英语国家概况期末论文1

American and British education

The number of people holds view that the future of the nation depends largely on education, so as the future of the children. Each country has its own education system. Most of countries try to put the national education in the first place. And most families consider the home education as part of their life. What are the country education systems? What are their purposes? How do parents do at home for their children’s education? The following I will talk about the formal education and family education among the United States and the United Kingdom.

American Education

1. Formal Education

In the United States, education is regarded as both an individual benefit and a social necessity. There are three ideals of American education. Firstly, education is governed by state and local governments, not by the national government. Each of the 50 states has its own laws regulating education, but some laws are similar, for example, all states require young people to attend school until the age of either 16 or 18. Secondly, receive an equal education. In the other words, many people are possible to have access to as much as education as they want. This ideal is an outcome of the American’s assertions about equality among people. Thirdly, American schools tend to put more emphasis on developing critical thinking than acquiring quantities of facts. And American students are encouraged to express their own opinion in class and to think for themselves, and goal of American education is to teach c hildren how to learn and help them reach their maximum potential. In addition, formal education in United States consists of elementary, secondary and higher education. Elementary and secondary education, which are the basis of public education, are compulsory. Classes of students are divided into twelve academic levels called grades. Before attend the first academic institution,

many parents choose to enroll their children in kindergarten and, even earlier, nursery school or daycare center. After high school, part of students will go to further education—university. There are some famous universities in the United States, such as Harvard University, a comprehensive university; Yale University with a high academic standard and great prestige; Massachusetts Institute of T echnology, an institute famous for its scientific and technological training and research.

2. Family Education

It is a general perspective that every American has the right and obligation to become educated. And some are tutoring at home by their parents, instead of school teachers. American parents suggest that little children are not just a process of memorizing knowledge that already exists in books, but work to discover new information or conceive new ways to understand what is already known. In addition, parents pay much attention to children’s independence. They think that children should do many things all by themselves. If parents do that for them, they would become lazy and dependent on others. When children make mistakes, American parents would punish them, let them realize their faults and warn them not to do that again. They would not pay much attention to children’s ability to learn or to read, but teach them to understand the world.

The United Kingdom Education

1. Formal Education

In the history, education in British was voluntary and many British schools were set up by the church. Now education in Britain is divided into four stages: primary, secondary, further education and higher education. The compulsory education for all children is between the ages of 5 and 16. There are two parallel school systems in Britain for primary and secondary education, the state system and the independent system. The education in the state system is provided free of charge while the independent system requires fees.