USA (798448), страница 9
Текст из файла (страница 9)
The modern Indians are on the move, and their national conscience has again been aroused. The National Congress of the American Indians and the National Indian Youth Council are trying to head a movement toward Indian nationalist protest. Meanwhile President Reagan and further administrations attempted to develop a successful business attitude to reservations and at the same time implement welfare and program budget cuts. A plan is being debated to place more self-determine-nation in Indian hands and less reliance on the government.
Some books devoted to Indians’ plight were published. Dee Brown’s book “Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee” became a bestseller. While the movies such as “Soldier Blue”, “A Man Called Horse” and “Little Big Man” portrayed Indian perspectives sympathetically, the movies “Little Big Man”, “Powwow Highway” and “Dances with Wolves” went a long way toward changing the usual Hollywood stereotypes of Indians
1. Answer the questions.
1. What three main branches is the federal government of the US divided into?
2. What principle forms the basis of the US constitution?
3. What way has the original text of the constitution been changed in?
4. What is the difference between Republicans and Democrats?
5. What is the procedure for electing delegates to national Conventions?
6. What are the functions of the houses in Congress?
7. How does a Bill become a law?
8. What is lobbying and how is its existence officially justified?
9. How is the US president elected?
10. What is “the Cabinet”?
11. What is the US president responsible for?
12. What is the main instrument of the federal judiciary?
13. What is the main significance of the Bill of Rights?
14. What is the attitude of many Americans to their politicians?
15.What are the responsibilities of State Governments?
2. Find the English words and phrases corresponding to the Russian equivalents:
1.национальная конвенция; 2.общие выборы 3.привлекательность (кандидата); 4. оказывать давление, 5.первичные выборы;6. получить подавляющее большинствоголосов;3.группа, отстаивающая чьи-либо интересы; 5. положить конец правонарушениям; 6.на самом низком уровне (движения); 7. баллотироваться на пост президента от какой-либо партии; 8. достичь компромисса; 9. выдвигать кандидата. 10.голосовать за кандидатов от разных партий на различные должности; 11. платить членские взносы; 12. коллегия выборщиков; 13.. привлекательность (кандидата); 14. оказывать давление,15. проводить подготовительную пропагандистскую работу перед обсуждением какого – либо законопроекта;
3. Render the texts in English:
Структура американского федерализма.
Творцы американской конституции создали систему «конституционных противовесов», основанную на конституционных нормах, отведенных законодательной, исполнительной и судебной власти. Система «конституционных противовесов» определяет также и взаимоотношения федеральной власти с американскими штатами. В обязанности федерации в лице президента входит защита территории штатов от внешнего вторжения. В чрезвычайных ситуациях свои военные полномочия главнокомандующего президента может осуществлять и внутри страны, используя военную силу на территории любого штата для восстановления законности и порядка.
Штаты имеют свои конституции и свои своды законов. Но одним из основных принципов американского федерализма является верховенство федерального права по отношению к правовым системам штатов. Штаты не могут вступать в международные союзы, заключать международные договоры, выпускать деньги, не имеют права на выход из союза. Надзор за деятельностью администрации штата осуществляет губернатор. Он имеет также и законодательные полномочия, но все его действия не должны идти вразрез с конституцией США.
Как конгресс издает законы? На рассмотрение каждой сессии Конгресса Соединенных Штатов вносятся тысячи законопроектов. Все они начинают свой путь в одном и том же месте – в Капитолии, который стоит в центре Вашингтона на небольшой возвышенности, называемой Капитолийским холмом. Именно здесь законодательная ветвь правительства Соединенных Штатов – Конгресс – дебатирует законы, по которым живет страна и ее народ..
Через какие этапы проходит законопроект, прежде чем стать законом? Законопроекты могут быть внесены только членами Конгресса, но предложения о новых законодательных мерах могут исходить из самых разных источников. Профсоюзы, женские организации, ассоциации поборников гражданских прав и вообще любые группы особых интересов из любой части страны могут добиваться законов, отвечающих их интересам. Многие законопроектов, рассматриваемые Конгрессом на каждой сессии, поступает из Белого Дома. В начале каждого года Президент намечает свою законодательную программу в особой речи – Послании о положении страны, произносимой на открытии первой сессии Конгресса. Вслед за этим администрация начинает кампанию, чтобы подробно разъяснить цели Президента. Правительственные эксперты подолгу, иногда месяцами совещаются с наиболее влиятельными членами Конгресса и представителями групп особых интересов, помогая вырабатывать законопроекты в соответствии с программой Президента.
