Natwerk Designs

Is American higher education better than Asian higher education?

American schools really encourage their students to be well rounded and especially emphasize thinking outside the box which I think is a great model for education systems around the world. Many colleges have general education which gives many Americans a broad spectrum of courses which they have to take and before coming to college, many Americans are required to participate in many extracurriculars making Americans very knowledgeable about many different areas of life. Not surprisingly, the US is the center of innovation since they really have a good understanding of the big picture and can easily see how everything is really inter-disciplinary. Why? In America, kids aren't forced to memorize countless amounts of information unlike in Asia but instead are encouraged to utilize the big picture and connect the dots instead. Asian schools on the other hand have a very narrow focus: studying and memorizing what they learn in school. From an early age, Chinese, Japanese, and Indian schools make their students memorize their multiplication tables by making them recite them even to the point that they could do it in their sleep. Not only that, Asian schools emphasize repetition to improve penmanship, to improve their skills in higher level mathematics, and in many other subjects. Not surprisingly, Asians tend to be very adept at memorization and have an easier time memorizing things and phrases than do Americans. Not surprisingly, the Japanese are able to copy American innovations so well..it comes from their education system. Also, Asian schools tend to force their kids to only focus on studying rather than socializing or learning people skills, team work, or management. Not surprisingly, many Asians that come to America tend to really lack when it comes to talking to other people or even taking care of themselves aside from studying. In Asia, you also tend to specialize in a specific field at a really early age or at the end of 10th or 12th grade of high school depending on the country. That is, you decide whether you want to be a doctor, engineer, accountant, plumber, or some other job when you are 16 years old. Then you take a really stressful entrance exam that focuses on a few subjects and your life depends on this one exam. If you fail, then you could be washing dishes at a restaurant for the rest of your life. thats why i say they dont encourage their children to develop a well-rounded personality.. and once you do specialize in a field in asia, you only can take courses in that field and as a result many asians tend to know little to nothing about subjects outside their field of study

Public Comments

1. Asian education is nothing more learning mathematical techniques.
2. Being that most college graduates are liberals (I would say that a majority of them that leave the college scene and enter the real world open up their minds to see how ridiculous they were, myself included), I would say that our higher education is a dismal failure.
3. really? that's why they lack social skills? as opposed to english being the 2nd language and the culture shock. yeah, you've got it all figured out.
4. We have the best universities in the world
5. The jobs are there. Soon Asian students will benefit from experts that have actually worked in the field while Americans won't even see a person that has worked in anything but the service industry. Asian schools also tend to allow students to decide at the end of the year if they want a grade on their transcript or not while American schools sabotage their students by not allowing the same conditions.
6. The point is not American or Asian - thats racist. What you have to keep in mind is that Borog Obama is a Stalinist. If the US continues to elect him and Ronald Raegan well then the US Soldiers are already known for their cowardice. I mean come on! They have been in Afghanistan for almost ten years now and they havent even managed to kill Saddam Hussein! That guy made america cry - well, as we saw in NYC American firefighters are cowards they die very easily all the time this is because Obama has trained them to be communists and thats the main issue!
7. I didn't read your essay about your own question, but I will state that having been educated only in America, I have no basis of comparison. I will point out that there are private education options in America and probably not so much in Asia.
8. yes it is. asian kids don't have well rounded full lives like our children. be it video games or sports and other extra curricular activities, the asians just don't get to do that. they are too busy learning their 100000000 letter alphabet
9. Honestly it depends on the subject matter. Finance is better in other countries like Japan and even China....Japanese Candlesticks used for stock charting was their idea. America has great medical schools, but they are so expensive. I guess it all depends on what you want, but you can not beat the price, about one tenth of the price for an American school, so, in the long run, I would have to lean toward overseas schools. The average price for college in Europe is roughly 4k per year for the best schools vs 40k for some of our best schools...