Education in Different Conutry

Jiayi Zhou

J. Haeck

English 102

5/27/14

Essay #2 revision

Education in Different Country

     Before when I lived in China, I saw an article about International students plan to come to America for studying. The article shows, in 2012 in the U.S. around 760,000 students came to America for education in that year, and there is 6% increase from last year. As many Chinese students’ dream, they hope they can go to America for study. People may wonder what reasons to attract them want to come here? One reason students pick America to study is if you want to get higher education, America have strong quality for this. Thirteen of the twenty best world universities are located in America, and there are so many education options here. Students from all over the world come to receive a high quality education in American universities. Before I came to Seattle, I thought that is an amazing place I am dreaming about. However, when I came to Seattle, there has too much pressure for Chinese students, Chinese presents choose the major for their children, and Chinese students should study they are interested subjects.

     The film “Two Million Minutes” talk about a different global examination from China, India and America. The US education system is failing to create the students who are good at math and science, which future can work for the global economy. In almost American family, parents aren’t pushing them hard and students have time to have fun, like play sports or hang out with friends. Be relax to face everything and does everything follow their heart. “There are 40% in America high schools do not take about science class”, movie said. Now I study in an America college, and I feel less pressure than Chinese school. I feel comfortable when I studied in the Seattle.

However, in China, not every student study hard like the Chinese boy in movie said, “I love to admit test, and it is like a habit.” Almost Chinese students go to high school at seven o’clock in the morning. Every student will study nine subjects in the high school, and study in the school around ten hours in school days. Moreover, when time close to the “Gao Kao,” -- which is a Chinese important exam same as SAT in the U.S., and Chinese students are try to use every second for study, including the holiday. In Chinese education system, math and science class, which includes biology, chemistry and physics, there are same scores for each subject. Moreover, all of subjects will test in the exam, so Chinese high school students have to spend a lot of time on study, also with too much pressure.

According to the Sanford J. Ungar, “The New Liberal Arts”, “Misperception No.2: College graduates are finding it harder to get good jobs with liberal-arts degrees. Who wants to hire somebody with an irrelevant major like philosophy or French? Yes, recent graduates have had difficulty in the job market, but the recession has not differentiated among major fields of study in its impact.” Ungar points out why the recession happened, because everyone is hard to find a job does not distinguish major.

It is true, for almost all American families, parents encourage their children go outside to find their own experiences. However, for traditional Chinese families, parents pay more attention on the future of their children. In China, many parents spend more money to make their children go to a good university, because they want to children get a good job. Some parents believe, there are only science subject will get good job. For most Chinese students, their major are chosen by parents, students do not have right to choose they are interested major. When I came to Seattle, I ask my American friend “what your major?”, and they will give me lots of interesting major, and told me they choose subjects, even major by they like. I am lucky, because my parents respect my thought. Moreover, my parents let me decide by myself, and then I choose liberal arts major. I think I won’t regret my decision, even I fail or cannot find a job, and I at least try once. Not only is someone who has liberal arts degree finding job difficult, but also other fields degrees. The society is always changing because of people’s demand, so that different fields want different quantity. Therefore, whatever what major is, people always can find a work relative to their choices.

In Gerald Graff’s “Hidden Intellectualism,” Graff talks about how some young people are impressively “street smart” but they do not do well in school. These “street smart” people who know so many things in life, but they are not to get good grades when they study for school assignment. Moreover, Graff write down that schools are trying to blame for students, who are doing poorly when they start to academic level. Gerald encourages students to become intellectual people, and to be able to do well for studying. I believe students should read and learn about things that them instead of things. If a student is not interested in a certain subject, it is harder for that student to be able to understand the subject.