Some aspects of American higher education.

Each state controls and supports at feast one University. The National Government give no direct financial aid to these state schools .All students must pay a tuition fee. The amount varies from state to state. A student’s total expenses throughout the year are about 1500 dollars. This creates a financial hardship for some people. Though each University offers a number of scholarships many of the students have to work to pay part of their expenses. Most Universities have a central campus, for example the colleges of law, business, Medicine, Engineering, Agriculture, Music and Journalism on one campus. So a student can attend courses at the various colleges. Baring the first two years students follow somewhat basic program. That is each student must select at least one course from each of these basic fields of study. English, science, modern languages, history and physical education. After the first two years each student majors in one subject and minors in another. After completing 4 yers of work the students receive the Batchelor’s Degree. It might be either a Bachelor of Seince or Bachelor of Arts. With an additional year of study he may receive a Master’s degree and after 2or 3 more years of graduate work and the writing of a dissertation he receives a Doctorate.

Learning a Foreign Language

The most difficult thing for a person, who learns a foreign language is that a foreign language is very different from his own. A person's native language has a powerful influence on him, as he has been speaking his language since before he can remember. Under such circumstances it is natural that a person has the feeling that his language is the most beautiful, the most perfect, the most logic of most languages. Therefore the first thing that one must learn as he begins to study a foreign language is that each language is the best possible language for the people who use it.There are some other things which have to be accepted in order to learn a language successfully. The most important for these is that learning a language requires constant practice. You must not think that if you have seen or heard a word or phrase one time or even five times, you really know how to use it. You must be ready to repeat new words again and again until you can really use them automatically without having to think about them. Some people have the idea that if they memorise long lists of vocabulary they will learn the language. Learning a language is much more than that. In the early stages of studying a language we must learn more important things such as pronunciation and grammar. After you can use the grammatical structures, you can enrich your vocabulary. Learning new vocabulary without knowing the grammatical structures of the language is something like when you try to build a house without a plan.And the most important thing of all in learning a foreign language is patience. If you keep working steadily, day after day, constantly practising the language and using it as every opportunity, you are sure to learn to speak a language well.

Oxford and Cambridge are the oldest and most presti­gious universities in Great Britain. They are often called col­lectively Oxbridge. Both univer­sities are independent. Only the education elite go to Oxford or Cambridge. Most of their stu­dents are former public schools leavers.The normal length of the degree course is three years, after which the students take the Degree of Bachelor of Arts (B.A.).Some courses, such as languages or medicine, may be one or two years longer. The students may work for other degrees us well. The degrees are awarded at public degree ceremonies. Oxford and Cambridge cling to their traditions, such as the use of Latin at degree ceremonies. Full academic dress is worn at examinations .Oxford and Cam­bridge universities con­sist of a number of col­leges. Each college is different, but in many ways they are alike. Each college has its name, its coat of arms'. Each col­lege is governed by a Master. The larger ones have more than 400 members, the smallest colleges have less than 30. Each college offers teaching in a wide range of sub­jects. Within the college one will normally find a chapel, a din­ing hall, a library, rooms for undergraduates, fellows and the Master, and also rooms for teaching purposes. Oxford is one of the oldest universities in Europe. It is the second largest in Britain, after London. The town of Oxford is first mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in 911 A.D. and it was popular with the early English kings (Richard Coeur de Lion was probably here). The uni­versity's earliest char­ter is dated to 1213.There are now twenty-four colleges for men, five for wo­men and another five which have both men and women members, many from overseas studying for higher de­grees. Among the oldest colleges are University College, All Souls and Christ Church. The local car industry in East Oxford gives an impor­tant addition to the city's outlook. There a great deal of bi­cycle traffic both in Oxford and Cambridge. Cambridge University started during the 13th century and grew until today. Now there are more than thirty colleges .On the banks of the Cam willow trees drown their branches into the water. The colleges line the right bank. There are beautiful college gardens with green lawns and lines of tall trees. The oldest college is Peterhouse, which was founded in 1284, and the most recent is Robinson College, which was opened in 1977. The most famous is probably King's College because of its magnificent chapel, the largest and the most beautiful building in Cambridge and the most perfect example left of English fifteenth-century architecture. Its choir of boys and undergraduates is also very well known.The University was only for men until 1871, when the first women's college was opened. In the 1970s, most col­leges opened their doors to both men and women. Almost all colleges arc now mixed.Many great men studied at Cambridge, among them Desiderius Erasmus, the great Dutch scholar, Roger Ba­con, the philosopher. Milton, the poet, Oliver Cromwell, the soldier. Newton, the scientist, and Kapitza, the famous Russian physicist.The universities have over a hundred societies and clubs, enough for every interest one could imagine. Sport is part of students' life at Oxbridge. The most popular sports arc rowing and punting.