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8 Education in The US

The American educational system is based on the idea that as many people as possible should have access to education. Public schools are funded by local, state, and federal governments and vary in resources available. Private schools offer smaller class sizes and more individual attention but charge tuition. Standardized tests are taken in high school, and most students go on to a four-year college to obtain a bachelor's degree.

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23 views4 pages

8 Education in The US

The American educational system is based on the idea that as many people as possible should have access to education. Public schools are funded by local, state, and federal governments and vary in resources available. Private schools offer smaller class sizes and more individual attention but charge tuition. Standardized tests are taken in high school, and most students go on to a four-year college to obtain a bachelor's degree.

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Thảo Hoa
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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EDUCATION IN THE USA

The American educational system is


based on the idea that as many people as
possible should have access to as much
education as possible. As of March 2000,
more than 98 percent of all Americans
aged 25 or older had completed at least
five years of elementary school. Eighty-
four percent of those twenty-five or older had completed four years of high school
or gone beyond that, and 26 percent had completed a bachelor’s degree or more.
According to UNESCO data, the number of tertiary s tudents per 100,000
inhabitants was 5,341 in 1996. In no other country was the number of
postsecondary students above 5,000 per 100,000.

Learning at all levels is considered not just a process of memorizing as much as one
can of a more or less fixed body of knowledge that already exists in books and in
scholars’ minds. Learning is viewed as an enterprise of exploration, experimentation,
analysis, and synthesis — processes that students engage in along with their teachers
and professors. The ideal educational situation is, therefore, one in which students
are learning the skills of analysis and synthesis and are applying those skills to the
process of discovering new knowledge. Students who come to the United States from
educational systems that rely on memorization and reverent acceptance of teachers’
words often face academic difficulty until they learn the intellectual attitudes and
skills that go along with analyzing and synthesizing the material they study. Students
at all levels are encouraged to think for themselves, which can entail questioning or
even challenging a teacher.

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Public and private schools

In the United States, state and local


government have primary responsibility for
education. K-12 students in most areas have a
choice between free tax-funded public schools,
or privately-funded private schools.

Public school systems are supported by a


combination of local, state, and federal government funding. Because a large portion of
school revenues come from local property taxes, public schools vary widely in the
resources they have available per student. Class size also varies from one district to
another. Curriculum decisions in public schools are made largely at the local and state
levels; the federal government has limited influence. In most districts, a locally elected
school board runs schools. The school board appoints an official called the
superintendent of schools to manage the schools in the district. The largest public school
system in the United States is in New York City, where more than one million students
are taught in 1,200 separate public schools. Because of its immense size – there are
more students in the system than residents in eight US states – the New York City
public school system is nationally influential in determining standards and materials,
such as textbooks.

Private schools in the United States include religious schools, non-profit independent
schools, and for-profit private schools. Private schools charge varying rates depending
on geographic location, the school's expenses, and the availability of funding from
sources, other than tuition. Admission to some private schools is often highly selective.
Private schools offer the advantages of smaller classes, below twenty students in a
typical elementary classroom, for example; a higher teacher/student ratio across the
school day, greater individualized attention. Average school size was 150.3 students.
The average number of students per teacher was about 11. In 2006-2007 65% of seniors
in private schools went on to attend a 4-year college. Although reputed to pay lower
salaries than public school systems, private schools often attract teachers by offering
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high-quality professional development opportunities, including tuition grants for
advanced degrees. According to elite private schools themselves, this investment in
faculty development helps maintain the high-quality programs that they offer.

During high school, students (usually in 11th grade) may take one or more standardized
tests depending on their postsecondary education preferences and their local graduation
requirements. In theory, these tests evaluate the overall level of knowledge and learning
aptitude of the students. The SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) and ACT (American
College Testing) are the most common standardized tests that students take when
applying to college. A student may take the SAT, ACT, or both depending upon the
post-secondary institutions the student plans to apply to for admission.

College and university

Post-secondary education in the United States is known as college or university and


commonly consists of four years of study at an institution of higher learning. There are
4,352 colleges, universities, and junior colleges in the country. In 2008, 36% of enrolled
students graduated from college in four years. 57% completed their undergraduate
requirements in six years, at the same college they first enrolled in. The United States
rank 10th among industrial countries for percentage of adults with college degrees.

Admissions criteria involve the rigor and grades earned in high school courses taken,
the students' GPA, class ranking, and standardized test scores (Such as the SAT or the
ACT tests). Most colleges also consider more subjective factors such as a commitment
to extracurricular activities, a personal essay, and an interview.

Once admitted, students engage in undergraduate study, which consists of satisfying


university and class requirements to achieve a bachelor's degree in a field of
concentration known as a major. The most common method consists of four years of
study leading to a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) or a Bachelor of Science (B.S.).

Graduate study, conducted after obtaining an initial degree and sometimes after several
years of professional work, leads to a more advanced degree such as a master's degree
or a doctoral degree.
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Community colleges are two-year public institutions, which individual states usually
require to accept all local residents who seek admission, and offer associate's degrees or
vocational certificate programs. Many community colleges have relationships with four-
year state universities and colleges or even private universities that enable their students
to transfer to these universities for a four-year degree after completing a two-year
program at the community college.

Fifty-five US universities are listed in the


top 200 in the world. The Ivy League
consists of eight private institutions of
higher education in the Northeastern United
States. The eight institutions are Brown
University, Columbia University, Cornell
University, Dartmouth College, Harvard
University, Princeton University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Yale University.
The Ivy League schools are often viewed by the public as some of the most prestigious
universities worldwide and are often ranked amongst the best universities in the United
States and worldwide.

As a whole the population of the United States is becoming increasingly more educated.
Post-secondary education is valued very highly by American society and is one of the
main determinants of class and status. As with income, there are significant
discrepancies in terms of race, age, household configuration and geography. However, a
direct link between income and educational attainment remains.

GPA: Grade Point Average - điểm trung bình các môn học

Rigor: the academic or intellectual challenge of a class/course

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