Since I am an international student, I have the opportunity to experience both the Asian and American education; they are really different. The first year in Rabun Gap was a huge shock for me! I did not expected so much freedom in academic wise. Back to Taiwan, I never thought that I am able to choose whatever classes I want to take or doing a project in groups. Moreover, the whole after school for sports or activities...
Although american education gives students more freedom to experience a variety of activities, it leaves out one part-cram learning. I know it sounds terrible and scary-"cramming " knowledge into our heads, but by learning and doing practices over and over again can we fully understand and memorized the basic knowledge.
I believe that this will be suitable for the essay, because there are both advantages and disadvantages in this two totally different way of education. In fact, I would like to link back the education to the culture aspect. (How different people are thinking due to the education..)
Sorry I have been so slow about getting comments into your blog entries. As you and I discussed about this education issue, some things are not sustainable. Cramming information into one's mind usually is not a good thing because you are not building understanding as you move along. One of my favorite writers is a scientist named Richard P. Feynman. He tells a story in one of his books about going to teach at a prestigious school. He says that he asked them about the formulas for the behavior of light as it is reflected, and they could quote the formulas, but when he asked them about an example of that very phenomenon outside of their classroom window, they had no idea of what he was talking about. Education, like many other things in life, has to strike a balance between memorizing knowledge and building understanding. You will see one great thinker's ideas about this balance when we read Ralph Waldo Emerson a bit later.
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