American Education system versus Asian Education System

Today the American education system is no longer the best in the world.
With declining test scores and poor academic achievement, people have questione
d whether our current educational system is working for us? On the other side of
the Pacific, the situation is totally different. Students of Asian countries a
chieve higher academic achievements, and they rank at the top on math and scienc
e tests. If their educational system is better than the U.S system, should we a
dopt their educational system or not?
America the land of opportunity, which is famous for its democratic soci
ety and unique culture. People in America like to be free, to do whatever they
want to do without any restrictions. This belief is reflected in the American e
ducational system. In American schools, teachers and students are at the same s
ocial level. Students are encouraged to exchange their own opinions with the tea
cher. From an early age, students in the American educational system have been
taught that they have the ability to achieve whatever they want to be, but rarel
y have been told how they can achieve their goal. This is because in America th
ere are so many ways to achieve one's dream.
Because of this belief in natural born ability in the land of opportunit
y, students receive very little pressure in school, so whatever they do in schoo
l is totally based on their personal beliefs. If a student wants to be successf
ul he or she can study very hard and get in to a very good college. On the othe
r hand if a student doesn't have any self control and just wants to get school
over with, it is OK too, because nobody cares. The advantage of this kind of ed
ucational system is that , it really developes student's individual thinking sk
ills, they are encouraged to try out different options to achieve their goal. F
or example Bill Gates, who dropped out of college, started his own company, now
he is one of the richest man in the world. That bad thing about this system is
that not that many students don't have the responsibility to get good grades or
become successful many believe that even if you don't have a good education you
can still get a good paying job. That's why many students in school are doing p
oorly on their school work.
In Asian countries, the cultures and social standards are totally differ
ent from the U.S. In those countries most of their values are based on Confuciu
s which heavily stresses education and group values. One's social status is bas
ed on their education level. Starting from elementary school, students have bee
n taught that if you want to be successful in life you must have a good educatio
n, any other way is considers inappropriate. In the Asian school systems, educa
tors rank students by their scores. So, if your rank is high you are a good stud
ent and you will have a good chance to get into a good school. If your rank is
low then you are a bad student it is a sign of your are going to be a looser. N
obody cares if you are talented or not. Under these pressures, students compete
hard with other students. They study five hours a day just trying to gain more
points on a test so they can get into a higher rank. In school, teachers try t
o stuff more knowledge into students so their class can be better than other cla
ss in the School. Schools set stricter rules so their students can be better th
an the students in other schools.
Through these efforts of setting high standards it's no surprise that As
ian students rank at the top of academic achievement. The advantage of this kin
d of system is that the school systems can provide the society year after year
with high quality personnel with the same academic standard, although most of th
ose students are that creative, because they are not allowed to do much free thi
nking in school. Free thinking is considered a waste of time.
In reality, a person must be very creative on a job otherwise he or she
will be replaced by someone in no time. Because the American educational system
allows and encourages free thinking in school, U.S is still the #1 in innovatio
n and scientific research. If the U.S adopts the Asian educational system it's
probaly going to be in confilict with the constitution on the issue of freedom o
f speech. Because of this, I think the current educational system is well suite
d for America.