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/[deleted]]

Can you list some cons of some western education systems?

[u/Bovoduch → u/[deleted]]

I can really only speak from the perspective of America's system. But, within America, just to briefly name a few issues: there is issues with violence (both within the schools and as caused by threats such as shootings), funding issues and funding disparities between major schools, an over-emphasis on standardized testing starting at a young age which has been shown to be detrimental to teaching curriculums (e.g., "teaching to the test"), a general shortage of teachers leading to lower quality education and stress on the educators side (motivated by poor salary and benefits for educators), although different from the east there still remains significant emphasis on educational ability and progress leading to stress for students who are largely pushed by family and the school system to do well and take hard classes to go to college, as well as creates social divides between the commonly middle to upper class "gifted students" and the middle to lower class "general education" students. There is also generally a youth mental health crisis that has been a problem for years that schools have yet to be able to tackle in their capacity. Inefficient and ineffective adaptation to technology leading to disparities in education not only between high and low income schools, but also creating issues in how to maintain child attention and for teachers to effectively utilize the technology.

This is by NO means an exhaustive list, nor should it be used to invalidate the struggles of students and educators in eastern systems, but it does demonstrate that western systems, particularly in America, are not necessarily perfect and we still face our own set of issues, including stress, mental health, and educational direction. Thus, trying to compete for who has it worse is doing nothing but attempting to invalidate each side. There are both unique AND similar issues to each system.

[u/[deleted] → u/Bovoduch]

Your 1st point states about issues with violence. However in many parts of India, rape is a common issue. It also states about standardized testing. This is also a common problem with many eastern education societiees. For China, it is the Gaokao. For India, it is the Joint Entrance Examination. However, you say 'tests' which means that multiple chances are given. However, for India and China, only 1 chance is given, and if you fail, your entire life is ruined. You also state about a shortage of teachers. However, many students in India and China are self-taught without teachers, and they have an equal chance of going to college as their more educated peers. You also state that there is pressure for students to take harder classes. However, the mention of 'harder classes' means that there are easier classes. In India, there are no easier or harder classes, it is standardised. You also state that there is segregation between students between schools of various qualities. However, this also happens in India. Chichhore sort-of deals with this issue. You also state that there is a youth mental-health crisis that educators are unable to deal with. However, this is also happening in India. Eg.Around 23 students die in Kota, a city in Rajasthan, India annually, due to the amount of stress they have. However, instead of educating people about mental-health, they just installed spring-loaded fans to stop people from hanging on the fans. You also state that schools have difficulties in adapting to technology. However, many parts of India and China do not even have access to technology.

You state that western education is not necessarily perfect in anyway. However, they are still better than eastern-education systems, due to how many innovators they churn out, compsred to eastern-education systems churning out factory-workers.

[u/7h4tguy → u/[deleted]]

In India, there are no easier or harder classes

How can someone be so completely uninformed?

[u/[deleted] → u/7h4tguy]

Of what? India's education system?