8. Основная идея текста:

• A person is a complex phenomenon.

• Trait theories are valuable for personality psychology but can’t fully explain a person behavior.

• It’ll never be possible to perceive the relationship between human personality and behavior.

• Psychologists argue about the basic aspects of human nature.

Кейс-задача 20

CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY

1. Clinical psychology includes the study and application of psychology for the purpose of understanding, preventing, and relieving psychologically-based distress or dysfunction and to promote subjective well-being and personal development. Clinical psychology may also engage in research, teaching, consultation, forensic testimony and program development and administration. Others may focus on the clinical management of patients with brain injury – this area is known as clinical neuropsychology. In many countries clinical psychology is a regulated mental health profession.

2. The work performed by clinical psychologists tends to be done inside various therapy models, all of which involve a formal relationship between professional and client – usually an individual, couple, family or small group – that employs a set of procedures intended to form a therapeutic alliance, explore the nature of psychological problems, and encourage new ways of thinking, feeling or behaving.

3. The four major perspectives are Psychodynamic, Cognitive Behavioral, Existential-Humanistic and Systems or Family therapy. There has been a growing movement to integrate these various therapeutic approaches, especially with an increased understanding of issues regarding culture, gender, spirituality and sexual orientation. With the advent of more robust research findings regarding psychotherapy, there is growing evidence that most of the major therapies are bout of equal effectiveness. Because of this, more training programs and psychologists are now adopting an eclectic therapeutic orientation.

4. Clinical psychologists don’t usually prescribe medication. In general, however, when medication is warranted many psychologists will work in cooperation with psychiatrists so that clients get all their therapeutic needs met. Clinical psychologists may also work as part of a team with other professionals, such as social workers and nutritionists.

1. Определите, является ли утверждение:

To preclude stressful state of a person is the only important objective for clinical psychologists.

• истинным

• ложным

• в тексте нет информации

2. Определите, является ли утверждение:

Clinical psychologist may employ medicine.

• истинным

• ложным

• в тексте нет информации

3. Определите, является ли утверждение:

Psychologists tend to have limited prescribing privileges.

• истинным

• ложным

• в тексте нет информации

4. Определите, является ли утверждение:

In clinical psychology usual treatment is done through combining different methods.

• истинным

• ложным

• в тексте нет информации

5. Какой части текста соответствует утверждение:

Well-being of client is achieved by implementing a number of techniques.

• 1

• 2

• 3

• 4

6. Какой части текста соответствует утверждение:

Clinical psychology finds the widest application in different areas dealing with psychic disorders.

• 1

• 2

• 3

• 4

7. Ответьте на вопрос:

What does the science of clinical psychology study?

• It studies effectiveness of medication.

• Its object is integration of various therapeutic approaches.

• The object of studies of clinical psychology is psychotherapy

• It studies both realization and treatment of mental health problems.

8. Основная идея текста:

• There is no necessity in medication usage in mental therapy.

• Clinical psychologists can work in various spheres of psychology.

• Implementation of therapies of some commonness is characteristic of clinical psychology.

• Equal importance of different therapies has been proved.

PART III

UNIT 1

THE ROLE OF THE FAMILY IN THE FORMATION AND

TRANSMISSION OF CULTURE

LEON DYCZEWSKI 

FAMILY AND CULTURE

The culture of every society, of any social group whatsoever, is made up of three basic elements: 1) values and ideas; 2) modes of behavior which are not casual or sporadic, but the realization of a distinctive behavioral pattern created by definite norms that induce an individual to behave in one way rather than another (for example, the pattern of behavior in a place of worship causes the Moslem to take off his shoes before entering it, the Jew to cover his head, the Catholic to take off his hat and genuflect before the Blessed Sacrament); 3) objects which are the effects of the values, ideas and modes of behavior which are the essential or core elements of every culture. Being immaterial, they are hidden in signs which can be either modes of behavior or objects. Concrete values join with a specific mode of behavior within a group, so that the same behavior or object may have different meanings for persons belonging to various social groups. Thus, for some the cross means punishment and disgrace, for others it is the redemption of mankind, for others it has an artistic value because made by a good artist, while for yet others it affirms the culture of which it is typical, for example, the cross with three diagonal beams in the Ukraine.

The meaning of modes of behavior and of objects is passed on from person to person and from generation to generation, thereby making interpersonal communication possible. In this communication everything has its own meaning: bowing the head as well as raising the brows, shaking hands, a smile or giving a present. Interpersonal communication, then, has a symbolic character. Symbolic communication may be carried out directly ("face to face") or indirectly. In the former, persons can interchange roles so that the same person is at one time the giver and at another time the receiver of the message. The communication is carried out by speech, mimicry, bodily gestures, the voice, sound, smell or objects. Indirect symbolic communication takes place when the persons who exchange the meaning do not see each other or live in the same place, do not know each other personally or live at the same time. In this case, the transmission of meaning is done through such lasting means as writing, a picture, a sculpture or a building. Here there is no interchange of rules between the givers to the receiver as in the case of direct communication.

Direct communication is superior to indirect symbolic communication, for by appropriate modes of behavior values, ideas or norms can be expressed more fully, and its meaning and mode of realization can be shown. This can evoke a strong emotional experience as well, thereby strengthening its acceptance or rejection. This type of symbolic communication takes place within small groups, among which the family belongs in the first place. It is precisely the family with its many features that brings about the creation and transmission of meaning and hence the formation of culture. The family is the bridge to general culture, as well as its shelter when necessary. This role of the family in the formation and the transmission of culture are conditioned by some typical features, among which three must be mentioned.

First the family is a clearly separate or individualized group. Marriage, as well as natural consanguinity or legal relationship by virtue of adoption, set the limits of who belongs to this group and who does not. Those who constitute the family generally have the same surname in order to emphasize their distinctness from those who do not belong to it. Thus five, ten or more people bear the name Smith, Kowalski or Rizzi; they occupy a definite place and possess definite objects. They identify their house by means of a doorplate which declares to all that is their home and no stranger has the right to enter it without their invitation or at least consent.

The second feature of the family is the great differentiation regarding positions and roles assumed by the small number of its members. There are the positions and roles of husband-father, wife-mother, both parents together, daughter-sister, son-brother, children, father-in-law, mother-in-law, grandfather, grandmother, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, grandson, granddaughter, and more especially even great grandparents and great grandchildren. This system of position and roles in the immediate family becomes even more rich when expanded to included uncles and aunts, as well as their children. Thus, the number and variety of contacts is great, even within such a small social group as the family, and form in turn a distinct social system.

The third feature of the family group, especially important because of its role in the formation and the transmission of culture, is its types of interior contacts. These usually are direct, but can be also indirect, and either informal or formal. Their content includes matters both serious and trivial; they involve each one individually and all simultaneously; as a rule, they have emotional overtones and embrace the whole person; and they range from birth to death. Therefore, even when one deserts it, one cannot escape the family.

Due to these features, the family possesses its own life: it is capable to creative activity, it can isolate itself from its environment and live as it sees fit; it can have its own system of values, its own norms and patterns of behavior; it can spend its leisure time and keep family feasts in its own way. Thus, it is the most formative group with regard to culture. This characteristic of the family manifests itself in various fields. In this present article, only the following formative tasks of the family will be discussed: 1) its molding of the creative person; 2) its formation of its own culture, as well as the system of values and the fundamental attitudes of its members; and 3) its linkage with a national and cultural identity. The conditions which lay the basis for the fulfillment of the role of the family in the formation of culture will be presented in the conclusion.

FAMILY AS ENVIRONMENT FOR THE CREATIVE FORMATION OF THE PERSON

Thinkers from various times emphasize the features which distinguish the human person from the other living creatures, as well as those which differentiate people among themselves. Aristotle, St. Thomas Aquinas and Descartes have underscored, above all, the human capacity to think and to control biological impulses. They see these qualities as distinguishing human beings from the animal world. More modern thinkers, chiefly those of the XVIII century, have underscored the sphere of cravings, desires and emotions. Man, they argued, is distinguished by his constant pursuit of happiness and by the fact that he reaches such a state intelligently by choosing the most appropriate means.

Presently, without negating the human qualities mentioned above, it is stressed that man is a creative agent. His most essential need is to create and in this creative process is developed. His spiritual and physical attributes, his intelligence and ability to make choices, and his emotional life achieve maturity. In creating he consolidates and enriches himself and the world.¹

To see the person as a creator emphasizes one's developmental attributes. As one affirms and improves these, one becomes a more complete and more perfect person. Initiating and directing the creative attributes of one's development depends on many factors, but the decisive role is played by the family as the most important "school" for greater human development. Each family fulfills this task in its own way, and some are more formative of the person as creator than are others. Nevertheless, every family is called by its very nature to this as its fundamental task. It fulfills this task of developing the person first and foremost by forming the very important dispositions indispensable for being a creator.

FAMILY AS FORMING SOCIAL OPTIMISM

The process of human development comes to pass through innumerable impulses which stimulate development and strengthen independence of the individual. Their influence is neither permanent nor homogenous: the same impulse which today is the basis for development and brings reward, tomorrow may bring punishment and become a setback. Furthermore, as many impulses are disorganized, they may cause fear, fatigue and apathy. The first task of the person is to put the impulses in order so as to bring about their harmony, simplicity and understanding and enable the outside world to become intelligible. Oftentimes the individual is unable to do this alone and his closest friends, and in the first place his own family, come to his help.

The family as a clearly separate group which embraces man in all his aspects and simplifies the complex environment of life.² It performs the task of a peculiar filter, as it were, which allows only certain elements of the environment to reach the family members; and, while some elements pass without any change, others are simplified or modified. The family also plays the role of a regenerator should one of its members be "wounded" in the environment of education, work or play. Regeneration consists in restoring one's sense of worth, dignity and security.

This way the family enables the outside world to become comprehensible to its members so that they can enter it full of optimism. It provides the indispensable conditions enabling its members to know this world, to deal with it as their own and transform it, to enrich it with different goods and make it more beautiful. The family fulfills its role of forming social optimism for all its members, but this is most evident in the case of its youngest generation. Selecting the influences which affect the child, organizing and interpreting them are the main tasks of the family. Whether the child grows without unnecessary fears and stresses and comes to trust people and the world depends upon how the family fulfills this role. This task of the family is especially important today: first, because the world has become more differentiated, intricate, incomprehensible and aggressive; second, because modern man encounters this world from his earliest years through the process of education, and as an adult remains in it for a significant part of his life performing his professional duties.

FAMILY AS INTRODUCTION TO THE WORLD OF SYMBOLS

The reality surrounding a person is recognized and named; everything has its own name. Behind every object and mode of behavior, behind the links between objects and behavioral patterns, there lies some meaning. Hence, the person lives in a twofold world: the one which he perceives and feels with his senses as existing independently or apart from him; the other which he himself creates and exists in the form of names, ideas, definitions, divisions and connections-this is the world of symbols. The knowledge of this world of symbols is the basis or key for knowledge of the world and of oneself. Through it one can describe and analyze the outside world as well as one's own most intimate thoughts and experiences; one comes to an understanding with one's fellow man, creates social bonds and fashions the world.

By one's nature a person aspires to know the world and to establish ties with other people; one desires to know the world of symbols. This can be seen perfectly in the case of a child asking adults incessantly: "What is this?", "What is the name of this?", and “What does this mean”? The family is the first to give answers to these questions. It introduces the person to the world of meanings. It teaches that a smile and an outstretched hand mean openness and good will but that brows tightened in a frown mean tension or a bad interior condition, an obstacle to interpersonal communication; that in its culture black may mean sadness and sorrow whereas white indicates joy and happiness; that the three letters "yes" mean approval or consent, while three other letters, "nay", mean prohibition and denial.

The world of meanings into which the family introduces the child, can be more or less rich, more or less consciously perceived, as is evident in language. Children from lower social groups use more meager vocabulary, lack abstract concepts and have difficulty in joining different kinds of meanings into a complex whole. In turn, this makes it more difficult for them to acquire knowledge, to learn about the world and to communicate with children from higher social classes whose world of symbols is richer. A reverse example of the family's importance in forming the world of symbols among its members is found in children from orphanages who manifest far reaching retardation in the acquisition of many words and in understanding many signs.

The introduction of the child, as well as of adults, into the world of symbols occurs spontaneously within the family, on the basis of deep biological and spiritual bonds. Family members learn from each other the meaning of words, modes of behavior, sounds, colors, smells and objects in their wholeness, as it were, without requiring reasons but acting "on faith" and in total mutual confidence. During the early years of the child's life the mother plays a much greater role in this than the father.

When the family introduces a child and adults to the world of symbols, it fulfills the peculiar role of a doorman, as it were, letting them into the world of culture. The number of symbols acquired within the family, enables them to understand and experience their culture, and then to enrich it. It would be difficult for an adult Pole, for example, to understand and experience the whole symbolism behind the objects and modes of behavior at Christmas which represent the essential element of Polish culture, if he did not participate from early childhood in preparing the Christmas tree, sharing the wafer, setting up the manager, singing Christmas carols, extending good wishes or feeling some emotions during the Christmas Vigil supper.

FAMILY AS CULTIVATING THE POWER TO UNDERSTAND

The family fashions the image of the world in its members, first of all by passing on the image of man and woman and of social life. However, this creative role of the family in culture does not consist in providing its members with an adequate number of facts, for with the modern progress of knowledge this would be simply impossible. The role of the family in the formation of culture should not be reduced to increasing our mass of intellectual data; acquired knowledge and accumulated experience are merely the means to know the world and self, to learn about social processes and to understand social life comprehensively.

The role of the family in this domain of cultural creativity lies, above all, in forming its members' way of perceiving reality, posing questions, seeing problems and finding solutions. The family forms the style of acquiring knowledge as well as of formulating its content. It molds the person's attitude toward truth, goodness and beauty--the three fundamental values of every culture. By presenting these values to the individual, the family oftentimes becomes a decisive factor as to whether one will realize them in one's individual and social life, and how this will be done.

Neither the closest social environment nor the state has any control over the family in forming such intellectual qualities in its members. In this regard parents and the other family members are not subject to any institution, nor by the same token to any social control. Being free, they bear great responsibility as to what image of the world, of man and of woman, and of social life, what attitudes toward truth, goodness and beauty they form in their family.

B.S. Bloom put forward the hypothesis that the greatest development of the child's cognitive capacity takes place between the third and eighth year of life. This is the preschool period and the first years of schooling.³ Kindergarten, when properly directed, and good educators in the early school years can introduce the child to a richer world of symbols and develop his or her cognitive abilities above the level determined by the conditions in the family. This is the task of kindergarten and school which should be oriented more to the formation of a child's cognitive qualities and of proper attitudes toward truth, goodness and beauty, then to the accumulation of a mass of intellectual data or information. They should be oriented more to the formation of a creative posture with regard to the world and themselves, rather than toward filling children's heads with information of various kinds which is often inconsistent or quickly outdated. Today computers are storehouses of information; children should not be educated to replace them, but to be able to use them creatively and to perfect t

FAMILY AS INTRODUCING THE PERSON TO ACTION

In realizing its basic goals of creating a community of persons and forming fully human beings, the family undertakes many long-range activities as well as individual actions. It involves its members in both long range and immediate matters according to their ability. Everyone has their own task to perform as inventiveness and appropriate effort are required of all. Each member participates in the whole of family life: all look together for solutions and all share in the fruits of individual and group activity. This develops the capacity of each family member to live together and cooperate with others. This promotes their realization as creators on the micro social scale. In this way the family becomes the first and the irreplaceable school of social life, an example and a stimulus for broader social contracts in the spirit of respect, justice, dialogue and love. This is indispensable in order for an individual to become a truly creative participant in the individual and social dimensions of life.⁴

By initiating its members into the world of symbols and developing in them the capacity to know and interpret the world and themselves, by forming in them social optimism, involving them in numerous activities, and at the same time teaching them the ability to dialogue, the family develops their creative qualities, thereby making them capable of more creative actions. Where the family does not fulfill its role properly in these spheres, institutions of different kinds should provide help, but should never aim at replacing the family in this capacity. Observations made so far teach us that man as creator develops best within the family. This development of a creative person is the most important task of the family, as the school for human enrichment which is realized through creative activity.

FAMILY AS CREATING ITS CULTURE AND FORMING THE VALUE SYSTEM AND ATTITUDE OF ITS MEMBERS

Every family has its own history, preserves remembrances of its ancestors, cultivates its genealogical bonds, and uses words and idioms peculiar to it. It evaluates social reality in its own way, possesses specific values, and lives up to its own norms and patterns of behavior. It has its own beliefs, political and social views, traditions and feasts, each celebrated after its own fashion. All of this creates the culture of a given family and accounts for the fact that, although families live in identical houses, provided with standard furniture and appliances, nevertheless each one arranges its own apartment differently, uses things differently, and spends its leisure time distinctly. Interpersonal contact within each family has its peculiar content and form: guests are welcomed and bid farewell in different ways; members feel their distinctness in relation to other families and the global society. For example, a Polish family has a sense of being different from an Italian family, and both sense this distinctiveness with respect to Japanese family.

Finding itself in the center of social, political and cultural transformations, the family must take an active stance, as well as with regard to different cultural groups living next door, from some groups it accepts some prevalent elements and assimilates these into its own life. Before other groups it adopts an attitude of isolation and defense in order to preserve its own cultural distinctiveness. To maintain such a position, today's family has developed a special selective function. Though this existed in the past, the modern family has perfected it and exercises it more consciously.

This selective function forms something of a cocoon which surrounds the family, isolating it from other families and from global society. At the same time this serves as a kind of filter which allows some elements of global society and various cultural groups to enter the family, while keeping out others. Because of this consciously selective function, the family accepts only certain values, norms and patterns of behavior from the many existing outside, and having accepted these it puts them into practice after its own manner. From commonly used language it takes only a few words and idioms, and introduces into its own life only those feasts and customs which can be integrated into those already practiced. It connects its history with but a few events and changes in global society and forms a family ideology in order to set guidelines for its members. Through its developed selective function, the family sensitizes its members to the fact that not everything publicly proclaimed is equally true, that not every novelty is good. It teaches them how to participate more reflectively in a continually changing society and introduces order into the many highly diversified elements which make up the individual's life environment and link one with the local ambient. It compels the individual to reflect on the changing world, thereby giving one the greater stability needed for the correct development of one's personality.

Due to this well developed and consciously exercised selective function, the family is characterized by relative isolation as well as by relative openness to the outside world. This enables it to preserve and develop its own culture without alienating itself from its environment or global society.

Possessing and developing its own culture enables the family to serve in a number of ways.

a) It represents for its members the natural and fundamental environment for the formation of its own value system, norms and patterns of behaviors.

b) At the same time it introduces them into the general culture as well as into the culture of the connected groups.

c) It moderates the speed of cultural changes in society. As a rule, this is a cultural advantage because the family does not tolerate very drastic changes in the area of values, norms and patterns of behavior and drastic changes in these spheres would arrest the development of culture.

d) The possession and development by each family of its own culture prevents the uniformity of the general culture. This has special significance when only one model of culture is being realized in a society.

