A Lithuanian's (controversial) Perspective on American Education

Recently, I was having dinner with a friend of a friend, originally from Lithuania, hence the title of this post, but now an American citizen who has lived here for well over 15 years. He was one of those straight shooters that was looking for interesting dinner talk, which is something I can appreciate because I don't like vapid conversation.

Anyway, he brought with him an interesting perspective on his educational upbringing in Lithuania and his criticisms of America's education system:

1. He believes serious tracking should be done in schools and that students should not be told that with hard work and perseverance they can reach their goals because that's simply not true. He argues that they should be given an honest assessment of what their prospects are and then guided to certain fields of study, whether that may be higher education, vocational training, etc.

2. He believes there is not enough high-level analysis or critical thinking in American education. He claimed that during his schooling in Lithuania, most of his assessments were in the form of essays and involved critical thinking. He criticized multiple-choice testing as a stupid form of assessment.

The first point is interesting but we can argue for hours on American ideals and the American dream. Also, I wouldn't know how to keep students motivated and produce productive citizens after draining them of their hopes and dreams.

But it was the second point that really hit me. He described multiple-choice questions and that type of learning as "eliminating the wrong answers." Because students are busy deciding what isn't the answer, they forget to look for what is. The deep thought and critical analysis isn't there. What's more, I thought of the way I make my decisions, and much of how I decide, because I have trouble making decisions, is eliminating choices I definitely don't want. This concept really resonated with me and made me think of how this kind of "train of thought" is pretty troublesome.

Obviously from a logistical standpoint, multiple-choice and standardized tests are great because results are easy to tabulate. It's hard to compare student progress when you are subjectively grading essays. We need to find a nice balance between the two and make sure our students don't become decision-eliminators instead of decision-makers.