- •Education system in the usa
- •1. Preschool in the usa
- •2. Compulsory schooling in the usa
- •2.1. Elementary school
- •2.2. Junior and senior high school
- •2.3. Electives
- •2.4. Extracurricular activities
- •2.5. Educational standards in the us
- •2.6. Types of schools in the usa
- •3. Post-secondary (higher) education in the usa
- •3.2. University level studies
- •3.3. Learning process in American universities
- •3.3.3. Teaching and learning styles
- •3.3.4. System of grading
- •Ip – In Progress:
- •3.3.5. Cost of tuition in American universities
- •3.3.6. Scholarships and financial aid for students
- •3.3.7. The student body
- •3.3.8. The faculty
- •3.3.9. Administrative staff
- •3.3.10. Campus
- •3.3.11. Graduation ceremony
- •4. Teacher training in the usa
- •4.1. Training of pre-primary and primary/basic school teachers
- •4.2. Training of secondary school teachers
- •4.3. Training of higher education teachers
- •Glossary
- •Comprehension
- •Self-Assessment
- •Further Reading
- •Higher education in the United States: An encyclopedia / [ed. James Forest and Kevin Kinser]. – n.Y. Abc-Clio, 2002. – 831 p.
2.3. Electives
Many high schools offer a wide variety of Elective courses, although the availability of such courses depends upon each particular school’s financial resources and desired curriculum emphases. An Elective is an additional course which is not compulsory, thus not needed for graduation. Students choose electives according to their perceived abilities and talents. Though electives are not compulsory students are encouraged to participate in them.
Common types of electives include:
Visual arts(drawing,sculpture,painting,photography,film).
Performing arts(drama,band,chorus,orchestra,dance).
Technology education(“Shop”;woodworking,metalworking,automobile repair,robotics).
Computers(word processing,programming,graphic design).
Athletics(cross country,football,baseball,basketball,track and field,swimming,tennis,gymnastics,water polo,soccer,wrestling,cheerleading,volleyball,lacrosse,ice hockey,field hockey,boxing,skiing/snowboarding).
Publishing(journalism/student newspaper,yearbook/annual,literary magazine).
Foreign languages(Spanish, French are common; Chinese,Latin,Greek, German, Italian, Arabic, and Japanese are less common).
2.4. Extracurricular activities
Besides electives US students participate in a large number of extracurricular activities – activities performed by students that fall outside the realm of the normal curriculum of school or university education. Extracurricular activities exist at all levels of education,junior high/middle school,high school,collegeanduniversityeducation. On average, in the United States, many students participate in a minimum of one extracurricular activity throughout the course of one school year.
As an extracurricular activity one can watch basketball, baseball, track, gymnastics, tennis, aerobics, volleyball, and weight lifting on ESPN, oronecan get out and enjoy them by joiningtheschool team.If a student is notinto team sports,there’s French club, the debating team, chess club, student government, radio, newspaper, yearbook, environmental club, 4-H*, drama, choir, photography, Students Against Destructive Decisions, jazz band, Business Professionals of America, computer club, and more.
2.5. Educational standards in the us
High schools maintain a school “transcript” for each student, summarizing the courses taken, the grades attained** and other relevant data. If a student wishes to go on to college or university, his/her high school submits copies of his transcript to the college. College or university acceptance is also based upon personal recommendations from teachers, achievements outside school (e.g. extra-curricular and sports achievements), and college aptitude tests.
Students planning to go to college take national college aptitude tests during their last two years in high school, set by various independent institutions. Some colleges also require students to take Achievement (Ach.) Tests. Tests are of the multiple-choice type and aren’t based directly on school work, but are designed to measure aptitude and verbal and mathematical skills rather than knowledge (tests are often accused of testing nothing but a student’s ability to take the test itself).
The best known and widely used tests are the American College Testing (ACT) programme and the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), both of which are recognized by accredited universities to evaluate potential students.