Higher Education in the USA.

Finishing school is the beginning of an independent life for millions of

school graduates. Many roads are open before them. But it is not an easy

thing to choose a profession out of more than the 2000 existing in the

world.

Out of the more than three million students who graduate from high school

each year, about one million go on for “higher education”. Simply by being

admitted into one of the most respected universities in the United States,

a high school graduate achieves a degree of success. A college at a leading

university might receive applications from two percent of these high school

graduates, and then accept only one out of every ten who apply. Successful

applicants at such colleges are usually chosen on the basis of :

· high school records;

· recommendations from high school teachers;

· the impression they make during interviews at the university;

· their scores on the Scholastic Aptitude Tests (SAT);

The system of higher education in the United States is complex. It

comprises four categories of institution:

1. The university, which may contain:

- several colleges for undergraduate students seeking a

bachelor’s four-year degree;

- one or more graduate schools for those continuing in

specialized studies beyond the bachelor’s degree to obtain

a master’s or a doctoral degree;

2. The four-year undergraduate institution – the college – most of

Which are not part of a university;

3. The technical training institution, at which high school

graduates may take courses ranging from six months to four years

in duration, and learn a wide variety of technical skills, from

hair styling through business accounting to computer

programming;

4. The two-year, or community college, from which students may

enter many professions or may go to four-year colleges or

universities.

Any of these institutions, in any category, might be either public or

private, depending on the source of its funding. There is no clear or

inevitable distinction in terms of quality of education offered between the

institutions, which are publicly or privately funded. However, this is not

to say that all institutions enjoy equal prestige, nor that there are no

material differences among them.

The factors determining whether an institution is one of the best, or one of lower prestige, are: quality of teaching faculty, quality of research facilities, amount of funding available for libraries, special programs, etc. All of these factors reinforce one another.

In the United States the more desirable institutions are generally – but not always – more costly to attend, and having graduated from one of them may bring distinct advantages as an individual seeks employment opportunities and social mobility within the society. Competition to get into such a college prompts a million secondary school students to take the SATs every year.

In defense of using the examinations as criteria for admissions, administrators at many universities say that SATs provide a fair way for deciding whom to admit when they have 10 or 12 applicants for every first-year student seat.

Still, many Americans are not satisfied with the condition of higher

education in their country. Perhaps the most widespread complaint has to do

with the college curriculum as a whole and with the wide range of electives

in particular. In the middle of 1980s, the Association of American Colleges

(AAC) issued a report that called for teaching a body of common knowledge

to all college students. The National Institute of Education (NIE) issued a

somewhat similar report. The report warned that college education may no

longer be developing in students “the shared values and knowledge” that

traditionally bind Americans together.

Such problems are signs that American higher education is changing, as it

has throughout its history. And, as in the past, this change may be leading

in unexpected directions. The Puritans set up colleges to train ministers.

But their students made their mark as the leaders of the world’s first

constitutional democracy. The land grant colleges were founded to teach

agriculture and engineering to the builders of the American West. Today,

many of these colleges are leading schools in the world of scientific

research.

People in the United States today are faced with momentous questions: “What is America’s proper role as the world’s oldest constitutional democracy; its largest, economy; its first nuclear power?”

Americans cherish their right to express opinions on all such issues. But the people of the United States are also painfully aware of how complex such issues are. To take part in dealing with new problems, most Americans feel they need all the information they can get. Colleges and universities are the most important centers of such learning.

Date: 2015-12-17; view: 1002