Core courses:
The courses arranged by each middle school are different, but the core courses from grade 9 to grade 12 are as follows:
English for four years (writing/composition, English literature, American literature, etc. )
Three-year history (world history, American history, European history)
Three years as a second foreign language
Mathematics for three years (geometry, algebra I, algebra II)
Music/art varies from school to school.
Three years of science (earth/environmental science, biology, chemistry)
School year:
Depending on the school, the school may start in mid or late August, and some schools will not start until mid-September.
The school year ends in mid-May or the end of June.
Some private middle schools adopt the semester system: September to December in autumn, January to June in spring, and three to four weeks' holidays in December and January.
Some middle schools adopt three semesters: autumn from August to September, winter from November to March, and spring from April to June. There is a one-week holiday every semester, but the holidays in 1 February and1month are shorter, only one to two weeks.
Exams, scores, reports:
The exams held in each middle school are different, and there will be different tests due to different courses. However, on the whole, unlike schools in Asia and Europe, middle school teachers in the United States do not evaluate their grades based on only one exam or test. Teachers usually grade according to students' reports, homework, classroom performance, tests and mid-term and final exams throughout the semester. In the United States, students' compulsory education lasts until 16 years old. Usually, students have to pass all required courses before they can graduate. Students will know the results of each course at the end of each semester. Teachers evaluate students' grades as follows:
A = excellent (excellent)
B = above average (above average)
C = average (average)
D = below average (below average)
F = Fail (fail: If you fail a required course, the students must retake it. )
After graduating from high school, apply to attend American colleges and universities:
Although the entrance requirements of each college are different, the general colleges and universities will look at the courses taken by students in middle schools, GPA scores, SAT scores, writing, or arrange interviews for students. The GPA of students in high school represents the average performance of students' total academic year scores. Generally speaking, the scoring method adopted in the United States is as follows:
A = 4: 90- 100
B = 3: 00 80-89
C = 2 o'clock 70-79
D = 1 point 60-69
F = 0 point 0-59
The unified examination in the United States is the SAT, which mainly tests students' English level, mathematical reasoning ability and professional knowledge of a certain subject as reference materials for students' grades after entering universities. 1970 More than half of American middle school students go on to college after graduation. Today, about three-quarters of American high school graduates choose to continue their studies. For specific application methods, please refer to the special report of "Application Preparation Document" of Education Expo.
A glimpse of American middle school teaching
-
Text/Source: Excellent Reference for Quality Education
First, teachers commonly used teaching skills
1. Ask questions. The problem mainly focuses on the research process, not teaching. The first skill of asking questions is not "why", but "what". The question of "why" easily leads to students' negative and contradictory response; The question of "what" will prompt students to observe carefully without making a decision and be willing to discuss it openly. Such as "What do you see?" "What did you hear?" "Do you often do this?" Wait a minute. This can not only help students improve their cognitive ability, but also help them correctly and healthily analyze and deal with various behavior patterns. The second questioning skill is to pay attention to the similarities and differences of students' answers in class. For example, "Does anyone else (not) think so?" Such questions enable students to understand themselves and others, share others' feelings and ideas, have a sense of psychological security, admit their differences, and enhance their self-esteem and self-confidence.
2. Dialogue. For Americans, communication is a goal. Students often have a positive discussion on a constructive problem in groups. Conversations often revolve around things that happen in children's lives, such as birthdays, arguments with friends or other news that attracts their attention. The discussion doesn't need to be urged by adults. The teacher just serves as an assistant to inspire ideas. During the whole activity, students learn to really listen to others' speeches. They will think about how to respond to others in a useful way or ask a question that can deepen the discussion, instead of just thinking about how to speak when it is their turn.
3. role-playing. Role-playing provides students with opportunities to become important people. This method allows participants to look at the problem from the perspective of others, think about other ways to deal with the problem, and find the result. Students act themselves first, and then see how other students act themselves, so as to gain an understanding of themselves.
4. Social practice. Practice includes observing phenomena, collecting data, reporting results and drawing conclusions. For example, divide the students into groups and give each group a set of cards. The requirement is to "build a three-story house with these cards, and pay attention to internal relations".