Transmission of culture in families in the past proceeded in one direction: from the oldest to the youngest. The older generation introduced the younger to the fullness of its own family culture, environment and nation, to its own experiences and practical wisdom. This structure still functions, but a new phenomenon has appeared alongside it: young generations more often and in ever greater scope transmit the conquests of engineering and organization to the older ones, and impose on them new values, norms and patterns of behavior. This is most evident when the older generations adopt from the younger new forms of leisure, dress, expression and interior decoration. This transmission of culture within the same family has created a pluralism which certainly is more difficult and interesting, more conducive to reflection and to making personal choices. The family is the place for dialogue in cultural communication which embraces all generations: the older ones link the younger to the recent and more distant past, while the younger ones connect the older with the present and future. In this situation the impact of the older generation in the communication of cultural heritage has diminished. Nevertheless, for a number of reasons the family still plays the most important role in the formation of basic values, norms and patterns of behavior among the young, especially with regard to the defense of the value and dignity of the human person.

First, the family comes into being and functions on the basis of love, which enables persons to preserve their individuality even as they form a single unit. In this kind of unity each member feels that the thoughts and efforts of others are directed toward him or her. One finds oneself in the center of the family group and serves the others in that family group without asking what he or she gets for it. This giving, as well as the contact with the other person, is already a value or reward. Such a situation, existing only in the family, makes it possible for a particular person to experience that he or she is important and valuable because others make sacrifices for his or her sake, even to the degree of being ready to give up their lives.

Secondly, more than in the past, adult members of the modern family, especially parents, concentrate their efforts around the child, who is the center of their concerns. They devote much time to the care of, and to contact with, their child providing thereby a continuing opportunity for the child to experience his or her value and dignity. From the earliest days a child feels his or her worth within the family.

Thirdly, in today's family a far-reaching autonomy is given to the individual. The family is directed toward helping in the development of the child's likings and talents. This requires a common effort as well as some self-denial on the part of others. It convinces individuals of their importance and worth since others freely bear hardships and make sacrifices for them.

This climate of family culture forms attitudes of generosity, unselfishness, friendship, piety, patience, self-sacrifice, reconciliation and peace, patriotism and religiosity. These attitudes of individuals, which are then realized in their social life, result in making social life more human and in giving a greater degree of satisfaction to those who participate therein. This creative role of the family in the formation of culture is extremely important today because the quality of mutual relationships rather than institutions and organizations is decisive for the culture of any society. These relationships differentiate societies into those whose people may live in prosperity but somewhat "less humanly" and those in which people may live a more difficult life but in a more rich human atmosphere. The ideal is that societies live both prosperously and "humanly", but the realization of this postulate depends upon the degree to which the family fulfills its role in the creation of culture through the formation in its members of a sense of value and dignity with the accompanying humane attitudes.

FAMILY AS LINK TO NATIONAL AND CULTURAL IDENTITY

The family fulfills this role by cultivating customs and by the whole range of exchange between the lives of generations which the family most natural encompasses.

1. Many objects and modes of behavior which are symbolic in nature come into play within family life. Through them the family expresses its religious, social and political convictions, comprehends its value system and consolidates within them the content and quality of mutual family relationships. These symbolic objects and modes of behavior function individually and in groups, thereby creating the entire complex of customs connected with events and celebrations of the family and nation. For example, in the Polish family the customs richest in symbolic modes of behavior and objects are those associated with Christmas, Easter, All Saints, birthdays, marriage and the death of a member of the family. These are closely united with the whole of national and religious culture, and thus they possess an especially rich symbolism, developed rituals and stability. Through the centuries new symbolic objects and modes of behavior are added and become an integral part of national culture. Many customs once practiced apart from the family in local and regional communities are now preserved only within the family. A special feature of family customs is the lack of radicalism in their transformation. Newly introduced elements do not supersede those existing for a long time, but coexist with them in harmonious symbiosis. Symbolic objects and modes of behavior are not discarded easily, even if they have already lost their former meaning for those who practice them. That is why a Polish family, for example, which has lost its ties with religion, nevertheless preserves Christmas customs which are full of religious significance, though without understanding their content. Such customs as language are an important part of national culture. They contain the history, ideas, beliefs and nature of the social relations of the nation. Therefore, their preservation marks the continuation of national culture of which they are the bearer. Here the family plays the role of bridge, as it were, between old and new times, as well as between individual and nation. Because customs cultivated in families as small groups of persons are experienced very personally with a heavy emotional charge, they anchor the individual deeply in what we call the cultural heritage of the family and nation. Those who organize family customs are as a rule the older generations, above all the women. How family customs function, including the emotional climate during family celebrations and feasts, depends mostly upon them. As customs play very important educational and socializing roles for all family members, especially for the youngest generation, the family enriches its customs and tries to celebrate them as solemnly as possible, especially when there are growing children.

2. Integrating at least three generations, and increasingly even four, the family is the place where life itself is shared. The older generations tell the younger ones about their childhood and youth; they relate the events in which they participated or which they witnessed or heard about from others. Their stories are full of scenes from the old time dances, receptions, celebrations, weddings, wedding receptions and funerals. They do not pass over in silence stories of quarrels and reconciliations in the family and among neighbors. If it were not for the stories of grandparents, many a child in the Polish family today would not know that during the Christmas Vigil a sheaf of grain was usually brought in and placed in the corner of the room, and hay was placed under the table and become a favorite sleeping place for the children; that for Pentecost not only the living quarters but the house itself was decorated with sweet rush and birch branches; that in the Kielce region when a girl was ready for marriage the family home was painted blue, etc. The older generations hand down the whole family history to the younger ones, and link it with the local setting and the region, as well as with global events. They pass on not only a cut-and-dried description of facts which the young generation can find in history books, but add their own interpretation of everything. Recreating history in this way, they form the family ideology as well. When the younger generation listens to the stories and songs of older persons, when it sees their reactions to past and current matters, their gestures and overall behavior, it discovers its roots within the family and national history, reaching back to the deepest sources of its national, religious and family identity. Studying history as taught in school, the younger generation learns about great events, wars, revolutions, social and religious movements, and famous cities. Through direct contact with older generations, however, it gets to know of all the little facts of the past regarding relatives and acquaintances who were full of devotion and unheard-of courage, or of some small cities, towns and villages for which one may look in vain on the map. This is history on a small scale, but pregnant with strong personal experiences. Thanks to precisely such stories of the older generations, young people develop a more personal approach to the past which is immensely helpful in coming to understand and appreciate it. This is the incorporation of the young generation into the past and its own region. When it comes to evaluation, not at all infrequently a young person evaluates a book dealing with the latest national history in the light of the experience, knowledge and careers of his or her grandparents; they are the real reviewers. Thanks to them the young person realizes that he or she is dealing with two different histories, and such an affirmation can evoke a deeper interest in the past of one's country. In the overall transmission of the past, the older generations include their wishes concerning the young as well. They stress what should be adopted from the family history and consequently handed down to succeeding generations. In many young minds and hearts, love of country, freedom and justice develop grounded in the stories of older family members, concerning relatives who fought for these values, were imprisoned, had to leave the country and even gave their lives. Because of contact with older generations, the lives of the young are rooted in the history and environment of the family and bound up with the role it played. While communicating the past to the young, elders form in them the future and invest them with characteristics of continuity and stability which are indispensable for the preservation of the distinctness and identity of the culture in the society as a whole.

CONDITIONS FOR REALIZING THE CREATIVE ROLE OF THE FAMILY IN THE FORMATION OF CULTURE

When the family fulfills its role with regard to the formation of culture in the areas described above, the effects may be diverse, depending on many conditions, the following, however, seem the most important.

1. The internal family atmosphere. The more positive this is, the more it is free from continual conflicts, based on mutual trust and imbued with emotional bonds, the more fully does mutual communication of culture take place between generations.

2. Firmness and stability in the life of the family. All forms of disintegration in the life of the family especially divorce as well as too frequent changes in the setting of a family's life make more difficult or even disturb the exercise of the creative role of the family in the formation of culture. The creation and communication of culture require peace, though the creative inspiration itself is an effect of the author's spiritual tension.

3. The proportionate sharing in the entire married-family life of both spouses-parents. By reason of their different psychophysical characteristics, distinct kind of work and aspirations, each stresses different elements in the family culture. Predominance by one of the spouses-parents, or even worse, the total cutoff of one from the creation and communication of the family's culture, impoverishes the processes of culture within the family.

4. Bonds between the basic family, relatives and befriended families. The creative role of the family in the formation of culture requires richness of content. The more often positive contacts are maintained by parents and children with relatives of various degrees as well as with befriended families, the greater and more diverse is their richness. This is of special importance in large cities to which young people are drawn and where they set up their own families. In such cases they should not isolate themselves or lose contact with their former environment.

5. An adequate standard of housing-living conditions. In order to fulfill properly its creative role in the area of culture, it is necessary for the family to have adequate housing conditions as well as relatively high salaries. Material destitution or very difficult housing-living circumstances make it quite difficult or even impossible for the family to fulfill its role in the formation of culture to the measure mentioned above. In the event the family itself is not able to guarantee these circumstances, the various social and state institutions should come to its aid.

6. Leisure or family time after work and the satisfaction of basic needs. This is time shared by the family members as they play together, tell stories, exchange information and participate in joint activities. The mutual communication of culture is facilitated in this way and vision for the future is formed.

7. Openness to transcendent values. Their presence in the life of the family widens and deepens interests as well as experiences. They provide motivation for doing good for others, for living in truth and for searching after what is beautiful. Thus, they facilitate cultural exchange between generations. 

Catholic University of Lublin

Lublin, Poland

UNIT 2

HARVARD UNIVERSITY

Harvard University is devoted to excellence in teaching, learning, and research, and to developing leaders in many disciplines who make a difference globally. Harvard faculties are engaged with teaching and research to push the boundaries of human knowledge. For students who are excited to investigate the biggest issues of the 21st century, Harvard offers an unparalleled student experience and a generous financial aid program, with over $160 million awarded to more than 60% of our undergraduate students. The University has twelve degree-granting Schools in addition to the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, offering a truly global education.

Established in 1636, Harvard is the oldest institution of higher education in the United States. The University, which is based in Cambridge and Boston, Massachusetts, has an enrollment of over 20,000 degree candidates, including undergraduate, graduate, and professional students. Harvard has more than 360,000 alumni around the world.

It was founded by the Massachusetts legislature and soon thereafter named for John Harvard (its first benefactor), and the Harvard Corporation is its first chartered corporation. Although never formally affiliated with any denomination, the early College primarily trained Congregation­alist and Unitarian clergy. Its curriculum and student body were gradually secularized during the 18th century, and by the 19th century Harvard had emerged as the central cultural establishment among Boston elites. Following the American Civil War, President Charles W. Eliot’s long tenure (1869–1909) transformed the college and affiliated professional schools into a modern research university; Harvard was a founding member of the Association of American Universities in 1900 James Bryant Conant led the university through the Great Depression and World War II and began to reform the curriculum and liberalize admissions after the war. The undergraduate college became coeducational after its 1977 merger with Radcliffe College.

The University is organized into eleven separate academic units - ten faculties and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study - with campuses throughout the Boston metropolitan area: its 209-acre (85 ha) main campus is centered on Harvard Yard in Cambridge, approximately 3 miles (5 km) northwest of Boston; the Business school and athletics facilities, including Harvard Stadium, are located across the Charles River in the Allston neighborhood of Boston and the medical, dental and public health schools are in the Longwood Medical Area. Harvard has the largest financial endowment of any academic institution in the world, standing at $32.3 billion as of June 2013.

Harvard is a large, highly residential research university. The nominal cost of attendance is high, but the University's large endowment allows it to offer generous financial aid packages. It operates several museums, and the Harvard University Library is the oldest library system in the United States, the largest academic and the largest private library system in the world.

It has many eminent alumni. Eight US presidents and several foreign heads of state have been graduates. It is also the alma mater of 62 living billionaires and 335 Rhodes Scholars, the most in the country. To date, some 150 Nobel laureates have been affiliated as students, faculty, or staff.

During the 20th century, Harvard's international reputation grew as a burgeoning endowment and prominent professors expanded the university's scope. Rapid enrollment growth continued as new graduate schools were begun and the undergraduate College expanded. Radcliffe College, established in 1879 as sister School of Harvard College, became one of the most prominent schools for women in the United States. Harvard became a founding member of the Association of American Universities in 1900.

James Bryant Conant (president, 1933–1953) reinvigorated creative scholarship to guarantee its preeminence among research institutions. He saw higher education as a vehicle of opportunity for the talented rather than an entitlement for the wealthy, so Conant devised programs to identify, recruit, and support talented youth. In 1943, he asked the faculty make a definitive statement about what general education ought to be, at the secondary as well as the college level. The resulting Report, published in 1945, was one of the most influential manifestos in the history of American education in the 20th century.

In 1945–1960 admissions policies were opened up to bring in students from a more diverse applicant pool. No longer drawing mostly from rich alumni of select New England prep schools, the undergraduate college was now open to striving middle class students from public schools; many more Jews and Catholics were admitted, but few blacks, Hispanics or Asians.

Women remained segregated at Radcliffe, though more and more took Harvard classes. Nonetheless, Harvard's undergraduate population remained predominantly male, with about four men attending Harvard College for every woman studying at Radcliffe. Following the merger of Harvard and Radcliffe admissions in 1977, the proportion of female undergraduates steadily increased, mirroring a trend throughout higher education in the United States. Harvard's graduate schools, which had accepted females and other groups in greater numbers even before the college, also became more diverse in the post-World War II period.

In 1999, Radcliffe College, founded in 1879 as the "Harvard Annex for Women", merged formally with Harvard University, becoming the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies.

Drew Gilpin Faust, the Dean at Radcliffe, became the first woman president of Harvard in 2007. Her appointment came after Lawrence Summers resigned his presidency in 2006 when his comments about the causes of gender demographics in academia – made at a closed academic conference – were leaked to the press.

Campus

Harvard's 209-acre (85 ha) main campus is centered on Harvard Yard in Cambridge, about 3 miles (4.8 km) west-northwest of the State House in downtown Boston, and extends into the surrounding Harvard Square neighborhood. Harvard Yard itself contains the central administrative offices and main libraries of the university, academic buildings including Sever Hall and University Hall, Memorial Church, and the majority of the freshman dormitories. Sophomore, junior, and senior undergraduates live in twelve residential Houses, nine of which are south of Harvard Yard along or near the Charles River. The other three are located in a residential neighborhood half a mile northwest of the Yard at the Quadrangle (commonly referred to as the Quad), which formerly housed Radcliffe College students until Radcliffe merged its residential system with Harvard. The Harvard MBTA station provides public transportation via bus service and the Red Line subway.

The Harvard Business School and many of the university's athletics facilities, including Harvard Stadium, are located on a 358-acre (145 ha) campus opposite the Cambridge campus in Allston. The John W. Weeks Bridge is a pedestrian bridge over the Charles River connecting both campuses. The Harvard Medical School, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, and the Harvard School of Public Health are located on a 21-acre (8.5 ha) campus in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area approximately 3.3 miles (5.3 km) southwest of downtown Boston and 3.3 miles (5.3 km) south of the Cambridge campus. A private shuttle bus connects the Longwood campus to the Cambridge campus via Massachusetts Avenue making stops in the Back Bay and at MIT as well.

Each residential house contains rooms for undergraduates, House masters, and resident tutors, as well as a dining hall and library. The facilities were made possible by a gift from Yale University alumnus Edward Harkness.

Radcliffe Yard, formerly the center of the campus of Radcliffe College (and now home of the Radcliffe Institute), is adjacent to the Graduate School of Education and the Cambridge Common.

From 2009–2011, Harvard University reported on-campus crime statistics that included 69 forcible sex offenses, 12 robberies, 15 aggravated assaults, 80 burglaries, and 10 cases of motor vehicle theft.

Governance

College/school	Year founded
Harvard College	1636
Medicine	1782
Divinity	1816
Law	1817
Dental Medicine	1867
Arts and Sciences	1872
Business	1908
Extension	1910
Design	1914
Education	1920
Public Health	1922
Government	1936
Engineering and Applied Sciences	2007

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences has primary responsibility for instruction in Harvard College, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and the Harvard Division of Continuing Education, which includes Harvard Summer School and Harvard Extension School. There is also the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.

Harvard is governed by a combination of its Board of Overseers and the President and Fellows of Harvard School (also known as the Harvard Corporation), which in turn appoints the President of Harvard University. There are 16,000 staff and faculty.

Harvard's 2,400 professors, lecturers, and instructors instruct 7,200 undergraduates and 14,000 graduate students. The school color is crimson, which is also the name of the Harvard sports teams and the daily newspaper, The Harvard Crimson. The color was unofficially adopted (in preference to magenta) by an 1875 vote of the student body, although the association with some form of red can be traced back to 1858, when Charles William Eliot, a young graduate student who would later become Harvard's 21st and longest-serving president (1869–1909), bought red bandanas for his crew so they could more easily be distinguished by spectators at a regatta.

Joint programs with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology include the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, the Broad Institute, The Observatory of Economic Complexity, and etc.

Endowment

Harvard has the largest university endowment in the world. As of September 2011, it had nearly regained the loss suffered during the 2008 recession. It was worth $32 billion in 2011, up from $28 billion in September 2010 and $26 billion in 2009. It suffered about 30% loss in 2008-09. In December 2008, Harvard announced that its endowment had lost 22% (approximately $8 billion) from July to October 2008, necessitating budget cuts. Later reports suggest the loss was actually more than double that figure, a reduction of nearly 50% of its endowment in the first four months alone. Forbes in March 2009 estimated the loss to be in the range of $12 billion. One of the most visible results of Harvard's attempt to re-balance its budget was their halting of construction of the $1.2 billion Allston Science Complex that had been scheduled to be completed by 2011, resulting in protests from local residents.  As of 2012, Harvard University had a total financial aid reserve of $159 million for students, and a Pell Grant reserve of $4.093 million available for disbursement.

Admission

Undergraduate admission to Harvard is characterized by the Carnegie Foundation as "more selective, lower transfer-in". Harvard College received 27,500 applications for admission to the Class of 2013, 2,175 were admitted (8%), and 1,658 enrolled (76%). 95% of first-year students graduated in the top tenth of their high school class. Harvard also enrolled 266 National Merit Scholars, the most in the nation. 88% of students graduate within 4 years and 98% graduate within 6 years. Harvard College accepted 5.8% of applicants for the class of 2017, a record low. The number of acceptances has gone down since the university announced a large increase in financial aid in 2008. Harvard College ended its early admissions program in 2007 as the program was believed to disadvantage low-income and under-represented minority applicants applying to selective universities. For the Class of 2016 an Early Action program was reintroduced. The undergraduate admissions office's preference for children of alumni policies have been the subject of scrutiny and debate as it primarily aids whites and the wealthy and seems to conflict with the concept of meritocratic admissions.

