Беликова Е.К., Саратовская Л.Б. - The United Kingdom and United States of America in Past and Present (1268141), страница 29
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As thetuition fees are rather high in private schools they are attended primarilyby upper-class children. The reason why parents send their children tothese schools is that they often believe they will receive a bettereducation in them and/or they will associate with other children of theirown background. However, these private schools are few in number, andthey do not by any means displace the public schools, which are truly thecentral educational institution in the United States.Today there are 6 million pupils in private schools and 43 millionpupils and students in public schools at the elementary and secondarylevels throughout the country. In other words 88 percent of Americanchildren attend public schools and only 12 percent go to private schools.The divisions or stages a child passes in his school educational ladder areelementary, junior high school or middle school, and high school.American children begin to attend school by the age of five or six. Thereare also pre-school classes called kindergarten.
Before this they mayattend nursery school or a day care center. Schooling is divided intotwelve academic levels or grades. Elementary school usually coversgrades one through six or seven. Middle school or junior high schoolis from grades seven to nine. The concluding three or four grades formhigh school.There are more or less definite demands at each level. In some areas andat more advanced levels, students can choose some subject. Students takeclasses 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 in subjects like art or music. Atthe end of term students get a grade of A, B, C, D, or F (fail) foe eachsubject. Grades are based on test scores, class participation, and class andhomework assignments.
As they finish each class in a subject students geta credit. When they have enough pf these, they can go further.114The apostle of American school education is considered to be JohnDewey. This philosopher and educator believed that conveying factualinformation to students is secondary to teaching them thinking processesand skills, which they will use in the future. He also greatly influencedteaching techniques by stressing that activity and experimentation shouldcome first. So, in American schools much attention is given to creativeactivities. Students are encouraged to be creative both during class timeand extra-curricular hours.American high schools try to adapt to the needs of society. Learningcomputer skills starts early.
As life is becoming more complex, newsubjects are introduced. Schools are initiating programs previouslyviewed as a part of home education. These include subjects such asdriver’s education, sewing and cooking classes called home economics,consumer education, and health and sex education, where issues like drugand alcohol abuse and smoking may be treated.American high schools offer different branches of education for theirstudents.
The public school tries to bring more minority children intoadvanced levels of university education and into the professions. Somemight be following pre-university programs, with an emphasis on thoseacademic subjects required for college work. Others might well be takingcoursework, which prepares them for vocational or technical positions.In addition to bilingual and bicultural education programs, manyschools have special programs for those with learning and readingdifficulties. Many schools also support summer classes, where studentscan make up for failed courses or even take extra courses. They alsoattempt to integrate students with varying abilities and backgrounds intoan educational system shared by all.
At the same time, many high schoolstudents are given special advanced coursework in sciences. Nationwidetalent searches for minority group children with special abilities andacademic promise began on a large scale in the 1960s.Like schools in Britain and other English-speaking countries, those inthe U. S.
have also always stressed “character” or “social skills” throughextracurricular activities, including organized sports. Because mostschools start at around 8 o’clock every morning and classes often do notfinish until 3 or 4 o’clock in the afternoon, such activities mean that manystudents do not return home until the early evening. There is usually avery broad range of extracurricular activities available.
Most schools, forinstance, publish their own student newspapers, and some have their own115radio 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, oramateur radio, or the raising of prize horses, and cows.
Students can learnflying, skin-diving, and mountain - climbing. They can act as volunteersin hospitals and homes for the aged and do other public-service work.Often the students themselves organize and support school activities andraise money through “car washes”, baby-sitting, bake sales, or bymowing lawns. Parents and local businesses often 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 togetheroutside of normal classes, they also help develop a feeling of “schoolspirit” among the students and in the community.Whichever varieties of school curricula exist all of them envisagestandardized examinations at every level of education. There are twowidely used and nationally administered tests for high school studentswho wish to attend a college or university.
One is the SAT (ScholasticAptitude Test), which attempts to measure aptitudes in verbal andmathematical fields through multiple-choice questions, marked bycomputer. The other is the ACT (American College Testing program),which attempts to measure skills in English, mathematics, and the socialand natural sciences. Both tests are given at specific dates and locationsthroughout the U. S. by non-profit, non-governmental organizations. Thetests are used by universities as standards for comparison, but are not inany 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 commonlyused 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 andprograms, with so many differences in subjects and standards, these testsprovide common, nationwide measuring sticks. Many universities publishthe average scores achieved on these tests by the students they admit.This indicates the “quality” or level of ability expected of those whoapply.Needless to say, those children who have attended better schools, orwho come from families with better educated parents; often have an116advantage 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 ofhigh school leavers apply to colleges anduniversities. Every year, about 12 million Americansare enrolled in the over 3,000 colleges anduniversities of every type: private, public, churchrelated, small and large, in cities, counties, and states.Close to 80 percent of the college students attendpublic institutions, while a little over 20 percent are enrolled in privatelysupported universities and colleges. United Nations figures (1980) showthat in the amount spent on education per capita, the U.
S. is in ninthplace 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 universityrank. Programs in them are often adapted to serve local needs. Stateuniversities provide opportunities of higher education usually at a costconsiderably below the cost of education in private institutions. Theinstitutions, which provide higher education, do not constitute anycoordinate system and are not controlled by any centralized nationalauthority.
Each state has the right to found new public or privateinstitutions of higher education within its borders. However, cooperativeefforts of colleges and universities have created a number of unifyingfactors, which reduce the diversity of American system of highereducation.The Types of Higher Educational Institutions:Junior Colleges (The world “college” refers either to an independentinstitution 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 beyondthe secondary school level.
Courses are divided into two programs, oneleading to a transfer to a four-year college at the end of two years, theother 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 workbeyond the secondary school level. Their programs are aimed at117providing 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 andfourth years of the program.
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