The Linguistic Culture-5 (USA-1) (1157932), страница 15
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Almost all have student orchestras, bands, and choirs, which givepublic performances. There are theater and drama groups, chess and debating clubs, Latin,French, Spanish, or German clubs, groups which meet after school to discuss computers, orchemistry, or amateur radio, or the raising of prize horses, and cows. Students can learn flying,skin-diving, and mountain - climbing.
They can act as volunteers in hospitals and homes for theaged and do other public-service work.Often the students themselves organize and support school activities and raise moneythrough “car washes”, baby-sitting, bake sales, or by mowing lawns. Parents and local businessesoften also help a group that, for example, has a chance to go to a state championship, or take acamping trip.
Such activities not only give pupils a chance to be together outside of normalclasses, they also help develop a feeling of “school spirit” among the students and in thecommunity.Whichever varieties of school curricula exist all of them envisage standardizedexaminations at every level of education.There are two widely used and nationally administered tests for high school studentswho wish to attend a college or university. One is the SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test), whichattempts to measure aptitudes in verbal and mathematical fields through multiple-choicequestions marked by computer. The other is the ACT (American College Testing program),which attempts to measure skills in English, mathematics, and the social and natural sciences.Both tests are given at specific dates and locations throughout the U.
S. by non-profit, nongovernmental organizations. The tests are used by universities as standards for comparison, butare not in any way “official”.Each year, the SAT is taken by some two million high school students. One million ofthese students are in their last year of high school. Another million are in their next-to-last year.The ACT, more commonly used in the western part of the U.S., is taken each year by anothermillion high school students. With so many different types of high schools and programs, with somany differences in subjects and standards, these tests provide common, nationwide measuringsticks. Many universities publish the average scores achieved on these tests by the students theyadmit.
This indicates the “quality” or level of ability expected of those who apply.Needless to say, those children who have attended better schools, or who come fromfamilies with better educated parents; often have an advantage over those who don’t. Thisremains a problem in the U. S., where equality of opportunity is a central cultural goal. Notsurprisingly, the members of racial minorities are the most deprived in this respect.Higher Education.According to American statistics over 41 percent of high school leavers apply tocolleges and universities. Every year, about 12 million Americans are enrolled in the over 3,000colleges and universities of every type: private, public, church-related, small and large, in cities,counties, and states.
Close to 80 percent of the college students attend public institutions, while alittle over 20 percent are enrolled in privately supported universities and colleges. UnitedNations figures (1980) show that in the amount spent on education per capita, the U. S. is inninth place in the world (behind Qatar, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, Luxembourg,Denmark, Switzerland, and Canada).Every state in the US maintains at least one institution of university rank. Programs inthem are often adapted to serve local needs. State universities provide opportunities of highereducation usually at a cost considerably below the cost of education in private institutions.The institutions, which provide higher education, do not constitute any coordinatesystem and are not controlled by any centralized national authority.
Each state has the right tofound new public or private institutions of higher education within its borders. However,cooperative efforts of colleges and universities have created a number of unifying factors,which reduce the diversity of American system of higher education.The Types of Higher Educational Institutions:Junior Colleges (The world “college” refers either to an independent institution offeringundergraduate education or to a part of a university, such as a College of Arts and Sciences or aCollege of Engineering). These institutions of higher education offer two-year programs beyondthe secondary school level. Courses are divided into two programs, one leading to a transfer to afour-year college at the end of two years, the other intended to be terminal at the completion ofthe junior college, usually leading to a profession (shop work, office work, etc.)Colleges of Liberal Arts, which generally offer four years of work beyond the secondary schoollevel.
Their programs are aimed at providing a broad educational base in philosophy, science,and culture. Course work is often organized so that students may choose some specialization orconcentration in one particular field during the third and fourth years of the program. Some ofthese colleges are private; others are run by the state.Specialized Institutions are usually institutions of technology, teacher training colleges, artschools, and other specialized institutions emphasize intensive concentration in a specialty ascontrasted with the board range of liberal arts colleges. The course of study typically emphasizestechnical, scientific, or engineering aspects of knowledge in the field.
Today, the educationalprograms of some specialized institutions are broader and more comprehensive. In fact, some ofthem have changed their names, aims and programs to fit a university type of organization.A University. An American university, having the most complex organization of all Americaninstitutions of higher education, consists of a number of schools and colleges at both levels: theundergraduate school and the graduate school.
These are grouped together in one educationalsystem. A distinctive feature of American universities is the separation of graduate fromundergraduate education.Of the nation’s 1,900 institutions of higher learning roughly one-third are state or cityinstitutions. About 1,200 are privately controlled. Approximately 700 of these are controlled byreligious groups. Less than half of these institutions are liberal art colleges and universities,which stress the languages, history, science and philosophy. The rest are professional andtechnological schools and junior colleges.The American ideal of mass education for all is matched by the understanding thatAmerica needs highly trained specialists.
In higher education and especially in very prestigiousuniversities the U.S. has a selective system of admission. Acceptance into the university is basedon a written application, submission of a transcript showing all courses in previously-attendededucational institutions, evidence that the student satisfactorily completed all requirements at thepreviously-attended institution, and sometimes an oral interview or written resume at the schoolwhich the student desires to attend.
Different schools of higher learning may have differentstandards of acceptance: some may require excellent grades on the S.A.T., while others mayhave less stringent requirements. Smaller schools usually like to orally interview the studentsbefore making a decision to accept him or her. This allows the school to have a close look ateach student, his personality, and to make sure that the school will meet the student’s goals.At the undergraduate level universities may have several divisions - colleges ofliberal arts, a school of business or engineering or applied science, etc. A student usually enrollsin one undergraduate division, but he may take courses in more than one of these.A full-time undergraduate degree usually takes four years.
Many students study parttime and work, so it may take them much longer time to finish. Some students first take anassociate’s degree at a community college, where the tuition fees are lower and study two moreyears at a four-year college to complete their bachelor’s degree.Students are classified as freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors.
A freshmen isa first year student, a sophomer, a second year student, a junior, a third year student, and asenior, a fourth year student.Most undergraduate students must take liberal arts classes in English, Math, History,and a science. They choose a major (specialize) in a subject such as business, education, or art intheir third year of college or after they have completed half of their course work.
Students mustcomplete a survey course in American History or American Government in order to receive anydegree from the University.To graduate from a university requires a student to complete requirements of theuniversity, to achieve the minimum allowable grade in the required courses, and to collect therequired number of so-called credits. There is wide variation in the requirements depending onwhich university you look at. In general, universities and colleges require students to fulfill a setof general requirements applicable to all students at the school (specialization), as well asfulfilling the specific requirements for their major field of study.
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