Obama Is Overly Worried about the U.S. Educational System

Obama has always been worried about the U.S. education system. According to a comparison of education systems of various countries performed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the U.S. remained at the back of the pack, while South Korea surpassed Sweden by ranking first in its quality of secondary education. When cities were compared, Shanghai emerged first in the world rankings for education. Historically, a few countries in Southeast Asia, Sweden and Russia had developed the world’s highest quality of secondary education.

The U.S. has sufficient funds to finance its secondary education, but its teachers’ motivation for teaching greatly falls behind that of China because they receive low pay and are not respected. In fact, an average secondary school teacher’s pay in the U.S. of approximately $50,000 is equivalent to a public bus driver’s pay. China is quick at resolving problems and has maintained a high morale among its teachers. For example, when we claimed that China lacked artistic value in its already top-notch acrobatic performances, China managed to produce even better acrobatic abilities with high artistic value in a few years. Although education was deemed to be just about rote memorization, it increasingly is about innovation skills. In this regard, while Shanghai is ranked first in the world, the Russians still lack innovation, despite its strong rote memorization focus.

The U.S. adopts a different mentality in its education: less homework given out in school, and students get to work on projects like researchers do. Less time is spent on mastering the foundations of each subject, while more time and resources are placed on physical education and social activities and on teaching about the pursuit of equality. As there is no quality assurance in public schools, parents tend to send their children to private schools where there is high quality of education and large amounts of work.

However, the U.S. has the best universities in the world. When I worked at Harvard University as a visiting professor, I talked about the fact that students in U.S. universities have a greater workload than those in Chinese universities. This is because although U.S. universities do not teach as many theories as Chinese universities, there is a lot more practical work involved that requires additional time spent in laboratories. Even the second- and third-tier universities in the U.S. possess a high level of quality. U.S. universities have greater flexibility, which is unlike how Chinese universities split up its students into classes. Although students in U.S. universities may not forge strong bonds with their classmates, this is made up for by the wide array of student groups that are available. There are many cases of people who emerged as outstanding students, even though they did not do well in secondary school, worked for a few years, and then were determined to pursue further education in universities. U.S. universities have many course topics. Teachers even set up companies to accept projects from students to create a more innovative learning environment.

In the ‘80s and ‘90s, U.S. universities conducted a study on secondary-school students in Beijing and other areas. Thinking that this could be a pool of outstanding students that U.S. universities can potentially look into, Obama even recently hosted a Chinese girl who won a prestigious science award. China’s secondary-education system has improved tremendously, and its overall quality has allowed it to emerge first in world rankings. This makes it an even more suitable place for U.S. universities to approach potential students. Besides, as Chinese parents grow more affluent, they are better able to finance their children’s education.

Some of these international students will eventually stay in the U.S. and emerge as outstanding people in their field, while others will return to their home country being better able to identify with the U.S. As for students who will have studied international relations, even if they become strong in their field, at least they will share the same mentality. As such, Obama should not need to worry about the U.S. education system and should instead worry about the U.S. graduate employment rate, especially since the unemployment rate for graduate students has reached 20 percent. Most academics believe that graduates who are looking for jobs during the financial crisis need to start off with a good career. Otherwise, they will not be able to gather as much experience as previous graduates.

China should be more concerned with its university education and its graduate employment rate. The quality of many new graduates is not very high. Besides, as most new professors do not directly sign contracts with universities, are not treated very well and have few opportunities, the quality of teaching becomes doubtful — those who have never worked in the education industry can still be recruited as official staff members; those who do not know how to teach can slowly learn how to. As such, the whole morale and standard of Chinese universities is much worse than Chinese secondary schools.

Since many prestigious Chinese universities know that they face competition from other world-renowned universities for the best students, these universities have decided to implement three entrance examinations. These universities are given a high degree of autonomy in conducting these examinations, which is important in improving the standards of Chinese university education. Most outstanding Chinese universities offer many projects and courses to create a more innovative environment.

Sweden is best at maintaining good standards for its primary, secondary and university education, as well as its graduate employment rate. As the quality of Swedish secondary school students is good, they create an innovative environment when they enter university. In contrast, it is more difficult for Chinese graduates to find a job than to graduate from secondary school, because the job market does not provide enough suitable positions for graduates. Furthermore, China’s social class divisions are particularly stable, especially those who reside in the upper class divisions. Since children are expected to take over their family’s businesses, it is common for students to end up working in an industry that they have no prior knowledge in. The U.S. used to be like that, when the success of youths was not judged by their ability to enter Harvard University, but by the assets of their parents and predecessors. Positions such as politicians, firemen, police officers, judges, lawyers and science educators were inherited. Many Chinese graduates tend to find a temporary job and the leave for a better job after half a year.

Education can play a role in harnessing human capital, as in the case of China. India has a large population and therefore has a large base of human capital to work with. In India, apart from a few good schools, education levels are generally low, causing its people to become liabilities rather than assets. Besides, India’s teachers’ union is too powerful, such that most Indian children are still semi-literate, even after they have studied for many years, and are therefore unable to work effectively. Education can also prevent brain drain, so that the country can depend on the quality of labor if there is not enough quantity of it.