<p>@halcyonheather that’s why I mentioned that in the 2nd half of my post ;)</p>
<p>It depends on where you go, and what you’re able to get out of it. Better high schools (read, private schools) have more opportunities and allow you to do more with your education.
I don’t think it’s a good system, though, because it alienates lower and higher achieving students and, at least where I live, provides limited academic and emotional support (the minimum required by law is very low).</p>
<p>I want to go back to what @Animefan1998 said. Compared to other countries, America ** sucks **when it comes to foreign language education. When foreign exchange students come to America, many of them are fluent in English, their home language, and another separate language. And they’re only in high school! I mean, foreign exchange students generally tend to be good at learning a language if they’re taking a year in America, but still. Foreign language education is emphasized in other countries than it is in America. From what I’ve seen, American teenagers are like “we already speak English; that’s all we need! America basically runs the world anyway.” Obviously, that’s not always the case, but America should be more adamant about encouraging foreign language education. We should do what many countries do, and start teaching a second language at kindergarten (I know that a good amount of schools in America do this, but not nearly enough).</p>
<p>Agree with the point above! I also think it’s a matter of entitlement and mindset, though.</p>
<p>Yeah, I really wish America promoted learning foreign language more.</p>
<p>America is #1 in confidence that we are good.</p>
<p>I doubt it; these are all Americans here downplaying us and I’m fairly certain it’s a key point for average white families to say that “dem asians and brownskins beatin us, why we so darned dumb lord jesus savior save us lawdy”.</p>
<p>What you talkin’ bout boy, ain’t no one beating us, ‘Murica is the goddang best country on God’s good Earth. Lord done blessed us with amber waves of grain, shinin’ seas, and Ronald Reagan. Now eat your mashed potatoes, Jimmy. </p>
<p>*potatas</p>
<p>'taters**</p>
<p>*mush</p>
<p>*(prolonged silence) </p>
<p>How awks.</p>
<p>Mashed mush?</p>
<p>And we end this thread with a joke.</p>
<p>American education is #1.</p>
<p>LOL @preamble1776 that’s accurate.</p>
<p>No, but really, I think American education is a joke. And actually it’s not #1, it’s about #23: <a href=“U.S. Students Slide In Global Ranking On Math, Reading, Science : The Two-Way : NPR”>U.S. Students Slide In Global Ranking On Math, Reading, Science : The Two-Way : NPR;
<p>I mean, there are a lot of factors included, like the fact that we educate everyone and have a higher poverty rate than many other developed countries. We put in the most money, yet get the least out of it so that shows we’re not very efficient with money, despite being so passionately capitalist.
I think our culture doesn’t value education as much as many eastern nations. Like Rome, we’re becoming complacent and consumed in our own greatness. For the average American student, there’s no sense of urgency because we don’t need to be urgent. Most of us are middle class and as long as we go to any college, we’ll graduate and hopefully get an average job. For those who are poor, they’re often stuck in generational poverty and a culture that encourages people to give up before trying.</p>
<p>America is often the goal for a lot of people in the East, and coming to America isn’t easy, so they work hard. When you have nothing, you work very hard to have something. When you have everything, you don’t. And that’s, like, the story of our world.</p>
<p>Wow, A+ answer. That struck a chord in me.</p>
<p>I wish I was better at conveying my ideas through writing. ):</p>
<p>No Child Left Behind gives schools more money based on test scores I believe (slept through most of US History this year, so don’t hold me to this lol) and I think because of this some schools teach their students lighter to have a better reputation. While (even for my school) I think the education is not nearly as good as a European or Asian country, it’s of course up to the teacher/curriculum of the school…my AP Bio teacher is definitely a hard teacher, but another one in the same school is known for being much easier. The strong-accented (Russia, Cuba) calculus teachers are known as being rough+strict, but you come out with a LOT of knowledge. I guess it depends on how your school teaches :)</p>
<p>Also: We place too high of an emphasis on scores…which encourages cheating. While grades show how much you have mastered a topic, American schools don’t give much room for discussion, ideas, interpersonal learning. Therefore we come out only correlating scores and academic achievements with success and focusing on numbers; other countries teach problem solving, critical thinking, and develop a person’s creativity. I think we fail not only on a numerical value, but also on the preparation for the future. </p>