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SCHOOL EDUCATION

 

The American system of education differs somewhat from the systems of other countries. There are free, state-supported, public schools which the majority of American children attend. There are also a number of private elementary and secondary schools where a fee is charged for admission and children are accepted or rejected on the basis of an examination.  These include a few parochial or church-supported schools, usually Catholic, which also charge a fee.

 

Under the United States Constitution the federal government has no power to make laws in the field of education; each state is fully responsible within its own boundaries. Each state has an educational administration, not subject to federal control, and the state authorities lay down general principles concerning the organization of schools and such matters as the ages of compulsory education. With so much local control the standards of education provided in different parts of the Unite States are by no means uniform. In the south the authorities spend much less per student than in most other parts; more people are illiterate, more people leave school early, and fewer go to universities. Another complication is that in older parts of the north-east there is more private education than in the mid-west or far-west.

 

Elementary education begins at the age of six with the first grade and continues through to the eighth grade. Attendance is compulsory in most states until the age of sixteen or until the student has finished the eighth grade. The elementary school is followed by four years of secondary school or high school. Often the last two years of elementary and the first years of secondary school are combined into a junior high school. The elementary schools tend to be small, serving families within the immediate area. The high schools are generally larger and accommodate students from four or five elementary schools.

 

Admission to the American high school is automatic on completion of the elementary school. The American high school offers the types of courses that are usually found in separate schools in Europe. A wide variety of courses is possible in a large high school. During the four-year high school program, the student studies four or five major subjects per year, and classes in each of these subjects meet for an hour a day, five days a week. Students must complete a certain number of courses in order to receive a certificate of graduation.

 

Private secondary schools are becoming more and more popular with well-to-do parents who think that public schools are not able to provide the atmosphere and standards desirable for their children.

 

Most schools start at the kindergarten level. There are some school districts that do not have this beginning phase, and others which have an additional ‘pre-school’ one. There are almost always required subjects at each level. In some areas and at more advanced levels, students can choose some subjects. Pupils who do not do well often have to repeat courses, or have to have special tutoring, usually done in and by the schools. Many schools also support summer classes, where students can make up for failed courses or even take extra courses. 

In addition to bilingual and bicultural education programs, many schools have special programs for those with learning and reading difficulties. These and other programs repeat the emphasis of American education on trying to increase equality of opportunity. 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 mathematics and the sciences. Nationwide talent searches for minority group children with special abilities and academic promise began on a large scale in the 1960s. These programs have helped to bring more minority children into advanced levels of university education and into the professions.

 

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 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, skin-diving, and mountain-climbing. They can act as volunteers in hospitals and homes for the aged and do other public-service work.

 

Many different sports are also available, and most schools share their facilities - swimming pools, tennis courts, tracks, and stadiums - with the public. Many sports that in other countries are normally offered by private clubs are available to students at no cost in American schools. 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 music competition, to compete in some sports 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.

 

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