How is the US education system structured?

Factual Questions
1

I wonder if someone could give me a run down on the U.S. education system.

What age do kids start, what ages and grade levels are involved in the various stages - elementary, middle, junior high, senior high (have I missed any?)

At what age do they go to college/university?

I am also unclear of how your tertiary education system works. I have seen 4yr colleges, 3yr colleges, community colleges etc. mentioned in different places. Is entry based on academic merit?

What sort of level of tertiary education participation do you have (as in percentages going to college from high school)?

I realise that different states may have slightly different structures as they do here, so general info is okay.

Thanks in advance for any info

2

There’s a structure to the US Education system??

Oh, sorry -

The basics are as follows

Kidergarten in some states - age 5

Elementary School (Primary School) - grades 1 through 6 starts at about age 6

Junior High School - grades 7, 8 and 9

High School - grades 10, 11 and 12.

In some areas, “Middle School” runs from 5th or 6th grade through 8th, and High School starts with 9th grade.

Most people start college after graduating high school at about age 18. The selection of 2 yr, 4 yr, community college, etc. is largely up to the individual and how well the individual did in high school. Good grades and good test scores in high school make it easier to get in to top universities and colleges.

Can’t help with percentages of matriculation without doing a little research.

3

In some areas, junior high is grades 7 & 8 only.

4

The Junior High schools and Middle schools are mainly public (i.e. free and run by the local government) schools.

Private schools usually are either Elementary Schools (1 - 8 grade) or High Schools (9 - 12 grade). Most private schools are run by a religious organization but not all of them, and some of the religious schools accept children of various faiths.

5

The terms “elementary school,” “middle school,” “junior high school,” and " high school" are arbitrary divisions of the kindergarten through twelfth grade system that vary on a local level. Basically, everybody in the U.S. has to go from kindergarten through twelfth grade, and it’s provided for free by a public education system everywhere in the U.S. (Many parents choose to send their children to a private school instead for these grades, but these schools, unlike public schools, cost money. Private schools have the same diversity of divisions of the kindergarten through twelfth grades.) You enter kindergarten at 5 and leave twelfth grade at 18, at which point you have what’s called a “high school diploma.” At that point you can then enter college.

There’s no consistency about which grades are elementary, middle, junior high, and high school. Often it depends on nothing except how big the schools are that a local school district has to house its classes. I’ve seen elementary used for 1st to 8th, 1st to 6th, or 1st to 4th grades. I’ve seen middle used for 5th to 8th, 5th an 6th, or 5th to 7th grades. I’ve seen junior high school used for 7th and 8th or 7th to 9th grades. I’ve seen high school used for 9th to 12th or 10th to 12th grades. Don’t bother trying to figure this out. The point is that to get a high school diploma, you have to go to school for 13 years, where you attend kindergarten through twelfth grades.

The students in grades 9 through 12 are usually known as freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors, in that order. (This is why four-year high schools are more traditional. It means that the grades where the student levels have names are just those in high school.)

Colleges can be either public or private. It’s rare for any college to be completely free, but the public ones are usually much cheaper than the private ones. There are four years of college. Most people go through the four years of college at a single place, but there are also many two-year colleges. These offer only the first two years of a college education. After taking the two years there, you would have to go to a four-year college to take the last two years of college education. After finishing four years of college, you get what’s known as a “college diploma” or a “bachelor’s degree.” Confusingly, the students in the four years of college are also known as freshman, sophomores, juniors, and seniors, in that order.

There are some minor exceptions to these rules that you don’t really need to know about. Rarely, a pushy parent will get a child into first grade at 5, thus skipping kindergarten. Rarely, a college will accept a very good student after 11th grade and thus without a high school diploma. There are still a few places where a parent can choose to not send their child to kindergarten and then start first grade at 6 without kindergarten. There are state by state differences about what age one is allowed to quit going to school. A person who quits school before finishing twelfth grade is known as a “high school dropout.” Someone who drops out of school in this way often chooses, years later, to take a test which shows that he or she knows the material for the equivalent of a high school diploma. This test is the GED (General Equivalency Degree) and this allows one to go to college just like a high school diploma.

6

Thanks

One more thing - do most high school graduates go to college of some sort? It seems that when you read american boards every one has an undergraduate degree. many masters degrees and even PhD’s.

I am actually trying to find if your education system is similar to ours here in Aus. It appears to be up till the end of high school, after that I am not too sure.

University post graduate degrees here are by no means easy to get, competition for limited places is fierce and based on academic merit. Undergraduate degrees are the same, only the higher achievers get in.

There are other options, such as Technical and Further Education (TAFE) colleges and private colleges, but many of these require a certain standard of achievement as well for many courses.

7

According to the Education Department, about 63% of graduating high school seniors enroll in college for the following fall. This does not give us any idea of how many actually graduate, nor how many high school graduates end up in college later.

