Established on October 17, 1979 and activated on May 4, 1980, the American education system is well known all over the world. This educational system is run by the government of the United Sates and its funding is done at the federal, state and local level. There are nearly 76.6 million students who are at present pursuing education in America.
In U.S the first step to the climb the education ladder is kindergarten. It is mandatory to begin with kindergarten at the age of five or six. This is the first grade of the twelve grades of schooling. Unlike Canada and Australia in U.S, ordinal numbers are used for grading. The age for beginning the school is decided by the state law and therefore it varies slightly from state to state but mainly children are supposed to begin with the kindergarten when their age is 4-5 years. Students must regularly attend the classes till the 12th standard during which they turn 16-18 years old.
There are public as well as private schools in America. According to the government data, one-tenth of the students study in private schools, nearly 85% of students go to the public schools and 1.7% children study at home. Education in private schools is expensive in comparison to that provided in public ones because the latter are funded by the government. The schools are mainly for six hours per day and there are 175-185 working days in a year. The American schools provide the longest “summer break” for three months (June to August). Mostly in the public and private schools education is divided into three levels- elementary, junior high or middle school and senior high school. In these levels, the children are divided on the basis of their age.
The education after the high school is pursued at the American university. It is a four years study which provides you a bachelor’s degree on its successful completion. But getting through a university and passing it with good grades is a daunting task. The admissions are generally done on the basis of grades earned in high school, the student’s GPA, class ranking and standardized test scores such as SAT and ACT tests. Many times active participation in extracurricular activities also helps in getting through a good college or university.
The Bachelor of Arts (B.A) and the Bachelor of Science (B.S) are the two most desired degrees from the Universities in United States. The other popular degrees are Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A), Bachelor of Social Work (B.S.W), Bachelor of Engineering (B. Eng), Bachelor of Philosophy (B.Phil) and Bachelor of Architecture (B. Arch) degree which is given after completion of a five year professional architecture program. A degree in medicine and law is not offered at the graduate level in U.S. These degrees are only given in post graduation.
Post graduation in U.S also has bright prospects. You can obtain a Master of Arts (MA), Masters of Science (MS), Masters of Business Administration (MBA), Masters of Education (Med), and Masters of Fine Arts (MFA) degree from universities in America. In addition there are valued doctoral degrees such as Doctor in Philosophy (Ph.D.), Doctor of Arts, Doctor of Education, Doctor of Theology, Doctor of Medicine, Doctor of Pharmacy, Doctor of Jurisprudence etc.
However, usually students face problems in managing finance for their higher education. This task is difficult but not impossible especially in the present scene when there are numerous banks and financial institutions ready to fund a student for his/her bright future.
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