Education in the usa

Education in the USA

The American system of school education differs from the systems in other countries. There are state public schools, private elementary schools and private secondary schools. Public schools are free and private schools are fee-paying. Each state has its own system of public schools. Elementary education begins at the age of six or seven, when a child goes to the first grade (form). At the age of sixteen schoolchildren leave the elementary school and may continue their education at one of the secondary schools or high schools, as they call them. The programme of studies in the elementary school includes English, Arithmetic, Geography, History of the USA, Natural Sciences and, besides, Physical Training, Singing, Drawing, Wood or Metal Work, etc. Sometimes they learn a foreign language and general history. Beside giving general education some high schools teach subjects useful to those who hope to find jobs in industry and agriculture or who want to enter colleges or universities. After graduating from secondary schools a growing number of Americans go on to higher education. The students do not take the same courses. During the first two years they follow a basic programme. It means that every student must select at least one course from each of the basic fields of study: English, Natural Sciences, Modern Languages, History or Physical Training. After the first two years every student can select subjects according to his professional interest. The National Government gives no direct financial aid to the institutions of higher education. Students must pay a tuition fee. This creates a financial hardship for some people. Many students have to work to pay their expenses. The Americans place a high value on education. That's why Kennedy said, "Our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in education."

In the United States of America, there is a great focus placed on the education system and how it works to grow the abilities and capabilities of the future generations. While there are a number of very specific disciplines of education, there is always a focus subject that helps to get students to grow in a specific area. The two major focus subjects in the US include math and science. The reason that math and science are growing so rapidly is because the nation is behind a number of other work leaders in these subjects. There are a number of implications to focusing on only two of the major subjects that are offered in the American school system. Some of the greatest implications include the fact that the education of the student’s abilities to read and write will suffer; the English, History, and arts departments will suffer and shrink in size; there will eventually be a swing back in the other direction of focus in the future.

This is not the first time that the government has forced a focus on one area of education or another. There is a defined cycle that the nation goes through ever couple of years. The ranking of the USA will be compared against the scores and grading systems of other countries and it will be determined that the students need to improve one set of skills or one concentration area. Many resources and efforts will be focused on that specific subject matter, and the other subjects will suffer. This creates a situation where eventually the education of other skills will have to be taught on a regular basis. Therefore, it is a fluid cycle of constantly needing to be improving the skills of the students past the standards that were previously acceptable.

When it comes to the education of the future of America, there are few things more important than giving them the tools that they need. While it is important to always strive to be the best, it might not be the best course of action to force children to focus so heavily on one subject area that they start to become less skilled at another area. The fact of the matter is that children need to learn math, science, English, history, the arts, and physical fitness. When any of these departments suffer through out the nation, then the futures of the children suffer.

Finland was named most prosperous nations on earth in 2009. In the nine sections that judged prosperity education was number three. In the United Sates today, education is becoming less and less of a priority. As this priority decreases in value, the economy is spirally downhill and is moving backwards in development. Education is the most important factor in developing a country yet it keeps getting looked over in the United States.

As a whole, Americans believe that education is more important than ever but it doesn’t show. California’s universities have faced the deepest state budget cuts in decades, and public-university officials have lowered salaries, furloughed employees, and reduced enrollments. Nearly every state in the United States is in a similar situation. Here in Nevada, Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, told a crowd of higher education constituents that there are no way legislators can avoid cuts to education. More than half of our taxes in Nevada go towards public education and officials have not budgeted them properly. In the next 16 months Nevada will have $900 million less in education than government officials budgeted for. Mary Jo Parise-Malloy said in March of 2008, "We already have a shortage of teachers because we can't afford to pay them enough, and we're just getting deeper and deeper in the hole and our per-pupil funding gets farther and father away from the national average every year.” If education was the United States top priority then it wouldn’t be declining so fast.

Our economy in the United States is run on many factors and education is one of the biggest ones. Our economy is becoming more and more knowledge based, jobs being created from new ideas and technical innovation. According to the National Association of Manufacturers, in 2010 there were an estimated 5.3 million high-skill jobs available to qualified workers and 14 million more 10 years later. Odds are Americans will not be the ones taking these jobs when 25% of students drop out without the proper skills to succeed and Americans graduate from high skill without the basic math, reading, and writing skills. 60% of employers say that high school graduate’s skills are poor in math and English, two of the most important subjects in school.

How is America supposed to improve on education with all the teacher cuts? In some schools class sizes have been nearly doubled due to the shortage of staff. Due to budget cuts to schools teachers do not always have the right supplies to teach lessons. This wouldn’t be so bad if the teachers were not getting salary cuts too. On top of this in 2001 the No Child Left Behind act was set in place. Teachers and school officials for the most part are not very happy with the act because it has shown no sign of improving education. The act has forced teachers to select certain skills for students to learn in order to pass state exams which can lead to misinterpretation of lessons. Teaching is hard enough job as it is but with the salary cuts, budget cuts to schools, and the No Child Left Behind act being a teacher is very difficult today.

Education is a huge factor in the success of a country. Higher education has risen so high in prices most students can not afford it, and many students can not pursue education after high school because they have not learned the necessary skills. Teachers are barely getting paid enough to support themselves yet we ask them to teach over 150 students each year. Our government officials need to fix our education in order to fix America.

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