Who goes to college in the U.S. (since college education is not in any way publicly subsidized) is broken down largely along race and class lines, and gender lines within the races and classes. I don’t have any percentages sitting in front of me, but just about every stereotype you could imagine given what I’ve just said will actually hold true in the stats.

8

Basically, anyone who graduates from high school can get into some college. In many states people who did poorly in high school can only get into a two-year public college (unless they have lots of money and can find a private college desperate enough to take them). If they didn’t do at least passibly well in high school, the chances that they won’t pass their college classes (and thus “flunk out” and be tossed out of college) are very good. Getting into a grad school (which I think you would call going for a post graduate degree) depends strictly on the department of the university which one wants to attend. You usually need to do at least passibly well in college for most departments.

9

There is a very extensive set of public and private universities, colleges, and community colleges. Anyone who really wants to get a college degree can get one somewhere. There is a very wide range of costs even for public schools (public schools are all state-run; there is no network of federally owned colleges for general education).

For example, when I was entering college, I had a wide range of choices, from the local state university, whose tuition was about $2,400 a year, a nearby state university of a slightly higher quality whose tuition was $5,000 a year, to a more distant, nationally reputed public school in another state whose tuition was about $20,000 a year. Private schools, of course, can cost much more.

By the way, in America, an educational institution at any level can be referred to as a school. Even a doctoral degree student or a university professor will refer to his or her institution as “school.”

Usually, an institution with the word “university” in its name is a very large institution that offers degrees in every discipline and offers a range of doctoral and master’s degree programs. A univerisity is divided up into units that have names like “College of Liberal Arts,” “College of Science and Mathematics,” and “School of Medicine.” These colleges and schools are divided up into departments (I think they’re called “faculties” in the U.K.).

An institution with “college” in its name is usually smaller than a university (but not necessarily – e.g., Boston College and Boston University are both fairly large institutions), and may offer a smaller ranger of subjects of study (but, again, not necessarily). Both colleges and universities, though, will offer several different bachelor’s degrees.

Informally, the terms "university, college, and school are to a large extent interchangeable. Basically, it’s up to the institution what appellation to choose and you have to be careful about how you refer to it.

For example –

State University of New York at Buffalo – not New York State University or Buffalo State University

Indiana University – not University of Indiana

Miami University is a public school in Oxford, Ohio. The University of Miami is in Coral Gables, Fla.

The word “state” in the name of an institution almost always indicates that the institution is a public school. Not always, though. For instance, what used to be called Towson State University is a private school. A name including the naen of a state or city might or might not be a public school. You just have to know. For example, Pennsylvania State University, the University of Michigan, Ohio University, Miami University, and Ohio State University are all public schools. However, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Dayton are private schools.

Most states have an extensive network of public schools. In California, there are two parallel systems – the University of California system and the California State University system. Each of those systems has dozens of campuses around the state and they all have names like University of California at Irvine, University of California at Los Angeles, etc.

Ohio also has an extensive public university system, but there each school has its own name – Ohio State University, Ohio University, Miami University, Wright State University, University of Cincinnati, Bowling Green State University, Cleveland State University, Kent State University, Shawnee State University, University of Akron, University of Toledo, University of Findlay, and Youngstown State University.

Kindergarten is not compulsory. Parents may choose to delay registering their children for school until first grade, when they are 6 years old.

If you complete a course at a two-year institution, you are awarded an “associate’s degree.”

10

Just another wrinkle in our system, but I don’t know how widespread this is: For my senior (grade 12) year of High School, I went to a community college. I earned credit for both college and high school, and the state paid for it all. (Yay!) I could have done the same a year earlier, but I wasn’t aware of the opportunity then. My first year after graduating from High School, I took a second year at that community college, and then transferred to the 4-year public college which I currently attend.

My WAG is that the majority of students follow a pretty straightforward route (K-12, then 4-year college or 2-year college), but there are always exceptions.

11

Another point worth mentioning is that public schools often vary their tuition for “outside” students. This doesn’t mean foreigners necessarily - for example the State University of New York, which has 64 campuses throughout the state, charges about $3000 a year for New York residents, and $8000 for residents of other states. Many other state universities have similar deals. In New York City, we even have an entire public university system of our own - the The City University of New York, which has 20 colleges located throughout the city, including undergraduate colleges, a law school, a medical school and some graduate programs.

There are also myriad “community colleges” around the country. These are usually run by some combination of state, county and municipal governments. Though stereotypes as schools for dumbasses, many are quite excellent. Again, these colleges are very cheap compared to private schools.

Not necessarily. Many two-year colleges offer “associates degrees” which are two year degrees that are generally focused on a specific vocational field, such as repairing air conditioners or managing construction projects. Many large universites offer two year associates programs in addition to bachelor’s and graduate programs.

12

Oh, and of course, I forgot to mention “junior colleges.” These are somewhat rare institutions that offer only one or two years of education after high school. Generally, they do not award degrees. Some have classes for people who did poorly in high school and want to improve their standing to get into a good university, or who want to learn more but don’t want an entire university education.