5. simulation. Simulation is a form of entertainment, which enables students to experience and discuss a problem. When students come to school, the teacher may say, "Today, students with brown eyes need special care. They are at the forefront of the team and give priority to sports equipment. " Students with blue eyes should be the last choice. Only when there are enough extra meals at school can they get extra meals, and they should clean their rooms during breaks. "Then, all day, teachers and classmates are doing this simulation activity. Naturally, this immediately aroused students' strong feelings, and they were eager to discuss their thoughts and feelings, thus launching the topic of justice, prejudice and discrimination. The teacher asked, "When have you ever had this experience in your life? If you had to live like this every day, what would you do? Where else will this happen? What can we do about prejudice and discrimination? "
6. consciously fantasize. Fantasy is the process of creating existing or non-existing images with the brain. Fantasy is to let students have a clearer understanding and view of their temperament, ability and potential.
7. Artistic expression. Art is another way of communication. Students can express their feelings and ideas through origami, painting, sculpture and music.
Second, homework
It is said that American students have less homework and American education focuses on cultivating students' creativity. Let's see what kind of homework American teachers give students and how students finish it.
Historical homework
1. "civil rights" requirements: print out 3 to 5 pages, double blank lines, at least 3 sources (such as online, books, etc. ) and at least 5 citations. Compare the views of the following four people on Black-Ameri-CA: booker T, W.E.B. DUBOIS, MARTIN LUTHER KING, Jr. and MALCOLM X (Malcolm X). In your thesis, you should control the stories about their lives. I don't want to read biographies. But you need to introduce everyone a little, and your article must also add appropriate materials. Then, discuss their views on black Americans and put your thoughts in. Also list the sources of your quotations or materials, such as so-and-so websites and so-and-so books.
2. About the civil war
(1) Do you agree with President Lincoln that the United States cannot survive unless it is completely liberated or fully served? Explain.
(2) Explain why whites in the north oppose slavery and whites in the south support slavery, but they all feel that they are fighting for freedom.
(3) What does freedom mean to blacks?
President Lincoln and General Grant said that after the Civil War, the South should not be treated rudely. Why is this a wise policy? Explain.
(5) During the civil war, women began to do many jobs that men used to do. How do you summarize the social, economic and political conflicts caused by the civil war?
(6) Construct an argument to support or oppose the following view with historical evidence: American Civil War is the inevitable result of regional differences.
next page
Gains and losses of contemporary American high school education and its enlightenment
Huang changhong
Contemporary American senior high school education is characterized by constantly adapting to social exhibitions, combining core courses with diversified courses, paying attention to students' personality and diversified development, and emphasizing diagnostic evaluation. The main problem is that students' academic level is still not ideal, and the gains and losses of American high school education have enlightenment and reference significance for the development of high school education in China.
Key words: American high school education; Gains and losses; arouse
High school education has always been attached great importance in the United States, and it is often the focus of the whole society. After World War II, American high school education has been reformed again and again because of the change of social background to adapt to the changing world, which also makes American high school education show many distinctive characteristics in the relationship between school and society, curriculum, student development, academic evaluation and so on. These characteristics have formed the advantages and disadvantages of American high school education, which is different from other countries, and also provided us with lessons and experiences to some extent.
First, the characteristics of American high school education
(A) constantly adapt to social development
Facing the reality and constantly meeting the needs of social, economic and cultural development is a major feature of American education. Whether it is the implementation of the National Defense Education Act in 1950s or the publication of the document "The Country is in Crisis: Education Reform is Imperative" by the American High Quality Committee in 1980s, it is ostensibly a review of the quality of primary and secondary education, but actually a reflection of the relationship between American education and social development, which requires education to constantly adapt to social changes.
1987, Ernest Boyer, a famous American education expert, put forward four basic goals of modern American high school education: (1) to help all students develop critical thinking and communicate effectively in language. (2) Help all students understand the interdependence among themselves, human heritage and the world they live in. (3) Help all students prepare for lifelong education and employment. (4) Help all students fulfill their social responsibilities and civic obligations. The emphasis on communicative competence, the promotion of people's ability to get along with society and social responsibility, and the concern for lifelong education reflect the adjustment of education in the face of social changes.
