ôsecond in prestige only to the Nobel Prize and often referred to as the æAmerican NobelÆö (OU, 2004).
That OU also embraces the arts is also an appealing draw, with Dance Magazine naming the OU School of Dance one of the top three dance programs in the country. Of similar interest was the fact that the A. Max Weitzenhoffer Musical Theater Program is one of the only university programs in American that offers students a chance to work in the same case with professional Broadway actors in new productions. Showing the diverse offerings of OU is also the fact that the university ranks first among Big 12 schools in the growth of federal research funding, with a growth rate of more than twice the national average over the past decade.
My interview with my friend Sue Lee, a college student who was educated prior to college in her native China, revealed a number of similarities and differences between the educational systems in China and the United States. One of the greatest similarities is that public schools are funded by the state, though as in American an increasing number of schools are becoming private schools. Sue Lee (2006) told me ôgovernment cutbacks in funding have increased the number of private schools while forcing public schools to engage in small-scale commercial enterprises to survive.ö American schools also engage in small-scale commercial enterprises to augment their budgets, like car washes and bake sales. However, some methods employed to raise funds in ChinaÆs public schools would never be tolerated in the U.S. Sue Lee (2006) told me one school ôput Marlboro sloga
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