美国中小学教育primary and secondary school education

Name: Lynette Student Number: 12010303022

The primary and secondary school in the US

The high level of American cultural education decides the leading position on science and technology all over the world. In American’s opinion, everyone has opportunity to accept education and develop personal talent and ability. Since 19th century, this ideal thought of compulsory education has been supported by the masses. Many people consider that prosperity of the US benefits from the popularity of education and perfect system of education but the education system of American also has deficiency.

First of all, we should know something about general situation of the primary and secondary school education system. In the US, primary school and secondary school education is mainly managed by education committee of states and local governments. Many states carry out ten years’ compulsory education. The educational systems of every state are different. In most systems, education is divided into three parts, six years for primary school, three years for junior high school, and another three years for senior high school. There are two kinds of school in the US. One is public school and another is private school. Public schools are supported by government tax revenue and it is available for students to attend for free. Private schools are often sponsored by churches. In the junior high school’s stage, about 10 percent of students study in private schools. Similarly, there are also about 10 percent of students who attend private schools in the senior high school’s stage. All of states ask children who is of the right age to attend school and receive education. In most states, children must be under instruction before the age of 16. Every student has right to receive education whatever he or she is gifted at study. Everyone must have the same right to receive education in the same condition. States give the education responsibility to the local education committee. The majority of committee members are selected by vote which is from local school districts. Secondly, their education pattern can be analyzed from two aspects: educational system and curriculum

provision. In terms of educational system, the primary and secondary school education belongs to local government’s right (decentralization). Educational system of every state is not all the same. Generally, the education system includes kindergarten, primary school (from grade one to grade six), secondary school (from grade seven to grade 12), college, graduate school and so on. Among this system, the secondary school can be divided further. There are middle school (from 6 to 8), junior school (from 7 to 9) and senior high school (from 9to 12 or from 10 to 12). In the US, compulsory education is from kindergarten to grade 12. Next, we can talk about curriculum provision. American primary school is small-scale generally. Every class has just one teacher and the teacher must accomplish all tasks which are in-class and after-school. The courses of US primary and secondary schools are extremely flexible and pay attention to the balance and development of courses. At the same time, courses attach importance to difference between every student. Last but not least, I want to take advantages and disadvantages of American educational system and its features seriously.

The originality of American education is obvious.

1. American education cares for students. Students who are under such a good concept can get abundant knowledge, creative, strong sense of self and are very confident.

2. American education underlines the bond of cooperation and individuality. It never asks students to remember something forcedly and doesn’t emphasize the depth of knowledge but the width of knowledge.

3. When it comes to model of teaching, the most distinctive trait of American model is targeted.

4. In the aspect of the curriculum, the regulations and requirements are very flexible. In fact, in American schools, various courses are offered and students have right to choose courses freely.

5. In the aspect of teaching content, their form of teaching material is diversified.

6. In aspect of teaching method, students are always leading character in classes. They always solve problems by their own and teachers are just director and observer.

As an old saying does, every coin has two sides, so does American education. The originality of American education can be praised but the situation and results of it are not ideal. There are many reasons which contribute to that.

1. In the US, any repeated basic skill training is seen as dull and boring work. This phenomenon directly leads to the decline of performance.

2. The US carries out diversified management of courses and high dispersion of education. The standard of courses is multifarious and the quality cannot be ensured.

3. Education at every level always cannot work well with each other.

Fourthly, the courses content and requirements of US primary and secondary schools are inferior to many developed countries and the demand of students is not so high.

4. Teachers overemphasize students that often cause the chaos of discipline.

Factually, the US has also known about disadvantages of their education, so we can easily know about some important revolution of American education. Since 80s, 20th century, a school called “school-within-scho ol” has appeared. So-called school-within-school exactly establishes small community in school. At the same time, the US government attaches great importance to education equality. In 2002, the US government developed a plan called “No Child Left Behind” a nd the reform finally makes the rising quality of the US education come true.

All in all, the basic education system of the US has advantages. The concept which is “people-oriented” develops students’ ability of independence fully. However, we never can forget the disadvantages. The education environment is too liberal to study and easily ignore that training of basic skills. Therefore, revolutions of education rise in respond to the proper time and condition. The revolutions of the US education are of great significance and promote the development of the US basic education without doubt.