83 per cent of the respondents. Out of those 17 per cent who believe American education to be more successful two thirds explain it by higher standards of living and better equipment of schools. Only 25 per cent or one third think that American school provides its graduates with better opportunities to get higher education.
2.5 What American students think of their educational system
It goes without saying that to get information "straight from the horse's mouth" is better than take it from the reference books/Modern technology and one year stay in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin made it possible to conduct a survey not only among the students of Lyceum 37 but also among the students of Sun Prairie High School. p> They were asked only two questions: what they appreciate in American system of education and what they do not approve at all.
Nearly all the questioned believe that the main advantage of the system is its freedom. As Amanda Collier puts it: "The advantages are that you get a choice as to what you are able to take and the freedom to be able to do what you like and/or are good at ". A wide range of extracurricular activities and excellent sports facilities are also mentioned by all the respondents. However some students hold the opinion which contradicts the one. For example, Jaimee Neerland says: "The disadvantages I think are the limitations that some people encounter. Even thought we get to choose what we want to take, there are only so many courses in a day and in my personal case, I had to drop a course that I loved and was good at because there simply wasn't enough room in the schedule ". Besides sometimes classes get filled up and you can't take the class you want.
Even such undoubtable advantages of the American system of education as being free of charge and being aimed at providing equal education for all students (or providing all students with equal educational opportunities) turn out to be debatable. My former co-student Clarisse Tobia says that sometimes their educational system can be expensive: "Sometimes you have to pay for materials in a certain class if you want to take the class. Sometimes school will have you pay for each individual class you are taking. "
In spite of great variety of classes to choose there are not enough advanced classes, too much emphasis is placed on sports and not enough on academics. Carl Peterson says: "Too often we are limited as to what classes we can take, because with some schools they cannot afford certain things that other schools can. Some schools do not even offer honors or AP classes ". As a result high school graduation requirements don't match up with college class entrance requirements "Like you might need 3 years of History to graduate but 4 years of History to get into a specific college ".
A couple of my former schoolmates blame their educational system for mediocrity which they believe to be the reverse side of equality. Michal Hartung says: "I feel like this educational system is designed to create a mentally equal population. It suffocates creativity and does not allow for going above and beyond. Because you are forced to take as many as 8 courses at a time you are never able to become great at one subject, just mediocre at all of them. There is simply no need to try to excel in any subject because it is easy to succeed in this system without being truly great ". However the majority think that all schools should offer the same things no matter what. "Every school should be o prep school minus the uniforms ".
There are some more things American high school students are not happy with: too many classes in one day, the time school day starts, and overcrowded classes in big cities.
Nevertheless in general American teenagers seem to be quite content with their educational system and do not want to change it.
Among these few changes they would like to make an introduction or further development of the so-called block scheduling in all schools, more funding for academic things and less for sports, more freedoms with educational careers.
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2.6 Alumni Experience
Our research or to be more exact our outlook on the American system of education would be incomplete if we didn't take into account the opinions and conclusions of alumni, the numerous participants of the Russian-American Exchange program Freedom Support Act - Future Leaders Exchange. Thanks to 'perestroika' and policy of peaceful co-existence the opportunity to go to the USA and stay there for a year being accommodated in a host family became quite plausible for hundreds of Russian teenagers 15 years ago. Since the geography of the program covers the entire country, from the Pacific to the Atlantic coast and from the Canadian border to the Gulf of Mexico, the alumni's opinions appear to be pretty objective...
