I grew up thinking the United States was the greatest nation in the world, the “land of freedom”. I got this impression when I was younger, when my history teachers would talk about the great leaders that have ruled our nation and the many battles or social problems they overcame. My teachers would talk as if they had a boat load of pride to be an American and how we are the one nation that truly gives their citizens true freedom. I think this was American pride was heighted because the events of September 11, 2001 were still etched into our brains. As I grew older this American pride started to fade as I viewed the world more analytically rather than accepting whatever opinion an adult told me to believe in. Being able to use the internet…show more content… Though I have many amazing teachers throughout the years, I’ve also had extremely bad ones. My definition of a teacher is one that can be serious when teaching while being caring and personable outside of it. A teacher that is uncaring, that is unemotional while teaching, that are only in it for the money, and throws busy work at their students is a bad one. The United States educational system seems to be the laughing stock of the industrialized nations. Of course, this is because of our low rankings for math and reading skills. The United States was ranked 48th in math and science in 2011 compared to the world’s industrialized nations (Klein, Joel). In this reflection essay I will talk about what is wrong with the American education system, why Singapore’s education the way it is and it work, and why it’s so difficult for the United States to adopt these…show more content… First, the way that Singapore was created, secondly, the way their teachers are chosen, and lastly, the way they teach is why Singapore is so successful. When Singapore first got its independence, it was abundantly clear that the country needed a sharp edge compared to other countries, because it has a limited amount of natural resources. This lead to the country adopting an adaptable and survivalist educational economy. This type of economy made Singapore put education first like many other surrounding Asian countries. In theory, this economy would lead to a strong and wealthy workforce and it did! Sometime in the 1990’s, Singapore adopted National Thinking Schools, which put education and Singaporean culture first, while putting extracurricular activities on the backburner. (Dimmock, Clive) By being a national system, the government controlled what was being taught. This lets the schools not only teach education, but Singaporean culture as well. When Singaporean education became globalized, people thought their culture would slowly fade away so that is why it is taught in schools. Usually when a country globalizes, cultures are mixed and forgotten, which Singapore did not want. (Tan, Joanna) Secondly, teachers are chosen from the best of the best, just like any other high-ranking job. Turns out teaching is not considered the shittiest and low paying job in Singapore. Teaching is well paying at about
