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What is wrong with undergrad ECON classes?

A little bit of background: I am an undergraduate economics student from Spain with quite a bit of passion in the subject. I am a Junior now.

So this year I came to a US University as an exchange student under a bilateral agreement between my Uni and Purdue University. So far so good, love the American experience in many ways, but in others, I have been pretty disappointed with the classes I am taking here.

My first two years of Econ in Spain were intense, but interesting and pretty integral. We started on the very basics on the first year, covering intro to Econ, univariate and multivariate calculus, intro to stats (Random Variables, probability, etc.), Micro and some other miscellaneous stuff such as legal frameworks for Economics.

On the second year we moved onto more advanced coverings of these topics. I took Game Theory, Advanced Microeconomic Theory, Advanced Macroeconomics, Dynamic Macro, Industrial organization and more.

Overall, most if not all courses we had to take in sophomore year involved at least some form of applied calculus, which we obviously learned in our first year. No course relied on simple algebra or visual solving methods; many included some form of constrained optimization. We even went on to learn intertemporal optimization. We use all these tools widely. In econometrics, although and introductory course, we also learn how to prove and derive stuff and work it all out.

Although my University is somewhat known around Spain for being pretty tough and reputable on Econ, it still makes sense that calculus is an essential tool of most microeconomic courses, and that overall, math is a recurring tool in many classes.

But now, I come into the US and it seems like all the ECON courses I am taking are a joke. None of them mention the slight use of calculus on their syllabus, and after two weeks of classes, it even seems like Professors are reluctant to that idea. They try to calm down their students saying things like "don't worry, we won't be going into hard math like calculus in this course". One class even had an introductory "math review" session in which **we were explained the properties of exponents and how to fucking plot linear equations.** It just baffles me and it feels frustrating that this year will be spent learning about applied economics without using math at all, not even simple supply and demand charts sometimes. Ever since I started college I have been told by many Professors and counselors that as an Econ student, the more math I take, the better. And I abide by it: not only do I love math but I love applying it. So taking Calc I and II in my first year isn't obviously enough, and that's why I feel great about having had to use math in so many other classes. But now, here, everything is explained in such a simple and straightforward way, with little to no reasoning, that I just feel like I am wasting my time.

I'm taking Environmental Economics, Time Series Analysis, Behavioral Economics, International Trade and Linear Algebra + Diff Equations. The only two classes that seem math-wise are Time Series and Lin. Algebra+Diff Eqns, but still, why would the rest be taught at such a low level?

The way college works in Spain is that on the first two years most classes are mandatory for all students enrolled in a specific major. Then, on the third and fourth year each student can branch out onto their preferable electives, which must be selected from a pool of econ or econ related electives.

In my case, the ones that I was interested in most were developing Econometrics (micro and macroeconometrics, applied econometrics, proof based stats courses, time series...) and Micro (advanced behavioral econ, Information Economics, Advanced Industrial Econ, Environmental econ...), besides from others. So in order for my exchange agreement to work, I had to look for some of these courses in Purdue (or equivalent courses). This was already hard enough since it seems Purdue Undergrad Econometrics classes won't go further than Econometrics 101, unlike in Spain. But still, after finding some seemingly decent equivalencies, this is what I come across when actually attending the classes.

I am aware that the Spanish university system is,  by itself, quite different from other countries', even European ones. I know the US college system is way more flexible and open in terms of what you want to focus on during your years in college,  that's great, but it seems this comes with the cost of -sometimes- lacking a strong base in essential knowledge in certain subjects. In all three classes I mentioned earlier, we had to be introduced to how supply and demand works, to what a model is, to how Econ is studied. How am I being taught this three years after I learned it, again? For anyone to be enrolled in upper level applied econ classes, I believe there should be a required and expected minimum level of knowledge and math skills. I am very frustrated and lost as to what to do and I am not sure anymore if coming to study to the US is worth it.

**TL;DR: It seems that Econ classes in the US are a dumb joke compared to the classes I used to take in Spain. Almost no math at all and basic concepts from ECON 101 is what we've been taught so far (junior year taking upper level classes). I'm interested in quantitative economics and applied micro, am worried I'm not gonna learn much this year.**

**EDIT:** Wow, thanks so much to everyone for their replies. Definitely didn't think this thread would get so many. All of your advice is greatly appreciated and I see things clearer now. I got a lot of new insights that will for sure help me out. Thanks so much, everyone!!
gpt
Might be a Purdue problem. It wasn't like that at Texas A&M. There were plenty of classes tailored towards the BA students, but there were always enough sections to take a few math-literate econ courses each semester.