Tilburg University- Higher Education in the NL (also Sex among religious youth in NL)

13 June 2019

Today we traveled to Tilburg University where we got to meet some international students from a variety of countries. We learned that their grades are determined on a scale from 1-10. Many professors believe that 10 is a perfect grade and since no student is perfect, the highest grade most students receive is around an 8. As international students, some of them mentioned that they were surprised about how tests were organized in multiple choice. They saw this as a struggle since many of them had grown up with open ended or essay questions for tests. Within classes, students expressed gratitude for the school’s diversity since around 30 percent of the student population is international and that classes are taught in English. 

After our introduction to the university, we attended a lecture given by Dr. Hans van Dijk who is an assistant professor of Psychology. Since we are studying sexuality, he was studying sexual attitudes and behaviors of Christian youths. This study is important since sex is seen as taboo or even shameful in some churches. Dr. Hans created a workshop for various Christian groups to have a safe place to talk about their sexual experiences and feelings without being judged or condemned. The workshop also had a questionnaire at the beginning that asked about topics such as masturbation and watching porn, both of which are frowned upon by the church. The attitudes between men and women for both of these topics varied, however, men tended to engage in these activities more then the woman. What I found interesting is that despite the difference in sexually arousing activities, the amount of woman and men who have engaged in sex is 42 percent for both genders. 

The data for this study included around 3000 participants from all around the Netherlands. There may be some social desirability bias since participants may have felt judged if they answered truthfully. Overall it was a very interesting talk and it gave the class a glimpse of sexuality from a religious perspective. 

• Lillian Witting