3/29/17

Vocabulary Lesson 27 - Words Relating to Things of Little Importance or Value

Extraneous Frivolous Incidental Inconsequential Irrelavent Negligible
Peripheral Petty Superficial Trifling Trivial

U.S. Schools Not Very Challenging

What do you picture when you hear the words all American high school? Do you
picture students with their noses stuck in books? Jocks? Superficial(1) girls who try to be
popular? In an exchange students perspective, they see easier classes, less homework and
lots of sports. In recent years, high schools across the U.S. try to make the education system
more competitive and challenging for our students. However, foreign exchange students view
American high schools as an experience as much less stimulating and trivial(2) to their
overseas education.
Tom Loveless, who works in the Brown Center on Education Policy with the Brookings
Institutions, says "we think we have made great strides in making our schools more
challenging, here is at least one outside group that is in fact saying they are not terribly
challenging". Comparing to a foreign country's education system, the US is pretty far behind
almost showing negligible(3) efforts to improve our own. Experts disputed that the focus on
sports was not necessarily a frivolous(4) activity to remove from our education.
A survey conducted last spring showed that all the students who were surveyed were a
part of the AFS Intercultural Programs, an international youth exchange organization. Forty-four
percent of respondents said US students spend "much less" time on schoolwork than at their
home countries, while 21% thought they spend "a little less. These foreign exchange students
have the idea that an American students education is almost trifling(5) to even consider into
their lives.
Jack Buckley, senior vice president for research and evaluation at American Institutes
for Research, challenges Lovelesss methodology stating it does not make sense. Buckley
believes that foreign exchange students are more ambitious and want to represent the country
they are coming from. If you were studying abroad you wouldnt be extraneous(6) about who
you are or where you come from right? That is what Buckleys ideology is.
Buckley also noticed that American high schools can be drastically different from one
another, instead of being incidental(7) in society. He cited an international student
achievement study called PISA ranked the US 25th out of the 50 countries that had participated.
Martin Carnoy, a professor at Stanford University, says parents who have students study
abroad only allow their kids to focus on homework. In the American culture, parents believe you
are a well-rounded student if you can juggle extracurricular activities, such as sports, as well as
balance their grades and social life. So in reality, many students who participate in sports dont
consider homework to be irrelevant(8) but more of a push to motivate them to do better. He
finds that certain US schools tend to be less demanding as opposed to being petty(9).
Americans want their children in sports so they can be peripheral(10) and on edge about how
they do in school, otherwise they can be kicked off of whatever activity they are participating in.
All in all, from a foreign exchange students perspective, American schools may be easier
because they are coming from a country that had different and more competitive ways of being
successful in school. So American students dont think that homework or studying is
inconsequential(11) to them, it is just on a different level of learning that may not be as
advanced as other schools nationwide or even worldwide.
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/exchange-students-american-high-schools-easier-
2017-3