The down of British History

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Лекция 15 

1.Лекция  тақырыбы: The educational system of the USA 

2. Лекция жоспары:

  1. Higher education

2. Adult and continuing education 

3. Лекция мақсаты: 

 Тәуелсіз немесе “паблик скулз” туралы әңгіме өткізу

4. Лекция мазмұны: 
 

1. Higher Education

     The American ideal of mass education for all is matched by awareness that America also needs highly trained specialists. In higher education, therefore, and especially at the graduate schools (those following the first 4 years of college), the U.S. has an extremely competitive and highly selective system. This advanced university system has become widely imitated internationally and it is also the one most sought after the foreign students.36 % of more than 34.000 foreign students in the US in the academic year in 1984/85 were enrolled in graduate programs.

     While the American education system might put off selecting students until much later than do other systems, it does nonetheless select. And it becomes increasingly selective at the higher level. Moreover, because each university generally sets its oven admission standards, the best universities are also most difficult to get into.

     Some universities are very selective even at the undergraduate or beginning levels. In 1984 for example, some 15.600 individuals sought admission to Sandford University, a private University, in southern California.

     Because these individuals must pay a fee to even apply for admission, these were “serious” applications. Of that number, only 2.500 (about 16 percent) were admitted for the first year of study. It’s interesting to note that 70 percent of those who were accepted had attended public-not private-schools. Many state-supported universities also have fairly rigid admission requirements. The University of California at Berkeley, for example, admitted about 65 percent of all “qualified” applicants in 1984.

     For Harvard, the figure is 17% (1984). Admission to Law or Medical schools and other graduate programs has always been highly selective. It is true, as often stated, that children who wish someday to go to one of the better universities start working for this goal in elementary school.

     Needless to say, those children who have attended better schools, or who come from families with better educated parents, often have an advantage over those who don’t. This remains a problem in the U.S, where equality of opportunity is a central cultural goal. Not surprisingly, the members of racial monitories are the most deprived in this respect. Yet, it is still a fact today, as the BBC commentator Alistair Cooke pointed out in 1972, that  
”a black bay has a better chance of going to college here than practically any boy in Western Europe”.

     In 1985, for instance, 19.4 percent of all Americans 25 years and older had completed four years of college or more. However, the figure for blacks was 11.1 percent and for Hispanics 8.5 percent. Compared with the figures from 1970, when the national average was only 10.7 percent (with 11.3 percent for whites, 4.4 percent for blacks, and 7.6 percent for students of Spanish origin), this does reveal a considerable improvement within just 14 years. Yet, the educational level is still relatively lower for some groups, including women. While 23.1 percent

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of male Americans had four years of college or more in 1985, only 16 percent of women had. The number of students who fail to complete high school, too, is much larger among minority groups. The national average of all 18 to 24-years-olds who did not graduate from high school was 22.1 percent in 1985. For white students it was 20.9 percent, for blacks 28.7 percent, and for Hispanics the figure was as much as 45.8 percent. Many different programs aimed at improving educational opportunities among minority groups exits at all levels-local, state, and federal.

     2. Adult and continuing education

     The concept of continuing (or lifelong) education is of great to Americans. Every year, over 20 million Americans (that is about 10% of all adults) further their education through participation in part-time instruction. Some estimate that as many as 45 million adult Americans are currently taking courses in universities, colleges, professional associations, government organizations or even churches and synagogues. Most participants in continuing or adult education have a practical goal: they want to update and upgrade their job skills. As a result of economic changes and a rapid advance of the “information age”, the necessity to acquire new occupational skills has increased. Adult education thus fills a need of many Americans who want to improve their chances in a changing job market. This is one explanation for the continuing growth of adult education classes over the past several years. Of course, not all people take courses in adult education do this for job-related purposes. Many simply want to broaden their knowledge or learn something they wood enjoy doing such as printmaking, dancing, or photography.

     Continuing education courses are provided mainly by community or junior colleges and mostly take place in the evenings. Over 80 percent of all companies today conduct their own training programs. Many large corporations offer complete degree programs, and some even support their own technical and business colleges and universities. In 1984, close to 6 million students were enrolled in industry- sponged degree programs It is estimated that some 8 million Americans are involved in corporate education of some kind. 

6. Лекция тақырыбына  сәйкес  СӨЖ тапсырмалары:

  Public schools

Adult and continuing education

7. Қажетті әдебиеттер:

1. Stevenson D.K American Life and Institutions

2. Tomakhin Y.  Across the USA