I hate what Obama wants to do with education system here. I'm gonna copy/paste a rant about this.
I hate how the USA is basically destroying its education system in order to compete with Eastern schools. I've been to school in Asia, and it was basically a longer school day, a bigger courseload, and overall way too much material way too fast. I had just finished my first algebra course in the United States at the age of fourteen, and at fifteen I was in Asia struggling with what I'm pretty sure was calculus. Most of my friends in Asia basically felt like high school was a waste of time. They were strained and pressed with so much material that they basically hadn't done since they started college.
Here's where it really annoys me. I learned in my education class (I'm going to be a teacher) that back in the 80's, America's education system was "worse" because the arts and things like home economics were more emphasized. The US was scared because it didn't have eight year olds that could do algebra (like China and India), but why should it be? Everything really matters when someone has their degree and is ready to do a profession, and creating more maths and sciences requirements in elementary school through high school isn't really going to change how much they'll know when they get out of college, unless you implement high school courses that are more advanced than some of the highest level college courses.
So basically, in the system my country is headed for, it is going to be much easier to fail. The courses are going to get harder, and the stress is going to grow. Someone whose brain could be the most adept in the world for creating world peace could end up never going to a good enough college because they couldn't do calculus and advanced chemistry at the age of fifteen. Of course, there are lots of private schools, but not everyone can afford them. What used to make my country's education system so great was that someone could go to a public school in Baltimore (one of the poorest cities in the US), get a scholarship, go to a top-notch school, and make something of himself. I heard about this guy in Africa who taught himself English and built a hydroelectric plant by himself. I heard he got a scholarship to a school in South Africa and is now studying there. With a system based on getting high test scores and not on teaching a child practical skills to function in the world, geniuses like that guy I mentioned could end up working at McDonald's or worse.