Teaching and learning

Harvard is a large, highly residential research university. The university has been accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges since 1929. The university offers 46 undergraduate concentrations (majors), 134 graduate degrees, and 32 professional degrees. For the 2008–2009 academic year, Harvard granted 1,664 baccalaureate degrees, 400 masters degrees, 512 doctoral degrees, and 4,460 professional degrees.

The four-year, full-time undergraduate program comprises a minority of enrollments at the university and emphasizes instruction with an "arts and sciences focus". Between 1978 and 2008, entering students were required to complete a core curriculum of seven classes outside of their concentration. Since 2008, undergraduate students have been required to complete courses in eight General Education categories: Aesthetic and Interpretive Understanding, Culture and Belief, Empirical and Mathematical Reasoning, Ethical Reasoning, Science of Living Systems, Science of the Physical Universe, Societies of the World, and United States in the World. Harvard offers a comprehensive doctoral graduate program and there is a high level of coexistence between graduate and undergraduate degrees. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, The New York Times, and some students have criticized Harvard for its reliance on teaching fellows for some aspects of undergraduate education; they consider this to adversely affect the quality of education.

Harvard's academic programs operate on a semester calendar beginning in early September and ending in mid-May. Undergraduates typically take four half-courses per term and must maintain a four-course rate average to be considered full-time. In many concentrations, students can elect to pursue a basic program or an honors-eligible program requiring a senior thesis and/or advanced course work. Students graduating in the top 4–5% of the class are awarded degrees summa cum laude, students in the next 15% of the class are awarded magna cum laude, and the next 30% of the class are awarded cum laude. Harvard, along with other universities, has been accused of grade inflation, although there is evidence that the quality of the student body and its motivation have also increased. Harvard College reduced the number of students who receive Latin honors from 90% in 2004 to 60% in 2005. Moreover, the honors of "John Harvard Scholar" and "Harvard College Scholar" will now be given only to the top 5 percent and the next 5 percent of each class.

University policy is to expel students engaging in academic dishonesty to discourage a "culture of cheating." In 2012, dozens of students were expelled for cheating after an investigation of more than 120 students. In 2013, there were reports that as many as 42% of incoming freshmen had cheated on homework prior to entering the university and these incidents have prompted the university to consider adopting an honor code.

For the 2012–13 school year annual tuition was $38,000, with a total cost of attendance of $57,000. Beginning 2007, families with incomes below $60,000 pay nothing for their children to attend, including room and board. Families with incomes between $60,000 to $80,000 pay only few thousand dollars a year, and families earning between $120,000 and $180,000 pay no more than 10% of their annual incomes. In 2009, Harvard offered grants totaling $414 million across all eleven divisions; $340 million came from institutional funds, $35 million from federal support, and $39 million from other outside support. Grants total 88% of Harvard's aid for undergraduate students, with aid also provided by loans (8%) and work-study (4%).

Harvard is a founding member of the Association of American Universities and remains a research university with "very high" research activity and a "comprehensive" doctoral program across the arts, sciences, engineering, and medicine. Research and development expenditures in 2011 totaled $649.7 million, 27th among American universities.

Libraries and museums

Widener Library is the main library of the Harvard University Library system, the largest in the world.

The Harvard University Library System is centered in Widener Library in Harvard Yard and comprises over 80 individual libraries holding some 16 million volumes. According to the American Library Association, this makes it the largest academic library in the United States, and one of the largest in the world.

Cabot Science Library, Lamont Library, and Widener Library are three of the most popular libraries for undergraduates to use, with easy access and central locations. There are rare books, manuscripts and other special collections throughout Harvard's libraries; Houghton Library, the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, and the Harvard University Archives consist principally of rare and unique materials. America's oldest collection of maps, gazetteers, and atlases both old and new is stored in Pusey Library and open to the public.

Harvard operates several arts, cultural, and scientific museums. The Harvard Arts Museums comprises three museums. The Arthur M. Sackler Museum includes collections of ancient, Asian, Islamic and later Indian art, the Busch-Reisinger Museum, formerly the Germanic Museum, covers central and northern European art, and the Fog Museum of Art, covers Western art from the Middle Ages to the present emphasizing Italian early Renaissance, British pre-Raphaelite, and 19th-century French art. The Harvard Museum of Natural History includes the Harvard Mineralogical Museum, Harvard University Herbaria featuring the Blaschka Glass Flowers exhibit, and the Museum of Comparative Zoology. Other museums include the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, designed by Le Corbusier, housing the film archive, the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, specializing in the cultural history and civilizations of the Western Hemisphere, and the Semitic Museum featuring artifacts from excavations in the Middle East.

University rankings

University rankings
National
ARWU	1
Forbes	7
U.S. News & World Report	2
Washington Monthly	8
Global
ARWU	1
QS	4
Times	2

Harvard has been highly ranked by many international and domestic university rankings. In particular, it has consistently topped the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) since 2003, and the Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings, which is based on a survey of academics around the world and is a spin-off of the main world rankings, since 2011, when the first time such league tables were published. When the QS and Times were published in partnership as the THE-QS World University Rankings during 2004-2009, Harvard had been also regarded the first in every year. The University's undergraduate program has been continuously among the top two in the U.S. News & World Report, in every case tied with or behind Princeton. In 2012, Harvard topped the University Ranking by Academic Performance (URAP), and was ranked 8th on the 2013-2014 Pay Scale College Salary Report and 14th on the 2013 Pay Scale College Education Value Rankings.

From a poll done by The Princeton Review, Harvard is the second most commonly named "Dream College", both for students and parents in 2013, and was the first nominated by parents in 2009.

Study body

Demographics of student body
	Undergraduate	Graduate and Professional	U.S. Census
Asian/Pacific Islander	17%	11%	5%
Black/Non-Hispanic	6%	4%	12%
Hispanics of any race	9%	5%	16%
White/non-Hispanic	46%	43%	64%
Mixed Race/Other	10%	8%	9%
International students	11%	27%	N/A

In the last six years, Harvard’s student population ranged between 19,000 and 21,000, across all programs. Harvard enrolled 6,655 students in undergraduate programs, 3,738 students in graduate programs, and 10,722 students in professional programs. The undergraduate population is 51% female, the graduate population is 48% female, and the professional population is 49% female.

Song

Harvard has several fight songs, the most played of which, especially at football, are "Ten Thousand Men of Harvard" and "Harvardiana." While "Fair Harvard" is actually the alma mater, "Ten Thousand Men" is better known outside the university. The Harvard University Band performs these fight songs, and other cheers, at football and hockey games. These were parodied by Harvard alumnus Tom Lehrer in his song "Fight Fiercely, Harvard," which he composed while an undergraduate.

STANFORD UNIVERSITY

In 1885 a grant of endowment established Leland Stanford Junior College, later Stanford University, in memorial to Jane and Leland Stanford's deceased son, Leland Jr. The $5 million initial grant also included 8,180 acres of Palo Alto farmland owned by Leland Stanford, a former California governor and railroad entrepreneur. Conceived by the renowned landscape architect Fredrick Law Olmsted, the university's campus was constructed over a period of six years and centered on the Inner Quadrangle and Memorial Church. The red tiled roofs and open arches that still distinguish Stanford's campus suggest the architecture of old California missions and marked Stanford as a part of the Western landscape.

Stanford University emerged during a period of transformation and growth in American higher education. During this time many prestigious colleges became universities, and several new schools were founded, including the University of Chicago and Johns Hopkins University. These new universities tended toward a more democratic vision of schooling and embraced the German educational model of including undergraduate and graduate training and emphasizing research as well as teaching among faculty. Stan-ford's mission and practices in many ways reflected these new shifts in American higher education.

The university was founded as a nondenominational, non-tuition-based, and coeducational institution (although restrictions were placed on women's enrollment in 1899). Leland Stanford hoped that the university would provide a balance between technical education and the cultivation of young imaginations, to "qualify students for personal success and direct usefulness in life; and to promote the public welfare by exercising an influence on behalf of humanity and civilization." In selecting the university's first president, Leland Stanford sought out an educator who would share his educational vision as well as grow with the university. Six months before the opening of the university the Stanford hired David Starr Jordan, a leading scientific scholar and president of Indiana University, to fill the position.

Stanford University opened its doors in 1891. Located only sixty-three miles from the University of California, Berkeley, and the newly founded university faced immediate competition. In its first year Stanford rose to the occasion by enrolling 559 students, from a range of educational backgrounds, into its pioneer class. With a faculty of fifteen, which would triple in the second year, the university established departments based on major subject areas within the humanities and sciences. It also supported an active student life, including a variety of athletic clubs. Under the leadership of Dr. Jordan, who would serve as university president until 1913, Stanford began to build a solid – if not always stable – academic foundation. Yet, in the early years, the most profound challenges to the survival of Stanford University were financial in nature. In 1893, just two years after its founding, Leland Stanford died, sending his estate into legal turmoil. For six years Stanford's funds were held in probate, leading Jane Stanford to consider closing the university temporarily. Stanford University faced a lesser financial setback during the California earthquake of 1906, which destroyed many of the buildings on campus.

In the 1910s, with the retirement of Dr. Jordan as president and the addition of the future president of the United States Herbert Hoover, a pioneer-class graduate, to the board of trustees, Stanford University entered a new period of development. Largely under the leadership of Hoover and his close friend, the president-elect Ray Lyman Wilbur, Stanford began to rise as a research institution. Following World War I President Wilbur reorganized Stanford's departments into schools, including engineering, medicine, the humanities, earth sciences, education, and law, with appointed deans as the head administrators. Wilbur also ended the university's no-tuition policy during this period. Hoover led efforts to build specialized institutions within Stanford University by soliciting donations from private foundations and businessmen to fund the Hoover War Collection (later the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace), established in 1919; the Food Research Institute, founded in 1921; and the Stanford Business School, organized in 1925.

The post–World War II era marked another period of transformation and growth for Stanford, as the university benefited greatly from the U.S. government's increased spending on technological and military research. Stanford University became a key site for government sponsored research programs. These research programs became a major source of funds and prestige for the university. The Stanford Research Institute, which focused on electrical engineering, was largely funded through governmental support. In 1961 the Atomic Energy Commission provided over 100 million dollars in financial support to build the path-breaking Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC). Such funding sources not only allowed Stanford to build "steeples of excellence" in specific fields but also made possible other development plans, including the construction of several dormitories and the Stanford Medical Center.

In 2002 Stanford University stood as one of the premier centers of higher learning and research in the country. Enrolling over 6,000 undergraduates and 7,000 graduate students a year, the university continued to attract some of the leading scholars in their fields and has produced a long list of renowned alumni.

UNIT 3

THE SYSTEM OF EDUCATION IN THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

Introduction

Nowadays the question of surviving in new social-economic conditions becomes one of the most important. Education must prepare a modern man for the reality of life. Education system in any country should help to solve the main problems of social, economic and cultural development of human society. That’s why the role of school as a basic part of education and its ability to be flexible is of great importance.

Unfortunately the attempts to copy American experience in teaching without understanding all its advantages and disadvantages have given us the results that we did not intend to get. At the same time many Russian people brought up according to the humanist principles that are traditional for Russian culture realized this mistake and began paying more attention to the very personality of students and to the latest psychological researches.

In fact the person is inquisitive by the nature, and the satisfaction of information famine for a usual person is almost the same as the need for food. Therefore really talented teacher aspires to wake and fix this thirst for knowledge, shows the pupils, how it is possible to receive satisfaction in the process of knowledge. However the teacher, who will set such a problem, will inevitably collide with a number of difficulties, especially if he works at an ordinary school. Therefore in a private school where as everywhere in conditions of the market approach, "all is made for the client", such people find way to realize their ideas. In fact if children find being at school pleasant their parents, understanding, that it is not vain, will spend the money easier.

The history of humanity testifies that education and society are inseparable. All global problems (economic, social, political, culturological, demographic, ecological, etc.), with which the society collides, anyhow have influence on the sphere of formation and education. For example, in connection to the economic difficulties experienced by many countries including the Russian Federation, state financing of the education system decreases that conducts to insufficient quality of material equipment of teaching and educational establishments, to decrease in quality of preparation of pedagogical staff. The ecological conditions on the planet have also destroying influence on health of a person since the very birth. As a result the abilities to training are reduced; there is the need for creation of educational establishments of correctional, improving character. During wars, ethnic conflicts that take place in many countries, problems of formation were put off to the background; in front of the threat of danger of death the possibility of going to school or a kindergarten catastrophically loses its importance.

But, on the other hand, education defines many aspects of a person’s life in a society. Scientists emphasize social value of education as an important transformation force of the society. It is known, that for an output from the crisis experienced now by the world civilization, radical changes in consciousness, behavior of people are necessary. To transform the private world of an individual on the basis of humanistic ideals, purposefully to form moral qualities, to raise a level of culture and vocational training of the person are the functions of modern education. The social role of education consists of the opportunity to influence to the development of tendencies in the society, to prepare the next generation for the solving of global or local problems of the present, to learn them to predict it and if it is required to warn their consequences.

For each person education more or less expresses personal values. The process of getting education which in the highly developed countries takes a quarter of a vital way of the modern person, but at the same time it makes his life substantial and spiritualized, opens his various emotions, satisfies needs for knowledge, dialogue, self-affirmation. While a person gets education all the potential abilities of the person develop his self-realization is carried out, his image is formed. With the help of formation the person adapts for life in the society, acquires knowledge and skills necessary for this.

1. Development of Russian Education System in the end of XX – the beginning of XXI centuries

1.1 Humanistic character of modern formation

Russian natural-science education is estimated very highly and is considered to be one of the best in the world. The benefit of it can be seen in the brilliant results of the Russian schoolboys on the international Olympiads, and also in the high level of preparation of the Russian employees working at foreign universities or firms, in comparison with the western colleagues. Nevertheless, this point of view has also opponents. They refer to a low level of mass literacy of the Russian population, especially rural, on low erudition of inhabitants of many small cities situated far from capital mega cities. However there are all bases in the estimation of scientific-educational potential of this or that country to conduct comparison by the best, most educated part of the population.

The changes in social and economic sphere of a public life have put many countries of the world, including Russia, before the necessity of reforming educational system. Reforms of education, becoming a part of social policy of the modern states, are directed to:

- Updating of all parts of the system from preschool establishments up to universities;

- Perfection of the maintenance, methods and means of teaching and educational work;

- Improvement of preparation and improvement of professional skill of the pedagogical staff.

These ideas are put in the basis of state policy of the Russian Federation in the field of humanistic education. They found reflection in the Constitution of the Russian Federation (1993), the Law of the Russian Federation «About education» (1992). In documents it is declared, that education should be carried out in interests of person, society and state. It is outlined, that, moving on the way of humanization of society, it is possible to hope, that education will become one of the most important needs of the person and favorable conditions for realization of this need, for development of the general and professional culture of the person will be created. The main principles of the state policy in the field of education in Russia are humanistic character of formation, priority of universal values, lives and health of the person, freedom of development of the person; protection of national cultures, cultural traditions of peoples of Russia; general availability, etc.

1.2 Reform of education in Russia the beginnings of XXI century

It is possible, that the given estimations are too much subjective, but thus, it is obvious, that Russian education system is still too theoretical and poorly aimed at practical application. It is insufficient for the satisfaction of the need of flexible education in modern conditions.

According to the Concept of modernization Russian Formations till 2010, approved by the government on 25 October 2001, education is supposed to be reformed in two stages:

1. At the first stage (2001-2003) it was necessary in to restore the responsibility of the state in the sphere of education, with an output on minimal necessary budgetary specifications. The decision of socially significant problems and modernization of education was developed and occurs in a context of the general process of reforming of the various parties of a life, in close interaction with other reforms, simultaneously being for them a source of maintenance necessary personnel resource.

2. At the second stage (2004-2005) it is necessary to realize the measures that passed experimental check in particular at the first stage and after the estimation of results to introduce new models of education, its organization and financings. At the second stage the expansion of resource maintenance will be lead.

In 2006-2010 the first results of modernization of formation should be designated such as real improvement of quality of the general and vocational training and decrease in social intensity in a society.

On the basis of increase of the salary of workers in the sphere of education the growth of social status and improvement of qualitative structure will be provided.

Such a reform is necessary for Russia education. At existing system it is impossible to expect essential increasing of the human capital, which basically defines prospects of development of all economy. Scientists of the world have already come to a conclusion, that the most important resource of economy is the human one, possession, which in scales of the country defines its position in the world.

1.3 Results of a state policy in sphere of education during last decades

According to the statistic data the population of 2002, there’re more than 109,4 million persons in Russia in the age of 15 years have basic general and is higher education that makes 90,2 % of this age group. Since 1989 the number of persons with such educational level has increased for 18.3 million or on 20 %. Thus 76.5 % of the group of the population in the age of 15 years has average (full) general education, and 59 % have vocational training. In total since 1989 to 2002 the number of specialists with higher education has increased up to 6.6 million. The number of the persons having post-grade education (finished postgraduate study, doctoral studies, Internship) and of the persons having secondary education has also increased for 5 % (up to 1 million).

By the beginning of 2002 the quantity of students in the country has grown in comparison with 1990 in 2.1 times that makes 5.95 million person. Similar tendencies of growth of number were observed in higher educational institutions (in 2 times).

Besides the quantitative estimations it is necessary to accept attention quality standards of education system. So, it is obvious that the level of knowledge and skills, which are received by pupils, are as high as it’s demanded.

However, despite of the mentioned above tendencies, in Russia a significant part of graduates don’t work on their specialties. The mentioned above processes of employment of the population with higher education, a rate of unemployment on the given category for last 10 years practically has not changed. The basic growth of unemployment falls at the population with the average general education.

2. Modern Education System of Russian Federation

2.1 Continuous education

The question whether it is possible to be taught, receive formation once for all life, is not new for the modern society. The idea of continuous (lifelong) training has arisen in the remote past, but humanity began to test sharp necessity for its realization in the end of XX century. It shows the dynamism of social and economic and spiritual development of the modern society. To correspond to requirements of promptly varying society, the person should fill up, expand, specify constantly luggage of knowledge, raise his general and professional culture, and develop the creative potential.

In 80th in documents of the international organizations (the UNESCO, the Roman club, etc.) studying the conditions and prospects of development of world education system the concept of continuous formation was issued. The essence of the concept consists of the idea of "a training society”, lifelong education, a person satisfying his needs in continuous perfection and self-realization.

Originally the idea of continuous formation was developed as a problem of education of adults. Thus the theses of modern psychology that development of the person is not limited to frameworks of the childhood were taken into account. It was supposed, that continuous formation will facilitate for the person change of social roles during the different periods of a life, will support and improve the quality of an individual and collective life by personal, social and professional development. In the modern concept continuous formation is considered as the constant form of all human life since the early age.

Continuous education is the activity of the person focused on purchase of knowledge, development of all parties and abilities of his person, including formation of skill to study and preparation for execution of various social and professional duties, and also for participation in social development as in scale of the country, and of the world.

