During the past few years, there has been continued press concerning the relatively poor performance of American high school students. Americans have been and still are lagging behind their Asian and European peers in math and science.
According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the average 15-year-old American in 2003 scored on the same level with students from Poland, Spain and Hungary in math literacy. But the American graduating high school class of 2006 was outperformed by its Japanese, Australian and even Slovak counterparts; in fact, it was not even close.
Despite Americans' poor performance in primary and secondary education, however, the United States is the lone post-secondary superpower. The Institute of Higher Education of Jiao Tong University in Shanghai ranked the top 500 universities worldwide. In 2005, 17 out of the top 20 universities in the world were American. UW not only scored best among all Big Ten universities but was ranked an impressive 16th in the world. Countries such as Japan, Germany and Canada — who continually embarrass the United States in high school performance — cannot match the level of post-secondary education that an American university such as UW provides.
The Economist's "The World in 2006" gives various reasons for American universities' shining performance compared to our Asian and European counterparts. One of the most important reasons is the lack of federal-government involvement in higher education. In countries such as Germany and France, academics are considered civil servants. Many federal governments interfere with the independence of the university by mandating which students they must accept and whom they must hire. Some even influence course curricula, which brings the level of education down and stifles both students and faculty.
The independence of the American system of higher education from the federal government is its strength. Considering federal funds and state revenue contributed to only 48 percent of UW's budget in 2003-04, UW has a great deal of latitude from the state and the federal governments compared to the University of Helsinki or Moscow State University.
Not only do American universities benefit from a lack of bureaucratic interference, the American philosophy of higher education emphasizes a well-rounded education. Many of us (myself included) have questioned why UW requires engineers to take a literature class, or why a linguist must take three credits of life science.
Other countries, such as India and China, have a very different approach to post-secondary education. Many Indian and Chinese CEOs are now questioning a too-focused approach to education. As Thomas L. Friedman wrote in The New York Times on March 25, 2006, these two emerging economic powerhouses are extremely concerned about the lack of creativity and innovation their graduates show after college. The education system in both countries suffers from students not questioning their education with the question, "Why?" which is stifling creativity in fields ranging from engineering to business-marketing strategy.
In the United States, we encourage creativity and independent thought. Innovators such as Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple, were able to study something as "useless" as calligraphy at Reed College. While some thought it was useless for a dropout physics major to study this art, he combined the calligraphy and computer technology to create beautiful fonts for the Macintosh computer. It is through this synthesis of unhindered creativity and broad-based education — which Americans not only allow, but encourage — that make American universities the best in the world.
The American system of education is riddled with problems: many lower-class families are finding it more and more difficult to afford education; there is a disparity in high school graduation rates among different races; and we in fact do poorly in math and science.
A trip to Madison East High School or Madison West can attest to some of these facts. Where American education excels, however, is with its universities. UW is no exception. While we may gripe about having to take four semesters of a foreign language or that dreaded semester of calculus, we benefit by being able to explore freely in our educational majors. While there are some mandates and oversight from the state and federal governments, the relative lack of bureaucratic involvement in American universities make our universities the best in the world.
In terms of government involvement in higher education in the United States, there should be even less involvement from the Capitol. This independence from the government that UW and many other top universities enjoy allows both students and faculty to continue to explore the academic world unhampered.
Jeff Carnes ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in linguistics.
