The Foreign Service Journal, April 2011

teaching materials. Prior to my arrival, I received frequent e-mails from des- ignated staff whose role was to ensure that my teaching and research needs were fulfilled. I was very impressed by the level of communication, help- fulness and academic support that I received before and after my arrival. My office was very nice, even by U.S. standards, with a great view of the campus and good furniture. Addi- tionally, the technical support team was very helpful, immediately solving any computer problems I had. AUA grants only graduate degrees and is run in an American style. Still, my class was initially surprised that I mandate active verbal participation from all students, because that is not the typical Armenian teaching method. They were used to the professor- talks, student-listens method. How- ever, they were quite vocal in my class and were almost uniformly excellent contributors to our many class dis- cussions. Education is valued highly in Ar- menia, so the students were very con- cerned about maintaining a high grade point average to ensure that they would not flunk out. The school is quite prestigious and, therefore, very expensive by local standards. Thus, most of them worked extremely hard on their assignments. I gave the class the same kind of tasks that I do back in the States. Rel- ative to my American students, the Ar- menians’ command of proper written English grammar was notably better, as was their preparation for my all- essay exams. They were very proud when I told them their class was the first I had ever taught in which almost the entire group passed the first exam. Despite their focus on academics, the students had little clarity about what they would do after completing their degrees. A few were employed, but most of them had never had a job before. In fact, with an average age of about 23, the students were younger than the typical American graduate student. The majority of the class wanted to work in some kind of diplo- matic capacity, but had no idea how to obtain such positions — or how to get any kind of professional job. Unemployment is very high in Ar- A P R I L 2 0 1 1 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 43 At times I literally stopped traffic in the capital, as drivers slammed on their brakes to stare at me.