Main principles of continuous formation can be formulated as follows:

- Orientation of educational system to the person, to his individual and base needs;

- Wide democratism of educational system, availability, openness of any step and form of education to everyone in spite of the person’s sex, social status, nationality, physical condition, etc.;

- Fast reaction of educational system to features of interests of various categories of the population, and also styles and rates of training;

- Development of various forms of the educational services allowing to give education in a way convenient for people, in necessary volume, in a suitable place, at any time;

- Unity of formal and informal kinds (self-supporting rates, circles, clubs on interests, etc.) of education, creation of "an educational field” which will transform the society into "training";

- Use of electronic technology with a view of maintenance of reception with people getting education at any stage of their vital way.

Now the system of continuous formation, which should provide interaction of all factors of formation of the person, is almost fulfilled. Nowadays continuous education becomes a mass movement in which study, work, and leisure of people are integrated.

2.2 Characteristics of education system in Russia

2.2.1 Requirements and educational organizations

Modern and future employers are interested in such worker who is allocated the following qualities:

- To think independently and to solve various problems (i.e. to apply the received knowledge to their decision);

- To possess creative thinking;

- To possess the rich lexicon based on deep understanding of humanitarian knowledge.

Thus, the graduate of modern school who will live and work in the next millennium, in a postindustrial should possess the certain qualities of the person:

- Flexibly to adapt in varying vital situations, to be able to acquire independently knowledge necessary for it, to be able to put them into practice for the decision of various arising problems;

- To think independently and critically, to be able to see problems arising in reality and, using modern technologies to search for ways of their rational decision; precisely to realize, where and how the knowledge got by him can be applied in the validity surrounding it; to be capable to generate new ideas, to think creatively;

- To work competently with the information (to be able to collect the facts that are necessary for the decision of the certain problem, to analyze them, to put forward hypotheses of the decision of problems, to do necessary generalizations, comparisons to similar or alternative variants of the decision, to establish statistical regularities, to draw the argued conclusions, to apply the received conclusions to revealing and decisions of new problems);

- To be sociable, contact in various social groups, to be able to work together in different areas, in various situations, to find ways to prevent or be able to leave any disputed situations;

- To work independently on the development of his own morals, intelligence, a cultural level.

Thus, the main, strategic direction of development of education system is in the decision of a problem of person-orientated education, such an education in which the pupil, the student would be in the center of attention of the teacher and the psychologist. Such an education system reflects the humanistic direction in philosophy, psychologies and pedagogic.

Modern Russian formation is a continuous system of consecutive steps of training, on each of which the state, municipal educational establishments of different types and kinds operate. The educational system unites different educational organizations and includes:

- Preschool;

- General educational;

- Establishments for children-orphans and children who have stayed without care of parents;

- Professional (initial, average special, higher, etc.) education;

- Establishments of additional formation;

- Postgraduate education;

- Other establishments, rendering educational services.

Educational establishments can be paid and free-of-charge, commercial and noncommercial. It gives the right to come to the agreements among themselves, to be united in teaching and educational complexes (a kindergarten - an elementary school, lyceum – college or a university) and teaching research-and-production associations with participation of scientific, industrial and other establishments and the organizations.

Activity of the state, municipal educational establishments is under construction on the basis of the typical positions authorized by the Government of the Russian Federation, about corresponding types and kinds of educational establishments. On the basis of typical positions charters of educational establishments are developed.

2.2.2 Preschool educational establishments and schools

The Russian preschool educational establishments are guided in the activity by the regulations about preschool educational establishment accepted in 1995. According to this position preschool establishments’ aim is to solve a complex of problems, such as:

· to carry out protection of a life and health of children;

· to provide their intellectual, personal and physical development;

· to attach to universal values;

· to cooperate with family in interests of high-grade development of the child.

Modern preschool establishments are characterized by multi-functionality, different kinds of educational organizations, and freedom in choice of priority direction of teaching and educational process, use of educational programs.

According to typical position different kinds of preschool establishments function:

- A kindergarten;

- A kindergarten with priority realization of one or several directions of teaching children (intellectual, art-aesthetic, physical, etc.);

- A kindergarten of a compensating kind with priority realization of qualifying correction of deviations in physical and mental development of pupils;

- A kindergarten of supervision and improvement with priority realization of sanitary-and-hygienic, preventive and improving actions and procedures;

- A kindergarten of the combined kind (into its structure general teaching, compensating and improving groups in a different combination can be included);

- The center of a child - a kindergarten with realization of physical and mental correction of all children.

It is necessary to note, that in the system of modern preschool establishments there is an insignificant number of the day nursery. The matter is that the conditions of education in a day nursery caused natural criticism on some of teachers, psychologists, the doctors considering the small child leaving his family characterized by heavy loading for his imperfect mentality. The analysis of parameters of development of children of early age, grown-up in a family, testifies that half of them have deviations in physical health. Now scientific researchers are conducted with the purpose of development of model of family-public education of children of early age in conditions of preschool establishment and family. Searching of new technologies of education of children of preschool age is carried out. In preschool establishments groups with a flexible operating mode are created. Therefore, first of all it is necessary to reconsider and develop:

• the general approaches to the organization of educational process;

• the general principles of construction of programs and techniques;

• the general principles of selection and a professional training.

The central part of an education system in the Russian Federation is the general secondary education which is provided with average comprehensive schools, schools with the profound studying separate subjects, grammar schools, evening schools, educational establishments such as the boarding schools, special schools for children with deviations in physical and mental development, out-of-school educational establishments (children's musical and art schools, schools of arts, choral and choreographic studios, folklore ensembles, sports schools, etc.). At school pupils can study for 9 or 11 years.

The main tasks of general educational establishments are to create favorable conditions for intellectual, moral, emotional and physical development of the person; to promote development of scientific outlook; to provide development of system of knowledge of the nature, a society, the person, his work by pupils themselves; to generate receptions of independent activity.

2.2.3 Middle professional education

According to the Law of the Russian Federation «About education» the treatment of traditionally existing professional and average special formation is new. Now these both links are considered accordingly as initial and average vocational training. Initial vocational training has the purpose to prepare, as a rule, on the basis of the general education (the basic school), qualified employees on all basic directions of socially useful activity. It can be received in technical training colleges and other types of educational institutions of the given level.

Middle professional education is focused on preparation according to the basis of the basic general, average (full) general or initial professional training including. Middle professional training can be received in a special educational institution (school, college) or in a higher educational institution at the first step of the higher professional education.

2.2.4 High school

The higher school in Russia is the most dynamically developing part of the system of continuous education. It is includes the following kinds of educational institutions: universities (the centers of fundamental scientific researches and carry out preparation of experts on different structures), academies, institutes, conservatories, and the higher professional schools. Reforming of high school is based on introduction of multistage preparation of specialists, which is realized under the maintenance, and terms of training by successive general educational programs. After the end of training on each of steps the graduate receives the diploma, which allows to be engaged in professional work or to proceed to the following stage of formation. Such reorganization of higher education enables to satisfy needs of the country for experts of a different skill level.

Reforms in domestic higher education have begun in 1992 with acceptance of the federal Law "About education". It has legalized concepts that are new to us: a bachelor degree, magistracy, and multilevel system. But, not breaking developed system; it has kept and has included new and old, one-stage system

The levels (or steps) of higher education are determined s by the federal Law accepted in 1996 "About the higher professional and postgraduate education ". According to it the higher education includes three steps:

- The first step: the incomplete higher education with term of training 2 years;

- The second step: the basic higher education (bachelor degree) with term of training 4 years;

- The third step - with it business is more difficultly: the former model is attributed to " the diplomated expert " with term of preparation of 5 years and a new one is "master" with term of preparation of 6 years;

If a student wants to continue training on one of the programs of the third level he has a choice. If he decides to receive qualification " the diplomated expert " it is necessary to study 1 more year (under condition of concurrence of programs actually studying lasts 1 semester, further there is an independent work on the diploma). But the best way for the bachelor to improve his qualification is the magistracy. Studying there lasts 2 years and comes to the end after having writing a final master’s dissertation and, accordingly, getting of a degree of master.

To all educational establishments the right to render additional educational services is given. Additional services can be paid if they fall outside the limits of obligatory educational work with students that are defined by the curriculum of establishment and the program accepted for it as basic.

2.2.4 Private and alternative educational establishments

Since 1991 in Russia it is authorized to open private educational establishments. The Charter of the Russian association of non-state education was accepted. For reception of the sanction to opening of a private school (a kindergarten, university, etc.) which is given out in the Department of education, it is necessary to present a package of obligatory documents (the concept of training and education, the program and the charter of an institution, data on structure of pedagogical collective, the information on means for the maintenance of establishment). On an orientation and the maintenance of work private educational establishments can be divided into some types:

- Exclusive in which for very high payment high quality of formation is provided;

- For children who require special conditions for studying and individual development, badly adapt, hardly transfer a rigid regulation of their behaviour and activity, intensity of a rhythm of educational establishment; gifted children for whom are necessary a special atmosphere for development and the special program of training.

The new tendency in development of educational system of Russia became an occurrence of the so-called non-conventional teaching and educational establishments, alternative mass schools, kindergartens. For non-conventional teaching and educational establishments such attributes, as specificity of the purposes and maintenances of education are characteristic; freedom of choice of establishment of the certain orientation; relative administrative independence; a special atmosphere and moral climate, promoting the best adaptation of the child, his multilateral development.

UNIT 4

EDUCATION IN THE USA

American Schooling

The American system of education differs somewhat from the systems of other countries. There are free, state-supported, public schools which majority of American children attends. 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 exam. These include many church-supported schools, usually Catholic, which also charge a fee. Most public schools are co-educational, that is, girls and boys study together, but a lot of church-supported schools are for boys or girls only.

Education is compulsory for every child from the age of 6 up to the age of 16 except in Maine, New Mexico, North Dakota and Pennsylvania where it’s compulsory to the age of 17 and in Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma and Utah where children must go to school until the age of 18.

Elementary (primary) and secondary (high) schools are organized on one or two bases: 8 years of elementary school and 4 years of secondary school, or 6 years of elementary, 3 years of junior high school and 3 years of senior high school.

But often American children go to elementary school when they are 6 and stay there for 6 years. Pre-school is for children younger than 5.

Every class has an American flag in it. Every day they are standing up and saluting the flag. In American schools there are ceremonies for students who have done good work at school. The director gives prizes to the students. Sometimes the prize is money. After school they get diploma.

Elementary school children in the USA learn much the same things as do children of the same age in other countries. The program of studies includes English (reading, writing, spelling, grammar, and composition), arithmetic (sometimes elementary algebra or plane geometry in upper grades), geography, history of the USA, elementary natural science. Physical training, music, drawing are also taught. Some schools teach a modern language, such as French, Spanish or German. At elementary school lessons last 30 minutes. At high school lessons last 50 minutes.

The junior high school is a sort of halfway between elementary and secondary school. It continues some elementary school subjects but it also introduces courses in Math and science and usually gives students their first chance to study a foreign language. It usually comprises grades 7, 8 and 9, although sometimes it’s only grades 7 and 8.

The high school prepares young people either for work immediately after finishing or for more advanced study in a college or university. Although there are some technical, vocational and specialized high schools in the USA, the typical high school is comprehensive in nature. The subjects studied in elementary school are dealt with in greater detail and in more advanced form in high school. In addition one can specialize in home economics, chemistry and physics, music, humanities, automobile mechanics, etc. High school students study 4-5 major subjects a year and classes in each of them meet for an hour a day, five days a week.

The USA has the shortest school year in the world, an average of 180 days.

An important part of high school life extracurricular activities. The student is free to join chorus, band or school orchestra; enter the debating team or participate in sports of all kinds as well as a variety of social activities.

Usually there are two buildings: one for elementary school, another – for junior high school. Schoolchildren have no bags. At school they have boxes for books and notebooks. When they leave classroom they take a pass where the teacher writes his/her name. If the schoolchildren don’t have it, the director expels them for three weeks.

Although education is compulsory in the USA, it’s not compulsory for all children to get their education at school. A number of parents believe that they can provide a better education for their children at home. Children who are educated at home are known as “home-scholars”. There are about 300,000 home-scholars in the USA today. Some parents prefer teaching their children at home because they don’t believe that public schools teach the correct religious values; others believe they can provide a better educational experience for their children themselves. Interestingly, results show that home-schooled children tend to do better than average on national tests in reading and math. However, critics point out that home-scholars miss out on many things. The home-scholar is an outsider who, other people in adult life. Critics also say that most parents aren’t well qualified to teach their children and may pass on their narrow views to their children.

Marks in the USA:

A – excellent – отлично

B – very well – очень хорошо

C – satisfactory – удовлетворительно

D – poor – плохо

F – unsatisfactory – неудовлетворительно

US SCHOOL SYSTEM

Name of school	grade	Age of students	subjects
nursery	K	3-4	Games, creative playing, songs
kindergarten	K	5-6	Games, drawing, crafts, beginning reading and writing
elementary	1	6-7	Reading, writing, spelling, adding, drawing, music
	2	7-8	English, subtraction, spelling, drawing, music
	3	8-9	English, music, social studies, multiplication
	4	9-10	English, social studies, division
	5	10-11	English, social studies, fraction
	6	11-12	English, social studies, decimals, science
junior high or middle school	7	12-13	English, social studies (history), science, math, foreign language, home economics
	8	13-14
high school freshman or ninth grader	9	14-15	Core Courses: English, algebra, geometry, social studies (history), biology, foreign language; Electives: music, art, typing, bookkeeping, technical education, home economics, computer science
sophomore or tenth grader	10	15-16	Core Courses: English, geometry, social studies (history), chemistry foreign language; Electives: music, art, economics, typing, technical education, home economics, computer science, drama
junior or eleventh grader	11	16-17	Core Courses: English, physics, trigonometry, social studies (history), foreign language; Electives: music, art, typing, bookkeeping, technical education, home economics, computer science
senior or twelfth grader	12	17-18	Core Courses: English, calculus, social studies (history), foreign language; Electives: music, art, typing, bookkeeping, technical education, home economics, computer science

Higher Education

There is no national system of higher education in the USA. Instead there are about 3,300 separate institutions ranging from two-year “junior” colleges and technical institutes to universities. They may be small or large, rural or urban, private or public, religious or secular; highly selective or open to all.

Basically American higher education developed its own pattern by the adaptation of two traditions: the collegiate tradition of England and the university tradition of the continent.

The private universities are still very important. Of the nation’s nearly 1,900 four-year institutions of higher learning, 1,200 are privately controlled.

All higher educational establishments charge fees. It costs a lot of money to study there. Most people simply can’t afford it. A college education is getting more and more expensive every year. Grants are rare, that’s why two out of three college students take part-time jobs during the school year, during summer vacations, or both to pay for their studies.

Obviously, with a total of 156 universities and more than 2,000 colleges, there must be great differences in quality and reputation among them. The main universities are California University, Catholic University of America, Cornell University, Harvard University, John Hopkins University, Columbia University, Stanford University and Chicago University. The best-known of all is Harvard, Massachusetts, which was founded in 1636. There is much in common between Harvard and Yale, Connecticut and together they occupy a position in American university life rather like Oxbridge in England.

The methods of instruction in the universities are lectures, discussions, and work in laboratory. The academic year is usually of nine months duration, or two terms of four and a half months each.

Students are classified as freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors. A peculiar feature of American college and university life is numerous students’ unions, fraternities and sororities. The Greek alphabet is generally used in their names. These organizations, Greek letter societies, are descendants of the 18^th century literary and social clubs which flourished in the early American colleges. It has become quite the practice for students of a particular fraternity to reside together during their college course in one house.

A great deal of cultural and recreational life at a university is created by different kinds of students’ clubs.

HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE USA

Higher education in the United States is an optional final stage of formal learning following secondary education. Higher education, also referred to as post-secondary education, third stage, third level, or tertiary education occurs most commonly at one of the 4,599 title IV degree-granting institutions, either colleges or universities in the country. 

These may be public universities, private universities, liberal arts colleges, or community colleges. High visibility issues include greater use of the Internet, such as massive open online courses, competency-based education, cutbacks in state spending, rapidly rising tuition and increasing student loans.

Strong research and funding have helped make United States colleges and universities among the world's most prestigious, making them particularly attractive to international students, professors and researchers in the pursuit of academic excellence. More than 30 of the highest-ranked 45 institutions are in the US as measured by awards and research output.

Statistics

As of 2011, the latest figures available in 2014, the US has a total of 4,599 Title IV-eligible, degree-granting institutions: 2,870 4-year institutions and 1,729 2-year institutions. The US had 21 million students in higher education, roughly 5.7% of the total population. About 13 million of these students were enrolled full-time which was 81,000 students lower than 2010.

In 2009, 21.3 percent of the adult population above 18 years had attended college, but had no degree, 7.5 percent held an associate's degree, 17.6 percent held a bachelor's degree, and 10.3 percent held a graduate or professional degree. The historical gender gap had practically vanished. New England and Colorado had the highest proportion of college graduates, and the South Central states the lowest.

A US Department of Education longitudinal survey of 15,000 high school students in 2002, and again in 2012 at age 27, found that 84% of the 27-year-olds had some college education, but only 34% achieved a bachelor's degree or higher; 79% owe some money for college and 55% owe more than $10,000; college dropouts were three times more likely to be unemployed than those who finished college; 40% spent some time unemployed and 23% were unemployed for six months or more; and 79% earned less than $40,000 per year.

Types of colleges and universities

Colleges and universities in the U.S. vary in terms of goals: some may emphasize a vocational, business, engineering, or technical curriculum (like polytechnic universities) while others may emphasize a liberal arts curriculum. Many combine some or all of the above, being a comprehensive university.

In the US, the term "college" refers to either one of three types of education institutions: stand-alone higher level education institutions that are not components of a university, including 1) community colleges, 2) liberal arts colleges, or 3) a college within a university, mostly the undergraduate institution of a university. Unlike colleges versus universities in other portions of the world, a stand-alone college is truly stand-alone and is not part of a university, and is also not affiliated with an affiliating university.

The majority of both liberal arts colleges and public universities are coeducational; the number of women's colleges and men's colleges has dwindled in past years and nearly all remaining single-sex institutions are private liberal arts colleges. There are historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), both private (such as Morehouse College) and public (such as Florida A&M).

American universities developed independent accreditation organizations to vouch for the quality of their degree. The accreditation agencies rate universities and colleges on criteria such as academic quality, the quality of their libraries, the publishing records of their faculty, and the degrees which their faculty holds. No accredited institutions are perceived as lacking in quality and rigor, and may be termed diploma mills.

Community colleges

Community colleges are often (though not always) two-year colleges. They have open admissions, with generally lower tuition than other state or private schools. Graduates receive the associate's degree such as an Associate of Arts (A.A.). Many students earn an associate's degree at a two-year institution before transferring to a four-year institution for another two years to earn a bachelor's degree.

Four-year colleges usually have a larger number of students, offer a greater range of studies, and provide the bachelor's degree, mostly the Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) or Bachelor of Science (B.S.). They are either primarily undergraduate institutions (i.e. Liberal Arts Colleges) or the undergraduate institution of a university (such as Harvard College and Yale College).

