Community colleges?

[Megas Methuselah]

I have taken upper-level history courses in Europe, and was majorly unimpressed. They were ALL content! There was no required research...just lectures and essay exams.

Yeah, I'm taking upper-level history courses right now. What you describe doesn't apply to what I experienced. Sucks to be American, huh?

In most of my classes the research paper (which you are often expected to write using only sources from a source book that your professor gives you...even if you have access to other and better sources for your subject) is never more than 20% of my grade! It should be at least 75%!

Ok, now that's just strange. In first year classes, papers were worth about 30-40 percent. But the higher you go, the more they become. In my current class, I think the paper's worth about 60% of the grade or something. Moreover, my exams aren't true/false or short-answer, trivia questions. They are essays. Last exam, we were given the topic a couple days in advance; from that, I picked my own argument and view, researched the evidence to back it up, remembered as much as I could, then wrote my essay in-class. Sure, the professor's viewpoint might influence your own, but you have the freedom to argue for whatever you want to argue.

So, why is your educational system so inferior to mine?

AM I LEARNING SKILLZ

Hellz yeah, esé!