While I was in Italy for a month, I lived with a family in Florence. I had a 19 year old host-sis, 17 year old host-brother, and 13 year old host-sis. The family also welcomed another foreign exchange student into their home along with myself and my roommate; she was a 17 year old Swiss student. One of the largest differences in our live was our individual experiences in education.
在我在意大利（当交换生的）一个月时间里，我寄宿在佛罗伦萨的一个家庭。我便有了一个19岁的姐姐（房主大女儿），一个17岁的弟弟（房主儿子）和一个13岁的妹妹（房主小女儿）。房主也欢迎其他外国交换生和我一起回家，或是去我的房间。她是个17岁的瑞士学生。我们生活中最大的不同就是各自的教育经历。
Eastern culture students generally decide on and work hard towards a specific track/career much earlier on than American students. Their education system more or less filters them into either a university track or tech/skills-related track. Students are encouraged a young age to begin exploring their interests, and once they hit high school age, they are asked to re-visit their interests and decide whether or not they want to make a career out of it.
受东方文化熏陶的学生常常在远远早于美国学生一个特定的轨道或是职业规划上做决定并努力奋斗。他们的教育系统多多少少将他们分为大学轨道或是技工轨道。学生多被鼓励在早年开发他们的兴趣，而一旦他们上了高中，就被要求重新思考他们的兴趣并决定是否以此为职业方向。
American students are given more individual reign on their future. Again, after European students have a general idea of what their interests are, they are filtered through whatever their teachers and schools’ administrative system decide would be best for their “talents or abilities.” Once they are placed on a certain track, often it can be hard for them to “switch” to a different one. Simply put, the US has more of a “trial and error” approach when encouraging students to explore career interests whereas Europe likes students to dedicate themselves to whatever their original plan is.
对未来的规划，美国学生则被给予更多的个人决定权。而欧洲学生对于他们的兴趣有一个大概的认知，他们多由老师和学校的主管系统分类以决定什么是学生最好的“天赋与才能”。他们一旦被置于一个特定的轨道上，通常就很难“转换”到另外一条路上了。简而言之，美国在鼓励学生探索事业兴趣的时候更倾向于“反复试验”的方法，而欧洲则喜欢学生们在其原计划中努力奋斗。
The American education system allows us to participate in many extracurricular’s, instead of solely focusing on school. This was a big topic at my dinner table in Italy. My host-siblings told me about how hard it was/is to give up a sport/extracurricular they previously excelled in once “secondary school” (high school) is over. Sometimes depending on what type of primary school (elementary/middle school) and secondary school they attend, students may have to give up these passions a lot earlier simply because coaches/advisors and teachers can’t seem to find common ground in how much time should be given in respect to each activity. “It’s either one or the other…” my host-sister told me in regards to her participation in rowing (crew) and getting into the university track for medicine. Personally, I can’t imagine not having sports as an outlet when school has gotten stressful, and for many US students, extracurricular’s are what motivates them to continue their education and succeed in school.
美国教育体系允许我们参加许多课余活动，而不是单单聚焦在学业上。在意大利的一次晚饭时间，我们曾讨论过一个大话题。我的兄弟姐妹（房主儿女们）告诉我放弃他们曾经擅长的体育运动或是课余活动多么困难，一旦上了高中，这些生活就结束了。有时取决于他们入学什么类型的小学（或初中）和高中，学生可能不得不放弃这些早期的热情所在，仅仅因为教练或指导员和老师们对于学生在各自领域的时间分配上无法达成一致。“鱼和熊掌”，我的姐姐告诉了我关于她看待曾经参加的赛艇和上大学学习医药方面专业的故事。个人来说，我无法想象当学习压力山大而没有体育运动作为释压口的情形，而对于多数美国学生来说，课外生活才是激励他们继续在校学习并取得成功的源泉。
In general, European teachers seem to be more enthusiastic about their jobs. My opinion of course is only based on the conversations I had with Italian students and my Swiss host-sister and also after taking a class with an Italian professor. I’m sure anyone who has gone through the US education system can agree that unfortunately, our teachers are not paid as they should be. In Europe, being a teacher is a highly respected and sought our profession. Their schools only hire and offer positions to the best of the best, and in many European countries, the route to becoming a qualified teacher is just as competitive as getting into a pre-professional school is here in the US. That being said, their teachers naturally come to be extremely enthusiastic and passionate about their jobs without running a high risk of burning out in 5 years.
大致上来说，欧洲老师似乎对于他们的工作更具热情。我关于课程的观点仅仅基于我和意大利学生还有瑞士妹妹的谈话，以及课后和意大利教授的一些交谈。我很肯定任何一个受美国教育系统教育的学生会同意，很不幸，我们的老师并没有得到他们应得的工资待遇。在欧洲，当一名教师备受尊敬并且力求专业。他们的学校只对精英中的精英提供职位并聘请，并且在许多欧洲国家，成为一位有资格教师的途径和在美国上专业预修学校一样竞争激烈。这也就是说，他们的老师自然而然的对于他们的工作格外的热情和激情，而并不存在5年后精疲力竭的高风险。
