Americans go to college

The United States leads all industrial nations in the proportion of its young men and women who receive higher education. Why is this? What motivates a middle-income family with two children to take loans for up to $120,000 so that their son and daughter can attend private universities for four years? Why would both parents in a low-income family take jobs to support their three children at a state University – each at an annual cost of $4,000? Why should a woman in her forties quit her job and use her savings to enroll for the college education she did not receive when she was younger?

Americans place a high value on higher education. This is an attitude that goes back to the country's oldest political traditions. People in the United States have always believed that education is necessary for maintaining a democratic government. They believe that it prepares the individual for informed, intelligent political participation, including voting.

Before World War II, a high school education seemed adequate for satisfying most people's needs, but the post-war period produced dozens of complex new questions for Americans, including issues such as use of atomic power, experiments in splitting genes, space programs and foreign aid. Americans rarely express a direct vote on such complex matters, but the representatives they elect do decide such issues. In recent years, as a result, many Americans have begun to regard a college education as necessary to deal with such questions as an informed American voter.

In addition to idealistic reasons for going to college, however, most Americans are concerned with earning a good (or better) income. For some careers – law, medicine, education, engineering – a college education is a necessary first step. Some careers do not require going to college, but many young Americans believe that having a degree will help them obtain a higher salary on their first job. Today, that first job is likely to involve handling information. More than 60 per cent of Americans now work as teachers, computer programmers, secretaries, lawyers, bankers, and in other jobs involving the discovery, exchange and use of data (facts). A high-school diploma is not sufficient preparation for most such employment.

Choosing an educational establishment can be a painful problem. Study the text to find out what questions young Americans and their parents have to consider before making a final decision.

What factors influenced your choice of this University?

Selecting a college or university

In addition to learning about a school's entrance requirements (and its fees), Americans have a lot of questions to think about when they choose a University or college.

They need to know:

– What degrees does the school offer? How long does it take to earn one? At the undergraduate (college) level, a four-year "liberal arts" course of study is traditionally offered which leads to a bachelor of arts (B.A.) degree in such subjects as history, languages and philosophy. (The term "liberal arts" comes from liberales artes, a Latin expression for free, or human, arts and skills. In the time of the Roman Empire, these were skills and arts that only a free person – not a slave – could acquire.) Many liberal arts colleges also offer a bachelor of science (B.S.) degree in physics, chemistry or other scientific subjects. A technical training institution, offering such courses as agriculture or business skills, offers courses of varying length, and community college studies last two years.

Graduate schools in America award master's and doctor's degrees in both the arts and sciences. (The term "doctor" comes from the Latin word “docere”, meaning "to teach.") The courses for most graduate degrees can be completed in two to four years. But if a graduate program requires original research, a student could spend many additional months or even years in a University library or laboratory.

– What curricula does a college or University offer? What are the requirements for earning a degree? In an American university, each college and graduate school has its own curriculum. At the undergraduate level, there may bе some courses that every student has to take (for example, classes in world history, math, writing or research). But students do select their "major" (the field in which they want their degree), plus a specific number of "electives" (courses that are not required but that students may choose). The National Institute of Education, a government agency, reports that a total of more than 1,000 majors are offered in America's colleges and universities. The combined electives available in these schools probably amount to a number in the tens of thousands.

Typically, an undergraduate student has to earn a certain number of "credits" (about 120) in order to receive a degree at the end of four years of college. Credits are earned by attending lectures (or lab classes) and by successfully completing assignments and examinations. One credit usually equals one hour of class per week in a single course. A three-credit course in biology could involve two hours of lectures plus one hour in a science lab, every week. A course may last 10 to 16 weeks – the length of a "semester."

- Is the college or university a public institution (operated by a state or local government) or a private one? If it is private, is it a religious school? The United States does not have a national (federal) school system, but each of the 50 states operates its own university, and so do some large city governments. (The government does grant degrees in the schools it operates for professional members of the armed services – for example, the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland.)

About 25 per cent of all schools of higher education in the United States are privately operated by religious organizations. Most are open to students of different faiths, but in some religious schools all students are required to attend religious services. There are also privately owned schools with no religious connection.

Both public and private colleges depend on three sources of income: student tuitions, endowments (gifts made by wealthy benefactors) and government funding. Some endowments are very large: Harvard, Princeton and Yale Universities have more than a thousand million dollars each. Public institutions receive a larger portion of public tax monies than do private schools.

– How large is the school? There are many small American colleges – some with fewer than 100 students. But the larger universities tend to keep attracting larger numbers of enrollments. By the mid-1980s, at least seven universities had total enrollments of over 100,000 each. (One of the seven, the State University of New York, has more than 60 campuses in different parts of the state.)

Why do the large universities flourish? Until recent years, a major answer to this question was: They offer the best libraries and facilities for scientific research. Access to a "mainframe" (very large) computer and to modern laboratories attracts leading scientists to the faculties of such schools. And students enroll to study with the experts. Research programs continue to be important to the reputation of America's universities. But in recent years, the percentage of advanced degrees awarded in the "pure" (research) sciences has defined. The same has been true for the liberal arts. Students continue to seek the largest, most respected universities – but for new and different programs.

Read the text about the roots of American system of higher education and develop your cultural competence in this area. Make a plan that will help you to say what new you have learnt about American colleges and universities. Prepare a presentation about the development of educational system in this country.