Liberal arts colleges

Four-year institutions in the U.S. emphasizing the liberal arts are liberal arts colleges, entirely undergraduate institutions and stand-alone. They traditionally emphasize interactive instruction although research is still a component. They are known for being residential and for having smaller enrollment, class size, and higher teacher-student ratios than universities. These colleges encourage a high level of teacher-student interaction at the center of which are classes taught by full-time faculty rather than graduate student teaching assistants (TAs), who teach classes at some Research I universities and other universities. Most are private, although there are public liberal arts colleges. Some offer experimental curricula, such as Hampshire College, Beloit College, Bard College at Simon's Rock, Pitzer College, Sarah Lawrence College, Grinnell College, Bennington College, New College of Florida, and Reed College.

Universities

Universities are research-oriented educational institutions which provide both undergraduate and graduate programs. However, for historical reasons, some universities (such as Boston College, Dartmouth College, and The College of William & Mary) have retained the term "college" as their name. Graduate programs grant a variety of master's degrees (like the Master of Arts (M.A.), Master of Science (M.S.), Master of Business Administration  (M.B.A.) or Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.)) in addition to doctorates such as the Ph.D. The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education distinguishes among institutions on the basis of the prevalence of degrees they grant and considers the granting of master's degrees necessary, though not sufficient, for an institution to be classified as a university.

Some universities have professional schools. Examples include journalism school, business school, medical schools (which award either the M.D. or D.O.), law schools (J.D.), veterinary schools (D.V.M.), pharmacy schools (Pharm.D.), and dental schools. A common practice is to refer to different units within universities as colleges or schools (what is referred to in other countries as faculties). Some colleges may be divided into departments, including an anthropology department within a college of liberal arts and sciences within a larger university. Yet, few universities adopt the term "college" as names of academic organizations. For example, Purdue University is composed of multiple colleges – among others, the College of Agriculture and the College of Engineering. Of these Purdue breaks the College of Agriculture down into departments, such as the Department of Agronomy or the Department of Entomology, whereas Purdue breaks down the College of Engineering into schools, such as the School of Electrical Engineering, which enrolls more students than some of its colleges do. As is common in this scheme, Purdue categorizes both its undergraduate students (and faculty and programs) and its post-graduate students (and faculty and programs) via this scheme of decomposition, being a topical decomposition that focuses on an academic sector of directly related academic disciplines.

The American university system is largely decentralized. Public universities are administered by the individual states and territories, usually as part of a state university system. Except for the United States service academies and staff colleges, the federal government does not directly regulate universities, although it can give federal grants to them and any institution that receives federal funds as a condition must certify that it has adopted and implemented a drug prevention program that meets regulations.

Each state supports at least one state university and several support many more. California, for example, has three public higher education systems: the 10-campus University of California, the 23-campus California State University, and the 112-campus California Community Colleges System. Public universities often have a large student body, with introductory classes numbering in the hundreds and some undergraduate classes taught by graduate students. Tribal Colleges operated on Indian reservations by some federally recognized tribes are also public institutions.

Many private universities also exist. Among these, some are secular while others are involved in religious education. Some are non-denominational and some are affiliated with a certain sect or church, such as Roman Catholicism (with different institutions often sponsored by particular religious institutes such as the Jesuits) or religions such as Lutheranism or Mormonism. Seminaries are private institutions for those preparing to become members of the clergy. Most private schools (like all public schools) are non-profit, although some are for-profit.

Tuition

Tuition is charged at most American universities, and public universities generally offer lower tuition rates for in-state students than out-of-state students. In 2002, the average in-state tuition was $4,081 and $18,273 for those who paid out-of-state rates. There are two exceptions under which tuition is not needed: 1) the five federally sponsored service academies, in which students attend free and with a stipend in exchange for a service commitment in the US armed forces after graduation; 2) a few institutions where offering tuition-free education is part of the school's mission, among them Cooper Union, Berea College, Olin College and Webb Institute. Public universities often have much lower tuition than private universities because funds are provided by state governments, and residents of the state that supports the university typically pay lower tuition than non-residents. Students often use scholarships, student loans, or grants, rather than paying all tuition out-of-pocket. Several states offer scholarships that allow students to attend free of tuition or at lower cost; examples include HOPE in Georgia and Bright Futures in Florida.

Most universities, public and private, have endowments. A 2007 report by the National Association of College and University Business Officers revealed that the top 765 U.S. colleges and universities had a combined $340 billion in endowment assets as of 2006. As of 2011, seventy-three additional colleges and universities had endowments worth over $1 billion. The largest endowment is that of Harvard University, at $29 billion.

History

Religious denominations established most early colleges in order to train ministers. They were modeled after Oxford and Cambridge universities. Harvard College was founded by the colonial legislature in 1636, and named after an early benefactor. Most of the funding came from the colony, but the college early began to collect endowment. Harvard at first focused on training young men for the ministry, and won general support from the Puritan colonies. The College of William & Mary was founded by Virginia government in 1693, with 20,000 acres (81 km²) of land for an endowment, and a penny tax on every pound of tobacco, together with an annual appropriation. James Blair, the leading Church of England minister in the colony, was president for 50 years, and the college won the broad support of the Virginia gentry, most of whom were members of the Established Church, and trained many of the lawyers, politicians, and leading planters. Students headed for the ministry were given free or in tuition. Yale College was founded in 1701, and in 1716 was relocated to New Haven, Connecticut. The conservative Puritan ministers of Connecticut had grown dissatisfied with the more liberal theology of Harvard, and wanted their own school to train orthodox ministers. New Light Presbyterians in 1747 set up the College of New Jersey, in the town of Princeton; much later it was renamed Princeton University. Rhode Island College was begun by the Baptists in 1764, and in 1804 it was renamed Brown University in honor of a benefactor. Brown was especially liberal in welcoming young men from other denominations. In New York City, the Church of England set up King's College by royal charter in 1746, with its president Doctor Samuel Johnson the only teacher. It closed during the American Revolution, and reopened in 1784 under the name of Columbia College; it is now Columbia University. The Academy of Pennsylvania was created in 1749 by Benjamin Franklin and other civic minded leaders in Philadelphia, and unlike the others was not oriented toward the training of ministers. It was renamed the University of Pennsylvania in 1791. The Dutch Reformed Church in 1766 set up Queen's College in New Jersey, which later became Rutgers University. Dartmouth College, chartered in 1769, was originally meant to educate Native Americans, and was soon moved to its present site in Hanover, New Hampshire, in 1770.

All of the schools were small, with a limited undergraduate curriculum based on the liberal arts. Students were drilled in Greek, Latin, geometry, ancient history, logic, ethics and rhetoric, with few discussions and no lab sessions. Originality and creativity were not prized, but exact repetition was rewarded. The college president typically enforced strict discipline, and the upperclassman enjoyed hazing the freshman. Many students were younger than 17, and most of the colleges also operated a preparatory school. There were no organized sports, or Greek-letter fraternities, but literary societies were active. Tuition was very low and scholarships were few. Many of their students were sons of clergymen; most planned professional careers as ministers, lawyers or teachers.

Funding

Financial assistance for both private and public higher education comes in two primary forms: Grant programs and loan programs. Grant programs consist of money the student receives to pay for higher education that does not need to be paid back, while loan programs consist of money the student receives to pay for higher education that must be paid back. Public higher education institutions (which are partially funded through state government appropriation) and private higher education institutions (which are funded exclusively through tuition and private donations) offer both grant and loan financial assistance programs. Grants to attend public schools are distributed through federal and state governments, as well as through the schools themselves; grants to attend private schools are distributed through the school itself (independent organizations, such as charities or corporations also offer grants that can be applied to both public and private higher education institutions). Loans can be obtained publicly through government sponsored loan programs or privately through independent lending institutions.

Admission process

Students can apply to some colleges using the Common Application. There is no limit to the number of colleges or universities to which a student may apply, though an application must be submitted for each. With a few exceptions, most undergraduate colleges and universities maintain the policy that students are to be admitted to (or rejected from) the entire college, not to a particular department or major. (This is unlike college admissions in many European countries, as well as graduate admissions.) Some students, rather than being rejected, are "wait-listed" for a particular college and may be admitted if another student who was admitted decides not to attend the college or university. The five major parts of admission are ACT/SAT scores, GPA, College Application, Essay, and Letters of Recommendation. Not all colleges require essays or letters of recommendation, though they are often proven to increase chances of acceptance.

In 2007-8, American students numbering 262,416 studied outside the country with more than 140,000 of these studying in Europe.

The US is the most popular country in the world in terms of attracting students from other countries, according to UNESCO, with 16% of all international students going to the US (the next highest is the UK with 11%). 671,616 foreign students enrolled in American colleges in 2008-9. This figure rose to 723,277 in 2010–2011. The largest number, 157,558, came from China. According to Uni in the USA, despite "exorbitant" costs of US universities, higher education in America remains attractive to international students due to "generous subsidies and financial aid packages that enable students from even the most disadvantaged backgrounds to attend the college of their dreams".

Grant, scholarship, and work study program facts

Grant programs, as well as work study programs, can be divided into two primary categories: Need-based financial awards and merit-based financial awards. Most state governments provide need-based scholarship programs, a few also offering merit-based aid. Several need-based grants are provided through the Federal Government based on information provided on a student's Free Application for Federal Student Aid. The Federal Pell Grant is a need-based grant available from the Federal government. The federal government also has two other grants that are a combination of need-based and merit-based: the Academic Competitiveness Grant, and the National SMART Grant. In order to receive one of these grants a student must be eligible for the Pell Grant, meet specific academic requirements, and be a US citizen.

A student's eligibility for work study programs is also determined by information collected on the student's FAFSA. Need-based financial awards are money or work study jobs provided to students who do not have the financial resources by themselves to pay for higher education. The intent of need-based financial aid is to close the gap between the required cost to pay for the higher education and the money that is available to pay for the education.

Merit-based financial awards are money given to a student based on a particular gift, talent, conditional situation, or ability that is worthy of the monetary award, regardless of economic standing. The intent of merit-based financial aid is to encourage and reward students who exhibit these qualities with attendance at a school of higher education through the financial incentive. Not only does merit-based assistance benefit the student, but the benefit is seen as reciprocal for the educational institution itself, as students who exhibit exceptional qualities are able to enhance the development of the school itself.

Financial aid has also been found to be linked to increased enrollment. A study conducted by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that an increased availability of any amount financial aid amounts to increased enrollment rates. Evidence also suggests that access to financial aids also increases both “persistence and competition”. Further benefit has been noted with academic-based scholarships, augmenting the effects of financial aid by incentivizing the scholarship with performance-based requirements.

Student loans

In 2012 student loan debt owed in the United States totaled more than $1 trillion. In 2012, total student loans exceeded consumer credit card debt.

Many different types of loans can be taken out by a student or the student's parents in order to pay for higher education. In general these can be divided into two categories: federal student loans and private student loans.

Federal student loans

There are five kinds of student loans available through the government: Perkins Loans, subsidized Stafford Loans, unsubsidized Stafford Loans, direct loans, and PLUS loans. A student's eligibility for any of these loans, as well as the amount of the loan itself is determined by information on the student's FAFSA. The interest rate and whether or not interest accrues on the loan while the student is in school depends of the type of Federal loan.

Private student loans

Students can also acquire loans privately, through banks, credit unions, savings and loan associations, or other finance companies. Private loans are typically used to supplement federal student loans, which have a yearly borrowing limit. However, private loans typically have more rigid repayment policies.

Education tax credits

US tax payers may be eligible for tax credits designed to help make higher education more affordable. There are two different tax credits meant to help defray the costs of higher education: the Hope Tax Credit and the Lifetime Learning Tax Credit.

Government coordination

Coordination institutions

Every state has an entity designed to promote coordination and collaboration between higher education institutions. A few are listed:

• Alabama Commission on Higher Education

• California Postsecondary Education Commission

• Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board

• Washington State Higher Education Coordinating Board

• The Georgia Department of Technical and Adult Education

Academic employment

In the 1980s and 1990s significant changes in the economics of academic life began to be felt, identified by some as a catastrophe in the making and by others as a new era with potentially huge gains for the university. Some critics identified the changes as a new "corporatization of the university." Academic jobs have been traditionally viewed by many intellectuals as desirable, because of the autonomy and intellectual freedom they allow (especially because of the tenure system), despite their low pay compared to other professions requiring extensive education. And until the mid-1970s, when federal expenditures for higher education fell sharply, there were routinely more tenure-track jobs than Ph.D. graduates.

Now, by contrast, despite rising tuition rates and growing university revenues (especially in the U.S.) well-paid professorial positions are rarer, replaced with poorly paid adjunct positions and graduate-student labor. People with doctorates in the sciences, and to a lesser extent mathematics, often find jobs outside of academia (or use part-time work in industry to supplement their incomes), but a Ph.D. in the humanities and many social sciences prepares the student primarily for academic employment. However, in recent years a large proportion of such Ph.Ds. – ranging from 30 percent to 60 percent—have been unable to obtain tenure-track jobs. They must choose between adjunct positions, which are poorly paid and lack job security; teaching jobs in community colleges or in high schools, where little research is done; the non-academic job market, where they will tend to be overqualified; or some other course of study, such as law or business.

Indeed, with academic institutions producing Ph.Ds. in greater numbers than the number of tenure-track professorial positions they intend to create, there is little question that administrators are cognizant of the economic effects of this arrangement.

Most people who are knowledgeable of the academic job market advise prospective graduate students not to attend graduate school if they must pay for it; graduate students who are admitted without tuition remission and a reasonable stipend are forced to incur large debts that they will be unlikely to repay quickly. In addition, most people recommend that students obtain full and accurate information about the placement record of the programs they are considering. At some programs, most Ph.Ds. get multiple tenure-track offers, whereas at others few obtain any; such information is clearly very useful in deciding what to do with the next 5–7 years of one's life.

Some believe that, as a number of Baby Boomer professors retire, the academic job market will rebound. However, others predict that this will not result in an appreciable growth of tenure-track positions, as universities will merely fill their needs with low-paid adjunct positions.

The effects of a growing pool of unemployed, underemployed, and undesirably employed Ph.Ds. on many countries' economies as a whole is undetermined.

Selected issues

Rankings of tertiary institutions

Universities 21 ranked the country as having the best higher education system in the world in 2012. Cost was not considered in the rankings.

Numerous organizations produce rankings of universities in the United States each year. A 2010 University of Michigan study has confirmed that the rankings in the United States have significantly affected colleges' applications and admissions. Referred to as the "granddaddy of the college rankings", America's best–known American college and university rankings have been compiled since 1983 by U.S. News & World Report and are widely regarded as the most influential of all college rankings.

2007 movement

On 19 June 2007, during the annual meeting of the Annapolis Group, members discussed the letter to college presidents asking them not to participate in the "reputation survey" section of the U.S. News & World Report survey (this section comprises 25% of the ranking). As a result, "a majority of the approximately 80 presidents at the meeting said that they did not intend to participate in the U.S. News reputational rankings in the future."  However, the decision to fill out the reputational survey or not will be left up to each individual college as: "the Annapolis Group is not a legislative body and any decision about participating in the US News rankings rests with the individual institutions." The statement also said that its members "have agreed to participate in the development of an alternative common format that presents information about their colleges for students and their families to use in the college search process."  This database will be web-based and developed in conjunction with higher education organizations including the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities and the Council of Independent Colleges.

On 22 June 2007, U.S. News and World Report editor Robert Morse issued a response in which he argued, "in terms of the peer assessment survey, we at U.S. News firmly believe the survey has significant value because it allows us to measure the "intangibles" of a college that we can't measure through statistical data. Plus, the reputation of a school can help get that all-important first job and plays a key part in which grad school someone will be able to get into. The peer survey is by nature subjective, but the technique of asking industry leaders to rate their competitors is a commonly accepted practice. The results from the peer survey also can act to level the playing field between private and public colleges."  In reference to the alternative database discussed by the Annapolis Group, Morse also argued, "It's important to point out that the Annapolis Group's stated goal of presenting college data in a common format has been tried before [...] U.S. News has been supplying this exact college information for many years already. And it appears that NAICU will be doing it with significantly less comparability and functionality. U.S. News first collects all these data (using an agreed-upon set of definitions from the Common Data Set). Then we post the data on our website in easily accessible, comparable tables. In other words, the Annapolis Group and the others in the NAICU initiative actually are following the lead of U.S. News." 

Financial value of degrees

Studies have looked at the financial payoff to the large investment in time, tuition, student loans, and lost earnings that is typically required to receive an academic degree. People with higher education have always tended to have higher salaries and less unemployment than people with less education. However, the payoff for different majors varies greatly. In 2010–2011, the median earnings of bachelor's degree holders over the age of 29 years ranged from $44,000 for educators to $83,000 for engineers. The earnings of master's degree holders over the age of 29 years ranged from $57,000 for educators to $101,000 for engineers.

Some fields of study produce many more graduates than the professions can take in. Due to the resulting higher education bubble, these graduates often have to consider jobs for which they are overqualified, or that have no academic requirements.

Although an associate degree is, on average, less financially lucrative in the long term than a bachelor's degree, it can still provide a respectable income with much less student debt. In fact, new research into earnings shows that recent community-college graduates in certain specialties can make more than recent university graduates with a bachelor's degree. In spite of persistently high unemployment, there is still a demand for some skilled trades that often only require an associate’s degree or vocational training, such as technicians, draftsmen, radiation therapists, paralegals, and machinists.

Socioeconomic status

Socioeconomic status can play a part in one's chances of taking advantage of higher education. A 2011 national study found that college students with a high socioeconomic status persisted in college 25 percent more than students with a low socioeconomic status. In fact, students with a high socioeconomic status are 1.55 times more likely to persist in college than students with a low socioeconomic status. Attaining even higher degrees than a bachelor's degree can also be affected by socioeconomic status. A 2008 study reports that 11 percent of students with low socioeconomic status report earning a master's, medical, or law degree compared to 42 percent of high socioeconomic students.  A 2007 study found that 52 percent of low-income students who qualified for college enrolled within 2 years of graduation compared to 83 percent of high-income students. The National Center for Education Statistics reports that in 2009 high school graduates from low-income families enrolled in college immediately at a rate of 55 percent. In comparison, 84 percent of high school graduates from high-income families enrolled immediately into college. Middle-class families also saw lower rates with 67 percent enrolling in college immediately. It also found that a high percentage of students who delayed enrollment in college attended high schools that had a high level of participation in the free and reduced lunch program. Students who work long hours in high school are less likely to pursue post-secondary education. Students who had access to financial aid contacts were more likely to enroll in higher education than students who did not have these contacts.

Socioeconomic status can also influence performance rates once at a university. According to a 2008 study, students with a low socioeconomic status study less, work more hours, have less interaction with faculty, and are less likely to join extra-curricular activities. 42 percent of students with low socioeconomic status indicated that they worked more than 16 hours a week during school, with a high percentage working up to 40 hours a week. Students with low income may not apply for higher education. These students are often racial minorities. This is also evidence of a positive relation between socioeconomic status and social integration at university. In other words, middle-class students take part in more formal and informal social activities and have a greater sense of belonging to their universities than do working-class students.

