Submitted By ZhuYiBo
Hello, everybody! I’m Andy Zhu. I’m a high school student in the United States. I studied in China for a long time before moving to the U.S. I’m going to tell you what it is like to be studying in the United States.
First of all, I think the most different thing is the schedule. We used to start school at 7:30 in China, but in the United States we start school at 9:00. In China, school ends at 6:30 and I have a night advisory from about 7:30 to 10:30. Everyday would be a long day of studying. In the United States, school ends at 4:00. It is a way earlier than in China. After school, we can use the free time to do whatever we like. We have our own time to enjoy our lives or participate in extracurricular activities. Also, I can sleep at around 10:00 at night and I wake up at 7:30. Every day, I can sleep for nine and a half hours. When I studied in China, I could only sleep around eight hours. School in the U.S. allows me to have more free time to explore different things that I’m interested in and gives me more time to rest my body.
Another big difference is what we study in school. In China, we have a lot of subjects we are required to take. But in the United States, we can choose what we want to study. We can study the easiest subject first then attend to the harder ones. For example, I could study mathematics and science first, then I can focus on society. I can schedule my classes myself. In China, everyone has the same classes. We all have to study the subjects together.
Finally, the system in China and the U.S. are fundamentally different. In China, we always focus on the final exam. The final exam decides how well you did during the semester. If you do well on the final, you are a good student. If not, you are considered a bad student. In the U.S, we focus more on everyday work. The homework for everyday, every single test, every project, and our everyday behavior will affect our grades. Doing homework, taking tests, finishing projects really helps our grade. You may do terrible on the final exam, but, even so, you will still have a chance to have good grades.
This is what I think is different about school in the U.S. and in China. Overall, I don’t think there is a right or wrong educational system, but, each way brings out a different strength within a student that can revealed.
