1. Education in USA
Education is the act of imparting or gaining knowledge, developing the reasoning power and judgments, and preparing
oneself or others intellectually.
The education in USA is mainly provided by the Public Sector. The control and funds come from three main levels:-
Federal
State
Local
Child education is compulsory in USA. The locally elected school
boards with jurisdiction over school districts set funding, teaching, school curricula,employment and other policies. The
State Government usually makes the decisions regarding standardized testing and educational standards.
The ages for compulsory education vary from state to state. It starts from ages 5-8 and ends from ages 14-18.
ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION
Children should be educated in public schools, state certified private schools, or home school program. Education is
generally divided into 3 levels in most public and private schools:-
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
MIDDLE SCHOOL
HIGH SCHOOL
There are more than 14,000 school districts in the country. Almost $550 billion is spent each year on primary and
secondary education. The school districts within most states require teaching for 180 days a year.
In almost all schools, children are divided by age groups into grades, starting from kindergarten, followed by 1st grade up
to 12th grade (usually 18 year old), which is the final year of the high school. The age range of students in these grade
levels varies slightly area-wise.
Sometimes pupils maybe promoted beyond the next regular grade. Some states allow students to leave school between
14-17 years of age with parental permission, before finishing high school.
According to government data, one-tenth of the students are enrolled in private schools. Almost 85% of students enter the
public schools because they are tax-subsidized. 1.7% of the students are educated at home.
GRADING SCALE
Report cards are issued to parents at varying intervals. The most common grade scale is letter grades-'A' to 'F'-derived
from a scale of 0-100 or a percentile.
EXAMPLE OF A GRADING SCALE IN US:-
A: 90-100
B: 80-89
C: 70-79
D: 60-69
F, E, I, N OR U: Below 60%.
All American states test students in public schools statewide to ensure that they are achieving the aspired minimum
education; students being educated at home or private schools are not included.
MAJOR CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES:-
2. American schools give high priorities to sports, clubs and other activities like dance, music, art and craft.
POST SECONDARY EDUCATION:-
Post Secondary Education, generally known as 'college' in US, is normally governed separately from the elementary and
high school system. Generally it consists of four years of study generally.
HEALTH AND SAFETY
Many schools have nurses either full-time or part-time to look after the students and ensure that medication is taken as
directed by the physicians.