Essay on education

Education is an essential part of every country’s society. There are various

educational systems around the world. This is mostly thanks to the cultural and
historical differences. An example of this can be the dissimilarities between the
American and European, for instance Hungarian, education.
Let’s start with comparing the K-12 system to Hungarian primary and
secondary education. First of all, both in Hungary and the US compulsory education
starts at the age of 5 or 6 with 1 year of kindergarten. However they also have the
opportunity for free nursery schools prior to this. After one year of kindergarten they
can advance to 1st grade of elementary school. There they have the possibility to go
to middle school after 4th grade or to junior and later senior high school after 6 th
grade. If one decides not to go to the options listed before they will advance to high
school after 8th grade. In high school there are some differences. In the US you have
to go to high school for 4 years and in the end you finish your compulsory education
in 12th grade. On the other hand in Hungary you don’t have to finish high school
because compulsory education is only until the age of 16. Also in Hungary there is
the “érettségi” exam at the end of high school.
As you can see the difference is not really in the
structure but rather the style and quality of the education in
the two countries. In the US schools focus on the student’s
critical thinking skills, personal freedom and social skills. On
the other hand in Hungary the focus is on learning facts and
expanding our knowledge. There are also differences in the
school environments. In the US classrooms are built in a way
that encourages the students to express opinions, have
discussions and be creative, meanwhile in Hungary more
attention is paid to discipline.1 Owing to the way of US
education, American students lagged behind but the
government made multiple initiatives and they seem to be
catching up now. US education is ranked higher in recent
rankings. 2

Finally we have higher education, which is fairly

different in the two countries. There are colleges in both
countries which are 2 year long and in the end you earn more
than those who didn’t go to college. Then there are
universities where you can get a Bachelor’s degree after 4
years and later Master’s and Doctor’s degree. So the system is quite similar in this
way but it is different in the quality and the price of education. Tuition fees in the US

1
according to: https://dailynewshungary.com/hungarian-vs-american-education/
2
picture by: https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2010/dec/07/world-education-rankings-maths-
science-reading
have a wide range but in average a public four year
college costs 10000 dollars to finish3. In Hungary this
number is around 7000 dollars. Although it costs
more in the US there are more opportunities for
scholarships thanks to many sport scholarships in
universities and colleges. Based on multiple rankings
US higher education is the best on the world.

So to conclude everything I have written

down , I would say there are similarities in the two
systems but they’re obviously different in their results
and focus on education.

3
based on: https://www.topuniversities.com/student-info/student-finance/how-much-does-it-cost-study-us