После внесения законопроекта эксперты по прохождению законопроектов в обеих палатах предлагают редакционные поправки с целью облегчить прохождение законопроекта, а также консультируют конгрессменов относительно проблем, которые могут возникнуть по предлагаемой мере. Такой эксперт также рассылает законопроект по соответствующим комиссиям и подкомиссиям для обсуждения, внесения поправок, проведения слушаний и наконец, голосования.
хижиной, изгнав из него наломавших дров англоамериканцев. (Виктор Тростников).
4. Discussion Points:
I. Which document is the operation of the US government based on?
2. Explain the function of the different branches of government in the USA.
3. Compare them with those in Britain and the RF.
4. The election of a president is a long and complex process;
.5. What is the relationship between federal, state, and local governments.
Lecture N 10 Education and science in the USA
The key words and phrases: “Melting Pot”, to be enrolled in, high and higher education, liberal arts colleges, curriculum, extra-curricular activities, vocational courses, per capita, transcript.
One of the fundamental parts of the American “Melting Pot or “Americanization” is its education. According to the ideas of the creators of American Constitution the education of their country should reflect the nation’s basic values and ideals. Equality of opportunities for developing the nation’s greatest potential became the most important aspect of American system of education. As many historians believe a great deal of economic, scientific, and cultural progress America has made in its relatively short history is due to its commitment to the ideals of equal opportunities and opportunity of educating as many Americans as possible, to the best of their abilities.
In the whole American society there has always been the belief, that the more schooling a person has, the more material success he or she will achieve in the future. Millions of immigrants coming to America tied their hopes for a better life to a good education for themselves and, most importantly, for their children. They view the education as a way of “rising in the world”, as a fundamental part of so-called “the American Dream”.
Already in the 17th century the colonists of Northern and Western states showed a great concern for education and required all towns with more than 50 families to provide a schoolmaster at public expense. Before the revolution nine colleges had been opened in North America to train men for service in the church and civil problems. In 1636 more than a hundred years before American independence several Cambridge graduates founded in the Massachusetts Bay Colony the first college Harvard. American colleges in those days duplicated the English ones. Special emphasis in them was laid on classical education and only those who knew Latin and Greek were considered educated.
The American Independence brought a lot of new tasks. The independence of the states raised new questions about what American education should be. The first state universities were founded, though their serious work came a century later, after the Civil War. Rapid development of industry, agriculture and transportation after the Civil War brought about the technological needs and stimulated the creation of agricultural and engineering colleges.
Gradually they became the dominant and most influential structure of higher education, a position they still hold. Many of the oldest and best-known liberal arts colleges, such as Yale, Columbia and Harvard, became universities during this period. Oberlin College in Ohio was the first to admit women on an equal basis with men in 1837. In 1861 the private school known as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was founded. In 1862, Congress passed a law, which provided states with federal lands for construction and use for higher education. After that many “land-grant colleges” were established. By 1900, in the USA there were already a thousand institutions of higher education. Among them there were law and medical “schools” and hundreds of small colleges, which dealt with everything from the training of teachers to the pulling of teeth.
The United States have never had a national system of education although there is a Federal Department of Education, which in some ways corresponds to the Russian ministry of Education. Its function is merely to gather information and to help finance certain educational programs. Education, Americans say, is “a national concern, a state responsibility, and a local function”.
Since the Constitution does not state that education is a responsibility of the federal government, all education matters are left to the individual states. In turn, however, state constitutions give the actual administrative control of the schools to the local communities. 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). An average of 50 percent of the funds for elementary and secondary education come from state sources, 43 percent from local funds, and only about 6 percent from the federal government.
Elementary and Secondary Education.
There are some 16, 000 school districts within the 50 states. School boards made
up of individual citizens elected from each community oversee the schools in each district. They set school policy and actually decide what is to be taught.
The major result of this situation is that there is an enormous amount of varieties and flexibilities in elementary, secondary, and higher (university) education throughout the country.
Because of the great variety of schools and so many differences among them, no institution can be singled out as a typical one. There exist public and private schools. There are also many schools, supported by the church since religion cannot be taught in state-supported schools because of separation of church and state.
Because of the inequalities inherent in society as a whole, 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 around 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 school educational ladder are elementary, junior high school or middle school, and high school. American children begin to attend school at the age of five or six. There are also pre-school classes or kindergartens. Before this kids may attend nursery school or a day care center.
Schooling is divided into twelve academic levels or grades. There are more or less definite demands at each level. Pupils 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 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 subject students get a credit. When they have enough of these, they can go further.
The apostle of American school education is philosopher and educator John Dewey. He believed that th
e main aim is to teach kids skills, which they will use in the future. He also greatly stressed that activity and experimentation should come first but factual or theoretical information to students is secondary. So, in American schools much attention is given to creative activities.
American schools try to adapt to the needs of society. 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. Nationwide talent searches for minority group children with special abilities and academic promise began on a large scale in the 1960s.
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