Analysis Of We Should Cherish Our Children's Freedom To Think

A Critique of “We Should Cherish Our Children’s Freedom to Think” Kie Ho, in his article, tried to prove that American education is better than any other even though it doesn’t have high standards in basic skills. He sustained his thesis by saying that “[American] children are able to experiment freely with ideas”(Ho, 1996, p.126), while children in many other countries are demanded to practice mathematics or language skills. However, I don’t agree with his stance; he defined education in other countries as “dedication and obedience” (p.126), thought that to give children chances to achieve their creativity is the most important quality of education (p.127), and implied that other countries should follow American education (p.127).
He made a gross generalization by using only his own experience in high school days; however, it isn’t applicable to all the countries. For instance, Korean students actually are not asked only to listen and be obedient to teachers. They ask questions in the class and even raise objections when they think what the teacher says wrong, or they don’t like the teaching style. Even if they seem to be under strong control, it’s not because Korean education is designed to bring out “dedication and obedience” (p.126) from students but because Korean’s particular circumstances cause such a sight. In fact, there are more than forty students in a class; therefore, it’s not easy for students to act as freely as American students who have only about twenty-five students in a