1988, Bennett, then Minister of Education, wrote in the Report on American Education Reform to President Reagan: No matter what jobs our middle school graduates will take in the future, we should make them people with both knowledge and skills, as well as moral values and civilized qualities. With the infiltration of comprehensive talents's ideas, we can still see the influence of society on education.
After 1997, the United States put the adaptation of education to social change under the concept of inclusive education and lifelong education, and put it on personal happiness and the consistency of society and the times. For example, in the education development strategy of 1997, the federal department of education of the United States clearly pointed out that the goal of middle school education is to "make all students reach certain challenging academic standards and prepare them for becoming responsible citizens, continuing their studies and productive employment in the future." 200165438+1On October 23rd, US President Bush published the report No Child Left Behind, demanding that no child should be left behind at every stage of education. Therefore, in 200 1 and 1 years of American senior high school students, Wood Wilson National Friendship Foundation put forward a resounding slogan: "Let's set our sights farther and never let a senior high school student fall behind", and published the title "Year of Senior High School Students-National Mission", saying: "In the era of agricultural civilization, college education is of great significance to most Americans. In the era of industrial civilization, it was only the natural privilege of a few people. This is normal for many people in the space age. Today, this is common sense for anyone. " The report holds that the goal of high school education is: 1. Cultivate students' studious quality, the habit of critical thinking and the feeling of tireless problem solving, and make full preparations for college education from the aspects of knowledge, ability and emotion. 2. It is necessary to cultivate people whose potentials are fully tapped and fully developed. 3. Cultivate students' ability to apply knowledge in real life, and guide them to closely link today's study with tomorrow's work to prepare for independent life in the future. 4. Let all students have historical knowledge (including the United States and the world) and rich appreciation of literature and art, and become modern civilized people with tasteful life. The report points out that American high schools face three major tasks, namely, improving school alliances, improving academic performance and providing diversified choices.
(B) the combination of core courses and diversified courses
Curriculum is an important means to achieve educational goals, and it can also fully reflect educational goals and school-running purposes. The diversity of American high school curriculum is a remarkable feature. A school can offer dozens or even hundreds of courses. This diversified feature is determined by the nature and school-running purpose of comprehensive middle schools. Comprehensive middle schools in the United States integrate entrance preparation, vocational training and civic education, so naturally many vocational or technical elective courses are offered, and students build their own knowledge structure and ability model, thus naturally creating the educational environment orientation of elite academic flow, vocational and technical flow and general academic flow. In a comprehensive middle school, it is generally divided into three directions: discipline, whose goal is to train qualified freshmen for the university; General subject, the goal is to let students master the necessary civilization accomplishment and be good citizens of society; Liberal arts, the goal is to meet students who are neither in further education nor in employment.
The democratic idea that all men are born equal and everyone has the right to education has also been clearly reflected in today's American high school education. Since middle school is a "melting pot of democracy" and a "people's university", the curriculum of middle school should be multifunctional and diversified, and should be geared to all young people and meet all their needs. Because all the needs of all students must be met, American high schools have to offer various courses. In addition to general basic cultural courses, such as English, mathematics, natural science and social science, American high schools also offer academic courses for students who are interested in further study, and various vocational training courses for students who are not interested in further study. In addition, courses are offered to meet the interests and needs of students who do not intend to pursue further studies or receive vocational training. American high schools implement the credit system, and students can get diplomas after completing the required credits. Courses are divided into compulsory courses and elective courses. After completing the required courses, students can choose academic courses, vocational courses and other courses according to their abilities, interests and needs. Therefore, American high school students have considerable autonomy in choosing courses. Theoretically, every student can determine his own study plan according to his own wishes, so each student's course plan may be different from others.
