Colleges Which are as Different as Geese Are Different From Swans
Entering a college does not mean much in itself. What is meaningful is how long students stay and what college they enter. Many people enter a college, take one or two courses, and drop out.
More than half of al students who enter colleges drop out before graduation. The drop-outs are more often from middle class than upper America, and more often from blue-collar than from professional families. It is the college degree that really counts in the world of work and income. Anything less than a degree is not much better than high school graduation. Students enter colleges that are different as geese from swans. In the range are Negro junior college of Natchez, say, and Harvard. Again: in the world of work and income, the difference is huge.
High costs, high admission standards, the need to work – all conspires to keep the sons of middle America out of college. Seldom will they enter a first-rate university, except on an athletic scholarship. At best, they go to a junior college or perhaps even a state college.
Middle Americans are more often part-time students than the affluent (=rich ones). Many must limit their college work to an occasional course in the evening. They usually enter a course of study that has a low pay-off in the job market – such as teaching, social work, nursing, etc.
Nationally, only about one of four boys go to college after the high school classes. According to the National Science Foundation, the main reason the other three do not attend is inadequate financial resources.
Text 9. TEACHING PROFESSION IN THE USA
Requirements for teachers’ certificate vary among 50 states. Usually the state department of education, or a state certificate board, issues certificates which permit teachers to be employed within the state. Forty-four of the 50 states require at least the completion of a four-year course, with the bachelor’s degree, as a minimum for high school teaching: the tendency to require a fifth year beyond the bachelor’s degree is increasing. Graduation from a two-year normal school or at least two years of college education is the minimum requirement for elementary teaching in 36 states; others demand the completion of a four-year course and the bachelor’s degree.
Because of the decentralization of school control in the USA teachers are employed by local districts rather than by the national government. The American teacher does not have the absolute security of tenure which the French or Australian teachers enjoys. A high proportion of the teaching force are women.
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The teacher-training institutions have not been able to provide sufficient numbers of fully trained teachers to replace those retiring and dropping out of the profession and at the same time to meet the requirements for new classes each year. The problem of recruiting and supply of teachers remains a serious one. In general the problem of shortage of teachers has not been met by lowering certificate standards.
requirement – требование
certificate board – аттестационная комиссия
normal school – педагогическое училище
security of tenure [′tenju∂] – сохранность рабочего места
shortage – нехватка
to be in force – являться действительным
TASK 1. Answer the questions:
a) Are the requirements for teachers the same or are they different among the 50 states?
b) Who usually issues certificates for teaching?
c) What is the minimum requirement for the teacher of high school?
d) What is the minimum requirement for elementary teaching?
e) How does the decentralization of school control concern employment of teachers?
f) Does the American teachers enjoy the absolute security of tenure?
g) Are the more men or women teachers in the USA?
h) Which are the major problems in the teaching profession in the USA?
i) Are teachers’ certificates in force throughout the country or only within a given state?
j) Why were certification standards lowered?
REVISION
TASK 1. Check up your knowing of the subject answering the following questions:
1. Is public education in the USA centralized?
2. Is there a unified system of education in the USA?
3. At what age do children begin to attend school in the USA?
4. What is a high school in the USA?
5. What is an elementary school in the USA?
6. If a person studies at a state university or college, does it mean that his education is absolutely free or does he still pay tuition fee?
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7. Is tuition fee the same for those who live in the state and for those who come from outside the state?
8. Do private colleges and universities require an admission examination?
9. Do private colleges and universities have rigid scholastic requirements for entrance?
10. What is the duration of a school year in the USA?
11. Which are the best higher educational institutions in the USA, are they private or public?
12. What is the classification of the first-, second-, third- and fourth-year students in the USA?
TASK 2. TALKING POINTS
1. The pattern of education in the USA and in Russia.
2. Teaching profession in the USA and in Russia.
3. Higher educational institutions in the USA, public and private, the quality of education in them.
4. History of establishing some of the colleges in the USA.
5. Elementary and high school in the USA.
6. The system of pre-school, school and higher education in Russia.
7. Types of schools in the USA and differences between them.
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