In recent years there has been quite an uproar about education in America, much of it based on the seemingly inferior quality of the U.S. system when compared to education leaders like Finland, Singapore, and especially China. Yet not everything about America’s education system is bad. There are some advantages to the way we do things, even if American students aren’t scoring top marks on international tests.

While the Chinese government may spend less on education and get better returns in the form of test scores, recent changes to the Chinese system of education, inspired by nations like the U.S., are a strong indicator that not everything we’re doing is wrong. In fact, there are a lot of things that America does right when it comes to education. Here we share some of the advancements, advantages, and characteristics that make American education strong, even if it does need some reform.

1.We still have the best universities in the world. While China may have the upper hand in K-12 education, when it comes to higher ed, the United States is still the leading destination for college students from around the world. Even with all of the recent tumult that has shaken higher education, the U.S. has never been a more desirable location for students from China. The number of Chinese students in American universities has doubled since 2008 and seems poised to continue to rise over the next few years. While Americans may have serious concerns about higher education, top schools like Harvard, Yale, MIT, Princeton, and Stanford still stand out as some of the best in the world for nearly every major and especially as research institutions. While that may be slowly but steadily changing (professors and leading academics are being hired abroad at higher frequencies than ever before), right now, our higher education system is one solid advantage.

2.Online education is easier to come by. Online education is becoming increasingly popular in China and throughout Asia, but the diversity of programs, number of schools, and overall offerings simply can’t match that of the U.S. In 2010, more than 6.1 million students took an online course and enrollments in programs in healthcare and computer information systems have skyrocketed in recent years. Additionally, 65.5% of all chief academic officers at colleges believe that online education is a critical part of their long-term strategy. This dedication to and popularity of online education in the U.S. has resulted in hundreds of different majors and certification programs being available to students, even some at the master’s and doctoral level. This means that more students can access a wider range of educational material at any time and from anywhere. That easy access to educational resources is a definite advantage over China, whose online education programs are still building up steam.

3.American education offers more freedom. The booming economy and worldwide presence of Chinese culture sometimes makes it easy to forget that China is still an authoritarian regime that restricts freedom of information and free speech. Students are expected to toe the party line, become members of the Communist Youth League, and aren’t allowed to speak out against the government or do any research that might draw into question the decisions made by that government. What’s more, the communist party also exerts quite a bit of control over both individual faculty members and academic departments, nipping any dissent in the bud early on. While some opinions may not be popular in the U.S. and thus draw less funding, students have the freedom to say, research, and learn about pretty much anything they want. That’s something that certainly has appeal for Chinese students, as 40%-60% of those who study abroad in the U.S. do not return to China. While job opportunities undoubtedly play a role in shaping that statistic, freedom of expression probably doesn’t hurt either.

4.School isn’t just about academics. While subjects like math and science are certainly important in American schools, what students learn isn’t just about those core subjects. Time is set aside for subjects like art and music and students get lessons in socialization, cooperation, creativity, and ethics, too. The same can’t always be said for Chinese students, which is often noted as one of the biggest shortfalls of their educational system. The Chinese have a narrower concept of learning, one that doesn’t always involve building skills that are necessary to work in a team-focused environment. Professor Xiong Binqi, vice president of the 21st Century Education Research Institute at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, has said he thinks that Chinese education especially lacks the cultivation for civic literacy, awareness of self-reliance, personality, mental health, and other aspects of literacy and that students are too focused on getting better lives for themselves to consider ways in which they can change the world. Sadly, over the past decade this advantage has been declining in many American schools, as arts, music, after-school clubs, and even recess are chopped from the school day to streamline things, focus students on testable subjects, and ease budgetary concerns.

5.Standardized tests are important, but they’re not necessarily life altering.Bombing the Gaokao, the most important test Chinese students take, can throw a serious wrench a student’s plans for life, as solid scores on the test are required for students to get into tertiary education. Even before that students may be wringing their hands, preparing for the Zhongkao, the test that determines whether they’ll be headed for senior high school or relegated to vocational school. While America does seem to have a growing infatuation with standardized tests, examinations are rarely that intense or that critical to a student’s success in academics or life in general. If a student does poorly on the ACT or SAT and there’s a chance that they might not get into the top-tier school, but other factors may balance out poor scores and there are plenty of other options open to students who aren’t great test takers, especially if they have solid grades and strong initiative. While tests here can be stressful, they are rarely life altering, and students don’t have to spend years stressing over whether they’ll get the chance to perform well on one to make it into the next phase of their lives.

