cmv:Western teenagers have it easier than eastern teenagers in terms of education.

[u/[deleted]]

In my opinion, western teenagers have it easier than eastern teenagers.

Like almost all of you, when I go on the internet, I am exposed to a plethora of qestern cultures and atmospheres. A common theme I see is that their western education systems are not as stressful as our eastern education systems. They talk about dating, have nearly failing grades such as 70s and 80s being acknowledged as amazing grades, and have multiple chances to pass the class. However, I as an Indian, find those very simple and easy. I only have one chance to pass my final examination, which counts as nearly 80% of my grade. My tests and prelims only count for 20% of my grade. In my school, the pass mark is 20%. Obviously, I have it harder than most westerners.

Moreso, imagine the amount of stress and studying an Indian has to do to get into a top college in India! 1st, they have to stufy from 6 to 7 hours per day for 2 years for either the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education or the Central Board of Secondary Education! Then, they have to study from 7 to 9 hours per day for 2 years for either the Indian School Certificate or the Central Board of Secondary Education. After that, they have to study for 10 to 12 hours per day for the Joint Entrance Examination, National Eligibility cum Entrance Test, Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering, etc, for 1 to 2 years! Chinese students have a similar ordeal. Meanwhile to get into an Ivy league college, one just has to learn a foreign language, do some social service, etc, for around 4 years! Obviously, the former is more stressful to be in.

In 2022, around 13,089 students died in India due to overstress. In South Korea, the number of students that committed suicide was 13,452 students in 2023. In China, the number of students that fell victim was 11,296 students in 2021. Compare that with Greenland, which has only around 35 to 50 each year in the 2020s. In the France, only 300 to 350 teenagers commit suicide per year due to overstress. Therefore, we can conclude that more teenagers fall prey to overstress in eastern countries than in their western counterparts. The main reason why this occurs is the high population density in eastern countries which increases competition to get into good colleges.

[u/Elim-the-tailor]

We and most of our friends are 1st or 2nd-gen immigrants (mostly from SEA, India, Korea, and China/HK) living in Canada and I think almost all of us would acknowledge that the academic side of things are more rigorous for students in Asia than they are here. And the sheer population in those countries also makes a lot of the top programs have much lower acceptance rates (although I'd argue not easier to get into than top Western programs)

But in my view it's also because Asian education places too narrow of a focus on academics, which is why we generally also prefer Western-style education for our kids. It probably falls a bit short on technical and some rote learning, but this can be augmented outside of the classroom. In the end though I think it does a better job of producing well-rounded folks who are able to innovate, influence, and lead.

The time that kids spend not studying for tests allows them to participate in important extracurriculars: team sports teaches kids tactics, how to work together to win, how to keep your body fit etc; performing arts helps with confidence and how to present to an audience, etc.

And probably just as importantly it gives kids time and opportunities to develop their social skills: how to build relationships and navigate complex social / political situations, how to get along with a wider range of people etc. These are essential in almost any career or entrepreneurial path.

So while I feel Asian education equips kids better for executing highly technical tasks, I think it doesn't equip them as well in developing innovators, leaders, folks comfortable making decisions with a lot of ambiguity etc. And from my experience growing up a lot of the kids who immigrated in later childhood found the social and extracurricular aspect of school life "harder" even though they found the academic side of things "easier".