Deleting F from the report card grades [Repost]

Friday, June 21, 2002

This is an appalling trend in the education and tutoring system of the United States that really does not bode well for the US in the near future and onwards. The distressing thing is that while our US education structure atrophies those of other nations are going through sustained and unremitting leaps and jumps in a myriad of areas apart from one…accents!

I know it sounds ludicrous that I listed ‘accents’ as the only ‘lacking factor’ in foreign education systems…but literally that is the only viable weakness inherent in them. Foreign based education systems have become extremely competitive and exceedingly comprehensive. Your average foreigner would have better grades in every single subject…including English….with his/her only weak point being the oral smoothness brought about by the accent (and note I am not saying the English is grammatically incorrect…it is actually perfect, just with either some nuance or shadow of an intonation, inflection or brogue in the enunciation).

And in scrutinizing this subject area I will delve in the educational systems of India, Taiwan and Kenya high school systems (which by the way are the world’s hardest in that order) and compare them with the US high school educational system, which sadly is not considered a forte when it comes to preparing students for college and life! In the case of all these nations you will notice that there is a practical necessity for the comprehensiveness and toughness of their educational systems….and that is that it is grueling hard to acquire meaningful employment over there! The competition for every single placement is crazy, and having straight As is not a guarantee or a job offer. Hence the education systems have gone into overdrive to create a slew of virtual ‘ubermenchs’ in a bid to best prepare the kids for an ultra-competitive environment!

Now to tie in the US into this mix. The US high school system is sadly not up to the mark….however our university system is one of the best in the world…if not the best (which is somewhat ironical considering the state of the high schools). Hence these students from the foreign high schools come to the US for a tertiary education in an American university (since universities in the US are quite effective in developing the whole person instead of just cramming facts and figures…which is the bane of other tertiary systems like the that of the British) and thus they get to have their analytical and inter-personal communicative abilities developed in the US (and note they already have a grasp of the ‘facts and figures’ aspects from their education in their home countries).

What happens then? Suddenly the foreign students (at least the ones who came here for an education and not to just enjoy the American way of life or learn how to fly planes into buildings) become much superior to their American counterparts. They have a stronger work ethic, are more learned, read through the night, are extremely meticulous, do not complain, do not expect curves and handouts from their professors, and take learning as an opportunity instead of as a chore! Hence their grades are straight As and so on.

Then let us take a frenetic jump into graduation day and the search for employment in the US. Ok…..we have an American kid with a GPA of 3.1, and an Indian kid with a GPA of 3.9. The Indian kid is willing to work for a tenth of what the US kid even begins to expect, and the Indian kid is exposed to a wide variety of stresses and strains, and was taught from back home how to not only thrive under pressure but to excel! And his work ethic is just crazy!

Now, based on the law of economics, who do you think will get hired! I really doubt the workforce would let go of such a gem just because his accent has a little inflection pertinent to East Indian cultures! After all eh competes and even excels in every other facet and aspect when it comes to his educational background, and he is meticulous (probably even more so due to the ‘hostile’ conditions back home that require him to ensure his work is perfect just to ensure job security), and he is willing to work for a salary no self-respecting American counterpart would deem appropriate! A parallel analogy is to have to cars for sale…..one is a brand new Chevrolet and the other is a brand new Jaguar. However the Jaguar is selling for either the same price as the chevy, or for less! Most people would opt for a Jaguar.

And although the analogy is rather crude I can say I have had some experience in this. In my university I was frisking through the honor rolls (the Presidents by the way for students with 4.0s) and almost every person was international! And in my classes I always know my greatest competition in class will come from an international student! And I also did a stint a couple of years ago at one of the Kenyan educational systems (they have like 4 or 5 parallel programs) and I was just astonished at the level of absolute and total flawlessness when it came to learning. Actually the top tiers of that particular educational system actually had teachers whose only job was to ‘indoctrinate’ the students into believing they are better than every one else, and making them get such superiority complexes that they go into any situation already ‘knowing’ they have won. And their levels of scholarship and focus were so impressive that I think the best word is not that they were getting educated but that they were being turned into erudite individuals.

Anyway my point is that our US high school system needs to stop being so darn politically correct and start actually educating students (instead of debating whether it is ‘appropriate’ to teach kids about homosexuality and such stuff). After all kids go to high school to do two things: be educated (if not being turned into erudite individuals) and to learn how to get along with others and integrate themselves into society! Fighting over ‘rights’ to teach them about same-sex marriages, or lifting up skirts to ensure they are not wearing thongs (that crazy case in the news recently) should be secondary….although in my opinion such stuff is best left at home (although sadly few families are capable to assist their kids grow into mature responsible adults).

Anyway that is my experience....and my opinion.

You've got a good point, but do not overlook the fact that foreign countries are not sending their dummies to the US to study. These students have already demonstrated talent and will naturally excel when compared to the average American college student.

That being said, talented American students are woefully unprepared for the competition they face both in college and further. What is worse is what public schools do to these students. They want to eliminate tracking, which separates the intelligent students from the general population. The countries that you mention realize that their future is in the most intelligent of their youth and they cultivate them. We need to do more of that here.

D's and F's are verboten . They offend and as every one knows, self esteem is the most important thing in a child's healthy development. Scholarship and character imply some children are superior to others. Every one must be made to feel good and to feel equal. That is the fundamental mission of American education today. So who needs the A B C's and readin', writin' and rithmetic? They are the products of the great while male sexist and capitalist patriarchy. Down, down forever with telling kids they're inadequate to the task and failures in life. From now on every child will get an A, B and C only. Its all for the children.

Lol....it is sad but what you posted is how most public high school systems view education.

However i think you should have included 'sarcasm' in your post so that people do not mistakenly think you are an advocate of such thinking.

bump for later reading