Saturday, September 17, 2005

Just another boring day and a review of school systems

Today was one of the most boring days of my life, I guess. With little to do and time going by as slow as one could expect...

But these days, I am observing the differences of lives through out the world.
Been to schools around the world in Middle east, Western Europe, North America and East Asia, Now I can tell the differences!

While in Western Europe & North America, students are expected to be creative and think creatively, in middle east, students are raised as machines and they are given little to think about.
Actually, in the mideastern school system, due to the limits of the society and lack of social freedom, students are not allowed to think and act as they think/wish.

In the middle eastern system, students are given useless homeworks to do and little to think about. Actually I guess students in dictatorship run countries have no right to think about any thing.

However, I am sure, there are many devoted teachers who challenge the system of education in closed societies like Iran but it is just limited and getting the students and instructors to nowhere.

Students in Europe are grown as "thinkers" and students in dictatorship run countries are grown as "followers". In religious dictatorships, no one is allowed to question the existence of almighty lord or question the legitimacy of the leader. While in Europe, students have the very same rights their parents have in the society and have the very same right to question whoever and whatever they wanna know more about. There is no healthy discussion over "Evolution" or "Creation" in these dictatorized countries

But the interesting side of this story is the level of success among students of dictatorship run countries once they get a chance to study abroad. They become "The Best" in their schools and colleges.

I think maybe a reason that students from a more closed society may excel when they go to western schools, is because of the discipline they're used to.

The case for East Asia is also a little different as they still have their own mixture of traditional and modern schools. However I believe there is little differences between Democracies in general and therefore their education system enjoys the same freedom their other levels of society do. ( Japan, Taiwan and South Korea).

This is not a professional criticism or review of schools there and here but it is just amazing how different systems lead people in different societies. It is my own observation of different places I have been to in my life.

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