The Linguistic Culture-9-10 (Political Parties and Elections_ Media_ Soap Operas)(Education and Science in the USA) (1157947), страница 4
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There exist private and public schools. Since separation of church and state is a principle of American democracy and therefore religion cannot be taught in state-supported schools, there are also many schools, supported by the church. These are often Catholic, but there are Protestant and Jewish schools as well.
Because of the inequalities inherent in society as a whole, however, the goal of equal opportunity in education remains an ideal rather than a reality. As the tuition fees are rather high in private schools they are attended primarily by upper-class children. The reason why parents send their children to these schools is that they often believe they will receive a better education in them and 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 public schools at the elementary and secondary levels throughout the country. In other words 88 percent of 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, junior high school or middle school, and high school. American children begin to attend school by the age of five or six. There are also pre-school classes called kindergarten. Before this they may attend 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 high school is from grades seven to nine or seven to eight. The concluding three or four grades form high school.
There are more or less definite demands at each level. In some areas and at more advanced levels, students can choose some subjects. Students take classes in major subjects such as English, Math, History and Science. They must also take classes in physical education and a foreign language. Then they can usually choose an elective subjects like art or music. At the end of a term students get a grade of A, B, C, D, or F (fail) for each subject. Grades are based on test scores, class participation, and class and homework assignments. As they finish each class in a subject 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. This philosopher 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 American schools much attention is given to creative activities. Students are encouraged to be creative both during class time and extra-curricular hours.
American high schools try to adapt to the needs of society. Learning computer skills starts early. As life is becoming more complex, new subjects are introduced. Schools are initiating programs previously viewed as a part of home education. These include subjects such as driver’s education, sewing and cooking classes called home economics, health and sex education, where issues like drug and alcohol abuse and smoking may be treated.
In addition to bilingual and bicultural education programs, many schools have special programs for those with learning and reading difficulties. Many schools also support summer classes, where students can make up for failed courses or even take extra courses. They also attempt to integrate students with varying abilities and backgrounds into an educational system shared by all. At the same time, many high school students are given special advanced coursework in sciences. Nationwide talent searches for minority group children with special abilities 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. have also always stressed “character” or “social skills” through extracurricular activities, including organized sports. Because most schools start at around 8 o’clock every morning and classes often do not finish until 3 or 4 o’clock in the afternoon, such activities mean that many students do not return home until the early evening. There is usually a very broad range of extracurricular activities available. Most schools, for instance, publish their own student newspapers, and some have 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 learn flying, diving, and mountain - climbing. They can act as volunteers in hospitals and homes for the aged and do other public-service work.
Often the students themselves organize and support school activities and raise money through “car washes”, baby-sitting, bake sales, or by mowing lawns. Parents and local businesses often also help a group that, for example, has a chance to go to a state championship, or take a camping trip. Such activities not only give pupils a chance to be together outside of normal classes, they also help develop a feeling of “school spirit” among the students and in the community.
Whichever varieties of school curricula exist all of them envisage standardized examinations at every level of education.
There are two widely used and nationally administered tests for high school students who wish to attend a college or university. One is the SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test), which attempts to measure aptitudes in verbal and mathematical fields through multiple-choice questions 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, non-governmental organizations. The tests are used by universities as standards for comparison, but are not in any way “official”.
Each year, the SAT is taken by some two million high school students. One million of these 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 another million high school students. With so many different types of high schools and programs, with so many differences 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 families with better educated parents; often have an advantage over those who don’t. This remains a problem 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 to colleges and universities. Every year, about 12 million Americans are enrolled in the over 3,000 colleges 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 a little over 20 percent are enrolled in privately supported universities and colleges. United Nations figures (1980) show that in the amount spent on education per capita, the U. S. is in ninth 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 in them are often adapted to serve local needs. State universities provide opportunities of higher education usually at a cost considerably below the cost of education in private institutions.
The institutions, which provide higher education, do not constitute any coordinate system and are not controlled by any centralized national authority. Each state has the right to found 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 offering undergraduate education or to a part of a university, such as a College of Arts and Sciences or a College of Engineering). These institutions of higher education offer two-year programs beyond the secondary school level. Courses are divided into two programs, one leading to a transfer to a four-year college at the end of two years, the other intended to be terminal at the completion 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 secondary school 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 some specialization or concentration in one particular field during the third and fourth years of the program. Some of these colleges are private; others are run by the state.
Specialized Institutions are usually institutions of technology, teacher training colleges, art schools, and other specialized institutions emphasize intensive concentration in a specialty as contrasted with the board range of liberal arts colleges. The course of study typically emphasizes technical, scientific, or engineering aspects of knowledge in the field.
A University. An American university, having the most complex organization of all American institutions of higher education, consists of a number of schools and colleges at both levels: the undergraduate school and the graduate school. These are grouped together in one educational system. A distinctive feature of American universities is the separation of graduate from undergraduate education.
Of the nation’s 1,900 institutions of higher learning roughly one-third are state or city institutions. About 1,200 are privately controlled. Approximately 700 of these are controlled by religious 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 and technological schools and junior colleges.
In higher education and especially in very prestigious universities the U.S. has a selective system of admission. Acceptance into the university is based on a written application, submission of a transcript showing all courses in previously-attended educational institutions, evidence that the student satisfactorily completed all requirements at the previously-attended institution, and sometimes an oral interview or written resume at the school which the student desires to attend. Different schools of higher learning may have different standards of acceptance: some may require excellent grades on the S.A.T., while others may have less stringent requirements.
At the undergraduate level universities may have several divisions - colleges of liberal arts, a school of business or engineering or applied science, etc. A student usually enrolls in 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 part-time and work, so it may take them much longer time to finish. Some students first take an associate’s degree at a community college, where the tuition fees are lower and study two more years at a four-year college to complete their bachelor’s degree.
Students are classified as freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors. A freshmen is a first year student, a sophomore, a second year student, a junior, a third year student, and a senior, a fourth year student.
Most undergraduate students must take liberal arts classes in English, Math, History, and science. They choose a major (specialize) in a subject such as business, education, or art in their third year of college or after they have completed half of their course work. Students must complete a survey course in American History or American Government in order to receive any degree from the University.
To graduate from a university requires a student to complete requirements of the university, to achieve the minimum allowable grade in the required courses, and to collect the required number of so-called credits. There is wide variation in the requirements depending on which university you look at. In general, universities and colleges require students to fulfill a set of general requirements applicable to all students at the school (specialization), as well as fulfilling the specific requirements for their major field of study. For example, at Haverford College they require 32 credits for graduation, 1 credit being awarded for each course taken and passed per semester. So, 4 credits per semester and 2 semesters per year equal 8 credits per year. Four years of college education multiplied by 8 credits per year equals 32 credits, or the amount needed to graduate. However, the Linguistics Department requires 10 credits of linguistics courses in order to be eligible for the Bachelor of Arts degree in Linguistics. As a result, it is necessary to fulfill both requirements before being allowed to graduate, i.e. pass 32 credits of courses, 10 of which must be in the Linguistics Department.
In addition, most universities require a minimum grade-point average before a student is allowed to graduate.
There are four principal types of academic degrees, each representing a different level of academic achievement:
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