6.Creativity is valued. One of the biggest criticisms of graduates from the Chinese educational system, from both Americans and Chinese education experts alike, is that the system doesn’t encourage them to build skills in flexibility, communication, and especially creativity. These are critical skills in the workplace and the lack of them is beginning to hold China’s economy back (just .03% of Chinese companies own the patents for the products they produce). The ability to produce innovative minds is one of the key advantages of the American educational system and one that China is eager to emulate, which may mean that we won’t have the upper hand in that respect for much longer. New reforms in China are working to infuse traditionally rote classes with lessons that will promote increased creativity. The continued prosperity of the Chinese economy depends in many ways on how successful these initiatives are at producing more independent thinkers. In recent years, China’s growth has been fueled by low-skilled cheap labor, but as the population ages and labor costs rise, China must create more high-value jobs, which are often connected with innovation, in order to remain a global competitor. At the same time as the Chinese are embracing creativity in schools, many school systems in the U.S. are cutting back on all but what they see as the essential subjects; the same ones that are so central to the current way of doing things in China, which could create a creativity crisis of our own.

7.There is less pressure on students. The high-pressure environment that many students in China operate under produces great success but not without some casualties along the way. Suicide rates are a controversial subject in China, so much so that no statistics on it are ever released, by the government or any academic institution. Even in the U.S., Chinese students have significantly higher rates of suicide than their peers from other backgrounds. This sort of high-pressure, make-it-or-break-it attitude is nothing new in China; the country has a long history of high-stakes testing including the keju, a test administered by the emperor himself to choose new government officials. For many today, just as in centuries past, scoring well on tests is the only way out of poverty and into the elite. While pushing students to succeed is good, it probably isn’t necessary in the extremes that it’s found in China. Finnish schools have proven that students don’t need the “tiger mom” approach to be successful, getting top marks despite going to school for fewer years and doing less homework. Oddly enough, in a recent study by the Pew Research Center found that Americans want more pressure put on students (64% say not enough pressure is put on students) while the Chinese want less (68% of Chinese parents think too much pressure is put on students), indicating that things could be changing for students in both countries in the coming decades.

8.Students can take classes in line with their talents. Students in American high schools often get a chance to seriously embrace courses that reflect their personal interests and career goals, often being able to take several art, music, or even philosophy courses before graduation. If Chinese students are offered some electives, they rarely have time to truly enjoy them as their real focus must always be honing their skills in Chinese, mathematics, English, physics, geography, chemistry, and political science so they can prepare for the gaokao. There is little variation by individual in how courses stack up, and most students end up taking pretty similar course loads. This does offer American students an advantage, as they’re not only less stressed but are able to pursue subjects that they’re passionate about. Those motivated by their own passion for a subject are likely to be more creative, driven, and innovative within that subject, whether its computer programming or painting, than someone working hard to make the grade and fulfill parental and societal expectations.

9.There are a lot of different kinds of schools. Parents in America can choose just about any kind of education they’d like for their youngsters, from Montessori schools, to religious institutions, to programs that focus on math and science or the arts. There’s a school out there that matches up with the needs of every student, and if there’s not, parents can homeschool. While some may argue that school choice isn’t a good thing (those with the most choices are often the most advantaged and those who are disadvantaged often get little choice), it’s hard to argue that having at least some measure of control over the type of education a child receives and the method of instruction it’s doled out in is a bad thing. In China, there are few schools outside of the state-run ones, and private schools are generally international schools that cater to the needs of foreign businesspeople and diplomats. The lack of school choice has motivated many Chinese parents to choose to send their students abroad for education at America’s elite private schools. A growing number (4,000 families so far) are also homeschooling their children to help alleviate some of the pressure put on them by traditional schools.

10.America values diversity.While there are certainly classrooms and school districts in America that are seriously lacking in diversity (this remains a major issue in reforming schools) by and large, America is a fairly diverse place. More importantly, however, that diversity, whether it be in racial, religious, cultural, or ethnic backgrounds, is quite often embraced, though perhaps more so in cosmopolitan urban schools. While China is one of the most diverse countries in East Asia, especially when you consider the demographics of its megacities, it doesn’t always match up with the U.S. in the way that diversity is valued. In fact, very often, diversity in China is downplayed. Ninety percent of China’s population is Han, and while dialects and ethnic groups exist within that group, their differences aren’t really highlighted as a positive. When it comes to language, Mandarin is the language of choice, and things not in Mandarin are often marginalized or replaced with Mandarin versions. In some cases, there has even been violence leveled against those in religious or ethnic minorities, especially if their beliefs don’t line up with those of the ruling party. While diversity in America is undoubtedly a controversial issue and will continue to be, the diverse atmosphere in which students can learn, grow, and become global citizens is an invaluable asset.