Lecture 12 Education in the usa
School Education
Types of schools.
US school system is roughly divided into public (state-maintained) schools and private schools. About 85% of American students attend public schools, which are supported by state and local taxes. The other 15% choose to attend private schools, for which their families pay tuition fees. The US does not have a national system of education. Education is considered to be a matter for the people of each state. Although there is a federal Department of Education, its functions is to gather information, to advise, and to help finance certain educational programs. Each of the 50 state legislatures is free to determine its own system for its own public schools.
Public schools are financed from federal as well as local funds. One-quarter of expenses is supplied by the federal government for special purposes, such as vocational training and school lunches. The money is called “Federal Aid”. The rest is supplied by the state. State or local aid varies in amount and ranges from moderate to big sums. It depends on the amount of taxes paid by the community, because citizens vote directly on how much they want to pay for school taxes. If the community is poor, so is the school. In the South public schools are poorer because rich people are few there and the prevailing Negro populations pay small taxes. As a result schools in the poor districts of many big cities do not give the required level of education.
Better schools are in the state of California, around New York, Washington, Boston and Philadelphia. There are great differences among the states. For example, in New Hampshire, more than 85% of the costs are paid from local funds, while in Hawaii the state pays more than 85% of the costs. The average expenditure per pupil for elementary and secondary education in the US was $ 5,208 in 2001. But in New York, Connecticut and New Jersey more than $ 8400 was spent. On the other hand ten states spent less than $ 4000 per pupil. Besides school teachers in Connecticut, Alaska and New York have much higher salaries than those in South Dakota and Mississippi. Attempts by the federal government to provide special funds to poorer areas and school districts have helped to some degree, but the basic differences remain.
For the national minorities they have segregation schools. There are a few state-maintained schools for Indians where the children are mostly taught handicraft and Mexican schools in the West-side of New York.
Private schools may be day schools, but many of them are boarding schools. Four out of five American schools are run by churches or other religious groups. They are run mainly by Catholics, but there are Baptist schools, schools run by quakers (or friends), etc. Catholic and Quakers schools are considered the best in the USA, because they pay attention to the development of thinking abilities. Most of these schools offer college preparatory curricula.
Among the private schools there are the so-called exclusive schools for the American elite. This type of schools includes preparatory schools that prepare students for university education. Such schools are most expensive. Most of them are closely connected with a certain university – usually the best one.