Race

Race can play a part in which students enroll in college. A 2007 study found that African Americans are more likely to delay enrolling in college. The National Center for Education Statistics reports that between 2003 and 2009 rates of immediate college enrollment increased for Asian Americans and whites, but not for African Americans  The 2011 Condition of Education study found that in 2008, 63 percent of college students were white, while 14 percent were African American and 12 percent were Hispanic. Race can play a part in a student's persistence rate in college: Dropout rates are highest with the Native American and African American population, both greater than 50 percent. Caucasians and Asian Americans had the lowest dropout rates.

Gender

In discussing student's access to education in the United States, one area of concentration that current research has focused on in the last half century is the differences that exist between students entry and completion rates based on gender. In a study done by Bailey & Dynarski (2011) it was observed that the increase in inequality that has been observed in the last 40+ years has been predominantly driven by women.

Within higher-income families that are sending more children to universities and colleges, women make up a greater percentage (15% compared to 7%) of this growth. While the largest gap of educational attainment between men and women is seen in the highest income group, women are attaining higher levels of education than men in every income group. This observation poses a unique and confusing problem: if educational attainment has a positive correlation to familial income, why are more women entering and completing college than men? Bailey and Dynarski proposed that the observed educational gap by gender may be due to differing incentives to accumulate human capital. Men and women may participate in what they term "segregated labor markets" and "asymmetric marriage markets," and perhaps, to make up for those perceived market differences, females are more motivated to obtain higher levels of education.

The gap of educational attainment between men and women is starting at a young age and affecting students’ access to higher education later on in life. There are two main explanations for the gender differences in educational attainment and inequality. First, men and women respond in different and gender-specific ways to family and/or school circumstances, and second, the differences in circumstances across men and women of the same family income and race have shaped inequality in educational attainment for some time. More specifically, the bulk of primary and secondary teachers are female and women run most single parent households. The absence of a strong male role model affects males differently from females. Studies have shown that teachers provide role models to demographically similar students, and their unintended biases affect their interactions and assessments of their students.

When comparing graduation rates between men and women, in children born after 1960, more white women were graduating from college than white men, which was a change from children born before this time.

Undocumented Students

It is estimated that 65,000 illegal immigrants graduate from high school each year. These graduates have lived in the United States for more than 5 years and most were often brought to the United States by their parents as young children. This leaves the U.S. Government with the question of what rights to give the illegal immigrants after their graduation, particularly with access to higher education. A 2010 study conducted at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) on illegal immigrants and higher education:

Installing pathways to higher education and in-state tuition for undocumented students in the United States presents both opportunities and constraints in developing practices that promote social justice, equity, and equality. Those who are sympathetic to the challenges facing undocumented students may support opportunities to promote the potential of those who are deserving of incorporation and membership in U.S. society. On the other hand, proponents of tighter borders and tougher immigration laws may view all undocumented people, including model, hardworking young people, as "illegals" or temporary workers and consider them to be drains on the resources of society. This puts educational administrators in precarious positions since they are professionals who are trained to promote and support students in their pursuit of knowledge and self-improvement. Therefore, many professionals are left with little choice but to search for individuals and resources already established within outlaw cultures." 

Cost and finances

Critics contend that tuition increases have outpaced inflation. A member of the Commission on the Future of Higher Education, Richard Vedder, argued that third-party tuition payments from government or private sources have insulated students from bearing the full cost of their education; as a result, costs have risen more rapidly than necessary. Analyst Robert E. Wright predicted cost increases without matching increases in quality would continue until professors were encouraged to own colleges in private partnerships; he predicted that would not happen until barriers to entry are decreased and government education subsidies are paid directly to students instead of to colleges and universities. A report in The Economist criticized American universities for generally losing sight of how to contain costs. Analyst Jeffrey Selingo in the Chronicle of Higher Education blamed rising costs on unnecessary amenities such as private residence rooms, luxury dining facilities, climbing walls, and sometimes even so-called lazy rivers similar to ones found in amusement parks. The 2014 documentary Ivory Tower described colleges as participating in an "arms race" to provide the best luxury facilities, and asked whether college was worth the expense in an era of "predatory loan systems" and job scarcity and rampant inequality. One analyst argued that second-tier schools with Ivy League Envy had become "so obsessed with rising up the academic hierarchy" that they focused too heavily on research while neglecting undergraduate education, and argued that schools should embrace Internet technology and online software to streamline costs.

Many students lack the financial resources to pay tuition up front and must rely on student loans and scholarships from their university, the federal government, or a private lender. All but a few charity institutions and the United States Service academies charge students tuition, although scholarships (both merit-based and need-based) are widely available. Generally, private universities charge much higher tuition than their public counterparts, which rely on state funds to make up the difference. Because each state supports its own university system with state taxes, most public universities charge much higher rates for out-of-state students. In 2002, state governments gave their state colleges a total of $66 billion to partially subsidize student tuition. The average tuition then of a state college was $4,081 annually for a four-year college. The average cost of a private school was $18,273.

The total cost of all higher education in 2002 was $289 billion.

One theory for the continual increase in tuition is that universities prioritize endowment growth over educational interests. A possible explanation for this is that universities are concerned with intergenerational equity for the benefit of future generations of students, as well as the overall benefit to society. This means that the universities will usually seek to grow their endowments to sustain their level of activity well into the future. Arguments against this justification mainly focus on the idea that the intergenerational equity theory does not accurately reflect the behavior of institutions with large endowments. Peter Conti-Brown, for example, describes how many of the elite universities cut their budgets during the recession despite sitting atop multi-billion-dollar endowments, which were theoretically supposed to act as cushions during such economic downturns.

Still, tuition increases may not be completely the responsibility of the higher education institutions. Instead, an article written by Archibald and Feldman suggests that tuition increases simply reflect the increasing costs of producing higher education. According to the cost-disease theory, it would be difficult to achieve cuts in per-student cost without the deterioration of quality in the education. While the decision-making of college administrators does come into play, the argument is that there are more fundamental and economy-wide factors that result in cost increases. A general economic trend is that costs in service industries grow more rapidly than in manufacturing industries, and increase in higher education costs is simply a reflection of this phenomenon. Some universities describe being caught in a dilemma where they are pressured to offer broader curricula and improve facilities to attract new students on one hand, but on the other hand these universities must raise tuition to compensate for state spending cuts and rising expenses.

Annual undergraduate tuition varies widely from state to state, and many additional fees apply. Listed tuition prices generally reflect the upper bound that a student may be charged for tuition. In many cases, the "list price" of tuition – that is, the tuition rate broadcast on a particular institution's marketing platforms – may turn out to be different from the actual (or net) tuition charged per student. A student that has applied for institution-based funding will know his or her net tuition upon receipt of a financial aid package. Since tuition does not take into account other expenses such as the cost of living, books, supplies and other expenses, such additional amounts can cause the overall cost of college to exceed the tuition rate multiplied by the number of courses the student is planning to take.

In 2009, average annual tuition at a public university (for residents of the state) was $7,020. Tuition for public school students from outside the state is generally comparable to private school prices, although students can often qualify for state residency after their first year. Private schools are typically much higher, although prices vary widely from "no-frills" private schools to highly specialized technical institutes. Depending upon the type of school and program, annual graduate program tuition can vary from $15,000 to as high as $50,000. Note that these prices do not include living expenses (rent, room/board, etc.) or additional fees that schools add on such as "activities fees" or health insurance. These fees, especially room and board, can range from $6,000 to $12,000 per academic year (assuming a single student without children). Such fees are not at all government-regulated, allowing a theoretically enormous increase each year. While tuition is monitored to some degree in legislatures and is often publicly discussed, fees on the side are frequently overlooked in public opinion and regulatory policies. Although tuition costs have risen, the rising costs have had little effect on transfer rates and overall enrollment. In a study on effects of rising tuition costs, analysis revealed that the rising costs of colleges have “weak or no effects” on enrollment. Rising tuition costs have not deterred enrollment “as long as students believe the potential return of a college education is much greater than the cost”.

In addition to tuition, living expenses, books, supplies and fees, students also face a less-acknowledged opportunity cost in years of missed potential income. A high school educated person could expect to earn about $84,000 for four years of work; in choosing to attend and pay for college, an individual forgoes those earnings.

Study comparing college revenue per student by tuition and state funding in 2008 dollars.

In 2010, community colleges cost an average of $2,544 per year for tuition and fees. A private four-year college cost an average of $26,273 annually for tuition and fees.

College costs are rising while state appropriations for aid are shrinking. This has led to debate over funding at both the state and local levels. From 2002 to 2004 alone, tuition rates at public schools increased by just over 14 percent, largely due to dwindling state funding. A more moderate increase of 6 percent occurred over the same period for private schools. Between 1982 and 2007, college tuition and fees rose three times as fast as median family income, in constant dollars. In the 2012 fiscal year, state and local financing declined to $81.2 billion, a drop in funding compared to record-high funding in 2008 of $88 billion in a pre-recession economy.

To combat costs colleges have hired adjunct professors to teach. In 2008 these teachers cost about $1,800 per 3-credit class as opposed to $8,000 per class for a tenured professor. Two-thirds of college instructors were adjuncts, according to one estimate; a second estimate from NBC News in 2013 was that 76% of college professors were in "low-paying, part-time jobs or insecure, non-tenure positions," often lacking health insurance. There are differences of opinion on whether these adjuncts teach more or less effectively than regular tenured or tenure-track professors. There is some suspicion that student evaluation of adjuncts, along with doubts on the part of teachers about subsequent continued employment, can lead to grade inflation.

Additionally, schools are increasingly using price discrimination as a strategy across different programs to increase revenue (i.e., employing strategies like a for-profit business). Yet the school is still fundamentally different from a for-profit business entity in that it is restricted by its school mission. For example, a school may charge particular types of students (such as low-income or moderate-income students) less tuition in order to help them. Another example is merit-based aid, in which the school will grant high-achieving students money.

Athletics have been increasingly subsidized by tuition. One in eight of the 202 Division 1 colleges actually netted more money than they spent on athletics between the years 2005 and 2010. At the few money-making schools, football and sometimes basketball sales support the school's other athletic programs. Athletes, on average, cost six times what it cost to educate the non-athlete. Spending per student varied from $10,012 to $19,225; cost per athlete varied from $41,796 to $163,931.

Issues related to financial aid

The portion of state budget funding spent on higher education has decreased by 40 percent since 1978, while at the same time most tuition fees have significantly increased. Between 2000 and 2010, the cost of tuition and room and board at public universities increased by 37 percent. The misconception persists that there simply is less money in "the system" to help pay for college these days. Actually, the reverse is true. In 1965, $558 million was available for financial aid. In 2005 more than $129 billion was available. As college costs have risen, so has the amount of money available to finance a college education. The kernel of truth in this myth is that the proportion of gift aid and self-help funding has shifted: loans and work make up a larger percentage of aid packages than they once did. During the early 1980s, higher education funding saw a shift from reliance on state and federal government funding to a greater reliance on family contributions and student loans. Pell Grants, which were created to offset the cost of college for low-income students, started funding more middle-class students, stretching the funds thinner for everyone. During the mid-1990s 34 percent of the cost for college was covered by the maximum offered Pell Grant, compared to 84 percent during the 1970s.

During Clinton's presidency, funding for higher education was focused on creating tax benefits tied to attending college. These proposed policies put less emphasis on developing grants to allow students to attend college. Some have argued that this approach did not adequately provide aid to those students most in need of it. Furthermore, there was fear that tax deductions or credits would actually work to drive up tuition costs.

The federal government also began funding fewer grant programs and more loan programs, leaving students with higher amounts of debt. In 2003, almost 70 percent of federal student aid awarded was student loans, which was a much higher percentage than just a decade before. In fact, the National Center for Education Statistics reports that during the 2007–2008 school year, 66% of degree recipients had borrowed money to complete their degree; 36% of these graduates had to borrow from state or private sources, averaging total loan amounts of $13,900; 95% of these loans were private. On average, a student borrowed $24,700.36 during the 2007–2008 school year. One estimate of total debt of all ex-students in 2011 was $1 trillion. Furthermore, the economic troubles of the recent decade have left higher education funding shifted toward other needs because higher education institutions have the ability to gain extra funds through raising tuition and private donations.

Policy changes in higher education funding raise questions about the impact on student performance and access to higher education. Many early studies focused on social integration and a person's individual attributes as the factors for degree completion. More recent studies have begun to look at larger factors including state funding and financial support. It has been found that providing need-based aid proved to increase degree completion in 48 states. There has also been a positive correlation between providing merit-based aid and degree completion. Also, as the level to qualify for state need-based aid is lowered, the probability of persistence increases. Low-income families now have to pay more to attend college, making it harder for such populations to attain higher education. In 1980, low-income families had to use 13 percent of their income to pay for one year of college. In 2000, this proportion grew to 25 percent of their income, while high-income families use less than 5 percent of their income. Thus, fully understanding how need and merit (non-need) aid is determined is critical when looking to ensure greater access to higher education. It is clear that at both private and public colleges and universities family income has a significant impact on need-based financial aid. As colleges and universities compete for students, the demarcation between merit-based aid and need-based aid is less clear. While there has been a traditional distinction between need-based and merit-based funding, recent trends indicate that these two categories are more blurred than their labels would suggest. Specifically, research confirms that merit-based financial aid often takes into account student need and vice versa.

A 2006 report by Michael S. McPherson and Morton Owen Schapiro indicated that financial aid to students in the 1990s held the strongest correlation with student SAT scores. The report was conducted in the interest of looking directly at the relationship between financial aid grants and various factors, with specific focus on the variables of family income level and SAT scores and minor focus on personal variables, such as race and gender. The reason these factors were given greater consideration was that, according to McPherson and Schapiro, the information was readily available and it led to a more meaningful comparison across students than variables like high school GPA. The report also made clear that it ignored the distinctions that universities make between "need-based" and "merit-based" aid. McPherson and Schapiro argued, "Although it is commonplace to track the importance of merit as opposed to need-based aid based on the responses given by college and university administrators on survey forms, we have argued that the distinction between 'need-based' and 'non-need-based' student grants is a slippery one." The findings in the report indicated that "the principle of awarding financial aid strictly in relation to ability to pay is becoming an increasingly less important factor in the distribution of aid in America's private colleges and universities."

Students who do not do well in the SAT exam may have concerns, as financial aid can be based on academic merit.

Some low-income students have to work and study at the same time. This may adversely impact their performance in school.

Most discussions on how higher education funding is determined have focused on the economic and demographic influences; however, according to a 2010 study on the relationship between politics and state funding many political factors influence higher education funding. First, as the number of interest groups for higher education in a state grows, so does the amount of money given to higher education. Second, states with a more liberal political ideology give more funding to higher education. Third, governors with more control over the state budget tend to award less money to higher education. This is attributed again to the fact that higher education funding is considered to be tradable with other programs. Fourth, a more professional state legislature correlates with more funding for higher education. (Professional in here refers to a legislature that acts much as the U.S. Congress does in that members have many staff members and spend more time in session.) Fifth, the more diverse a state population becomes, the less support there will be for higher education funding.

For-profit schools

There has been rapid growth in recent years of for-profit schools, of which the University of Phoenix is the largest with an enrollment over 400,000 nationwide. Other large institutions, with numerous branch campuses and online programs include Devry and Kaplan University. Altogether, they enroll 9% of the students. They have aggressively recruited among military veterans, and in 2010 received 36% percent of all the tuition aid paid by the federal government. The University of Phoenix received 88% of its income from federal aid to students; the maximum allowed is 90%. In 2001, the University of Phoenix opened a two-year online program oriented toward lower-income students who receive federal financial aid; in 2010 it had over 200,000 students seeking two-year degrees. Critics have pointed to the heavy dependence on federal loans and grants to students, the low student completion rate, and the inability of the majority of graduates to pay their student loans because they failed to secure high-paying jobs. The University of Phoenix reports that in 2009, 23% of its students completed an associate degree within three years of enrolling, and for bachelor's degree students, its six-year completion rate was 34%.

Indebtedness

The amount of debt that students have after graduation has become an issue of concern, especially given the weak job market after 2008. Nearly all loans are financed by the federal government at an artificially low rate, but students sometimes obtain private loans (which generally have higher interest rates and start accumulating interest immediately). In 2010, the U.S. Department of Education announced stricter eligibility rules for federal financing of loans to student at for-profit schools, which were experiencing higher default rates. Student loans total $1 trillion, averaging $25,000 each for 40 million debtors. The debtor’s average age is 33. Forty percent of the debt is owed by people 40 or older. A 2013 poll by NBC News found that more than 40% of college graduates from 2011 to 2012 were underemployed, and that some were "heavily in debt because of the cost of their education."

Pedagogy

While traditional approach to pedagogy in higher education focuses on teacher's responsibility, Armstrong (2012) argues that students have "natural learning" ability. They should take responsibility for their learning. Teacher-centered approach inhibits learning.

Geographic considerations

While many private liberal arts colleges are located in the Midwest and Northeast, population growth of 18-year-olds is strongest in the South and Southwest, making it more difficult to attract potential students to "fly halfway across the country" to get a degree, according to Jeffrey Selingo of the Chronicle of Higher Education.

The United States of America

Flag

Motto:  In God We Trust  (official) E Pluribus Unum   (traditional) (Latin: Out of Many, One)

Anthem:  "The Star-Spangled Banner"

Capital: Washington, D.C.

• The largest city is New York City

• Government: Federal presidential constitutional republic

• The Congress consists of Senate and the House of Representatives.

• The USA comprises fifty states and a federal district.

• The country is situated mostly in central North America.

• The country lies between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. The state of Alaska is in the northwest of the continent, with Canada to the east and Russia to the west, across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses several territories in the Pacific and Caribbean.

• The United States is the third or fourth largest country by total area, and the third largest by both land area and population.

• The United States was founded by thirteen British colonies located along the Atlantic seaboard. On July 4, 1776, they issued the Declaration of Independence.

• In 1507, German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a world map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere "America" after Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci.

• Alaska, separated from the contiguous United States by Canada, is the largest state.

• The president serves a four-year term and may be elected to the office no more than twice.

• The United States has operated under a two-party system for most of its history. Since the general election of 1856, the major parties have been the Democratic Party and the Republican Party.

• The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the President of the United States.

• The headquarters of the United Nations is a complex in New York City.

• The United States Capitol is the meeting place of the United States Congress, the legislature of the federal government of the United States. Located in Washington, D.C., it sits atop Capitol Hill.

• The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world by shelf space and number of books.

• Children are required in most states to attend school from the age of six or seven .

• The New York Stock Exchange, located on Wall Street, is the world's largest stock exchange.

• Denver International Airport is the largest international airport in the United States.

• Thomas Edison was an inventor. He is best known for the invention of the electric light, the phonograph, and the telephone.

• Thomas Jefferson was the third president of the United States and the author of the Declaration of Independence.

• Martin Luther King Jr. was an American civil rights leader.

• George Washington was the first president of the United States.

• Benjamin Franklin was an American statesman and scientist. In 1776, he helped Thomas Jefferson write the Declaration of Independence.

• Mark Twain the major American writer was the author of the novels Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

• Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist, the author of “For Whom the Bell Tolls”, “The Old Man and the Sea”.

