This semester, you will write a 3,000 word paper comparing Health Care and Education Policy in the country you are studying with the policies and outcomes we have here in the US.
Section 1: Country Comparison
In this section you’ll provide an overall comparison between the country you are studying and the US. This section may include information about standard of living, life expectancy, average incomes, and the types of jobs in the economy. Be sure to go beyond ‘just reporting statistics’, and try to determine key ways the countries are similar and different. This section will help create context for the rest of your paper. For example, Haiti and the US are very different economies, and so it is natural that Health Care and Education Policy would be significantly different. The US and Canada, on the other hand, are similar economically, so your policy analysis will likely need to focus on more subtle differences.
Section 2: Health Care Comparisons
In this section you’ll compare the health care systems within both countries. Is health care provided by the government, or through the private market? Are hospitals and clinics privately run, or government run? How much money (as a percent of GDP) is spent on health care in each country? How do health care outcomes (such as life expectancy, infant mortality, disease) compare?
Section 3: Education Comparisons
In this section you’ll compare the education systems (both K-12 and Higher Education) within both countries. Is education provided by the government, or through private markets? What is the average level of educational attainment? Do most people follow the same educational path? Or is the system designed to route people into different trades and specialties early in the process? How do education outcomes (such as literacy rates, percent of people graduating from high school or college) compare? Does the country’s educational system adequately prepare citizens for available jobs?
Section 4: Assessing Policy Differences
In this concluding section you’ll compare and contrast Health and Educational policies within the two countries. Do their systems seem to do a good job meeting the needs of people? How do policy differences reflect differences in national priorities, or cultural differences? Is the role of government similar or different? Do the systems provide widely-accessible and affordable health and education? Are there lessons that one country could learn from the other?