Education superiority
is something that every country wants. For the United States of America, the
country has fallen towards the middle of the pack, while the countries in Asia
are leading the pack. Many people have
reasons of why America is lacking like too much television, games, and social
media outlets. In this article, it does not necessarily go into detail on why
the students are struggling but rather what the other countries are doing and
the cultural differences between the countries.
The article starts off with an astounding fact from a
critic,” Considering the U.S. spends more money per
student than any other country, but we are showing up in the middle of the
pack, is clearly a cause for concern.” (Breitenstein, 2013) This
is astonishing, as it seems that we do not have money for our students. The
article then goes into that the education systems in America and Asia are the
same; the only difference is the language.
In Asia, the only path to success in their eyes is education. They also have several factors that go into play
as the article tells the reader that fear of failure, pride, competition, and
parental demands add to the extremity of the education they receive in Asia. (Breitenstein, 2013) This is something
that obviously not every student goes through, and there are students in the
United States that face the same extremities that Asian student faces.
The question that comes up for most
American students is, “are you going to college?” The article states that in
Asia the question is, “Where and how long are you going to college for? For
some American high school students they do not attend college because they
cannot afford the high tuition costs.
The article then compares The University of Tokyo, a prestigious school
in Japan to Harvard on the tuition costs. Harvard’s annual tuition is $38,891,
while University of Tokyo’s is $5,344. To some students in America, they do not
want to pay that much money for a degree they may or may not use. (Breitenstein, 2013) Now even though the
article just compared Harvard, I took it to myself to compare it to my place of
education, Upper Iowa University. Upper Iowa is a small private college located
in Fayette Iowa, and is not necessarily as prestigious as a Harvard or
Stanford, but still has a high annual tuition of $24,400. Many students in America who do not want to
pay the high rates of going to college will more than likely make the passing
grades for graduation, instead of aiming for high achievement grades.
With all of the high scores that
Asia is producing, comes criticism. Obviously not every student is getting
perfect scores, and there are criticisms for the high achieving students. One
major criticism that stood out to me are cram schools. Cram schools are private
group or tutoring sessions that have an hourly rate of $200. This creates a major gap between the poor and
the rich in test scores. Haruka Nuga, a Journalism major at the University of
Hong Kong, stated, "It creates an imbalance because rich people can afford
cram schools, so their scores are better.” (Breitenstein, 2013) The same could be said for American students
as some parent hire tutors for their child, creating an imbalance in the
students for Americans as well.
Not every child is going to be able
to score perfect scores or is going to go to college in America, but the fact
of the matter is that we as a country are struggling. One thing that as a
country that needs to be taken in, is what the article stated,” Economic
triumph is tied to educational triumph. And in a world where business has no
geographical or political boundaries, everyone everywhere is the competition.”
America needs to step up to be dominant, once again.
Breitenstein, D. (2013, 08 04). Asian students carry high
expectations for success. Retrieved from
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/08/04/asian-students-carry-high-expectations-for-success/2615483/
