I think that maybe one of the reasons uni feels so different from high school is that I felt that I had some personal interaction with how my school taught, or had insider info and knew they cared about us—because I’d go to and got invited to attend speeches, seminars, and discussions over lunch about our school. Like, I volunteered with an event about neuroscience and psych research and its applications to learning and teaching, and got to attend most of the seminars and talks. Or, I was invited to meet a Finnish teacher over lunch to see if we could learn from them.
I expressed an interest in it, and some teachers noticed that, and helped facilitate my involvement. Now, grading/marking, is so rigid and we have so little opportunity for critical feedback.