Comparison of Education in Europe, Asia, and US

The education systems in the US, Asia and Europe have many similarities that that make the education universal. Some of these similarities ranges from the systems of education that exist in the three continents, that is education is divided into different stages of primary school, secondary school and the university which is the highest level of education across the three continents. The nature of education is that there exist both private and public sectors in education with funding coming from both the private investors and the government. Reforms have been experienced in the education sector across the three continents.

Education systems

Just like the American system that has both primary schools has the first stage where children begin their studies, Asian education system has the elementary school as their beginning point in the education lives (Tan & Ming, 2008).  In the five-day week system the children are introduced to the elementary school. In the elementary, the children are taken through the five-day week system though the parents are against it while the children and the teachers are for it. Teachers mainly support the system because of the decrease in their labor hours. The children on the other hand support the support the two day off as they spend the weekend doing their homework and watching TV. Some elementary spend their two days off doing some extracurricular activities like taking the children to the zoo and museum. These activities are done in parents however are done with the aid their parents who act as instructors. To make activities successful the children are grouped in groups according to their grades with those living in the same neighborhood grouped together. Parents in collaboration with the teachers have the responsibility of making the activity centers for the region.

The American system on the other hand has their children start their schooling when they are five years old. Their first year in school is referred to as the kindergarten and is required that all American children enroll in the system (Britney, 2008).   The second year in school is referred to as the first grade in the primary school. The word in the American education system is used to refer to both the level of education in both the primary level and secondary level and also used to refer to the grade that one scores (Britney, 2008). Europe has also the same education system whereby the children are taken through a kindergarten, primary school, secondary school and the university education.

Education funding

In the United States education is mostly provided the public sector is the government which controls all the funding that that goes to education being controlled by the government (Ken, 2008). The funding comes in three levels that is the federal government, state and the local government. This make compulsory for child education for any American child since public education is universally available for all. All funding, teaching, school curricula and other policies for the governing of education offered by the government are channeled through the locally elected boards from schools given the mandate from the state   and legislatures to manage the school districts. Other decisions like the educational standardized testing decisions are made by the state government. The compulsory education is made possible through educating children in public schools, private secondary schools that have been certified by the state. Home school programs that have been approved by the state can be allowed to offer this level of education.  Post-secondary education commonly known as the college education in the US is governed separately from the elementary and the secondary or high school system (Brint, & Karabel, 2001).

In the US the cost of university education is very high and students cannot manage to pay the fee alone hence are given loan to finance their university education (Brint, & Karabel, 2001). The loans are divided into two with one managed by Education department directly while the other is managed by managed by the Federal Direct Student loan program. Commercial entities like the banks, credit unions and other financial institutions can offer loans to the students. In Europe, there is change of who finances higher education. Initially the government of various nations   use to finance the education especially schools and colleges. However due to the current reforms taking place in most part of Europe whereby privatization of the public institutions is taking place (European Commission, 2006).  This means therefore that most schools will be financed by private individuals. Asian is relatively cheaper compared with Europe and USA. This means therefore that for one to study in Asian, you will spend the less compared to one who does in the USA. Part of the financing of university education is done by the government as they waive the fees that students are supposed to pay. They also give loans to students especially those who are citizens of a particular country.

Higher education

In the three continents the highest level education is the university. In the US, this level of education is commonly referred to as college or university. It consists of four years of study but can exceed depending the nature of the course that is offered. Just like the high school the four grades of the undergraduate are commonly called freshmen, sophomore, junior and senior years. Schools differ in competitiveness and reputation. Most prestigious schools are private and not public. Once admitted students engage in undergraduate studies that earn a bachelors degree in a particular major. Other student chooses to attend the community college for two year choosing a four year college to further their education. Graduate studies are done after obtaining the initial degree and in some cases after several years of professional work. One gets masters degree. One can then pursue a graduate degree that is between master's degree and doctoral degree. After additional studies that which sometimes come in conjunction with the completion of master's degree student may be awarded a doctor of philosophy commonly known as the doctoral degree. This is the highest award that a scholar can be awarded.

