EXCHANGE STUDENTS VIEW AMERICAN LIFE

After only three days in the United States, Nick Cross and Jason Mines say they've already learned a lot about American culture.

They've been introduced to drive-up automatic teller machines, visited the shopping mall, and watched half-hour-long television commercials all of which they'd never seen before.

But that's just the beginning. They also want to eat Cajun food, listen to jazz music and ride up the St. Louis Gateway Arch.

The two are part of a group of 10 students from England, Wales and Ireland who will teach students at Jackson schools during their four-week stay in the area. They are part of an exchange program at Southeast Missouri State University.

All third-year education majors at the Swansea Institute of Higher Education in Swansea, England, they hope to teach a bit of culture as well as learn it.

Mines, an elementary education major from Frone in southwest England, said he brought slides, photographs and books to help young students learn about his homeland.

"I want to teach them some history of our country and some geography," said Mines, who will teach fifth-grade students at Jackson.

The exchange students are staying in dorms at Southeast, and their visit coincides with the start of International Week on the university campus.

Lloyd Rees, a professor of English at Swansea, is the students' adviser. He said the exchange program is a chance for students to learn as well as teach.

In England, teaching as a profession is regarded highly, but just as in the United States, it is not particularly high-paying.

"It is poorly paid, but it is richly rewarding," said Rees.

But how does Southeast compare to their university?

Southeast has more than twice the enrollment, and the facilities at Southeast residence halls, the library and the University Center are better maintained and larger than the ones back home, they said.

"I think the students here are proud of their school. And I'm impressed with the way students run things here. They seem to be very involved," said Cross, who is from Whitby in northeast England.

At Swansea, there are fewer student organizations, and on-campus jobs are virtually non-existent. Mines said students here seem to work more, think more of their future, and are especially concerned about careers and money.

"We tend not to think about the future so much," he said.

In the United Kingdom, compulsory education ends at age 16. About 40 percent of students continue their education to age 18, Rees said. Only about 20 percent of those students go on to college.

Education there also begins to be specialized when students are about 16. They study only three or four subjects after that, depending on what career they choose to follow.

Part of the reason is because the higher education system there is selective.

"You must pass a series of examinations. All of them are very rigorous," Rees said.

But once students have earned a place in college, they can attend free of charge. Fees are paid, and other expenses are covered by grants.

But that system is in the midst of change, Rees said. Grants are becoming increasingly difficult to obtain, which may lead to students having to pay for their education.

Mines said he prefers the American system, not because students have to pay for their educations, but because many more students are able to attend college.

"It's a good system and it seems to work," he said. "I think it is better than a system that selects."

American college students also seem better off financially than English ones, they said. Very few students at Swansea have cars.

"It's just too expensive," said Cross. "Some have cars for short periods of time, but find they just can't afford to maintain them financially. I had one for six months, but found I couldn't afford it." The price of a gallon of gasoline there is about $4, he said.

Rees agrees. "There seems to be an affluence here," he said.

Mines said people in Cape Girardeau have been "generous and friendly." His one bad experience has been when the airline lost some of his luggage. It still hasn't been located, so he's wearing clothes borrowed from new-found friends.

The group landed in St. Louis Thursday. After four weeks in Cape Girardeau, they will travel to New Orleans and then back to St. Louis for the trip home.

Mines said he researched the United States and Missouri before leaving his country, but Cross said he was told a few things about Missouri and the Midwest that turned out not to be true.

"I was told Cape Girardeau was the buckle of the Bible belt. I really didn't know what to expect."

But the reality?

"Students here know how to have fun."