U. S. Education Keep Up To Date

(this essay is the winner of USEF-2012 essay contest)


"Education is the established church of the United States. It is one of the religions that Americans believe in. It has its own orthodoxy, its pontiffs and its noble buildings." (Michael Sadler)



                US Education — keep up to date

     How important is it nowadays to get a proper education, and how does education influence people’s lives in the 21st century? As compared to the past centuries, education has become one of the most crucial points in the lives of modern young people. We live in the age of information and high technologies. We live in the post-industrial age when brain work is required and valued more than manual work. We live in the age of democracy and human rights and freedoms, when all the members of the society have the same opportunities of development of their talents, which has been available only to the upper classes for many centuries. Life has become complex and competitive, its pace has increased. Putting forth great effort and using best talents has become necessary for modern youth: they should get a proper education in order to find the right place in the multilateral competitive society and to become an experienced specialist in their sphere of competence to be able to develop one’s skills to keep up to date. It is the volume and standard of knowledge and the mastery of the subject that makes a good specialist today.

     We live in the age of globalization, when we are no more limited by borders of the countries, but we can determine our destiny ourselves guided by our personal prospects and by the principles and tendencies of the market economy which has influenced the whole world. Thus, any young person faces a difficult choice in his or her life, where to get a higher education. I abide by the opinion that the best choice is to seek opportunities in the United States. The American education system has a range of indubitable advantages as compared to the European system of education.
      First of all, its underlying principle, first introduced by John Dewey, is to educate people in such a way that everyone has the opportunity to develop to their greatest potential; it focuses on teaching people to get along in the community, paying attention to practical skills as well as to theoretical knowledge. In America it is believed that success after graduation depends on three main factors: how much schooling a person has, how substantial and profound it is, and what position his or her university takes in ratings. Education in the US may be metaphorically compared with a so-called ‘common religion’ that unites all the people within one great American nation.

      Second, American universities provide extensive programs on many disciplines in many spheres, and the curricula are at the same time exhaustive and flexible to suit the needs and demands of the students. American universities are also famous for a wide range of classes concentrating on each subject in the curriculum.

      Third, students are encouraged to work on their true vocations with passion and creativity, and they are provided with good conditions for work.

      Fourth, the system of graduate schools and colleges in America provides graduate and postgraduate students with the possibility to exchange their experience within a common field of research, which I consider more productive than working independently on a narrow topic with the only support of their scientific supervisors. Some people on the Internet state that America is good for graduate and postgraduate courses, meanwhile Europe is good for undergraduates. In fact, I stick to the point that both stages are very well organized in America. I am looking forward to studying in the US as a postgraduate student in view of the prospects that are opened up by postgraduate education. I also see considerable advantages in the fact that the Master’s degree can be acquired in a PhD course in American universities, which helps the students to save several years of studies.

       The last advantage of the American education system I would like to mention is the collaboration of business (including private business) with education, which results in abundance of grants and scholarships issued by private funds as well as by universities and the federal government. Such funding simplifies the enrollment procedure for applicants: they do not need to contact many independent organizations to apply for funding, but they can do everything with the help and support of their university. That makes the procedure applicant-friendly.
       Nevertheless, American education has several disadvantages. Americans have recently been influenced by the trend of distant education, which has negative consequences in spite of its seeming convenience. A distant class is successful if three rules are followed: both the teacher and the student should be technically equipped, they should all possess the skills of using the technical environment, and the material should be organized in a way that is convenient for the methods of distant teaching and learning. Still, it happens so that some of these rules are not followed, and classes end in failure. The overabundant usage of technical appliances may result in reducing the studied material, laying off the deadlines, decreasing the students’ motivation and reducing the educational standards. The cause of such abuse is sometimes financial interest of particular universities. It has become a negative trend in American education that schools change their orientation from efficiency of education to increasing the commercial income and replacing PhDs with CEOs in the university boards.

       To sum it up, all these factors show us that American education is a very multilateral, exhaustive, flexible, creative and student-friendly process that results in the attainment of a high level of proficiency in the desired subject that enables people to become prosperous specialists in their area, ensure a high income and find their right place in the society. Studying in the US keeps young people up to date, because the US is a developing country with a high level of funding for science and research. Those who graduate from American universities become universal specialists because it is common knowledge that diplomas and certificates of American colleges and universities are accepted worldwide. That makes graduates of American universities socially and economically mobile and open to new possibilities and chances to show their talent. Still, applicants should be very considerate choosing the school to avoid getting into trouble for their own money.

© Vitaly A. Kartavykh