Essay/Term paper: The advantages of american educational system

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Education

The Advantages of American Educational System


Parents and the older generation Americans always complain about the
educational system of the country. They assert that their children's knowledge
and skills are below average as compared to their counterparts in other
countries. The American educational system is not inferior to other systems in
any other way. Instead, it is just teaching some other factors that are
considered more significant than simply basic knowledge and skills. The American
educational system tries to develop freedom and creativity among its students.
From an American point of view, only in this way can the students contribute
maximally to the future society.
Freedom is the trademark of America. Americans are admired by people in
other countries because they have the freedom to do whatever they wish without
worrying about the negative consequences. Therefore, the American educational
system must be in congruence with this trademark. According to this system,
children can learn effectively only when they are allowed to explore freely with
their ideas, "without this they will not really be able to think or believe in
themselves" . When children are forced to memorize some materials, they will
remember the materials for a few days. However, they would have forgotten
everything after a summer vacation. On the other hand, when children are
allowed to think of their own ways of learning the concepts, they will tend to
remember them longer and apply them appropriately since they are their own ideas.
In addition to promoting freedom, the American educational system also
fosters creativity among its students. The system believes that brilliant and
bright students are those students that have creative and unique ideas. In
order to develop creativity, it neglects good academic performance that most
systems treasure and tries to promote creativity among students and place
academic performance on the second place. An example of how different systems
teach the plays of Shakespeare demonstrates the point. The traditional system
would require students to memorize Hamlet's "To be or not to be" soliloquy
without any mistakes. Under the influence of the American system, however,
students are assigned to write a love letter to Juliet instead of straight
memorization. In this way, students are encouraged to express their ideas with
creativity and hence promote the atmosphere that learning is indeed a fun
activity.
All in all, one can say that the American educational system is
different from other educational systems. However, one cannot express the idea
that the American system is worse than any other system. This is because the
different systems are promoting very different concerns for their students and
it is this difference that causes many critics to label the American system as
inferior. Contrary to most systems, the American educational system develops
freedom and creativity among its students. The system is convinced that this
will help promote success in the students' future. Also, it is not going to
change its teaching method in spite of the strong criticism it had received.