The UK vs US Education System

US Education System

Samuel

Some people say that the education system in America is crap, that they don’t have enough procedures in place for people who have ambition, it costs too much for people from deprived backgrounds and the living conditions are poor. I do believe this is very unfortunate and it is the ugly side of their educational system however I also believe that their education system has its advantages. The fact that education is so sacred in America means that the people who can go to High School and University want to be there. Within the UK it is very different, education is forced down our throats, even if we don’t have an idea of what career paths we want to go into. There are so many people who head into university here without knowing what they want to do and when they finish they are left more confused than they were when they first started. This time it’s different as they now have debt hanging over their heads. Although I think that in the UK there is more structure - I believe this system creates corporate slaves. People who go through the education system, finish with debt and for the rest of their lives they are paying this off. Studies have found that in the UK three quarters of students will never pay off their student debt and that is shocking. Yes the US system has their deficiencies and the prices for university may be expensive but at least the students who do end up going actually want to be there.

Benjamin

I have another view, I didn’t attend university in the UK or in the States, but my view is that in the UK we are made to specialise very early on. This could be to make the most of the time we have, before we start committing to long hours at work and bills, we can make the most of the educational system, to really direct our lives and future, it's focused. I know there are obvious issues with our education system, but cost and debt are incomparable to that of the states, where student loans for just tuition can cost the individual on average twice the cost of what we pay here in the UK, it is also three times more expensive if you attend the higher league schools.

In the US, the freedom to take on multiple classes, and later decide where you want to specialise can give some more options. I’m concerned at the risk that we are so young when we enter university whether it is financially wise to ask a young person to pay 22,000-30,000 dollars, to decide what they want to do; and continue you to pay that large amount ever year, for the next 4 years that their degrees last? In the UK, they still may not know what they want to do with the life, but they know what they are studying, they know what opportunities they may have when it's finished. If you find yourself in an indecisive moment of your young life, my advice would be to take a year out, earn money instead of paying money so that you can figure things out. But that's just me.