LAYOUT THE US EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM

Part A. Background.
1. School attendance
2. Varied opportunities
3. Decentralized funding and administration
4. Curriculum
5. Democratic ideal
6. Inequalities in education
7. President Johnson’s Great Society
8. Desegregation
9. Protecting the handicapped
10. Need for quality education
11. A nation at risk
Part B. The establishment of public schools in America
I.The educational ladder
1. Americans view their public school system as an educational ladder, rising from
elementary school to high school and finally college undergraduate and graduate
programs.
2. Usually there are five to six years of elementary school, two to three years of
middle school, and four years of high school.
3. After high school, the majority of students go on to college. Undergraduate studies
lead to a bachelor’s degree, which is generally what American mean when they
speak of a “college diploma”
4. The bachelor’s degree can be followed by professional studies
5. The American public schools are free and open to all at the elementary and
secondary (high school) level, >< but the public colleges and universities charge
tuition and have competitive entrance requirements.
6. In the United States, there are no separate public educational systems with a higher
level of education for the weathy and a lower level of education for the masses.
 7. The abilities of the individual, rather than their social class, are expected to
determine how high each person will go.
8. The majority of these are religious schools that are associated with paricular
churches and receive financial support from them, though parents must aslo pay
tuition.
9. There are also some elite private schools that serve mainly upper-class children.
10. Unlike private religious schools, elitist private schools do conflict with the
American ideal of equality of opportunity.
11. Wealthier school districts had beautiful school buildings with most up-to-date
technology and the lastest science equipment >< the poorer school districts had
older building with less modern equipment.
 Therefore, the amount of money spent per child is an important factor which indicates
the quality of education the child receives.
12.Some states are now experimenting with voucher systems which parents could use to
help pay tuition at any school of their choice.

II.Attending the American University

1.
- All university students must pay tuition expenses in the US.
- Tuition at public universities is lower than at private ones.
- There are a number of loans and scholarships available at both public and private
universities.
- However high expenses are difficult for many students to attend even the less
expensive public universities.
-Major students must work during their college years to help meet costs.
- Most young people graduate from college with significant debt from student loans.
2.
- Students who cannot pay the tuition and living expenses for a public or private
university, choose to attend community college programs for two years in their
hometown to pay much less intuition.
- Some offer two-year degrees called associate degrees. Now many community
colleges offer four-year bachelor’s degrees programs.
- Students can take their first two years of college at community college and transfer
to a state university.
3.
-It has been believed that the more schooling people have, the more money they will earn
when they leave school.
-People have the desirability of certain undergraduates university degrees or professional
degrees (such as medicine and law) following the undergraduate
degree.
- Both undergraduate and graduate degrees in STEM fields offer high salaries.
However, the monetary value of graduate degrees in “nonprofessional” fields is not as
great.
4.
- In the past, people could get a high-paying factory job without a college degree but
learned in vocational schools, training programs.
- However, the advent of high technology leads to the requirement of more and more
education.
- There are low-paying jobs in the service sector of economy.
5.
-Many universities offer classes through distance learning which using the Internet to
provide materials and lectures as well as student engage in discussion.
=> It is possible for student to obtain both undergraduate and graduate without ever being
on college campus.
6.
The trend of MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) where people can take participate
in courses taught by some of the most important scholars.
III.Educating the individual
 Tendency about American schools.
 Importance of social and interpersonal skills
 Importance of athletics in American schools.
 Student government affects American’s student.
 Some kind of extracurricular activities in American schools