United states educational system

The education system in the United States is controlled by state and local governments. This is because the tenth amendment to the United States Constitution says that powers not given to the federal government are left to the states. So the federal government has no power to establish a national educational system. Federal agencies do not make education policy. These decisions are made at the state or local levels.

So you might expect education laws to be different in each state. But they are similar. For example, in all fifty states and six territories, all children must attend school from the age of six or seven to the age of sixteen. Public schools are free of charge for grades one through twelve. The schools receive money from the state government.

Private schools also operate in all states and territories. Some private schools are operated by churches and religious groups. Other private schools are not linked to any religious organization. Private schools must be approved by the state in which they operate. Most private schools do not receive government money. The parents of private school students pay the school.

American students generally attend school from the first through the twelfth grades. Students are in school from Monday through Friday. They attend classes from about eight in the morning until three in the afternoon.

The school year usually begins in September and continues until June. Most states require a school year of one-hundred-eighty days. Some schools have changed this schedule and require students to attend school throughout the year.

More than forty-six-million students attend American public schools. Another six-million attend private schools. More than one-million students do not go to school at all. Their parents teach them at home. This home-schooling has become popular in the last fifteen years or so.

VALENTINE’S DAY

Americans celebrate Valentine’s Day each year on February fourteenth. It is a holiday for lovers.

Valentine’s Day is a good day for a man to ask his girlfriend to marry him. It is also a good day for couples to get married. But most Americans do not go that far to celebrate the day named for Saint Valentine. He was an early Christian churchman who reportedly helped young lovers.

Valentine was executed for his Christian beliefs on February fourteenth, more than one-thousand-seven-hundred years ago. But the day that has his name is even older than that.

The ancient Romans celebrated a holiday for lovers more than two-thousand years ago. As part of the celebration, girls wrote their names on pieces of paper and put them in a large container. Boys reached into the container and pulled out the name of a girl. That girl became his girlfriend or sweetheart for a year.

Lovers still put their names on pieces of paper. They send each other Valentine’s Day cards that tell of their love. Sometimes they also send other gifts too, like jewelry or flowers or candy.

Americans usually send cards through the mail system or in a computer message. But there is another way many Americans send messages of love on Valentine’s Day. They pay to have them printed in a newspaper.

Some of the messages are simple and short: “Debby, I love you very much. From Bob.” Others say more: “Dan, roses are red, violets are blue, I hope you love me as much as I love you. Forever, Mary.”

There is only one problem in sending a Valentine’s Day message this way. It will only reach the one you love if he or she reads the Valentine Day messages in the newspaper that day.