We, the People of the United States, ready for the race. Countries line up behind us. Our hearts beat in-sync like a resounding drum. Our leg muscles twitch, screaming for action. Our mouths form a confident, almost cocky smirk, just before the gunsho—BANG. GO! We sprint…We try our best. Then, we watch as Singapore, meticulously trained for this very moment, passes feet ahead of us. So do other countries. In the end, we place average. Only average. Yes, in the international competition that is education, the United States (U.S.) does not even place in the top 10. Specifically, we rank 13th out of the top 20 countries who placed on the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Despite this, the U.S. Department of Education’s “vision…show more content… On average, 44,965 Americans die by suicide each year, as reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“Suicide”). By importing Singapore’s strictly academic curriculum, American students may degrade emotionally, socially, and physically—like Singaporean students’ well-beings have—and therefore cause even more Americans, human beings, to commit suicide. Although supporters of the Singaporean education system may argue that citizens’ poor health is not a result of their strict curriculum, Singapore still deprives their students of their interests in sports, politics, or social connection. These three aspects are commonly an American student’s relief from the monotony and high stress of schoolwork, and without them, the U.S.’s pupils well-beings would still deteriorate. As an American born in this country, I understand that America’s culture is based off of more than the texts and studies of academia. We thrive off of athletic sports. We engage in politics for fun. We encourage extracurricular activities like chess clubs and debate teams in schools. To copy Singapore and chase a high status in education like theirs, the U.S. would have to stop dedicating itself to sports and politics and therefore strip away our students’ solaces. The U.S. would have to sacrifice their own American culture and health for the sake of a better-rated education…show more content… Above all else, the United States should prioritize a student’s well-being because they are people, not machines. Although Singapore’s culture is rooted in stringent studying habits, ours is not. The United States would experience a culture shock if it imported Singapore’s high-stakes, demanding education system. Instead, the U.S. should continue to formulate its own system based off of the foundation it already has. For example, to prevent a decline in student health like in Singapore, the U.S. could continue to implement an autonomous education that encourages our students to determine how they learn. In this way, students could immerse themselves in a classroom based off of their own interests and learning styles, at their own appropriate pace. There are endless possibilities to the routes the U.S. could take in gaining back the global competitiveness that we crave. By copying Singapore, we may only ever tie with them in the race. We cannot tie when we can win. We, the People of the United States, must be our own country. Not