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21st Century American Education

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21st Century American Education
Robert Williams
Critical Analysis
6/27/2011 Education in the 21st Century

The U.S has been perceived upon as a country of hard workers, overachievers, and gifted people all having a vigorous work ethic. Americans work approximately 40 hour work weeks, compared 35 for the French and a measly 30 hours for the Germans. In addition to this, Americans only get an average of four weeks of vacation, whereas the French get the month of August to recover from their hectic work weeks, causing Americans to dub the Europeans as a bunch of lazy people. There is some bias and exaggerations to these statements, but overall Americans do work more than other Europeans, the same can’t be said however, for the nation’s youth. Unfortunately, the vigorous
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Countries such as Denmark and Sweden boast a staggering 40 to 50 hour school week, making some American education reforms re-think they way the write guidelines for the nation’s schools. This morning to early afternoon school schedule gives children the opportunity to engage in some extra-curricular activities, such as soccer, tennis, or art. This is good, since the child can venture out and find something that he or she is good at, however the benefits of this are only short-term for they don’t really help the child progress further academically. The U.S needs to lengthen the school day to emphasize the fact that fun and games aren’t everything, and children should engage in something educational after school, to help them in their studies. When summer rolls around in early to mid June, all the material that is learned over the year is quickly forgotten as the lack of practice takes effect. The three month stretch serves as an education eraser, as the typical student forgets about two months of material, commonly called summer leaning loss. American scholars noticed however that this isn’t true for all American children. Children coming from poor families tend to do worse academically because of weak family bonds and are therefore more susceptible to learning loss. Richer kids, on the other hand, improve, for their parents send them to camps and classes …show more content…
The three month stretch serves as an ‘education eraser’, as the typical student forgets about two months of material. American scholars noticed however that this isn’t true for all American children. Children coming from poor families tend to do worse academically because of weak family bonds and are therefore more susceptible to learning loss. Richer kids, on the other hand, improve, for their parents send them to camps and classes to stimulate their minds, and encourage them to do something productive over the

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