What Czech and American Schools Can Learn from Each Other

I grew up in Asheville, North Carolina, a city in the Appalachian Mountains with its own distinct version of American culture. I went through its public schools from kindergarten through senior year, and at the time, that was simply what school was. It wasn’t until my Fulbright year teaching English at a gymnázium in Cheb that I had something to compare it to. Standing on the other side of the desk, I found myself noticing what Czech classrooms did differently from the ones I grew up in back home. One city’s public schools can’t speak for a country as big as the U.S., any more than one gymnázium can speak for every Czech school. Still, each system has a few practices I think the other could benefit from.

What NC Schools Get Right

One of the first differences I noticed had less to do with what students learned than with what they were encouraged to do with it. In my high school in Asheville, many assignments, from essays and projects to class discussions, invited us to form our own opinions, support them with evidence, and talk them through with classmates; some who see things differently. My school’s speech and debate team took that a step further. There I became a more confident public speaker and learned to see an issue from more than one side, including sides I didn’t agree with at the time. My experience is far from unusual; speech and debate is one of the largest academic activities in the United States (Davis, 2026).

This reflects a broader shift in American education toward a student-centered model, where students are encouraged to discuss, question, and create alongside listening. The Czech classrooms I saw have kept more of the traditional, lecture-based approach, which has real strengths, such as making sure students build a solid base of knowledge before they’re asked to form opinions. Still, I often found myself asking a student for their opinion, then following up with the question my own teachers asked me countless times: „But why do you think that?“ It’s a part of my education I’ve come to value, and a big reason I feel comfortable speaking about my opinions in front of others.

These skills matter beyond the classroom. Students who take part in speech and debate tend to develop stronger critical thinking and greater self-confidence, and they are more likely to go on to civic leadership and advocacy (Stennis Center for Public Service, 2020). Learning to share an idea, explain it, and listen openly to others is more than an academic skill; it is part of taking an active role in one’s community.

What Czech Schools Get Right

If American classrooms taught me to speak up, Czech ones showed me what it looks like when students are asked to show what they know. Nowhere was that clearer than with the maturita. As any Czech reader knows, it is far more than a final test. To graduate, students must pass a series of demanding exams across several subjects, including oral exams where they answer questions on the spot. Watching my students prepare, I was struck by how much it asked of them and how seriously they took it. On exam day, they arrived dressed in suits and formal wear, and the whole atmosphere felt closer to a professional milestone than a school day. In North Carolina, graduating came down to passing my classes and a handful of standardized tests. The months of preparation for Maturita give students a clear goal to work toward, and passing gives them a sense of accomplishment and confidence that they can carry with them into the university level.

That same seriousness carried over into languages. Many of my students had passed exams in more than one foreign language at B1 level or higher, and it wasn’t unusual to hear them move easily between three. Americans have a certain reputation abroad when it comes to languages, and standing in front of those students, I’ll admit it isn’t entirely unearned. Much of that learning also happened outside the classroom. Through school trips abroad, my students had the chance to use their English and German in real conversations and experience the cultures behind the languages they were studying. Stronger language instruction, paired with oral exams and opportunities like these, could go a long way toward preparing American students for an increasingly connected world.

Not every trip was about languages, though. My students also went on school ski trips and hiking trips, where they could be active, spend time in nature, and build teamwork and leadership skills along the way. In a city like Asheville, with such direct access to nature and hiking trails, it’s easy to imagine how much students would gain from something similar. Research on outdoor learning suggests that hands-on experiences outside the classroom help students understand and remember what they learn, while also building resilience, independence, and confidence (Arthur, 2025).

Small changes can go a long way. An American classroom might add more oral exams and language practice, while a Czech one might replace an exam with a student-led project as the final grade and make more room for discussion and debate. Both systems have room to grow. If each one is a mirror of its own culture, then looking into another country’s mirror can show us what else is possible, and students in both countries would be better for it.

Sources:

Arthur, A. (2025) Why outdoor learning matters in secondary education. PGL Schools &
Groups, 9 December. Available at:
https://schoolsandgroups.pgl.co.uk/why-outdoor-learning-matters-in-secondary-educatio
n/.

Davis, R. (2026) ‚Speech and debate holds a value that no judge can score‘,
CHSAANow, 16 March. Available at:
https://chsaanow.com/news/2026/03/16/speech-debate-speech-and-debate-holds-a-val
ue-that-no-judge-can-score.

Stennis Center for Public Service (2020) Why speech and debate? Available at:
https://stennis.gov/why-speech-and-debate/.