Education is the foundation of knowledge and success, and is a pathway a child should take in order to

reach their full potential in life. Children have the chance to gain new knowledge and personal qualities
that will benefit their lives. Hence, it is important to have a good education system that grants the child
the right education. In his article “ We Should Cherish Our Children’s Freedom to Think” (Ho, 1996), Kie
Ho supports the Education system in the US, claiming that giving children the freedom to think is more
important than stuffing the children’s heads with knowledge. He thinks that the American education
isn’t perfect, but it is more suitable than any other system of teaching, because it provides freedom and
opportunities for children to be creative. Overall, what the author is claiming is true, education system
should not deprive children of freedom to think.

Kie Ho considers education that provides freedom is more effective than just sealing the child’s head
with knowledge. “Equipped only with … and crayons, they had transformed simple paper lunch bags
into, among other things, a waterfall with flying fish… . Their public school had provided these children
with opportunities and direction to fulfill their creativity. (p.72)” The author is implying that the reason
why the US is the country of innovation is because the system of education provides the children with
opportunities and freedom to be creative. I strongly agree with the author’s idea. In my previous school,
the teachers wouldn’t give us the freedom to experiment freely; the students always followed a strict
set of instructions and orders when doing a certain assignment. When a student would come up with
something creative, the teacher would reject his assignment, saying that it wasn’t correct. The USSR
method of teaching, didn’t involve any form of creativity or critical thinking. Instead it focused on
teaching hard skills such as math, literature and science. Hence, today we can see that the post soviet
countries are stronger in mathematics and science. However, not one of these countries isn’t recognized
as “the country of innovation.”

Throughout the whole article, Kie Ho compares his learning experience in Indonesia with his son’s in
America. While the system that Kie Ho was educated by was strict and demanding, the system in
America gave his son all the freedom to “experiment with ideas”. One of the examples that he gives is
that when he was 12 years old, he had to “memorize all the names of all world’s major cities”, but at the
same age, his Californian son didn’t even know what Buenos Aires was; he was studying “creative
geography”. This example in my opinion, doesn’t prove the author’s main argument. When it comes to
geography, knowing the names if major cities is essential. It help’s you to understand the planet’s
movement, changes and systems, and enables people to understand where they are in relation to other
places or objects. As geography helps us gauge distances and locate places on Earth, it helps improve
our navigation skills. For example, if his son was to travel around the world, he would need to know the
names of major cities. In conclusion, we can say you need to be learning hard skills, like math,
geography and literature, but at the same time you have to be creative

Kie Ho doesn’t say that the American Education is perfect, rather he says that it possesses the “most
important measurement” - freedom, and that is what makes American Education “a great deal better
than any other.