Poll Counters Stereotypes on U.S. Students
In a survey that challenges widely held stereotypes, U.S. students rate their schools higher and take more business, computer and economics classes than do Japanese students.
The Junior Achievement-Gallup International Youth Survey of 750 American and 790 Japanese junior and senior high school students released today found:
* 56% of American students say they have a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in public schools, compared to 44% of Japanese.
* More U.S. students than Japanese students claim they are “very interested” in studying math, arts and music, science, and business.
* U.S. students are three times more likely to complete business or economics courses than Japanese students are: 54% of U.S. students say they’ve taken such courses and 29% say they plan to. Among Japanese, 18% say they’ve taken such classes and 20% plan to.
* 41% of American youngsters polled have studied computer science and 23% say they plan to, while 12% of Japanese have studied computers and 23% say they plan to.
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