• Mount McKinley in Alaska is the highest point in the U.S. territory which is 6,194 meters.

• 302 foot Statue of Liberty which guards the New York City’s harbor was a gift from the French in 1886.

• The flag of the United States of America is often called "Stars and Stripes".

• Another name for the American Flag is Old Glory.

Canada

Flag

Motto:  A Mari Usque Ad Mare  (Latin) "From Sea to Sea"

Anthem: "O Canada" Royal anthem: "God Save the Queen"

Capital: Ottawa

• The largest city is Toronto.

• The tallest and longest living tree in Canada is the Douglas Fir.

• Official languages are English and French.

• Government: Federal parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy.

• Monarch: Elizabeth II.

• The Queen's representative is the Governor General of Canada.

• The Parliament consists of Senate and the House of Representatives.

• The name Canada comes from the St. Lawrence Iroquoian word kanata, meaning "village" or "settlement".

• Aboriginal peoples in Canada comprise the First Nations (native Indian peoples), Inuit and Métis. The descriptors "Indian" and "Eskimo" have largely fallen into disuse in Canada and are commonly considered pejorative.

• By total area (including its waters), Canada is the second-largest country in the world, after Russia. By land area alone, Canada ranks fourth.

• It has land border with the USA only and its common border with the United States is the longest land border in the world.

• Canada stretches from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west.

• The use of the maple leaf as a Canadian symbol dates to the early 18th century.

• The highest point in Canada is Mount Logan.

• The two principal river systems are the Mackenzie and the St. Lawrence.

• Canada is a federation of ten provinces (Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, and Saskatchewan) and three territories (Northwest Territories, Yukon, and Nunavut).

• The border between Canada and the United States is officially known as the International Boundary.

• The capital city, Ottawa, was originally named Bytown after Colonel John By.

UNIT 5

T HE MOST COMMON PROBLEMS TEENAGERS

FACE TODAY

Teenagers face real problems on a daily basis during the most awkward growth stages of their lives; between 13 and 19-years-old. During this time, teens are exposed to some overwhelming external and internal struggles. Teens go through, and are expected to cope with hormonal changes, puberty, social and parental forces, work and school pressures, as well as encountering many conditions and problems. Teens feel overwhelmed when faced with unprecedented stresses concerning school and college, and career confusion situations. Those who have absentee parents are exposed to more unfavorable states of life. The issues that teenagers face today vary but these issues can be dealt with easily if parents and other guardians can understand the symptoms of their problems. Parents need to approach their children, who have been suffering from one or more teenage problems, carefully and in a friendly manner to discuss the problems. Many teens feel misunderstood. It is vital that their feelings and thoughts are validated and that the validation comes from their parents.

The most common problems that teenagers face today include:

• S elf-Esteem and Body Image

• Stress

• Bullying

• Depression

• Cyber Addiction

• Drinking and Smoking

• Teen Pregnancy

• Underage Sex

• Child Abuse

• Peer-Pressure and Competition

• Eating Disorders

Surprisingly, all of these problems are connected to one another, like a chain reaction. When the teens face self-esteem and body image problems, they can become frustrated, resulting in eating disorders. The teens start feeling stress when they are exposed to peer-pressure and competition at school, or child abuse at home. Many teens take to drinking and smoking in order to relieve the stress. Many may run away from home, play computer games, and start chatting online with strangers. Computer games and online chatting can result in addiction. Many teens feel further stress when they get bullied online. Others may become easy targets of online predators and once treated badly, they turn to more harmful practices. Those who cannot find love at home or support at schools start to build relationships with friends in school or local areas, resulting in unsafe or underage sex, and possible teen pregnancy. Many become addicted to drugs and harm themselves when they cannot get results. Many teens resort to crimes once they feel they cannot get any help or support.

However, the most common problems teenagers face today are described below:

• Self-Esteem and Body Image

T eenagers undergo and have to cope with numerous body changes. Some teenagers feel too fat, too skinny, too tall, too short, etc. This feeling leads them to spend time wishing they were not too skinny, too short, their hair was not too curly or vice versa. The problem with this feeling is that it affects their self-image. As a teenage boy or girl’s body changes, so does the self. When they do not like something in themselves, they have self-esteem and body image problems. They also perceive others, particularly schoolmates, to view them as they view themselves. They can suffer more from these problems when they have trouble adjusting.

Hormonal changes have huge effects on the general growth and mood of the teens. Puberty changes tempt teenagers to compare themselves with people around them and when they find they do not match their standards, they feel low. They also compare themselves with those seen on TV, in movies, and in the magazines. Most youths’ ability to develop positive self-esteem is affected by family life and parental criticism. Teenagers who experience negative comments about their appearances, the way they talk, etc., stuff also develop poor self-esteem and body image.

• Bullying Bullying is one of the worst teenage problems and affects millions of youths. Bullying causes fear in the minds of kids, and makes them nervous going to school each day. The adults do not always witness the bullying in their lives. The teenage children may be subject to heavy bullying as they may not understand how extreme it can get. Any form of bullying is relentless, causing the affected teenagers to live in a state of constant fear. Two of the prime reasons teens are bullied are their appearance and social status. Bullying has caused many serious and life threatening problems for bullied teens. As they get bullied often in school, their academics, and mental health suffer. Bullying can be cruel when it becomes physical attacks on the victims. Some bullies attack their targets physically while others repeatedly spew verbal insults, affecting the psychology of the affected teens.

The latest edition of bullying is cyber bullying. It can get as worse as it gets in the real life experience of the teens. Cyber bullies use cruel instant messages, text messages, emails online, and voice messages in many cases. Bullying is a very offensive behavior and crime. Bullying leads to more violent behavior in the bullies in their adult years. They eventually get rejected by their peers, lose friendships and become depressed as they age. Parents, teachers, and people in general should educate their teenagers about bullying and tell them to report any act of bullying to them. Media can also educate the teenage children about bullying when some teenagers are bullies.

• Depression Depression is one of the worst problems that some teenagers suffer from and it can lead to more problems in the future. Depression may arise from poor self-esteem and body image problems. If that is the reason of depression in a teen, then parents should talk to the teen, listen to their child, comfort him or her, and accept their child for who they are. It is crucial that teens feel validated in their feelings and thoughts because what they are going through is a real part of their lives. Parents and guardians should not judge or criticize their feelings or thoughts. They should tell the teen how important it is to have high self-esteem and be comfortable in their body.

Depression symptoms in teenagers may be exhibited in various ways. Changes in sleep patterns, eating habits, declined interest in normal and healthy activities, dropping grades in school and college, and preferred isolation are all signs of depression. When teenagers exhibit one or all of these symptoms parents should intervene immediately. If teenagers begin talking about their depression, then they should be allowed to express their feelings, and parents should validate their feelings by listening to them without interrupting the conversation.

• Drugs and Alcohol

Youths, particularly those who are in their early teens who drink, put themselves at risks for many problems. For example, they face problems with the law, at school, with their parents, and peers. In the USA, drug abuse is a major problem affecting millions of teenagers, along with their parents and families. It is an imperative that parents, schools, media, etc., educate the young children about the dangers of drugs and alcohol, and how drugs affect their bodies. If they are taught properly, then they will be able to make an educated choice.

• Cyber Addiction

The Internet offers undeniable benefits in developing a teen’s ability to grow with modern technology, technical ideas, knowledge and other skills. However, using the internet, particularly the social networking websites, unsafely puts the teenagers at very high risk for many problems. When children spend more than enough or agreeable time online they tend to be cyber addicts. As they spend more time on social networking, gaming, and other websites, particularly adult sites, they suffer from cyber addiction.

Cyber addiction can be just as harmful as addiction to drugs or drinking alcohol. Teenagers who spend unhealthy amounts of time on the Internet or online suffer from a condition recognized as Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD). Those who have IAD conditions may experience distress, withdrawal symptoms including obsessive thoughts, tremors, and other mental and physical problems. Cyber addiction impairs the quality of their lives. Parents should talk to their children and agree on a list of rules that clearly say when to use the internet, which sites they should visit and what safety measures they should follow. Teachers can also ensure safe browsing of the web at schools and colleges for teenage students.

Final Thoughts

Problems that teenagers are faced with today are multifarious but interrelated in many cases. One problem invites another, then to more problems. Parents, teachers and other guardians should be well aware of the problems that today’s teenagers are facing and be prepared to eliminate the problems to their best abilities. The sad fact is, even in solid and stable family units, teenagers may face with uncertainly, confusion and wrong directions involving their lives. Those who have witnessed and experienced broken homes, unsafe sex, alcohol, drug abuse, and bullying issues, show themselves differently in the community they live in. Proper parenting is vital, especially in the very formative years of the children, so that they can grow up with the manners and teachings taught by their parents.

TEENAGE PROBLEMS IN THE USA

• Unemployment People of almost every age are susceptible to this pernicious disease but it hits the youth the hardest. Its name is unemployment. The present-age of unemployed youth in the total number of the jobless is high. In many developing countries the situation is more serious. Many young people commit suicide. Unless the economic situation in the world changes, youth unemployment will mount. These productions refer to all categories of workers-with high and low skills in town and country. For all there possible distinctions, these young people over outside the production structure of society. They are deprived the possibility of creating there are «surplus» from time to time some may get a hit of luck, but the lot of the majority is to feel their unleashes to lose their ideals and become disillusioned. Unemployment greatly intensifies tendency among the youth towards, drug education, frustration and crime. This is a time bomb and is a heavy accusation of any social economic system.  For some, the answer to unemployment is to leave home and look for work in one of USA’s cities. Every day hundreds of young people arrive in New York from other parts of the country, looking for jobs. Some find work and stay. Others don’t find it and go home again, or join the army of unemployed in New York.

• Youth organizations

    Youth in USA is mostly similar to the youth abroad in many aspects of life. Numerous youth organizations have been formed since the Second World War, uniting young people from all classes and sections of the population. In the USA exists a Young Republican Federation, Young Christian Association, some religious organizations for Jewish youth. Youth organization Green peace deals with the most urgent ecological problems of today's world. It protests against nuclear weapon test, sea and soil pollution, etc.

      Sport clubs are characteristic youth organizations in the US and UK. They unite people, who are interested in baseball, football, basketball, golf, etc. You can attend any club: from theater clubs to bird-watching clubs. Bird-watching clubs are very popular, especially in Great Britain.

      And at the age of 14 children have regular part-time job to earn some pocket money. Some young people work in their church organizations. They help elderly people or work in hospital. 

    There are even some groups, where young people help released prisoners to start their life anew. Youth and youth movement over decades have become important factors in the life of both countries. 

There are about 3000 clubs in Great Britain, which are united into the National association of Boys Clubs. The members of these clubs participate in theatre, poetry, photography, sports and other activities. In the USA and the UK there are interest clubs, such as theatre - club, amateur composers and amateur poets clubs, and for those who love songs and playing guitar or other musical instruments. They say, bird - watching clubs are very popular in Great Britain. So we may say that there is no problem of spending free time for young people in English - speaking countries.

As for is, we have. A lot of clubs closed because of lack of money, though I’ m glad to say some of them are still working, especially folk dance and song clubs. Many boys and girls attend ballet-dancing clubs with great pleasure. But to my mind, there is a problem of free time for our young people, who study at school. You see, they study a lot of subjects than some years ago and that is good. But the working day of a pupil became longer and besides there is always much homework.

I think if there is a problem young people get together, form a sort of club and try to solve a problem or just to express themselves. Youth and youth movements have become important factors in the life of Great Britain and the USA. In the USA exist a Young Republican Federation, Young Christian Association, some religious organizations for Jewish youth. In Russia there are no such organizations.

There exist some political organizations like Students' Coordinative Committee of Non-Violent Action and Students for Democratic Society. Youth organization Greenpeace deals with most urgent ecological problems of today's world. It protests against nuclear weapon tests, sea and soil pollution, etc. There is a branch of Greenpeace in Russia. However, it is not only youth organization- people of different ages participate in this movement.

Some young people work in their church organizations in the UK and the USA. They help elderly people or work in hospitals. There are even some groups where young people help released prisoners to start their life a-new. It can't be said about any young people in Russia for sure, but I know that any youngster in Russia is free to help church or just to help people apart from church. And I know that young people help elderly people, work in hospitals, help released prisoners to start their life a-new.

Different sport clubs characteristic youth organizations in the USA and the UK. They unite people, who are interested in some kind of sport. There are the same clubs in Russia.

There also exist interest clubs. You can attend any club: from theatre clubs to bird-watching- clubs. Bird-watching clubs are very popular, especially in Great Britain. However, I don't think there are bird-watching clubs in Russia. I can't say that there are no special youth clubs or youth problems in our country. But I suppose there are things and deeds interesting both for youth and elderly people. They are amateur composing and singing amateur song's, for example. The passion for nice and clever youth songs and guitar playing began many years ago with young amateur composers and amateur poets while their business trips and hiking and mountaineering vacations. Their young passion to be people to rely on attracted other young people more and more as they grew older. So I don't think there is need for some special youth clubs in our country, because our youth is part of our Russian's people.

There are about 3000 clubs throughout Britain in which are united into the National Association of Boys' Clubs. They encourage their members (of mixed age and sex) to participate in theatre, poetry, photography and other creative activities, as well as sports and outdoor activities.

There are many stadiums & public sports facilities in Russia. Numerous national & international matches & competitions are regularly held in Russia. They attract a large number of fans. Most of important games are televised. Thousands of fans go to the stadiums to support their favorite team & thousands more prefer to watch games on TV. But watching sports events & going in for sports are two different things.

Young people are also active in uniformed organizations such as the Guides and Scouts Associations and in other local clubs such as the Young Farmers clubs. Many of these organizations are directly involved in community activities such as programs to help in the protection of the local environment. But I am sure we'll manage our economic difficulties and youth we'll be of great help in it.

• Spending free time

It seems to me, American boys and girls have more free time after school. Some of them have an opportunity to work and earn money if they want. Many American students earned money for traveling themselves. Pity we can’t earn such sum of money and travel abroad. I should say all young people - American, British and Russian have the same very important problems: use of alcohol and drugs, smoking, early pregnancy and some others. It seems to me we have to decide these problems together, because they are very difficult problems. They create danger for the nation’s health. It is a great problem of man’s ecology. I have not mentioned British youth organizations, which help young people to decide many problems. I mean Boy Scouts and Girl Guides and Woodcraft Folk. 

• Drugs

Another problem of young people is drugs. This is a relatively new problem but it is becoming more and more dangerous. Million young people today are using drugs, and most of them will die. Usually they want just to try it, then again and again and after year may be two years they will die. It is true. Because there are no medicine to help you. That’s why never does it, if you do - it goes bad, very bad. I think that police must work hard to protect young people from drugs. Because drugs will kill our young generation and our future will be very bad.

  I think that the most difficult and serious problem of modern teen-ages is drug-habit. Some young man use drugs, because they think that will be cool guys. But they don't understand that it's wrong. Some of them can't stop that, and they become dependent on drugs. And they commit different serious, because they need some money to buy drugs. There are also many other problems: alcoholism, smoking and so on. There are many youth organizations in our country, which unite young men on different principles. Members of every organization have one’s own world out looks. Each of them has their own moral qualities. There are some informal organizations, for example: skinheads, hippies, panks and so on. Now there exists the problem of misunderstanding between different youth groups. We also face the problem how to spend our free time. We can do it in different ways. Some of teen-ages spend their free time in different night clubs. Other young people spend their free time in the streets. As for me, i spend my free time at home or in the night clubs. I also have some problems with my parents. But every time when I have them I try to solve them without quarrel. Now we are young people and we are the future of our country. Teen-ages play an important role in the modern society. Grown up's must remember that we are the future of our country and in present moment our character is formed and that's why our parents must not assert pressure on us.  To some observers, teens today may seem spoiled (undisciplined and egocentric) compared to those of earlier times. The reality, however, is different. While poverty has decreased and political turmoil has lessened, young people are still under many types of stress. Peer pressure, changing family conditions, mobility of families and unemployment are just a few reasons why some young people may try to escape reality by turning to alcohol or drugs. However, most young people in the United States do not have problems with drinking, drug abuse, teen pregnancies or juvenile delinquency. Drug use (marijuana and cocaine are the most commonly used drugs) has decreased among young people in the United States within the last 10 years, though alcohol abuse has increased.  According to a 1991 government survey, about 8 million teenagers are weekly users of alcohol, including more than 450,000 who consume an average of 15 drinks a week. And, although all 50 states prohibit the sale of alcohol to anyone under 21, some 6.9 million teenagers, including some as young as 13, reported no problems in obtaining alcohol using false identification cards. Although many teenagers say they never drive after drinking, one-third of the students surveyed admitted they have accepted rides from friends who had been drinking. Many young Americans are joining organizations to help teenagers stop drinking and driving. Thousands of teenagers have joined Students against Driving Drunk (SADD). They sign contracts in which they and their parents pledge not to drive after drinking. In some schools, students have joined anti-drug programs. Young people with drug problems can also call special telephone numbers to ask for help.

Aside from drug abuse, another problem of America's youths is pregnancy among young women. One million teenagers become pregnant each year. Why are the statistics so high? The post-World War II baby boom resulted in a 43 percent increase in the number of teenagers in the 1960s and 1970s. The numbers of sexually active teens also increased. And some commentators believe that regulations for obtaining federal welfare assistance unintentionally encourage teenage pregnancies.

Many community programs help cut down on the numbers of teenage pregnancies. Some programs rely on strong counseling against premarital sex and others provide contraceptive counseling. The «Teen Health Project» in New York City has led to a decline of 13.5 percent in the rate of teenage pregnancies since 1976. Why? Their program offers health care, contraceptive counseling, sports programs, job referrals and substance abuse programs.

About one million young people run away from home each year. Most return after a few days or a few weeks, but a few turn to crime and become juvenile delinquents. In 1989, approximately one-third of those arrested for serious crimes were under 18 years of age. Why are young people committing crimes? Among the causes are poor family relationships (often the children were abused or neglected while growing up), bad neighborhood conditions, peer pressure and sometimes, drug addiction.

Laws vary from state to state regarding juvenile delinquents. Once arrested, a juvenile must appear in a juvenile court. Juvenile courts often give lighter punishments to young people than to adults who commit the same crime. Juvenile courts hope to reform or rehabilitate the juvenile delinquent. New programs to help troubled youths are created every year. For example, the city of New York and the Reedling Foundation provide an after-school program at a junior high school to help keep teens from becoming juvenile delinquents. Young people can go after school and talk with peer counselors (people their own age), receive academic tutoring or take part in athletic and social activities. One New York community's library offers weekday evening workshops in dance, art, music and theater. They also sponsor social events, such as theater productions, in which young people can participate. Another group, the «Youth Rescue Fund» has a celebrity peer council of 15 teenage actors and actresses who volunteer their time to increase teen crisis awareness. As one young television actress said: «Teenagers are an important resource in improving the quality of life for all people».

