We Should Cherish Our Children's Freedom To Think Summary

American and Asian Educational Methods
Today the American educational system is getting worse with every year. Teachers in the U.S. schools can not provide children with the appropriate skills wich are needed for their future education. But children in Asian countries are showing high results on their tests, and Asian countries are “beating the pants off us in the educational arena.” Moreover, work perfomance in the U.S. is very poor after graduation, for American students keep failing in Math and Science in high school. Due to the low test scores and poor work perfomance after high school graduation, our government came to a conclussion that the education system is failing. After examining the information out of the different articles, it is obvious that the U.S. educational system should adopt some Asian techniques in teaching, but there are some methods wich must not be changed because of cultural differences.
The U.S. educational
system has inapropriate teaching styles and techniques in contrast with Asia. First of all, teachers in America do not know how to teach their subjects and they are not trained appropriatly. Acording to William Robinson’s essay, teachers are trying to cover too much, so as a result children are not able to comprehend and remember a topic, for a lot of information confuses children. American teachers just jump from one topic to another, so some students have problems remembering information. Also teachers in the U.S. do not know how to teach efficiently so the children could learn. On the other hand, Asian teachers focus only on one topic and discuss this topic till everybody in a class comprehend it. Also the American teachers cannot work together with other colleagues. They do not have team work, and they do not observe each other work. Moreover, most of American teachers are not encouraged to shareinformation and teaching techniques, so they cannot learn from one another. In contrast, Asian teachers created the teacher-development strategy. Brent Staples from the New York Times writes, that teachers in Japan work together in order to improve their styles and methods.
Also the U.S. and Asia have a different curriculum system. Schools in the U.S. do not have unity, there is no national standards, so as result if a student wants to move to a different state, it is likely that in a new school this student will be ahead or behind a subject. According to the New York Times fifty different states have fifty different standards. Asian countries, by contrast, study the same topic at the same time. The same standards leads to higher resuts and better perfomance on the national arena.
The environment at home also plays a key role in children’s perfomance in school. American children are already used to the fact that their parents do not help them with their homework. Usually American parents do not have enough time to help, or they think if their child is bad in a particular subject then this is not child’s fault, he is just not good in it. According to Robinson, students who get enough help at home are more successful and better quality students. Barbara Vobejda in her essay “ Why are U.S. Kids Poor in Math” writes, American mothers believe that “achievment is determined more by ability than effort.” It means that if a child is not able to understand the subject then this is not the right subject fr the child. On the other hand, Asian parents put a lot of pressure on their children. They demand much more studying from children and at the same time parents help them to study. They try to give as much help and explanation as possible, so their children will succeed.
But one thing that makes the U.S.
education system different and unique from all Asian countries is the freedom. Kie Ho in “We Should Cherish Our Children’s Freedom To Think” believes that “their public school had provided these children with opportunities and to fulfill their creativity, something that people tend to dismiss or take for granted.” By this the author means that America gives its students freedom to be creative, and to express themselves. Kie Ho argues that it is better for children to be able to do experiments and have their own ideas instead of memorizing stuff. In Asia, by contrast, childen do not have this ability; there is huge pressure on them to memorize. Dicsipline is a very important aspect in all Asian schools. According to the essay “School Here in the United States And Thre in Vietnam”, if a sudent forgets to do homework, that student will have problems, and he or she could get spanked and punished by a teacher. Asian children do not have opportunity to express themselves because of their strict
system.
So as we can see both systems are completely different, but there should be a middle ground. We must change the Amarican education system because future generation will be ones who will suffer from this inefficient system. Today chidren face this problem and it is every parents’ right to help their children succeed in the future. The U.S. should improve teaching styles and team work, and teachers should start observing each other more. Also American teachers should start sharing information and methods with others. Moreover, a national standard should be created in the U.S. in order to show better results in the national arena. Also parents should spend more time with their children helping them and sharing their knowledge. The U.S. educational system should definitely be chanched, but at the same time it should still give childen the freedom and opportunity to be themselves.