Education

Education
Affirmative
By: Landon Frame

Education is enhanced by competition. When the children and school try to compete with one another to get higher grades they will work harder and better to get the results they want. In he past decade America’s education system has fallen behind that of other countries like India and Japan. This isn’t necessarily because their kids are smarter then us but more because of competition. The government, the schools, the teachers, and the parents expect more of them. This creates a competitive environment that drives the kids to work harder. In the country of Mauritius they implemented a competitive education system then when back to a cooperative education system and saw student grades drop. Before 2001, most prestigious schools used to be called "Star Schools" and each year, the CPE pupils would compete against each other to gain entrance to those schools based on a ranking system. In 2001, the government - with Steven Obeegadoo as minister of Education - decided that there would be an educational reform in Mauritius. The ranking system was abolished and replaced by the grading system coupled with the regionalisation system which advocates going to a school near one's residence. In February 2006, with Dharambeer Gokhool as minister of Education, the "A+" system, which is similar to the pre-2001 system, was introduced. CPE students now need to get "A+" in all their subjects to gain admission to "National Colleges" which consequently became as much coveted as the "Star Schools" were before the reform. They went back to the competitive education system because they learned that Competition is superior to Cooperation as a means to achieve excellence.

Sir William Haley stated “Education would be so much more effective if its purpose were to ensure that by the time they leave school every boy and girl should know how much they don't know, and be imbued with a lifelong desire to know it.” In America teachers have become so afraid to say or do anything that might harm one of the student’s self-esteem for fear of a lawsuit. In the leading countries they don’t really care. They have seen that when the push their students harder their students work harder. My Grandpa had a heart attack and had you to the hospital (he is a bit racist) and while he was there he was complaining there was so many Indians for doctors. This complaining got me to think about why there were so many. Then it hit me. Going back to the education system the competition drove them to be more even after their schooling was done. As we can see the competitive drive in these countries lead to excellence even after school.