清华大学美国社会与文化课件education_424501406

•“comprehensive education”
•Little specialization among public schools—they offer college prep courses, vocational courses, art courses, and so on. •Recently there is something of a trend to create more specialized public schools but these are still rare.

•Higher education in the colonies
The first university, Harvard, created to make Puritan ministers. The second, William and Mary, to educate Church of England ministers—though it became more famous for training lawyers such as Thomas Jefferson. By 1776, there were 9 colleges in British North America, most but not all of them training ministers. Most of them in the north; none of them south of Virginia.. Franklin key to founding University of Pennsylvania.
•“professional educators”
•Unlike during the 19th century, teachers and administrators are expected to have university training in education; education was become a profession.
•“universal education”
•Education to a certain level is viewed as a right. •Children of a certain age had a right to publicly funded education.
•“decentralized education”

•The American system of education in the late 19th century



How to expand education so rapidly? Rely on textbooks Education in the early schools becomes a “woman's profession.”
•Private schools
•About 10% go to private schools. •Most private schools are religious. •The Catholic church operates a parallel school system in many large American cities because in the 19th century the public education meant to “Americanize” students also sometimes tried to make them Protestant. •Some parents believe Catholic schools are safer or have higher standards. •Some people, Catholic, Protestant, or other religions believe public schools are too secular.

•After the Civil War
Before the Civil War education was not compulsory. Parents could keep their children at home or send them out to work. After the Civil War, compulsory education introduced, partly to make immigrants more "American.“ Child labor outlawed. Parents can educate their children at home but they require governmental approval and some oversight. Public schools are to teach practical knowledge and citizenship as well as academics. Most American assumptions about education in place by 1900.
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•There is almost no statewide centralization either. School district have their own elected school-boards that have a great deal of freedom. •However, textbooks, curriculum, graduation requirements set by the states. •Some school districts have money and can provide a high quality education; others cannot. Decentralization leads to unequal education.
•Education in the United States
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•Question about education
•Do schools exist for the good of society/the nation/the people? •Or for the good of the individual person? •It is probably unnecessary to say that in the USA, where the founding document, the Declaration of Independence, speaks of the inalienable rights of the individual, we often think the answer #2. •But the USA, rightly or wrongly, usually believes what is good for the individual is good for society as a whole.
•George S. Counts says
“Americans regard education as the means by which the inequalities among individuals are to be erased and by which every desirable end is to be achieved.“
•Following the American system of giving some responsibilities to the national government and some to the states, American system is decentralized. •However, in the past quarter of a century, there has been creation of National Standards. •Think about it though—the standards you are most aware of for American colleges are voluntary adopted by the colleges and employ private companies to administer the test. SAT and ACT most important for undergraduate; GRE for graduate.
•Educational to the top”
•Age 5: kindergarten •6 years of elementary school (generally one teacher for all subjects in a grade all day) •2 years of middle school (beginning of changing classes at every hour) •4 years of high school •Most students go on to college •Bachelors degrees can lead to careers, or professional schools—law, medical, etc—or graduate schools.

•Origins
Starting with Massachusetts in 1674, all of the thirteen colonies would pass laws requiring towns to provide schools to educate children. Colonial Americans sought literacy for all white children, so they could read and study the Bible, and so some could carry on the political and economic affairs of the colonies. Slaves excluded.

•After Independence
Men like Jefferson believed that the American system of government required educated citizens and that the United States needed widespread education. As one educator put it, "every man may be viewed as belonging to a new royalty Many states created their own systems of public education. Public schools were also expect to help the American Dream by encouraging both opportunity and social equality. Now all states provide free public education for children between ages 6 and 18. (Of course, there are also private schools.)