The Linguistic Culture-9-10 (Political Parties and Elections_ Media_ Soap Operas)(Education and Science in the USA) (1157935), страница 5
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The reason why parents send theirchildren to these schools is that they often believe they will receive a better education in themand they will associate with other children of their own background.Today there are 6 million pupils in private schools and 43 million pupils and students in publicschools at the elementary and secondary levels throughout the country. In other words 88 percentof American children attend public schools and only 12 percent go to private schools.The divisions or stages a child passes in his school educational ladder are elementary, juniorhigh school or middle school, and high school. American children begin to attend school by theage of five or six. There are also pre-school classes called kindergarten.
Before this they mayattend nursery school or a day care center.Schooling is divided into twelve academic levels or grades, each of which lasts one year.Elementary school usually covers grades one through six or seven. Middle school or junior highschool is from grades seven to nine or seven to eight. The concluding three or four grades formhigh school.There are more or less definite demands at each level. In some areas and at more advancedlevels, students can choose some subjects. Students take classes in major subjects such asEnglish, Math, History and Science.
They must also take classes in physical education and aforeign language. Then they can usually choose an elective subjects like art or music. At the endof a term students get a grade of A, B, C, D, or F (fail) for each subject. Grades are based on testscores, class participation, and class and homework assignments.
As they finish each class in asubject students get a credit. When they have enough of these, they can go further.The apostle of American school education is considered to be John Dewey. Thisphilosopher and educator believed that conveying factual information to students is secondary.The main aim is to teach them thinking processes and skills, which they will use in the future.He also greatly stressed that activity and experimentation should come first. So, in Americanschools much attention is given to creative activities.
Students are encouraged to be creative bothduring class time and extra-curricular hours.American high schools try to adapt to the needs of society. Learning computer skillsstarts early. As life is becoming more complex, new subjects are introduced. Schools areinitiating programs previously viewed as a part of home education.
These include subjects suchas driver’s education, sewing and cooking classes called home economics, health and sexeducation, where issues like drug and alcohol abuse and smoking may be treated.In addition to bilingual and bicultural education programs, many schools have specialprograms for those with learning and reading difficulties. Many schools also support summerclasses, where students can make up for failed courses or even take extra courses.
They alsoattempt to integrate students with varying abilities and backgrounds into an educational systemshared by all. At the same time, many high school students are given special advancedcoursework in sciences. Nationwide talent searches for minority group children with specialabilities and academic promise began on a large scale in the 1960s.Like schools in Britain and other English-speaking countries, those in the U. S.
havealso always stressed “character” or “social skills” through extracurricular activities, includingorganized sports. Because most schools start at around 8 o’clock every morning and classes oftendo not finish until 3 or 4 o’clock in the afternoon, such activities mean that many students do notreturn home until the early evening.
There is usually a very broad range of extracurricularactivities available. Most schools, for instance, publish their own student newspapers, and somehave their own radio and t.v. stations. Almost all have student orchestras, bands, and choirs,which give public 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,or chemistry, or amateur radio, or the raising of prize horses, and cows. Students can learnflying, diving, and mountain - climbing. They can act as volunteers in hospitals and homes forthe aged 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 standardized examinations atevery level of education.There are two widely used and nationally administered tests for high school students whowish 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 of thesestudents are in their last year of high school.
Another million are in their next-to-last year. TheACT, more commonly used in the western part of the U.S., is taken each year by another millionhigh school students. With so many different types of high schools and programs, with so manydifferences in subjects and standards, these tests provide common, nationwide measuring sticks.Needless to say, those children who have attended better schools, or who come from familieswith better educated parents; often have an advantage over those who don’t.
This remains aproblem in the U. S., where equality of opportunity is a central cultural goal. Not surprisingly,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.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 programsbeyond the secondary school level. Courses are divided into two programs, one leading to atransfer to a four-year college at the end of two years, the other intended to be terminal at thecompletion of the 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 secondaryschool level. 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 somespecialization or concentration in one particular field during the third and fourth years of theprogram.
Some of these 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.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.In higher education and especially in very prestigious universities the U.S.
has a selective systemof admission. Acceptance into the university is based on a written application, submission ofa transcript showing all courses in previously-attended educational institutions, evidencethat the student satisfactorily completed all requirements at the previously-attendedinstitution, and sometimes an oral interview or written resume at the school which thestudent desires to attend. Different schools of higher learning may have different standards ofacceptance: some may require excellent grades on the S.A.T., while others may have lessstringent requirements.At the undergraduate level universities may have several divisions - colleges of liberal arts, aschool of business or engineering or applied science, etc. A student usually enrolls in oneundergraduate division, but he may take courses in more than one of these.A full-time undergraduate degree usually takes four years. Many students study part-time andwork, so it may take them much longer time to finish.
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