The System of Education in the U.S.A.
HIGHER EDUCATION Text A
The USA Education
For a very long time America has led the world in higher education, quantitatively at least. In 1825 England still had only two universities, Oxford and Cambridge. The United States already had over fifty colleges for a smaller population. By now, in addition to hundreds of junior colleges (with two-year courses), teachers' colleges and special schools, there are over 2,000 universities, colleges or other institutions with four-year courses leading to bachelors' degrees, though only some of these provide postgraduate work as well, for masters' degrees and doctorates. Nearly half of all people aged nineteen are in full-time education, but only half of these successfully complete full four-year courses for bachelors' degrees. Some attend junior colleges with two-year courses (from which they may transfer); most start full four-year degree courses. Most students receive federal loans to cover part of the cost of their studies; much smaller numbers receive federal grants, or scholarships or bursaries from other sources. Virtually all pay part of their costs themselves, from family contributions or from part-time work or both. Most students aiming at bachelors' degrees take the four years (freshman, sophomore, junior and senior) consecutively at the same institution, but some interrupt their courses. Some start late in life and may spread their courses over several years. For each stage of the course it is necessary to gain adequate average grades over a number of courses, and credits gained at one stage can be accepted for a later stage after an interval, if necessary with change from one institution to another. For the freshman year, courses usually cover a wide range, and with each later year there is scope for more specialisation. About one-fifth of college graduates continue with studies for masters' or doctors' degrees, in their own major subjects or for professional qualifications in law, medicine, business, etc., which involve two to four postgraduate years. Postgraduate schools admit students on the basis of their grades in bachelors' degree studies, and require minimum-level passes in appropriate preparatory subjects. Most college students are in 'public' institutions, a minority in 'private' ones. Every state has its own full university system, and in a big state there are many separate state campuses, general and special, at different levels. In terms of research output, and of Nobel prizes won by academic staff, the most prestigious is the University of California at Berkeley (across the bay from San Francisco). It, and the University's campus at Los Angeles, are the two major institutions in the California state system, but there are many dozens of other campuses in that system. Other states have parallel systems, often with one principal campus, with up to 50,000 students, in a small town in which the university is the main focus of activity. Most big cities have their own city-funded universities – in some cases with several campuses – often separate from the state system. In general state and city colleges now charge tuition fees which cover a minor part of their costs, at least for state or local residents – though students from other states pay several times as much. The oldest, and in some ways the most prestigious, colleges are private, funded partly from their endowments, partly by contributions from business and, above all, former students. A few receive some state or city grants as well. But in general they need to charge high fees for tuition, averaging about five times the rates charged by equivalent state colleges for local residents. Some of the best-known private universities are the oldest ones in the Northeast, known informally as the Ivy League. These include Harvard, Yale and Princeton. The research carried on at Harvard and at its newer neighbour in Cambridge, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has contributed to the prosperity of the Boston area, though other private and public universities nearby also have some share in this development. These colleges are all quite small and their variety is extreme. Some students prefer a small college for the sake of the closer contact with the professors than in the state colleges, some for religious reasons. But some of their graduates go on to state university postgraduate courses. Until 1960 most of the private institutions, including the small liberal arts colleges, were for either men of women only. By now almost all the former men’s colleges have become coeducational and the most selective of them may have raised their academic standards by attracting many of the cleverest women. About three hundred former women’s colleges now take men as well, and some of them are finding that the men dominate the staff and student life. The individual young person knows that his or her prospects of success in life depend on education more than on any other single factor. So there is an ever-increasing demand for educational opportunities. At the same time, it is generally recognized that even from the material point of view, economic development up till now has owed much to the skills and abilities which grow through education, and for the traditional Americans, respect for learning is reinforced by a doctrine that it is an investment that brings the community an economic return as well as social and cultural improvement. Text B
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HIGHER EDUCATION
