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Trent Devereux Mindi Vogel Composition 1 15 October 2013 School Systems Part 1: During one of my morning classes, my friend and I were discussing different school systems around the world. My friend had recently read an article about Finlands education system and how it is ranked as one of the best systems in the world and beats the United States test scores in almost every subject. I figured that means that they must have much more homework than in American schools, but it turns out that they have minimal to no homework, to encourage afterschool activities. My next thought was, they must have longer school days than the U.S. It turns out that school starts the same time as in America, but ends an hour earlier. Well then, children must start school at an earlier age than in the United States or have more grades or something, but it turns out mandatory school is only for students between the ages of 7 and 16. It is easy to see, that the American education system can be improved further and in order to give students a better and brighter future, some changes should be made. In this paper, I will delve into other school systems around the world and how effective they are. First, let us start with what I know and what think I know. Outside of the information I have on Finland, I know the formatting of the good old American school system. Normal public school starts between 8:00 to 9:00 AM and ends between 3:00 to 4:00 PM. It has around 7 to 8 classes each day, has a 35 to 45 minute lunch break, and homework in all of the four core classes, on a regular day. Obviously this system varies between schools, teachers, and location

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around the country, but this is what the American system is based on. There are also home school and online formats that are available to students, but even so, they still consist of the same basic system we use in a normal class. How effective the American school system is, compared to other countries, is not known to me, so in the next paragraph I will talk about the real facts. Part 2: South Korea has been ranked as one of the best countries, in terms of educational test scores, for quite some time. I wanted to know more about how they have managed it and found some rather interesting information from an article titled, "South Korean Education, by Diem Richard, Tedd Levy, and Ronald VanSickle . Unlike Finland, which has a more relaxed and easygoing system, South Korea has their students go through a harsher more difficult system, compared to other countries. From what I have found, a typical school day starts around 8:00 AM. The class periods are around 50 minutes long with a 50 minute lunch break in the afternoon. School ends at 4:00 or 4:30 PM but most students come back to school to study in the library or to attend tutoring classes until midnight. Exams are also very important to the Korean school system. Apparently all traffic is diverted to different areas on exam days in order to create as little distraction as possible (Richard). Despite all the great praise South Korea gets for its amazing test scores, there are some problems. According to a PBS News Hour article, Suicide and depression rates are highest among South Korean teens, and many suspect it is because they are under so much pressure to perform well academically. Whether the South Korean school system should be changed or not is still up for debate, but when their results are this good, it is hard to know if anything should even be done to change this. Even though it is not specified who the quote below is from, I get the feeling this is the sentiment that many students have.

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If you sleep three hours a day, you may get into a top 'SKY university;' If you sleep four hours each day, you may get into another university; if you sleep five or more hours each day, especially in your last year of high school, forget getting into any university. Although not at the top of the list, in best test scores like Finland and South Korea, Canada is known to score on the higher end. Canadas school system varies depending on which province the school is in due to the fact that each province creates their own system. From the reading I have done, however, the formatting seems to be similar to the American school system, but with some changes on priorities. Mainly, Canadas focus includes literacy, math, and high school graduation, but they also encourage teacher development (Fullan). By focusing on improving Canadas teachers, there is an obvious improvement of their students, as well. As you can see here, even the smallest priority focus can improve a school system exponentially. Next, I decided to look into the Mexican school system. This format is also similar to the American school system. Usually classes are around the same length as American schools and also share a similar curriculum. Despite a lot of the similarities, Mexican schools have shorter semesters and have mandatory preschool (Education system in Mexico, classbase.com). Unlike Finland, South Korea, and Canada, Mexico has scored lower in test scores than some other countries. The primary reason for this is lack of qualified teachers. Most teachers are qualified by union groups and not by the school districts themselves. Recently there have been several reforms to change this hiring process in order to create more qualified teachers (Weissenstein). This is a big step towards creating a better education for students, however, former Mexican president, Felipe Calderon, stated, Obstacles that kept us from having qualified teachers have been removed, but that's not enough to move the positive part forward. That requires new study plans, it requires the involvement of universities in teacher training, it requires parents

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participating more and demanding more. Mexico has a long way to go before they can achieve all of their education goals but in time I believe they can create a better system for their students. Part 3: When comparing Canada, Mexico, and United States school systems, one statement can be said for sure, how qualified your teachers are, makes a huge difference in classrooms. From the research I gathered it seems that Canada has focused a lot of their attention on teacher development and their test scores are almost all average or above average. Mexico, on the other hand, which is still in the process of getting better teachers, is struggling in test scores. It is my opinion that a student is only as good as their teacher. Even though this seems like a small change, it is a huge factor in improving a students education. When I started this paper one of the biggest questions I had was whether easing up on students or giving them more work, gives them a better education. The top two countries in test scores are Finland and South Korea, which, as you know, have very different opinions on how to teach students. Though Finland is not number one on the list, their students tend to be very happy and less stressed than the South Korean students. On the other hand, South Korea produces some of the most educated students in the world and when it comes to giving students a better future for themselves and for their country, is there really anything more important? It is very hard to say which example the United States should try to follow when considering that both systems have their advantages and their flaws. In the end, the students and teachers will have to make these decisions for themselves, if they want to achieve higher learning. It is my strong belief, however, that every school system has something to offer and if we learn from their examples, the United States can also be one of the leading countries in education.

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Works Cited Caroline, McClatchey. "BBC News - What is the key to a successful education system?," BBC Homepage. BBC, 7 Feb. 2013. Web. 8 Oct. 2013. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21354932>

Diem Richard, Tedd Levy, and Ronald VanSickle. "South Korean Education." Asia Society. Web. 11 Oct. 2013. <http://asiasociety.org/education/learning-world/south-korean-education>

"Mexico Education System." Classbase - Education Database. Web. 9 Oct. 2013. <http://www.classbase.com/Countries/mexico/Education-System>

Michael, Fullan. "What America Can Learn From Ontario's Education Success." The Atlantic. 4 May 2012. Web. 8 Oct. 2013. <http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/05/whatamerica-can-learn-from-ontarios-education-success/256654/>

Michael, Weissenstein. "Mexico Education Reform Passed By Senate, Looks To Remake Public School System." Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post. Huffington Post. 04 Sep 2013. Web. 9 Oct. 2013. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/04/mexico-educationreform_n_3866613.html>

"South Koreas education fever." PBS Newshour. PBS, Web. 08 Oct 2013 <http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/video/blog/2011/01/south_koreas_education_fever.html>