The three pieces we watched/read each give different view points of the american school system. In 2 million minutes and "For Once, Blame the Students" the focus is put on schools serving upper middle class American families. Here I believe the true source of the educational problem is the lack of motivation. Now by that I don't mean all kids in these schools are lazy, many work very hard and go on to be as successful or more so then their competition in the world. However, the average student in these schools probably doesn't work as hard as the average student in Asia because their is no real reason to work as hard in their minds. Growing up in prosperity tends to soften people's motivation, if life is so good right now why try to make it better? While in Asia, as told in 2 million minutes, students are fighting their way out of poverty, more so than in the US. Some may say that American students are involved in a broader range of activities then their Asian counterparts, and this is true for many American students, however I feel that here we spend much more time watching TV and playing video games then kids in Asia. For example, my cousins in India go to extra classes before and after school. And once they come home my aunts and uncles make sure they not only finish their homework, but read ahead in their books. They barely watch 1 hour of TV on school nights and many times they don't watch any at all. Even with all their activities most kids in the U.S., again I'm talking about many American students NOT all, watch at least 2 or 3 hours of television each day. I'm definitely guilty of this. Another reason for the disparity in motivation may lie in the sheer number of quality American colleges and universities. In Asia their are less "well respected" colleges then their are in the U.S. but their is five times as much competition. Asian students will work much harder to get into these schools. In the U.S., although competition is growing, it is much easier to enroll in one of our 2000 institutions. I'm not arguing this is a problem in our education system, in fact I believe that this plethora of higher education is good for the country, I'm simply saying that this may contribute to the motivation issue. Also I don't believe our textbooks are apart of the problem (except for the integrated math books). Often times when my dad looks at my books to check in on what i'm learning he is amazed at how good the quality has gotten. He's told me stories of how boring his books in India use to be.
In "I Just Wanna Be Average" I believe a new dynamic of the education problem is introduced. This story provides insight into the working of an American vocational school. In these schools I believe teachers are more the source of the education problem. The author describes how some of his teachers simply yelled at the students when they didn't know something, or sat idly by letting the students do whatever they wanted rather then teach. If I ever had teachers like this I would never be able to learn and I'm sure the Asian students would feel the same way.
