To the Editor:

The recent feature on higher education in Asia ("Asia Rising: Countries Funnel Billions Into Universities," The Chronicle, October 5) debates whether the American higher-education system is losing its dominance. Having taught at a university in Asia as well as several in the United States, I am convinced that a shift away from America's pre-eminent position in higher education is well under way.

The view expressed, mostly by Americans, that U.S. universities are still the best in the world is largely based on perceptions that are often more based on the past than the present. Dean Jongryn Mo of Underwood International College at Yonsei University's points out that "the United States has been dominant for so long that it tends to take its position for granted. … I am not sure if it understands the challenges arising as the rest of the world catches up." Even if American higher education is still the best in the world, it is self-delusional not to consider that this may be changing.

While there are various factors that play a role in what I believe to be America's declining higher-education superiority, the key difference is a simple one—respect. Most Asian nations consider higher education a highly valued privilege. As a result, students tend to take it seriously. They live in an environment in which they have to compete to be admitted to a university and to earn good grades. In contrast, the United States has, consciously or not, gradually downplayed respect for education, treating it increasingly as a commodity that is simply bought and sold like any other. Compared with Asians, American students on average tend to be lazy and prone to the belief that they are inherently entitled not only to a university education, but also to high grades with very minimum effort. Rather than focusing on what's in their long-term interest (quality education), many universities succumb to the pressure by treating students as masters (paying customers) and educators as their servants whose main job is short-term customer service.

The difference in respect for education is blatantly apparent to anyone who has taught in American and Asian universities. Although there are certainly exceptions, Asian students as a whole are much more conscientious than Americans. While I do not advocate the strict approach some Asian societies take, in which the professor is deemed to be always right and students are expected to blindly accept knowledge dictated to them, I also believe that the coddling approach to students that many American universities increasingly take is equally misplaced. While many Asian universities have acknowledged their traditional shortcomings and are attempting to incorporate values such as critical thinking into their curricula, American universities seem to refuse to even consider the possibility that they have any shortcomings.

While long-held perceptions tend to change very gradually, reality is not based on such perceptions and may change despite them. Until recently, there was a widely held perception that American financial institutions and the U.S. economy were superior to those of the rest of the world. That perception may have been based on reality at some point in the past, but has certainly begun to be questioned more recently. However, the factors leading to the failure of some of the biggest and most iconic American financial institutions were at work long before perception started to catch up with reality. I fear that American higher education will suffer a similar fate.

Name Withheld

The writer teaches at a university that forbids employees to criticize the institution in public, directly or indirectly. The Chronicle withholds the names of letter writers only in extraordinary cases.