Reflective Journal 4

In the previous lesson, we covered societal problems faced by America and China and whether they could learn from each other's different system to overcome their problems. I feel that the most significant problem faced by China would be the corrupt and inefficient government. The prevalence of corruption means that many politicians are not acting in the best interests of the country as a whole. This hinders China's economic progress and can develop into other political and social issues. Corruption leads to social unrest. Social unrest leads to less productivity. This will impact the economy as there are less profits and investors will be wary of the unstable political system. The inefficient and decentralised government also makes it harder to implement policies, as local leaders hold a lot of influence and the ways policies are implemented will thus be inconsistent across different regions. Local leaders having too much power also encourages corruption. Furthermore, China is very large. It is extremely hard to reform the entire political system and solve rampant corruption on such a large scale. As it leads to many different consequences and is hard to solve, I feel this is the most significant problem faced by China.

I feel that the most significant problem faced by America would be their education system. America's academic rankings are plummeting, and many students find themselves unable to qualify for college. There are more and more drop-outs in America, and without higher education, their job prospects in the already shaky economy are slim. As a whole, the American economy will also be greatly affected as it needs a skilled workforce to meet demand. However, this problem is extremely hard to resolve. To begin with, the actual cause of plummeting grades is not clear. Most likely, it is a number of different factors that have contributed to this situation, which range from a culture which places less emphasis on academics to funding cuts. It is thus difficult to directly tackle the root of the problem and will take a large amount of effort and time to solve this issue. However, this is largely impossible in America due to its political system. Political parties often disagree and create a deadlock where it takes a long time to get anything done and the resulting policy may not be the most effective. Teachers unions also hold a large amount of influence and money and are known for blocking educational reform. The National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers spent nearly $62 million on candidates and expenditures for ballot incentives in 2008. As this problem has far-reaching consequences such as exacerbating the issue of America's stagnating economy, budget deficit and high unemployment rate as well as being extremely hard to resolve, I feel this is the most significant problem faced by America.

However, I feel that most of what was presented in class was oversimplified. Something which I felt could be expanded on more was how a solution from one country cannot be directly copied and implemented in another country to similar effect. This is partly due to the culture and the interplay between political, economic and social issues. China and the US both face the problem of a large rich-poor divide. China's government plans to reform personal income tax and has come up with a proposal and gathered feedback from the people last year. However, this is not so easy to implement in America. There is heated debate over whether taxes for the rich should be increased. However, because of the political situation in America, it is difficult to negotiate an effective deal between Democrats and Republicans without taking an excessive amount of time. Thus this solution cannot simply be directly copied from China and implemented in America.

Such limitations work both ways. There is a problem of dissatisfaction with the government in China. China can learn from America by granting individual rights such as freedom of speech, expression and the press, people are more likely to use alternative platforms to give constructive criticism and solve the root problem such as corruption. However, this is not likely due to the political system in China which is more authoritarian. In other words, it is extremely unrealistic that America and China can accept and implement solutions learnt from each other - in fact, it is extremely unlikely that they can solve these societal problems at all in the near future.

I also feel that the different problems faced by America and China also reflect on their culture and ideology to some extent. China faces political and social issues such as social unrest, corruption, materialism and selfishness. This reflects how China has an ideological void which it is trying to fill with Confucianism, which has been described as both unrealistic and not tackling the origins of corruption and poor governance. America faces problems such as a political system which is inefficient in passing new laws and overspending on healthcare which reflects its beliefs in individual rights.

(828 words)