• AIDS More than twenty years ago mankind was sure that infectious diseases did not represent a danger to the civilized world anymore. However, at the beginning of the ’80s, with the appearance of AIDS – Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome – this conviction was essentially shaken. According to expert reports, AIDS is now a global health problem, the first real epidemic of an infectious disease which was not checked by medicine in its early stages. According to the USA AIDS statistics, only 29 deaths occurred prior to the year 1981. In 1981 we can see a rapid growth of death cases due to AIDS – 121 deaths during that first year. Since 1981 the number of deaths increased progressively. This process continued until 1996. Since that year, in the USA there has been a marked decline in AIDS incidence and deaths. This was associated with the widespread use of potent combinations of antiretroviral therapies. However, the rates of decline in AIDS incidence and deaths slowed during the latter part of 1998 and 1999. At the end of 1999 in the USA there were 320,000 people living with AIDS. In contrast, in many other countries, AIDS cases and deaths have been increasing each year. For example, in Russia, at the end of 2001 there were 170,000 people living with AIDS. But these statistics include only those officially diagnosed. The real figures are estimated to be much worse.

UNIT 6

SOCIAL STUDIES

The contemporary social studies curriculum has its roots in the Progressive education movement of the early twentieth century. With its emphasis on the nature of the individual learner and on the process of learning itself, the movement challenged the assumptions of subject-centered curricula. Until this time, the social studies curriculum was composed of discrete subject areas, with a primary emphasis on history. To a slightly lesser degree, geography and civics were also featured, completing the triumvirate.

There were indications that change was coming when the 1893 Report of the Committee of Ten on Secondary School Studies advocated an interdisciplinary approach in the social studies. By 1916 the National Education Association (NEA)'s Committee on the Social Studies was urging that an interdisciplinary course of instruction be created based on the social sciences. When the NEA 1916 report established social studies as the name of the content area, it presented the scope and sequence that is still in use at the start of the twenty-first century. Social studies received further support when the 1918 Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education called for the unified study of subject areas heretofore taught in isolation. This course, called social studies, would have as its main goal the cultivation of good citizens.

The emphasis on citizenship development was understandable. At the time, because of increased immigration from non-English speaking countries, educators were given the task of teaching English and "the American way of life" in addition to their content areas. As World War I raged in Europe, social studies courses were viewed as a means of developing patriotism among the new foreign-born citizens.

Indeed, citizenship education was one of the main missions of the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) when it was formed in 1921. What began as a service organization intending to close the gap between social scientists and secondary school teachers soon advanced an integrated study of the social studies and a broader conception of social studies education.

The Role of Social Studies in the Curriculum of U.S. Schools

The terms social studies education and social science education are often used interchangeably and are, at times, a source of confusion. Social studies is the preferred term in part because it is more inclusive. Although social science typically refers only to academic disciplines such as anthropology, sociology, psychology, geography, economics, and political science, the term social studies includes the aforementioned social sciences as well as humanities disciplines like history, American studies, and philosophy.

At the elementary grade level, social studies is typically organized and taught in an integrative and interdisciplinary fashion, but by the high-school-level social studies teaching and learning are organized by courses in the academic disciplines. At all levels, however, the goals of social studies have been characterized by Peter Martorella (1985) as: (1) transmission of the cultural heritage; (2) methods of inquiry; (3) reflective inquiry; (4) informed social criticism; and (5) personal development. Personal development has traditionally received the greatest emphasis at the elementary level; at the high school level, methods of inquiry have received more emphasis. As phrased in the curriculum guidelines released by the NCSS (1979), "the basic goal of social studies education is to prepare young people to be humane, rational, participating citizens in a world that is becoming increasingly interdependent" (p.262).

Elementary social studies. In the early 1940s, Paul Hanna articulated the Expanding Communities approach as the vehicle in elementary education by which teachers could best present social studies knowledge. For the most part, Hanna's model has been characterized as organizing the content as a series of concentric circles starting with the self at the center and progressing to the family, school, neighborhood, until reaching the international community. It also provided a thematic approach to the content: protecting and conserving; creating, governing, producing resources, transporting, expressing, educating, recreating, and communicating. The content approach still dominates elementary education, but the thematic approach has largely disappeared.

Eric D. Hirsch's (1987) concept of core knowledge has gained some footing as an alternative to the Hanna model. Hirsch proposes a core of information that every American should know. The core knowledge approach relies heavily on world (some would characterize this as primarily European) and U.S. history and culture, democratic ideology, geography, and literature that amplify the human experience; the content is organized to introduce students to subject matter at all grades but at different degrees of intensity.

Secondary social studies. The 1960s brought significant changes to the middle school and high school curricula with the introduction of the elective system. Courses in subjects like anthropology, economics, sociology, and psychology were added to a curriculum that had formally been primarily limited to world history, world geography, government, and U.S. history. Advanced Placement courses were also introduced.

In 1994 NCSS published Expectations of Excellence: Curriculum Standards for Social Studies. Citing the need to promote civic ideals and principles for life in the twenty-first century, the standards consisted of ten interdisciplinary thematic strands as a guide for developing social studies curriculum.

The National Council for the Social Studies

The National Council for the Social Studies was founded in 1921, and is the largest organization in the United States to focus exclusively on social studies education. Historically, the organization was established as a coordinating entity and clearing-house. It evolved at a time when social studies was immersed in disagreement on scope and sequence. Dissent ensued among teacher educators and content specialists, and certification requirements in the social studies were nonexistent. The founders, comprised of professors from Teachers College at Columbia University, envisioned NCSS as the unifying organization that could merge the social studies disciplines with education.

At the start of the twenty-first century NCSS plays a leadership role in promoting an integrated study of the social studies and offers support and services to its members. The membership includes K–12 teachers, curriculum specialists, content supervisors, college and university faculty, students, and education leaders in the social studies. The organization has members in all fifty states, the District of Columbia, and numerous foreign countries. It draws on multidisciplinary studies and emphasizes a civic-based approach.

The council has articulated a framework to foster academic and civic competence by integrating national standards across disciplines. These NCSS standards are published in Expectations of Excellence: Curriculum Standards for Social Studies, and serve as a guide for decision-making by social studies educators. They have integrated approaches from the social sciences, behavioral sciences, and humanities to aid in structuring a comprehensive and effective social studies program. Ten themes are highlighted in the framework, which include culture; people, places and environments; individuals, groups, and institutions; production, distribution, and consumption; global connections; time, continuity, and change; individual development and identity; power, authority, and governance; science, technology, and society; and civic ideals and practices. The council also has developed position statements to guide the profession on critical areas of education, such as ability grouping, character education, ethics, information literacy, multicultural and global education, religion, and testing.

Teaching Social Studies in Other Countries

The term social studies appears in the literature and the names of professional associations and organizations, academic institutions, and curriculum projects and centers throughout the world. Its meaning, however, is as varied as the contexts in which it appears, and may have little to do with the way content is organized or delivered. Three types of content organization predominate.

Social studies in its most interdisciplinary form combines the integrated study of humanities and the social sciences. This integrated focus appears in relatively few nations, such as the United States and Canada, where both instructional materials and curriculum objectives focus on interdisciplinary learning. In other nations, the mandate for such a system is somewhat more direct. Australia's Adelaide Declaration (DETYA) calls upon schools to prepare students to "exercise judgment and responsibility in matters of morality, ethics and social justice, and the capacity to make sense of their world, to think about how things got to be the way they are" and to "be active and informed citizens" committed to democratic principles and ideals. Recent changes in Japanese national educational policy and law require all students to study integrated courses such as "Human Beings and Industrial Society." The Constitution of the Republic of China (Taiwan) requires education for citizenship that "shall aim at the development among the citizens of the national spirit, the spirit of self-government, national morality, good physique, scientific knowledge and the ability to earn a living" (Article 158). And, while no "social studies" course is mandated per se, the South African Ministry of Education requires that the "values of human rights, civic responsibility and respect for the environment [be] infused throughout the curriculum."

The more common use of the term social studies is as an organizing term for the social science disciplines in faculties, schools, and professional interest groups. In Ghana, for example, social studies faculties in the local secondary schools and university are composed of historians, anthropologists, sociologists, and other social scientists. Similar organizations are found in Zimbabwe, New Zealand, the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, and other nations throughout Asia and Europe.

The organizational patterns noted above exist in a minority of nations in the world community. The large majority of educational institutions, including schools, universities, ministries of education and culture, and local educational agencies organize the social studies into separate, distinct disciplines: history, economics, anthropology, political science, and other traditional social sciences. Indeed, the university entrance examinations or secondary school exit exams in nations such as the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, and Russia, for example, focus on specific social science disciplines, notably history and geography. Even in nations with emerging integrated curriculum standards such as Japan and the Republic of China, however, examination programs tend to follow traditional social science academic disciplines.

Issues and Controversies

Since its very inception, social studies education has weathered a number of controversies and challenges. The core idea of an integrated field of study has been under scrutiny since its earliest days. The field's eclectic nature not only draws on a wide range of disciplines, but also attracts continuing debate and conflict.

One of the most publicized controversies in the United States was triggered by the curriculum "Man: A Course of Study" (MACOS) during the 1960s. Developed with a National Science Foundation grant, the mixed media curriculum was designed to stimulate the learner's curiosity, promote scientific literacy, and help children learn to think like social scientists. Almost immediately, the program was at the center of a backlash from the "Back to Basics Movement." Central to the MACOS controversy was its focus on inquiry and discovery rather than content. Among other things, critics charged that students were not developing basic skills, that the curriculum promoted cultural relativism, and that it was a threat to democracy. Not surprisingly, the curriculum was eventually phased out.

Conflicts regarding new teaching and learning strategies still abound. For example, role-playing and simulations, guided imagery, cooperative learning, and technology-based learning have all received their share of criticism and opposition.

The content of the social studies curriculum has also been the source of debate and disagreement. When the National Center for History in the Schools published National Standards for World History: Exploring Paths to the Present in 1994, some educators charged that the standards were too inclusive; others claimed that certain groups were omitted altogether. Other controversies center on the plausibility of a national curriculum and the ongoing development of state-level standards, mandates, and high-stakes testing.

Debates surrounding culture continue in the teaching of history, geography, ethnic studies, and multicultural education. While many educators support a cultural relativist position, many others argue that "the mission of public schools is to instill in children our shared, not our separate, cultures" (Ravitch, p. 8). These "culture wars" (as termed by Nash, Crabtree, and Dunn) have resulted in a rich, intellectual, and academic debate that will hopefully illuminate the field. Global education and international studies have also been criticized for their emphases on issues and events outside the United States' borders. Critics charge that global studies advance cultural relativism, minimize patriotism, and emphasize skills at the expense of content. Advocates point out, however, that national borders are becoming less relevant in the face of technology, international politics, and environmental issues.

The Future Role of Technology in the Social Studies

Technology has gained prominence as a tool within the social studies with the potential to enhance current pedagogic practice. Although an increasing body of research suggests that technology can improve academic achievement, changes in social studies instruction based on these findings have been tempered by the following: (1) questions about the efficiency and effectiveness of computer technology applications in the classroom; (2) the role of teacher education institutions and school settings in facilitating or hindering computer-based activities; (3) the unrealized potential of technology; and (4) the overlooked consequences of technological development on children and youth with regard to their social functioning, interpersonal interactions, and global understanding. Various technologies such as Internet and web-based resources, hypermedia, data instruments, digital video, and tele-collaborative teaching represent emerging resources implemented in social studies instruction.

Technology, however, is more than just a tool of instruction, and these resources have effects on the political, social, and economic functioning of American society. Technology's impact on society is exemplified in the phenomenon of the digital divide that separates those who are information rich through their access to telecommunications, computers, and the Internet from the information and technologically poor. Within the social studies educators focus on the differential impact of privileged access to these resources in the early stages of development and consider the potential ongoing consequences of this separation of haves and have-nots on economic success, civic influence, and personal advancement.

Social studies education will continue to evolve as it is affected by events and trends in the United States and abroad. These include the globalization of the media and the economy, advancements in technology, shifts in schools and school demographics, teacher accreditation standards, student testing mandates, changes in the American family, and swings of the political pendulum. These forces will certainly impact ideological perspectives and influence the direction of the social studies in the future.

The development of the education of social studies teachers mirrors, in large part, the history and changes of teacher education generally. Social studies teacher preparation has moved from teachers' institutes and normal schools begun in the nineteenth century to teacher colleges and university-based teacher preparation in the twentieth century. But the education of social studies teachers has also had to take into account the unique definitions and issues connected to the teaching of social studies.

Defining Social Studies

Social studies is remembered by many who have gone through schools in the United States as a series of names, dates, and state capitals. In fact, both the definition and content of the field have been a matter of controversy since the early twentieth century. Social studies can be seen both as an umbrella term for a broad field of studies encompassing history and the social sciences and as an integrated field of study in its own right. But whatever the definition, the objectives of social studies education are highly contested. Values such as patriotism, an appreciation of free enterprise, respect for diverse cultures and nations, and knowledge of the structures and functions of American government are each seen by some group as the major goal of social studies teaching. The National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) defines the field as "the integrated study of the social sciences and humanities to promote civic competence". Because the NCSS standards for the education of social studies teachers (1997) are widely accepted by teacher preparation programs, the goal of enabling learners to acquire knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary to citizen participation helps to provide a focus for both the social studies curriculum and the preparation of social studies teachers.

Structure and Organization

What most distinguishes the preparation of social studies teachers from the preparation of other secondary and middle school teachers are the course requirements in their teaching content field and the special methods course. There is a good deal of variation of requirements across the fifty states. Since social studies is an interdisciplinary field, a major concern regarding content requirements is that of depth versus breadth across the various disciplines. How much content knowledge in each of the disciplines making up social studies is enough? How can prospective social studies teachers be prepared both broadly and deeply in all the areas they are expected to teach? In some programs, pre-service teachers major in social studies and take a broad array of courses across history and the social sciences. In other programs, they major in one field and take one or more courses in each of the other social studies disciplines. In some states teachers are certified in "social studies," while in others they may receive certification in a particular discipline such as history or geography.

The social studies methods class is the cornerstone of the professional course work taken by prospective social studies teachers. In this course teachers are expected to learn how to transform content into curriculum and to select and implement appropriate teaching strategies. Through the social studies methods course, combined with related field experiences, pre-service social studies teachers must learn ways to bridge the gap between the experiences of learners and content knowledge. However, although the methods course is a key component of the pre-service education of social studies teachers, there is not general agreement on a number of issues concerning this course: What should be the depth versus breadth of methods taught? How much emphasis should be given in this class to the needs of diverse learners? How much time should be spent preparing pre-service teachers to work with state mandated assessments? What emphasis should be placed in the methods course on developing a sufficient background in the social science disciplines?

The question of subject field content is complemented by the related ontological question, often dealt with in the social studies methods class: What is the nature of knowledge? How teachers conceive of knowledge determines, to a large extent, how they will teach. Is knowledge transmitted by experts or is it constructed by each learner? In teaching methods classes, pre-service teachers may be asked to consider whether history, for example, is largely basic facts of what happened, a method of inquiry, or broad concepts and ideas that enable learners to understand today's world. Generally, the answers teachers develop to these questions are based on the beliefs and expectations pre-service teachers bring to the teacher education program. They bring their already developed conceptions of the content as well as what it means to teach and they make sense of their teacher education experience through the screen of these preconceived ideas. For this reason, the study of pre-service teachers' perspectives and the influences on forming and changing these perspectives has been an important focus for research.

The issues raised by a consideration of the social studies methods class are confounded by the fact that in some programs the instructor of that course may not be a specialist in social studies; indeed, that individual may not be well acquainted with the field itself. Thus questions about the nature and goals of the field may be dealt with only superficially or not at all.

In-Service and Staff Development

Professional development occurs in both formal and informal ways. Informally, students, the school culture, collegial interactions, administrative interaction, and support all work in powerful ways to shape the development of teachers. Formal mechanisms explicitly aimed at guiding teacher development are in place as well. Increasingly, schools and school districts have begun to create and implement teacher induction programs. These programs are intended to provide support for beginning teachers as they deal with day-to-day challenges. Often, a beginning teacher is paired with an experienced teacher who serves as an advisor, guide, and sounding board. The goal of teacher induction programs is to both assist and retain novice teachers and revitalize mentor teachers. But little is known about the making of effective mentors and mentor programs.

Another professional development opportunity routinely provided by school districts is the school or district-developed in-service program. Once again, there is no common program model. Such programs may be one-day presentations or yearlong sustained efforts. They may be built around the idea of teachers working together to improve their teaching or they may rely on outside experts who make an occasional appearance. Teachers may see these programs as meeting their needs or as completely irrelevant.

There is the expectation, in many states and school districts that teachers will continue to do graduate work in their teaching field or in professional education. While teachers in such programs are expected to find useful ways to apply what they learn to their teaching practice, there is generally little support in the classroom for these efforts. Some teachers find that membership in professional associations, such as the National Council for the Social Studies, is a meaningful form of professional development. Reading journals, attending conferences and workshops, and working with other teachers in one's own field are important benefits of getting involved with professional associations. However, not all schools and school districts are supportive of teacher involvement in professional associations. Districts often expect membership in professional associations to be at the teacher's own cost and on the teacher's own time. Some districts will discourage teachers from taking time from their teaching to attend professional association meetings and conferences, while others support such efforts as a form of professional renewal.

Certification by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards is a challenging form of professional development voluntarily undertaken by experienced teachers. National board certification in social studies, as in other fields, is based on a demonstration of a teacher's practice as measured against high and rigorous standards. Yet, states and school districts differ in the support they give to teachers seeking board certification and in the ways in which they recognize those who achieve certification through this rigorous process.

Major Trends and Issues

Important trends in the education of social studies teachers are similar to those in teacher education as a whole, but they are often manifest in distinct ways. The growing interest in accountability for both teachers and students, for example, is a major issue in the early twenty-first century. The work of teaching and teacher education has come to focus increasingly on helping students to meet state standards. In addition, many states require teachers to pass some form of content knowledge test to receive certification. In social studies, both student content standards and teacher testing may be highly political rather than professional. Decisions about what knowledge should be taught are often very controversial. Decision-making often involves politicians, content experts with divergent points of view, and the general public, as well as professional educators. Consensus among and within various groups may be difficult to attain; those with the most powerful voices often become the decision-makers.

Another challenge for teaching and teacher education is the appropriate use of technology both in teacher education programs and in K–12 classrooms. Research suggests that social studies pre-service teacher motivation is increased by online dialogue, facilitated (but not controlled) by the instructor. Additional research suggests great potential for improved learning of social studies through the use of technology, such as using the Library of Congress website to bring primary sources into the classroom. However, at the start of the twenty-first century, teacher educators are only beginning to use technology in sophisticated ways in their own teaching and only just developing ways to prepare teachers for high-power uses of technology.

Teacher education faces the challenge of preparing teachers to effectively teach culturally and linguistically diverse students. In social studies, issues of diversity go to the heart of the field. The concept of citizenship on which social studies is based must be a dynamic one that considers the many different cultural and national identities of learners. It must also take into account that citizenship in an interdependent world must have a global, as well as a national, component. Making the social studies curriculum meaningful and significant for learners and for society remains the greatest challenge of social studies teaching and teacher education.