EDUCATION IN AMERICA

AN OVERVIEW Education in America is a state responsibility 85% attend public schools Goal: to provide quality education to more people Private schools v. public schools

THE EDUCATION SYSTEM Entry level: from age 3, preschool, kindergarten Primary school (first five years) Middle school (6-8th grade), junior high (7-9th grade) High school (10-12th grade) Community College (Associate of Arts) University (BA) Post-graduate (MA) PhD Doctoral programs

MILESTONES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM Colonial period: promotion of literacy, private family based instruction, enabling people to read the Bible, Old Deluder Laws 1787: Northwest Ordinance, beginning of public education, setting aside 1% of the income of a given district for school purposes 1830s: Horace Mann, father of the American public education system Purpose of education: promote freedom, republican citizenship, social harmony, democracy

MILESTONES IN THE DEVELOMENT OF THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM 1954: Brown v. Board of Education 1957: The launching of Sputnick-Russians take the lead in space race 1983: Nation at Risk A report prepared by the National Commission on Excellence in Education: A rising tide of mediocrity Functional illiteracy High drop out rates Low reading, writing, and math skills

A NATION AT RISK Recommendations: - stronger academic curricula -stricter academic standards -heavier homework load, higher grading standards -higher salaries to attract well-qualified teachers

NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND Signed into law by G. W. Bush in 2002 Re-authorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act Increased the federal role in education Addressed the needs of disadvantaged students Main components: annual testing, schools had to meet adequate yearly progress indicators, Only highly qualified teachers can teach School districts with high concentration of poor children would get more funding

CHANGING EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHIES 1940s: Why Johnny can’t read? Two main educational approaches: progressives and traditionalists 1940s: life adjustment education: basic principle, utility (substituting radio repair for physics, business English for literature, consumer arithmetic for algebra) 1949: how to courses, socio-personal adjustment promote conformity and are anti-intellectual

CHANGING EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHIES 1950s, 1960s: promotion of excellence Main educational goals: identification of talent, pursuit of excellence Social traumas and crises of the 1960s weaken this goal Late 1960s, early 1970s: Open Education Movement: promotion of participatory democracy, nonassertive leadership,equal sharing of power between the student and the teacher Late 1970s: the Open Education Movement is heavily criticized

EDUCATION FOR THE 21st CENTURY A new macroenvironment: Fundamental change in economy, jobs, and businesses: change from industrial to information age Demands for new, and different skills: ICT, language proficiency Achievement gaps as compared to the world In problem solving US is 29th out of 40 countries on PISA tests Main task: to promote critical thinking, cognitive skills, creativity, cross-cultural collaboration (geography, language boundaries) entrepreneurial skills, creativity

A LOOK AT HIGHER EDUCATION Colonial period: Harvard College (1636) Ivy League v. Mass education U of or State U systems University of California Los Angeles, California State University of Los Angeles 1946 Servicemen’s Readjustment Act, GI Bill Today over 3000 colleges and universities

A LOOK AT HIGHER EDUCATION 1960s-1980s: major investment in education 2009: 70% of high school graduates enroll in such higher education institutions Increasing number of minorities, low income, non-traditional students Challenging the value of a college degree: Richard Freeman: The Overeducated American (1976) The expansion of distance education, use of ICT

IMAGES OF THE AMERICAN SCHOOL 1955: Blackboard Jungle-Richard Brooks 1985: The Breakfast Club-John Hughes