Editor’s note: This article was first published in November 2013; the debate on Spanish universities versus Harvard and Oxford and the remarks on what business administration degrees in Spain teach reflect that time.
These days, with the university systems of some countries (Spain included) being called into question when compared with the high standards supposedly demanded by universities such as Harvard and Oxford, plenty of reporters are heading out to campuses abroad to try to find out whether the students at these universities really are smarter than those at other universities around the world.
We should remember that Harvard is the university that has produced the most entrepreneurs and millionaires within its walls (read: the 10 best business schools in the world). But how would university students feel if they knew that the vast majority of Harvard students have no idea what the capital of their neighbouring country, Canada, is? The Harvard Crimson sent a reporter to ask students what the capital of Canada was, and of everyone asked, the only one who answered correctly, “Ottawa”, was a Canadian student. Others came close with “Toronto”, and some tried “Alberta”.
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A few days ago I was watching a television programme in which a reporter showed a photo of Shakespeare to English students at Oxford University, and practically none of them knew who the man in the photo was. What’s more, they couldn’t spell the word “Shakespeare” either, even though it is their own language.
Does that make them less intelligent?
There is a very common way of thinking within the walls of these prestigious universities: general knowledge matters, but specialising in a specific subject matters much more. In other words, you might know every capital in the world, have the periodic table down perfectly and even be able to solve for unknowns in equations with natural logarithms, but if that knowledge doesn’t earn you money or help your career, it could be considered little more than entertainment.
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For example, one worrying thing about the Spanish university system is that a graduate in Business Administration and Management may never have been taught the steps for setting up a company, or taught advanced financial concepts.
Without needing to send out a reporter, I would venture to guarantee that 99% of Spanish university students, whatever their campus, know the capital of our neighbouring country, France. Does that make our students better prepared to take on the world than the students at Harvard and Oxford? Clearly not.
And let no one misread these words, comments or arguments: we are not saying that general knowledge isn’t important. We are simply saying that something is wrong with our education system, and we don’t know exactly what. Perhaps a university student can explain it.
Further reading
- Lessons college students need to learn in their 20s
- The best advice ever given to university students for success in their careers
- Advice from 10 leaders to university students and future entrepreneurs
Featured image: giggel, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