13

And as an additional wrinkle, the various states include, usually in the states junior college system, (a public school) a number of special programs to qualify for state licenses in certain professions regulated by law. Licensed Practical Nurse, Registered Nurse, Real Estate Brokerage, Public Accounting, Cosmetology, various popular therapeutic disciplines, and dozens of others. A plethora of private institutions also provide such education programs. In some cases those license programs are integrated with local public high schools as well, and students attend both, simultaneously.

Completion of these programs at a junior college does not include a baccalaureate degree, and may or may not include an associate’s degree, but may be considered for partial credit for one if further study is undertaken in an appropriate college. The private schools specializing in license programs are less likely to be accepted by academic institutions. In many cases tuition assistance through various grant systems of the Federal government, or the States can be applied to any of these systems.

Tris

“Sic transit gloria mundi. And Tuesday’s usually worse.” ~ Robert A. Heinlein ~

14

Of course, for their sophamore year, they will have become residents of New York and only pay the $3000.

:smiley: [sup]I know what is being said and I’m still confused as hell![/sup]

15

One thing to keep in mind about education in the United States is that it is administered and regulated almost entirely on the level of the local school system and the 50 state governments (and the District of Columbia). This is in contrast to most European educational systems, which are nationally directed.

There are no national regulations about how many days per year students must attend school, how many hours per day, what subjects they must study, how the teachers must be credentialed, etc. These questions are determined individually by the states and the local school systems.

Local school systems are governmental units in that they have the power to tax and they are directed by a board of locally elected officials. School systems usually correspond to one municipality (e.g., The New York City Board of Education), two or more adjacent municipalities, or an entire county (e.g, The Los Angeles Unified School District).

16

One thing to keep in mind about education in the United States is that it is administered and regulated almost entirely on the level of the local school system and the 50 state governments (and the District of Columbia). This is in contrast to most European educational systems, which are nationally directed.

There are no national regulations about how many days per year students must attend school, how many hours per day, what subjects they must study, how the teachers must be credentialed, etc. These questions are determined individually by the states and the local school systems.

Local school systems are governmental units in that they have the power to tax and they are directed by a board of locally elected officials. School systems usually correspond to one municipality (e.g., The New York City Board of Education), two or more adjacent municipalities, or an entire county (e.g, The Los Angeles Unified School District).

17

Thanks everyone. I appreciate all the information

It seems an incredibly complex system compared to ours. I read with amazement mentions of universities with 64 campuses and degrees in air conditioning repairs.

I guess you tend to forget just how much bigger the US is than Australia, and its interesting to see how different skills are labelled.

I read recently in a university research paper on the corporatisation of education that the US even has a Mc Donalds University that gives degrees in… wait for it…Hamburgerology

Anyone on this board have a Bachelor of Hamburgerology I wonder? :stuck_out_tongue:

18

McDonald’s University isn’t a real (i.e. accreddited) university as far as I know. That’s just where they send people to become McDonald’s managers.

The reason it’s an incredibly complex system, remember, is because there isn’t really any one “system” at all. Most countries have nationally directed educational systems – the US doesn’t. So you get fifty-some-odd seperate (though usually similar) systems at the same time, and private schools which don’t have to live up to any particular standards, except those of the accrediting agencies.

19

friedo writes:

> Many two-year colleges offer “associates degrees” which are
> two year degrees that are generally focused on a specific
> vocational field, such as repairing air conditioners or managing
> construction projects.

It’s “associate’s degree” and you should realize that these sorts of degrees aren’t considered to be a “real” college education by a lot of people. If you were applying for a job that required a college degree and you told the interviewer that you had an associate’s degree in Air Conditioning Repair, you would be laughed out of the interview. (Yeah, that’s snobbery, but that’s the way it goes.)

One thing that may not be obvious to non-Americans is that not only are there are a lot of people with associate’s degrees in vocational fields, but the clear majority of people with regular, four-year college degrees in the U.S. do not have degrees in liberal arts subjects. In other words, people with degrees in subjects like math, physics, chemistry, biology, psychology, history, philosophy, sociology, English, foreign languages, anthropology, political science, linguistics, etc. are only a minority of college graduates. (They constitute about 36% of all college graduates, if I recall correctly.) Indeed, the number of college degrees given in the U.S. in these subjects has actually decreased in the past 30 years. Most college degrees are in non-liberal arts subjects like teaching, engineering, nursing, pharmacy, music performance, art, social work, etc.

20

As Friedo pointed out, calling the place “McDonalds University” is just a joke (a stupid, nonfunny joke) by the McDonalds Corporation. It’s just a place at the company headquarters where McDonalds employees take a set of courses (over a period of a couple of months) that train them to be managers of one of their restaurants. Many big corporations in the U.S. have in-house courses to train their managers in their business. McDonalds just happens to be pretentious about it.