The curriculum of American middle schools is based on satisfying all students, which embodies the purpose of "satisfying all students' needs". Credit system, elective courses and hierarchical teaching are conducive to personalized education, so that students with different abilities can develop accordingly; But the disadvantages of its curriculum are also obvious. Due to the variety of course names, regardless of local class, and excessive emphasis on practicality, a large number of non-academic courses dilute the basic cultural courses and are criticized as "hodgepodge" and "buffet" courses. Due to the implementation of the credit system, the graduation requirements are lowered, and it is easy for some students to avoid difficulties and try to choose service or entertainment courses, thus lowering the standards of middle school graduates.
In this context, in order to ensure the competitiveness of students and the advantages of the United States, and prevent the decline of education quality and personnel training level, the core curriculum has been put on the agenda and implemented, and the national core curriculum standards have also been formed. Since 1980s, the new federalism initiated by President Reagan, inherited by President Bush and insisted by President Clinton has risen in the United States. In other aspects, they all advocate simple administration and decentralization, and implement "small government and big society". However, in education, these governments are trying to nationalize American education and strengthen the influence of the state on national education, which is manifested in the recognition and strict implementation of the national core curriculum standards.
1983, the National Quality Education Committee headed by the famous scholar Gardner proposed that every middle school student should study English for 4 years, mathematics for 3 years, natural science for 3 years, social science for 3 years and computer science for 6 months. 1987, the United States federal department of education formulated the federal general education standard, and pointed out that "although there is only one curriculum standard, the teaching methods should be varied and vary from person to person", and two years of foreign languages, two years of physical education and six months of art were added as compulsory courses. In this way, the number of compulsory core courses in middle schools has increased to 8. 1990 drew up six goals of American education in 2000, published America in 2000-Education Reform Strategy, and put forward a "new world standard". 1994, the Clinton administration's report "Goals in 2000: American Education Act" was passed.
(c) Pay attention to students' personalities and various developments.
Modern and contemporary American high school education is obviously influenced by the progressive educational trend of thought. Progressivism profoundly criticized the disadvantages of traditional education, such as teacher-centered, classroom-centered, textbook-centered, divorced from social life reality and children's physical and mental development needs. Put forward the concept of "all children" and oppose intellectualism. It can be said that emphasizing respect for students, respecting their interests and needs, encouraging students' personality development and self-expression, and paying attention to cultivating students' healthy personality and various development are another feature of American high school education. This feature is reflected in many aspects, such as teachers' attitude towards students, the organization of school life, teaching methods and evaluation of students. American schools lack the authority of teachers, and classroom teaching mostly adopts discussion style. Students can speak freely and the classroom atmosphere is very relaxed. In addition to considering the various needs of students in classroom settings, American primary and secondary schools also attach great importance to students' personality differences in teaching organization and teaching methods, and advocate personalized education, such as arranging classes according to degree, implementing personalized teaching and hierarchical teaching, in an effort to make every student gain something. Compared with primary and secondary school students in many countries in the world, American students have a much lighter academic burden, not only a short class schedule, but also a short school time every day, so they can have enough time to do what they want.
American primary and secondary school students can have a relaxed learning environment and develop their own personality and talents, which is closely related to the progressive concept of education and talent. In the United States, parents, teachers and students don't attach too much importance to grades, and they don't take grades as the only criterion for evaluating students. They generally look at the practical talent and ability of middle school students to adapt to social life. Similarly, employers don't mainly value candidates' academic qualifications or school achievements, but pay more attention to practical work experience. All these provide a good development soil for students' personality development and various development.
(D) Attach importance to diagnostic evaluation and multivariate evaluation.
In the United States, although the specific historical, cultural and social background has formed a special mode of decentralized management of basic education in the United States, including high school education, successive central and local governments in the United States have attached great importance to the management of education in order to monitor, diagnose and adjust it. In the United States, there are national unified SAT (Academic Assessment Examination) and ACT (American College Examination). The annual college entrance examination in the United States is not only an assessment of students' quality, but also a test of the quality of running a school. At the same time, there are many official and unofficial groups and organizations in the United States, which regularly and irregularly conduct a comprehensive investigation and evaluation of secondary education throughout the country. Those who pass can continue to receive financial support from different channels, and those who fail to pass the comprehensive evaluation for many times will be designated as "unqualified schools", can no longer enjoy funding, or even be closed down or reorganized. In addition, every state and region will hold an examination and evaluation every three years, mainly including the basic contents required by the compulsory core courses, so as to grasp the mastery of the core courses in different grades of high school in time.