In Europe the system of higher education is the same as that of the USA, with the PhD being the highest degree that can be awarded (Keeling, 2006). One joins the institution of higher learning after he or she has his great verified to make sure that he has perform as expected in high school education especially the high school education. One then enrolls for undergraduate studies that will earn him or her bachelor's degree. Graduate studies are pursued by those who will have successfully completed the undergraduate studies though not a must for some degree programs like the liberal arts and science. Some however in the business field requires some professional job experience that will allow them to pursue graduate education. One can then ear doctoral degree after getting the master's degree. Like both Europe and USA, Asia has it higher education divided in three major categories that are that is the undergraduate, graduate and doctoral studies where one earn degree certificate from the three stages.  The other common thing that is one can choose the middle level colleges that offer associate degrees earned before one goes for the full four year degree.

Categories of education

These schools are there in two forms this are private and the public. The function of the government in the US is to provide education to the citizens. The federal department therefore   plays an important role in the setting the standards and the financing of education (Structure of U.S. Education). Public schools are financed through the combination of the local, state and federal government funding. Private institutions are on the other hand parochial in nature and non-profit independent schools while others are for profit private schools. These private schools receive part of the funds from the affiliate churches through subsidies and scholarship.  The kinds of schools exist in both Europe and Asia whereby private institutions are dominating t education in both continents. Europe is even more affected through the current transformation where public institutions in most countries are being privatized. 

Educational reforms

According to European Commission (2006) in Europe, there is a total overhaul of the education system. The transformation runs through from kindergarten to university with the national education systems being transformed. The idea behind it is a new policy referred to as the orthodoxy where all the education sectors are being affected and. Privatization is the way to go with the private sector being involved in the offering education, decentralization and major reforms in the school curriculum whereby there is total reshaping of the education to be in line with the current competitiveness that is being experienced in the European knowledge based economy. Privatization is on the rise with choice and diversity being the two major market forces that are driving the change to come up with a new model on how schools are organized.

The entire learning and teaching process is regulated and govern by the new central governments and this gives the standards and the competitiveness required in the education to make it remain relevant to the society (Beauchamp, 2003). However these reforms in Europe are facing some resistance like moments that fought for egalitarian reforms are against the reforms even in situations there is expansion in there is expansion in the provision of education causing class and ethical inequalities to persist. The transformations that are going in the sector are European in scale and therefore are guided by the EU and OECD who give policies and directions.  The national governments draw the national policies from this repertoire that which act as benchmarks against which targets have been made.

Asia on its part has had many countries which have shown a lot of enthusiasm in education with China using the imperial civil examinations that have seen the appointment of talents to serve in the public service. This is an experience that rarely happens. This has changed the education system in the Asian continent heightening of the enthusiasm in the pursuit for education in accordance with countries 'economic development. Contrary to the enthusiasm that is being experienced in Asia, there is the other bad side of the Asian education status quo. This is evident by the fact that there are some to the countries where education is not spreading to the villages in the rural areas. In such countries, the educational differences in matters like the access of education by the poor and the rich and regions like those living in rural areas and those in urban areas is big. Too much access of education by the elites also causes a lot of educational disparities in most of the Asian countries (Keeling, 2006).

The western education which is commonly used to refer to the American system has arguably been seen as a better education system compared to most education systems in the world that is better than that of Asia and parts of Eastern Europe (Beauchamp, 2003). This is because of the many reforms that the education sector has faced over a long period of time. This has made one of the best educations in the world causing many people to seek their education the US.  To proof this there are the number of Nobel Laureates that that have come from this countries. USA is leading with three hundred and nine followed by the UK with a hundred and fourteen and Germany comes third with a hundred and one people. Leading Asian countries like China and India are far much behind with only four and eight laureates (Tan & Mange, 2008). This means that for every one Chinese awarded the price there are seventy seven American. This is so because of Western education that is credited for producing great scientists and writers that have revolutionized the world in their different fields.

Several attainments have been made in the education of the three continents that have changed the nature and the way education has been. In the United States, since the high school movements there have been major changes in the education system. For example on affirmative action, after the ruling of the federal courts race was considered as a factor in admission and could affect how students were going to be admitted to the various institutions of learning in the US. On who controls the education system it is not constitutional and that the government just intervenes but has no full, mandate to control the education in the USA should be. It is therefore a fifty fifty sharing of the responsibility between the private sector and the public sector. In Europe it can be argued that there have been major changes in the education in the entire continent that have culminated in the major reforms that are currently underway  give the education and the schooling system a totally different look. Asia is not left behind in the realization of the new changes in the education system in order to conform to the current economic development the particular country. In Asia the status quo has is being eradicated through various policies and plan of actions (Tan & Minga, 2008).