Education in the United States

American Studies

Chapter 6

Education in the United
States

Lecturer: Vu Doan Thi Phuong Thao
University of Languages and International Studies,
Vietnam National University, Hanoi


CONTENT
• General overview
• The school system
• Other features


GENERAL OVERVIEW

• National education budget
(2010) : $904.6 billion (all levels)
• Literacy (2003)
• Men 97% 
• Women 97%
• Enrollment: 76 million
• Primary: 37.9 million


• Secondary: 16.4 million
• Post-secondary: 17.5 million

GENERAL OVERVIEW
A large & diverse educational system, provided
mainly by government.

 School attendance:
• Formal shooling starts at the at of 5.
• Public school: free & open to all (at elementary
& secondary levels)
• Attending school required until the age of 1618 depending on the state.  Compulsory
school attendance


GENERAL OVERVIEW
 Varied opportunity:

• Choice of courses
• Wide variety of degree program in higher
education
• Varied academic standards & reputation
 Decentralized funding & administration:

• Educational standards and standardized
testing decisions are usually made by state
governments.
• Spending for public education is determined
by states and education leaders.
 Cirriculm: No national school system & no
national curriculum

EDUCATION PHYLOSOPHY
• Education is universal
• Education is decentralized
• Education is comprehensive
• Education is professional
• Education pays attention to both intellectual
development and character building
• Education is of practical value


GENERAL OVERVIEW
US School
System
Public

• 3 types of school:
public, private, and
home-schooling.
• Most of private schools
are run by religious
groups.

Schools
in the
USA

• 85% of students enter
public schools.

Private

Homeschooling


THE SCHOOL SYSTEM
4. Higher Education

3. Secondary Education
The US’s
School System

2. Elementary Education

1. Pre-schooling


Pre-schooling
• Pre-schooling
programs offered
at the age of 3 or
4.
• Children attend
nursery school, day
care or pre-school.


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 activites and sports
are included.


Elementary Education
• 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 &
Elementary Education.


Secondary Education
• Divided into: Junior & Senior high
schools (middle school & high
school).
• Junior high school:
- Grade 7 and 8
- Ss take different lessons from different
teachers
- Ss are required to study certain
subjects, but can choose classes.

Secondary Education
• 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 Ss go on to
college.


Secondary Education
Common types of electives
• Visual arts (drawing, sculpture, painting,
photography, film)
• Performing Arts
• Technology education
• Computers
• Athletics
• Publishing (journalism/student newspaper,
yearbook, literary magazine)
• Foreign languages (French, German, Spanish
are common; Chinese, Latin, Greek and
Japanese are less common)


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

- Technical institutes

- Private career schools
- Colleges and universities
• Graduate Studies for Master’s Degree (M.A,
M.Sc.)
• Postgraduate Studies for Doctor’s Degree
(Ph.D.)


Colleges and Universities
• Colleges offer classes only for
undergraduate Ss for bachelor’s
degree in arts and sciences.
• Universities are larger than
colleges and also offer courses
for graduate Ss.
• Public colleges and universities
charge tuition but much lower
than private ones.


Colleges and Universities
• 25% of colleges and universities are privately
operated by religious groups.
• No distinction between the quality of education
provided at public and private colleges and
universities.
• 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.

AMERICAN EDUCATION
SYSTEM SUM UP


American colleges &
universities

University of Columbia

Princeton University

University of Pennsylvania


American colleges &
universities

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

University of California, Berkeley


Colleges and Universities
• Admissions criteria to
go to college or
university:
• grades earned in high
school

• class ranking
• standardized test
scores (such as the
SAT or ACT tests).


Graduate study

Entrance into graduate programs depends upon:
• a student's undergraduate academic
performance
• professional experience
• the score on a standardized entrance exam (the
GRE (graduate schools in general), the LSAT
(law), the GMAT (business), or the MCAT
(medicine)


OTHER FEATURES
 Varying tuition fees
depending on geographic
location, the school's
expenses, the availability of
funding from sources other
than tuition.
 Private schools have various
missions:
• cater to college-bound students
• for gifted students, students
with learning disabilities or

other special needs, or
students with specific religious
affiliations.


Extracurricular 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.


No Child Left Behind Act
• Signed on January 8, 2002
• Reauthorizes federal
programs to improve the
performance of U.S.
primary and secondary
schools
• Requires states to set

educational standards for
achievement at different
grade levels and to take
steps to improve the
performance of those who
don’t meet the standards
• Provide parents more
flexibility in choosing
schools for their children.