From these evaluations, we can see the characteristics of American educational evaluation: diagnostic and pluralistic. Through multi-directional and multi-channel diagnosis and evaluation, we can master the academic performance level of students in various schools, the quality of school learning environment construction, and the social and economic benefits of running schools, so as to take measures to continue to support, correct within a time limit or even close down for rectification.
(5) Students' academic level is not ideal.
The unsatisfactory academic level of students has always been a long-standing problem in American high school education, and it has also made American high school education repeatedly criticized and accused. Whether in the 1950s under the background of the Cold War or in the 1980s under the background of fierce international competition, the academic level of students triggered two debates. In particular, the famous report "The Country is in Crisis: Education Reform is Imperative" in the 1980s blamed the failure of the United States in international competition on basic education, arguing that the academic performance of American primary and secondary school students lags far behind that of other industrial countries. These criticisms are mainly manifested in: in various international academic competitions, American students are almost always at the bottom, functional illiteracy has increased greatly, many high school graduates lack basic reading, writing and calculating skills, and their college entrance examination scores are getting worse year by year.
The low academic level of American senior high school students is closely related to the phenomenon of "four noes" in American senior high school education, that is, there is no unified curriculum standard, no teacher authority, no homework and no exams. In order to reverse this situation, the United States has taken many reform measures: First, the academic level of high school students has generally improved, and there are clear and rigid credit requirements. In the report "Senior Three of Senior High School Students-National Mission", every senior high school graduate is required to complete 32 credits instead of 24 credits in the past. At the same time, students are also required to complete a high-quality project, practice in a designated work unit, and complete a research plan in community service and university curriculum preparation. The second is to determine the core courses, in addition to traditional English, mathematics, natural science, social science and computer technology, foreign languages and art have also been added as core courses; Third, the national curriculum standards and academic evaluation system were established and legalized in the Goal of 2000: American Education Act, which shows that the United States attaches importance to the academic quality of primary and secondary school students.
Second, the enlightenment of American high school education
As mentioned above, the gains and losses of senior high school education in the United States provide many places for our country to learn from: 1. China's high school education has advantages over American high school education in knowledge transmission, but it also has the defects of paying too much attention to ready-made knowledge and facing the past, which makes China's high school education often unable to adapt to the rapidly changing society and life. How to make China's high school education quickly adapt to the ever-changing society and cultivate modern talents that keep pace with the times is an unavoidable major issue for China's high school education. 2. With the rapid development of science and technology, it is increasingly required to take the cultivation of core skills as the basis of rebuilding the high school education system and replace single vocational skills with comprehensive skills. This is the general trend of international high school education development, which is also clearly reflected in American high school education. The so-called core skills include hard skills and soft skills. Hard skills refer to reading ability, calculating ability, problem solving ability and computer application ability. Soft skills refer to universal civic morality and professional accomplishment, teamwork ability and social communication ability. Therefore, attaching importance to the cultivation of core skills should be the most important thing for China's high school education to connect with international high schools. 3. Infiltrating vocational education is the main way to strengthen the connection and communication between ordinary high school education and vocational education. The main form is curriculum convergence, that is, offering vocational education courses in ordinary high schools. In this regard, the curriculum of comprehensive middle schools in the United States, which takes into account both entrance and employment, can provide us with effective reference, but it is also worth learning that the purpose of infiltrating vocational education into ordinary high school education is to comprehensively promote quality education and strengthen the cultivation of core skills. 4. Strengthen the concept of student-oriented, diagnostic evaluation and multiple evaluation, and truly implement the concept of applying what you have learned. In this regard, the multiple criteria for selecting students in American universities, the concept of students' homework in American high schools, and the measures to reduce the burden of students' homework in American high schools are all worthy of our consideration and reference.
The competition in 2 1 century will be education first, and education first will be basic education first. As an important part of basic education, the success or failure of high school education is not only crucial to personal development, but also determines the future of the country and the nation. Therefore, it is very urgent and important to absorb and learn from the advantages of senior high school education in other countries.
