cognitive resources (in average) - I cannot compare, but judging the quality from written exams, average Engineering student in Ariel is dumber than were my colleges in La Plata.
PS: Tried to find a pic representative of the students of Ariel in the internet. Nothing. The desire to be polite and never post anything remotely "insulting" has emasculated the public space. I'll take one by myself and post it. An old man can be allowed to be rude and to take a pic.
One of the features of Argentina was that study in all levels was free and subsidized, and we were entitled to two meals a day for a symbolic 5 pesos. Very good meals. There were hundreds of "students" who did not really studied nor appeared at the exams, that could enjoy the status of student forever. Many students from the provinces and the neighboring countries, Peru and Bolivia, received a monthly stipend from their parents, but never graduated. I understand that this has not changed till now. In Israel, the studies cost about 11000 sheqels per year, and there are no free meals, so there is no tendency to become "un estudiante eterno".
The population is different. In La Plata it was Spanish and Italian, a very homogeneous population, with a sprinkling of Peruvians and Japanese. Here the majority is brown of native Arabs and Oriental Jews, with about 20% Europeans (Ashkenazim and half Russians). I used to be tall an Argentina, but in Ariel the students are taller (180 cm and above) and well built. Most boys practice in the gym and have over-developed biceps and pectorals, specially the Arabs. Most have savage black beards and look like highway robbers. On the other hand, Ashkenazi girls are skinny and fragile, while the others are fat and loud. This semester I saw few Arab girls covered in black, maybe they have adapted the Tel Aviv fashion of mini-shorts cut at half bottom. I don't know, I don't ogle female bottoms.
Engineering is a mature, slowly changing area, so the syllabus has not changed in fifty years. Maths is now much easier, as computers do the calculations. Google and wiki provide much free and accessible information. However, the students here seem more stressed, possibly because they are paying a lot of money and have less cognitive resources (in average) - I cannot compare, but judging the quality from written exams, average Engineering student in Ariel is dumber than were my colleges in La Plata.
PS: Tried to find a pic representative of the students of Ariel in the internet. Nothing. The desire to be polite and never post anything remotely "insulting" has emasculated the public space. I'll take one by myself and post it. An old man can be allowed to be rude and to take a pic.
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