CHAPTER 6:

Education in the United States

1.     The school system; Courses and subjects:

1.1.            Pre- schooling:

Pre-schooling programs offered at the age of 3 or 4.

Children attend nursery school, day care or pre- school

1.2. Elementary Education

Includes kindergarten and the next five or six years of education (K-6th grade).

Basic subjects are taught, traditionally the three Rs: reading, writing and arithmetic.

Other subjects, creative activities and sports are included

Pupils spend most of the day with their class.

The class is taught most of the time by the same teacher.

Elementary school teachers must earn either a Bachelors or Masters Degree in Early Childhood and elementary

1.3. Secondary Education:

Divided into: Junior and Senior high school.

Junior high school:

·            Grade 7 and 8

·            Students take different lessons from different teachers

·            Students are required to study certain subjects, but can choose classes.

Senior high school:

·            From grade 9 to 12.

·            Take technical subjects such as computer programming alongside with academic ones.

·            Receive diploma when graduating.

·            After high school, the majority of students go on to college.

1.4. Higher Education:

Undergraduate Studies for Bachelor’s Degree (B.A, B.S.)

Technical institutes

Private career schools

Colleges and universities:

ü  Colleges offer classes only for undergraduate Ss for bachelor’s degree in arts and sciences.

ü  Universities are larger than colleges and also offer courses for graduate Ss.

ü  Public colleges and universities charge tuition but much lower than private ones.

ü  25% of colleges and universities are privately operated by religious groups.

ü  No distinction between the quality of education provided at public and private colleges and universities.

ü  Junior colleges or community colleges offering two-year courses that lead to an ‘associate’s degree’, then transfer to a different college or university to continue their studies.

ü  Admissions criteria to go to college or university:

v  grades earned in high school

v  class ranking

v  standardized test scores (Such as the SAT test)

Graduate Studies for Master’s Degree (M.A, M.S.)

Entrance into graduate programs depends upon:

ü    a student's undergraduate academic performance

ü    professional experience

ü    the score on a standardized entrance exam (the GRE (graduate schools in general), the LSAT(law), the GMAT (business), or the MCAT (medicine))

·                     Postgraduate Studies for Doctor’s Degree (Ph.D.)

2.      Curriculum:

No national curriculum

Certain subjects are taught in all public school systems across the country.

ü  Elementary schools: penmanship, science, maths, art, physical education…

ü  Secondary schools: English, maths, science, social studies and physical education

3.      Administration and funding:

No national education system.

In public schools:

ü  Boards of education at the state/ district level: made decisions about school curriculum, teacher certification and student achievement standards

ü  State & local educational leaders: determined spending for public education

Education standards and requirements differ from state to state

4.      Extra- activities:

Educational activities not falling within the scope of the regular curriculum but under the supervision of the school

Develop students’ interpersonal skills.

As important as the students’ class work.

Include athletic activities, musical groups, marching bands, student government, school newspapers, science fairs, debate teams, and clubs focused on academic areas.

5.  Explaining:

Affirmative action:

Affirmative action measures were an outgrowth and continuation of efforts in the United States to remedy discrimination against racial and ethnic minorities and women. Specifically, in the US education, the government used affirmative action to prevent discrimination in education between the black and the white by separating them so that they studied in different schools

Desegregation in the US education:

In the past, schools for blacks were not only separate but unequal.

Desegregation which integrated the black schools and the white schools began after the Brown case in 1954 .

Bussing was introduced

Integration has succeeded in narrowing the gap between blacks and whites.

Dropout rate among black has declined significantly.

Bussing in the US education:

        Another measure introduced to speed up to integration was the compulsory “bussing” of black children to schools in white areas and white children to schools in black neighborhoods.

Decentralized:

There’s no national education system in the USè diversity in course offerings and standardsè education standards and requirement differ from state to state

Ex: in some states, textbook selection is decided by local officials, whereas in others, it is made state education officials.