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Why are U.S. schools so drasitcally different from other schools around the world? (high school and postsecondary) I've heard from several people that generally, outside the U.S., students take Physics (just one example) for several years in high school. My high school offers one year and it's not required (the only required science class is biology, but you have to take at least two other semesters to graduate). I took physics as soon as i could (biology was a prerequisite so i couldn't take it until junior year) but now i'm wondering if I were to try to go to school outside the U.S. how far behind other students would I be? and would there be any hope of me catching up or is the general rule "if you're american and not a genius you won't make it at a british (or other) school"?
Also, i know undergrad degrees from Oxbridge and the like are highly regarded here in the U.S. but what about the other schools? (at the moment i'm considering considering going to school in India, don't ask why, it's a bit of a long story) I'm just wondering if this would be a good idea? (Would I last two seconds in their physics classes and Would I be able to come back and get into grad school here with a degree from there?)
sorry if that sounds really confusing or anything...
Any input would be greatly appreciated!!!!
thanks guys!

By Radagasty (Radagasty) on Wednesday, November 12, 2003 - 06:29 pm: Edit

From what I've heard, the American education goes for breadth rather than depth, whereas the British system is the opposite. For instance, in the British A-levels, most people take either 3 or 4 subjects, but study them to considerable depth. Here in Australia, it's somewhere in between; most students matriculate with 4-6 subjects.

Sebastian.

By Jennyzsong (Jennyzsong) on Wednesday, November 12, 2003 - 07:54 pm: Edit

yeah, we take all the sciences for four years in canada... well, you don't HAVE to... most people do... anyways, we have some americans at my school and they're not dying, they had to take some lower level courses though because they hadn't taken some stuff before that was required here, etc.

By Awe02 (Awe02) on Wednesday, November 12, 2003 - 08:54 pm: Edit

in my private school in south africa we did 6-8 A lvl subjects. and u dont choose physics or chemistry, u choose physical science and do chem and physics. also in math u just choose math higher lvl and do trig,geo and algebra, and ad math if u want calc and stats. im not very familiar with american students but comparing the systems id think that south african ace students would do better than american ace students.
we had some american students in our school who had 4.0 GPA's here and in SA they could barely crack the 80% mark. education in usa seems to be more centered on homework and grading curves than on what you do in class. also basing students abilities on all multiple choice exams seems inaccurate. thats why we had many international students complain that our exams were unfair bcoz multiple choice made up such a small percentage of the exam. i think our students were good bcoz the top student in the grade above me got a full scholarship to harvard and they even brought him to MA to complete high school so he would have the technicalities of SAT and SAT2.

im not trying to put down american students in anyway, i live here now and do homeschool, id actually like to get more of an insight on what american students are like and the standard of work.

By Siriuswishbear (Siriuswishbear) on Thursday, November 13, 2003 - 04:47 pm: Edit

bump

By Lki (Lki) on Thursday, November 13, 2003 - 09:06 pm: Edit

there is one big difference in the science ed in europe vs. in the US, as with many other classes. European schools work on a weekly schedule, so you take something like 14 different classes when ur in middle school. THough this is toned down a little in high school, you still learn a subject over several years, instead of over the course of one. In other words, we cover in a year of physics what europeans cover in 2-3, but instead of learning one science, then the next, Europeans would learn all the sciences at once over several years. [Note: this is based on my experiences as a student in the German and Estonian school systems]

By Dyingbride (Dyingbride) on Friday, November 14, 2003 - 01:06 pm: Edit

Hello,
I'm not really sure if this is the place for my question, but I have no idea where else to post it, so here it is, best schools for philosophy major anywhere in the world. any suggestions, thoughts, anything... :]
I'm from Bulgaria and I would prefer Europe better than USA, but if USA has something interesting I might consider it as an option, or some other places.

Thanks.

By Dyingbride (Dyingbride) on Friday, November 14, 2003 - 01:20 pm: Edit

xex, I'm asking about grad schools. Cheers!

By Arealtexan (Arealtexan) on Saturday, November 15, 2003 - 01:33 pm: Edit

Hrm... someone earlier discussed the British A-level system. What most people don't seem to realise is that A-level stands for "Advanced Level", and people only study 3 or 4 subjects for the last two years of school.

Before that there is a broad curriculum.

And Awe02? Which school is that? 6 to 8 A-levels? As an Old Diocesan I find it hard to believe that there is a school in SA that does that. What you are describing sounds more like Matric.

By Chatterjoy87 (Chatterjoy87) on Saturday, November 15, 2003 - 03:14 pm: Edit

I think certain schools in England base admissions on your projected or earned AP/IB scores and Cambridge or Oxford require an average of 6 for IBs...not too sure I go to an all IB public school but don't plan on leaving the US. There's a general opinion in a lot of countries that the US is weak in math and science, but US universities are ranked the top in the world.

By Arealtexan (Arealtexan) on Saturday, November 15, 2003 - 03:20 pm: Edit

Cambridge and Oxford make what is called an "offer". This is a place at the university conditional on receiving some specified grades (they don't usually do offers for AP scores). The average for IB is to make an offer based on getting 7, 7, 7 in your Higher Level subjects.

By Stoev (Stoev) on Sunday, April 25, 2004 - 05:46 pm: Edit

I would like to make a simple comment and hopefully will note insult some people thinking about the "best US" education. The truth is that US spends a lot of money for research NOT for education. 50% of the Ph.D. students in the hard sciences in US are international students this is AT LEAST an interesting statistics.

From what I have seen here the high school system ( at least in New York ) is terrible. I hope things are different in other parts of the US.

In Bulgaria for example ( where I come from ) the students in high school take mandatory Algebra, Geometry, Physics, Chemistry and Biology every two semesters per year for 4 years from 7th to 10 grade. The system is very rigorous. If a student does not hold to the standards for the current year there are make up exams before the beginning of the next, but if these exams are not passed the student has to repeat the year in the same class level.

If the current reader is interested to find out more about different educational systems on the basis of their merits I recommend this link:
http://mwhodges.home.att.net/new_96_report.htm

One final note: Ones in California I was told that some people work here to be able to educate their children in Europe (and I presume this will be also true for Asia). I leave this without any comment.

Hope this helps to many people.

Stoev

Note: I currently teach discrete mathematics at CUNY.