Is the U.S K-12 System really that bad?

[Whiteknight]

If the U.S has terrible K-12 education then how come many Asian-American students are doing so well? It is undeniable that the U.S dominate in terms of having the best colleges/universities in the world.

Yet, many East Asian-Americans just focus on their studies and are able to get to pretty good schools like the UCs. People keep complaining about the K-12 U.S education being sub par but then how are East Asian-Americans so successful then?

It seems like it is the student's fault for not studying and applying themselves and doesn't seem like it is the U.S Education system's fault.

[STORM]

Yes, it is 

[MineMuses]

Well Asians have high standards and are in general much more competitive

and Betsy Devos is only gonna make it worse  

 

Edit: There was an article in the New York Times about a town with a high percentage of asians. They seem to point a major cause of stress towards high-achieving asian americans  

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/05/education/edlife/overachievers-student-stress-in-high-school-.html

[Thatoneuser]

It's because we study and our parents force us to, also we go to cram school. It's sad but true, the Asian stereotype lives on.

 

Also yes the public school system sucks. Thank God I went to private school.

[~CinnamonBuns~]

The reason why I'm at a good college is because of our parents.

[sunshinetrbl]

not all the UCs are good..

[Whiteknight]

Well Asians have high standards and are in general much more competitive

and Betsy Devos is only gonna make it worse  

 

Edit: There was an article in the New York Times about a town with a high percentage of asians. They seem to point a major cause of stress towards high-achieving asian americans  

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/05/education/edlife/overachievers-student-stress-in-high-school-.html

 

Yes but it is up to the individual to study and apply themselves. I sort of think that it is the kids that don't apply themselves that are bringing the international scores down.

 

The U.S provides you with schools and the resources to learn. It is up to the student to utilize those resources.

[Swirl900]

No it's not. People in the US tend to do better than people with similar ethnic backgrounds in the mother countries. In other words, the American system has disparities, but that's because it is so diverse. It improves EVERYONE. According to PISA:

 

http://isteve.blogspot.com/2013/12/overall-pisa-rankings-include-america.html

As you can see from above, Asian Americans do better than the most Asians, most European Americans do better than most Europeans, most Hispanic Americans do better than most Latinos back in their home country, and most African Americans do better than people in Africa.

 

For such a large country with so many known problems - that isn't bad at all. The US isn't one small country that can be looked at monolithically.

[A Hamster Named Loneliness]

you know you don't need stellar grades like a 4.0 GPA to get into a UC, right? In California, for community college students, we have the TAG (Transfer Admission Guarantee) where anyone who meets the minimum required GPA (which is now 3.2, but it was 2.8 the year I did TAG back in 2010) and completes most or all of the major prep courses for their major are guaranteed admission to one UC of their choice. I had a 3.1 GPA and still got into a UC. 

 

And East Asian-Americans do not define all Asian-Americans. I'm Vietnamese-American and East Asian-Americans don't represent me. And you know that there are school districts with abysmal education, right? Like when I first moved to where I live now back in 6th grade, I learned that my former education was lacking because the other kids already knew things that I was literally learning for the first time. The previous school I attended for the first half of my 6th grade year didn't even teach any science courses, yet my new school taught science. 

 

edit: why the fuck did I get negged for? 

[Rohan Kishibe]

It's how focused it is on useless standardized tests that makes it horrible.

[wnr00]

As a person who is currently majoring in Education, I wouldn't say the K12 US education system is that bad. I think it's pretty okay so far. Students at most places are provided with a lot of adequate learning experience and they have pretty fair standard. But US at the same times, have a lot of rural communities and schools where most of the funding would never reach and that's the problem. Also, Common Core has lots of issues. It's so complicated at some points. If immigrants or Asian American do well is because of their competitive environments I guess. As an Asian myself, doing a school in the US is tough. And most of the time, parents or family members just naturally expect a lot from their kids. But I don't know any better tho, I am still learning to understand the system. My pre service teaching gave me some lessons in the past but idk, I think it's a mixed sentiments.

[DramaticTaeyeon"]

Generally it's not the best especially in states like California which surprises me because the UC system is pretty good. But with that said the K-12 education you get really depends on where you live and the funding you get through things such as property tax, so there are good places you can get a K-12 education it's just that it's not available everywhere.

[scarlette007]

Geography matters.

Not all schools are the same or have the same resources.

Disparities in the education system exist and it is still very noticeable when it comes to communities predominantly black and/or non-white.

