Comparing the British and American Education Systems
The basis for all mental and social development is education. There has been a huge ongoing debate in America regarding educational funding; people argue about the true importance and the depth of impact that education has on a child’s growth. Nevertheless, what has been proven is that the earlier a child is exposed to core concepts, the more informed decisions they will make later in life. One of the most interesting things I discovered while living in Great Britain for a month was the similarities and differences between theirs and our educational systems. There were some ideas demonstrated by aspects of the British school system that I thought that the U.S. could take note of, but also some ideas that Britain could learn from the U.S.
The most authentic look into the British school system that I got was from our day at the London primary school. What struck me immediately was how small the school was compared to my elementary school; there were around 400 students in my school and it seemed like there was about half of that in this school. Nevertheless, the classes were about the same size as the ones I was in. The classrooms also had a very similar look to the classrooms I grew up with. The biggest difference I was struck with was the disciplinary system enlisted in the classrooms. Growing up, I remember having a card behavior system – green meant good behavior, yellow meant a warning, red meant a timeout and blue meant a trip to the office and/or a call home. (I never got past the yellow card). At the primary school, they did not have any system like that. Instead, there were a few pieces of paper posted on the walls with different emotions listed on them, such as happy, sad, angry, etc. The students’ names were then placed next to the emotion they acted that day; if sad or angry, the teacher or aid would talk to the student and make them feel better. The superintendent also told us that they have a chicken pen at the school, so students that are acting out can calm down and watch the chickens or clean out the pen – apparently it is very effective. I really liked this outlook on discipline because it is much more positive and seems to have a greater effect on students; from my experience, the students who got the red or blue card, did so at least once a week, so the discipline did not really benefit them. Another aspect of primary school that I liked was that each year would learn about a different religion. I thought this was very cool because it gives students a better cultural understanding and tolerance towards different beliefs. The U.S. especially could use more cultural acceptance.
Alongside the primary school, we got a look into the more elite side of education with our tours of Eton College and Oxford University. These institutions, although very famed and influential, do not need to be copied in America. Christopher Hitchens in “The Eton Empire” essentially writes that Eton College had a much bigger effect on politics and determined one’s eligibility in their career path – now, not so much. This illustrates the shift from Britain’s historically very classist system to a more modern approach to one’s status. The U.S. certainly does not need more of an influence of status on success. Another aspect of British education that I feel could take some pointers from U.S. education is the lack of undergraduate institutions. Once a student graduates from high school, they go straight to a university in their field. From Prof. Highley’s personal testimony of spending three weeks in law school before deciding it wasn’t for him, it is evident that this system in place is not very beneficial. Britain could enlist undergraduate institutions to give students more time to realize which career path they want to take, as well as give them a more well-rounded education with general education courses.
Overall, the educational systems of the U.K. and the U.S. are pretty similar except for a few jarring differences. From what I saw, the U.K. has a more forgiving disciplinary system than the U.S., which is also more effective. The U.K. also seems to have more religious education than American public schools. What the U.S. has that the U.K. does not, however, are undergraduate institutions that give students more freedom to choose their career paths. If the U.K. and U.S. combined the benefits of both of their educational systems, it could create the most well-rounded students.