Foreign Primary and Secondary Education, No.8, 2005
Topic: Why did American education fail?
Luyuan was released on September 20th, 2000 18: 46.
Why did American education fail? (Hong Kong Ming Pao 2000-09-20)
Which system is better? Professor John Biso of Cornell University has made an in-depth study on the achievements of American students.
First of all, the graduation rate of American middle school students is lower than that of many countries (only about 3/4). Secondly, in some internationally recognized exams, the scores of American middle school students are obviously worse than those of many countries, but the American economy is strong, so the "success or failure" of education may not be terrible. However, Professor Biso pointed out that we must understand that the United States, especially universities and research institutes, attracts a large number of foreign students and immigrants, so it can make up for some economic losses. The success of the United States mainly depends on some scientific talents, continuous innovation, and maintaining the international leading position in productivity. Professor Biso predicts that by 20 10, the annual economic loss caused by education in the United States will exceed $200 billion.
Why did American education fail? One of the reasons is that American students spend more than twice as much time on TV as many developed countries, while American parents are more satisfied with their children than other countries. What's going on here? Because many students do well in school. American universities admit students, in addition to general subjects can rely on SAT, many rely on students' academic performance. As a result, principals put pressure on teachers to reduce the failure rate and increase the proportion of "A". Everyone gets excellent grades in American schools, but many people fail in international competitions.
Professor Biso also found that because students will enter universities in the future, they will be affected by their academic performance, and those who study hard will be excluded by their classmates. This phenomenon is due to the loss of public examinations and the use of school grades.
In short, the United States has paid a heavy price in education and economy because of the cancellation of the "stressful" public examination. And this experience may be worth learning. Alternative scholar
On-the-spot report of Dr. Yang Zhenning at the 2000 annual academic meeting of China Association for Science and Technology (from Netease)
Different societies and countries will have their own different paths. Students educated in the United States often lag behind in international competition, but the American economy, especially the new economy, has developed very successfully recently. I used to think that Japan could catch up with the United States economically, but after the economic crisis, Japan has not recovered. There is now a view that the success of the American economy is due to the failure of the students they have trained. Does this view make sense? Yes, but not all. It makes sense.
In the next 30 years, Asian educational philosophy should learn from what American educational philosophy lacks, so that China people can be more enterprising, more active and more confident, and face the challenges of the 265,438+0th century.
grass
The United States is a country whose founding purpose is to protect individual freedom and respect individual will. This idea is embodied in the education system, forming a tradition of basically letting things drift. American education is first-class in terms of material environment and facilities. However, if we don't put any pressure on primary and secondary school students, spur them, set an example and advocate imitating the advanced relaxed spirit, the result will only be to delay the future of most children.
However, American education also has something to learn from. For example, American middle school education pays more attention to students' development, can give full play to students' personalities and specialties through various channels, and pays attention to cultivating students' consciousness of independence, creativity, competition, adaptation and active participation, thus improving students' comprehensive quality in an all-round way. In contrast, the disadvantages of education in China are exposed. Our teachers pay more attention to imparting knowledge in class, and regard students as containers of knowledge, while neglecting to inspire students' thinking as much as possible.
Lvyuan
It is true that China and the United States have their own advantages in education. We should learn advanced science from other countries, but at the same time, we should prevent plagiarism and learn from the lessons learned by Big Brother.
The hardest job in the world-witnessing American primary and secondary schools. A court in California accepted a lawsuit, and parents of students sued the principal and teachers of the school. The student wrote an article in which he insulted the teacher and the headmaster and threatened to take some extreme actions to destroy the school. This article was discovered by the teacher and reported to the principal's office. The headmaster was very angry and fined the student a day. The students themselves didn't care, but the parents didn't agree and went to the local court. In addition, other parents also joined the parent's complaint, criticizing the teacher and the principal for overreacting and should not punish the students like this. After the court debate, the judge hit the teacher, the principal and the students fifty times each. As a result, he insulted the teacher and the principal claimed compensation.