[Whiteknight]

Geography matters.

Not all schools are the same or have the same resources.

Disparities in the education system exist and it is still very noticeable when it comes to communities predominantly black and/or non-white.

 

I always see it as more as the students not putting in enough effort. There are poor Asians that come from poor community that made it to good colleges.

[sakurahanabira]

It depends on the state and school district. My city's school district ranked 15 on the Best School Districts in California here and a lot of Asian immigrants come here because our city is really safe and has a pretty good education.

 

Also you have to understand that some of those Asian-Americans get after school tutoring and go to SAT/ACT-prep courses. Also, not all do well. There are plenty of those who struggle due to learning disabilities. And how do you know the students aren't studying and applying themselves? How do you know they're not already trying but still fail to make the grades? I struggled in high school because I was slow at picking up on and remembering concepts we covered in class so I always averaged a C grade. I don't know if I have some kind of learning disablity but I had trouble getting above a C in certain subjects like math and science (the only science class I got an A in was my freshman year science course all because we watched Bill Nye videos as part of lecture and the labs were ridiculously easy).

 

And by the way, some of the UCs aren't really that great.

[scarlette007]

I always see it as more as the students not putting in enough effort. There are poor Asians that come from poor community that made it to good colleges.

And you see the same for other minorities but it is the exception and not the norm. We may have legally terminated segregation but segregation in school districts and between the "good" and "less well" schools have a very significant racial component. America still has a race problem. W.E.B DuBois in the early 20th century stated "the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color line." That problem still exist.

(FYI W.E.B. DuBois' The Souls of Black Folk is an amazing read.)

[Whiteknight]

It depends on the state and school district. My city's school district ranked 15 on the Best School Districts in California here and a lot of Asian immigrants come here because our city is really safe and has a pretty good education.

 

Also you have to understand that some of those Asian-Americans get after school tutoring and go to SAT/ACT-prep courses. Also, not all do well. There are plenty of those who struggle due to learning disabilities. And how do you know the students aren't studying and applying themselves? How do you know they're not already trying but still fail to make the grades? I struggled in high school because I was slow at picking up on and remembering concepts we covered in class so I always averaged a C grade. I don't know if I have some kind of learning disablity but I had trouble getting above a C in certain subjects like math and science (the only science class I got an A in was my freshman year science course all because we watched Bill Nye videos as part of lecture and the labs were ridiculously easy).

 

And by the way, some of the UCs aren't really that great.

 

Work Ethics. How much time do you spend on average a week studying and reviewing for class?

[CandyCane23049]

I always see it as more as the students not putting in enough effort. There are poor Asians that come from poor community that made it to good colleges.

Some school's don't even have a proper library, enough school books for learning, it's crowed classroom's, no computers, etc..

 

It depends on where you live... I live in Chicago and our public school's had to shut down 3 weeks early for Spring Break just because they  couldn't afford to stay open. 

[sakurahanabira]

Work Ethics. How much time do you spend on average a week studying and reviewing for class?

 

again, learning disabilities exist. I did all my homework and studied the recommended 2+ hours per credit hours yet I still couldn't get high marks, especially in math and science. The only subjects I got good grades in were Humanities, Foreign Language, and the Arts so it's pretty clear that STEM-based subjects are not for me.

[TickleMePink]

It's how focused it is on useless standardized tests that makes it horrible.

[Lil Ayy Big Gay]

If you grow up poor, yes. They don't give a fuck about you if you're poor.

My school was pretty 'ghetto' and my hs had like 14 teachers for 400 students lol. There was no language classes, 2 art classes the entire year, our PE was learning to juggle (lol), etc.

 

Above that, cops parked outside our school and hounded us. I got written up for the dumbest shit, like the sidewalk being dirty, like that shit was my fault.

 

 

If you grow up in the bad area, there's no initiative to go to school. All the classes you like are always being cut to try to make money, teachers are always leaving, cops are parked outside harassing you, etc.

 

I dropped out. I hated going to school. I'm sure if I had gone to a nicer school, I would have graduated. I'm not dumb, its just that school depressed me cause everything was always changing since we were so desperate to make money to stay open. I think the graduation rate for my school was 20%.

 

I was kind of close to another school, never saw any cops parked outside that school, wonder why, maybe cause it was in a middle class neighborhood lol

 

My middle school was cool, though. I went to a science school and we had a lot of money to blow through. I think the US education system can be good, but its really lacking in certain areas.