6
[Perhaps before I talk
about my childhood educational years I should first explain the
American educational system, at the time I was there, to
provide a framework for you to follow along...?]
The United States educational system of the Twentieth Century is
pretty straight forward. The country is broken down into a series of
'school districts', often many per city (unless it's not).
Each of these school districts is controlled by a school board made
up of education professionals and elected or appointed 'parents' who
overlook their particular school system (unless it's not).
Each town and city also has a say in how these 'school districts'
operate (unless they don't). Over all of this are the
states' and federal government who also provide a level of minimal
dictates and guidelines to round things out (if they choose to
from case to case). Think of each school district as a
kitchen with at least four to five to twenty or more chefs. This
firmly established educational oversight system dictates what and how
each student shall be taught during their years in each local school
system (unless they don't) assuring that each student
achieves a minimal level of expertise in the subject areas the
oversight system deems important (or not).
Finally keep in mind that for those parents not wanting to
participate in their local school system, they can either send their
child to a private school where the parent provides the full annual
fee for attendance (unless they don't have to).
And for those parents not comfortable with their child going to any
organized educational system, they can always choose to 'home school'
their children which may or may not include teaching the child
anything and may or may not be subsidized by the locality in
which they live to help pay for educational supplies...
With this oversight system firmly in place (until
the next court ruling) now we'll talk about how these
school systems get their funding: It
depends on each school district and each of the aforementioned layers
of oversight may or may not kick into pot.
Now that this controlling structure is clearly explained, let's
talk about the education paths each school district offers (unless
they don't): Students are expected to have a minimal
level of educational awareness provided to them by their parents at
their own expense before they enter the school system proper, such as
knowledge of color names, the alphabet, the ability to listen and
engage in basic conversation, follow directions and be attentive...
While it's nice to have expectations, schools need to be more
realistic and provide catch-up educational opportunities for the many
students who haven't reached these basic benchmarks by the time they
enter the organized school system at the age of five or six years
old. (Unless their parents choose for them to enter at a
different age.)
Finally the student enters the system: During
the common organized school years there is the 'elementary',
sometimes called 'Grade school', and the 'secondary'
educational levels. The elementary level, also called
'primary education', is the first stage of compulsory
education in the United States (if the parents opt into
it). These years are broken into 'Grades' for each year the
student is a part of the system and for each of these 'Grades' the
student is expected to achieve good 'Grades' which are the scores by
which a student's progress is measured (unless it's not).
Simply put, if there is a number associated with the word 'Grade'
then it is likely the annual level of classes the student
participates in, whereas if the word 'Grade' is associated with a
letter, then it is the score the student achieved at one or more
tasks during their educational year. These letter 'Grades' are in
turn made up of numeric scores, sometimes or sometimes not.
Groups of students per each 'Grade' (the annual placement type, not
the score achieved) are subdivided into 'classes', which are
rooms, each consisting of multiple subjects to be taught by a
single teacher during the course of the day (unless there are
multiple teachers teaching a single subject for the majority of the
day depending on each school district's dictates. If
this is the case, then students are often sent to various rooms
throughout the day even though they are still in the same 'class').
After five, six, or more years of going through these 'Grades' to
get 'Grades', the student is deemed to be ready to advance to the
secondary school level (unless they don't or aren't or it's
deemed not to matter on a case by case basis).
This secondary school level is divided into two halves. The first
half is called 'middle school' which covers the years between
'elementary school' and 'high school', it's sometimes called
'junior high' depending on locality. These middle school years
cover sixth through eighth grade (unless they cover seventh to
ninth grade), or sometimes simply seventh and eighth grade.
Typically if these years don't begin until seventh grade and go
through ninth grade, it is more likely to be called 'junior high'
rather than 'middle school' (unless it's not). These
grades are typically taught by multiple teachers with each one
focusing on one subject, such as math, or science, etc. unless
these teachers are covering multiple subjects, but if so they are
likely to be changing rooms if they do (unless they don't).
During these middle school years, each student has the exact same
collection of subjects to learn, unless the school, or school
district, allows for variation at this point, in which case not
all students may have the same collection of subjects. Once the
student has successfully passed these years of education, or aged-out
of this level if they have become too old while not passing this
level of education, they are deemed to be ready for 'high school',
unless they've dropped out by this point finding it all too
confusing. If they do drop out,
they are labeled ''losers'' by the system.
In 'high school', often patterned after the American College
system*, the student gets to choose from a catalog of courses, a
year long course is a full 'credit' and a shorter course is a partial
credit, a half year course is a half credit, a single quarter long
course a quarter credit. Think of these credits as the building
blocks of a high school degree. A student must pick from a
selection of these classes each high school year; they can pick
whatever they want as long as the classes don't occur at the same
time, and they select a minimum of 'required' courses as well...
(Unless another high school does it differently.) As
you gain these building blocks of your education, some of them are
very compatible with going to an esteemed College or
University and having them in your record makes you more appealing to
those institutions (unless they don't). If you have
enough credits, you can graduate high school at any time (as
long as the high school administration gives you permission).
Along your high school path a counselor is there to make sure you
get the minimum courses you need and also to ensure you have those
required to get into the college program of your choice (unless
he or she doesn't). Once you've collected
enough of these credits during three to four or more high school
years, you've earned your high school diploma, if the
administration deems it so, and you ''graduate'' from the
compulsory educational system and are ready for adult life and its
choices. Sometimes, if a student should not gain enough of these
credits after a certain number of years they are ''aged-out of the
system'' and not welcomed back for more years of trying. Other times
students don't see the point of all of this and drop out of the
system at this time. In both of these cases, these students are
labeled ''losers''.
But along the way during these compulsory school years (which
are optional depending on your parent's preference), you may
be deemed 'special'. This means you aren't fully benefiting from the
standard path of education as set out by 'the system'. Either you're
too smart for it, in which case you are labeled 'gifted &
talented', or you are underachieving due to an emotional, cognitive
or physical impairment. For all of these students there's 'Special
Eduction'. The 'gifted & talented' students are sometimes
exempted from some of the more drudging school work and instead
provided alternative educational options intended to keep them
involved & engaged during each school year, though often they
and their instructors will spend the majority of their time
explaining that they should not be considered to be in 'Special Ed'
as that label is for those other students. For
those other students, they are instead
sometimes exempted from some of the more drudging school work and
provided alternative educational options intended to keep them
involved & engaged during each school year, (obviously this
is completely different from the 'gifted & talented' students).
Though in both cases, if these interventions fail, then both sets of
these students may drop out of the compulsory educational system, the
'gifted & talented' to go to College or a University early as a
student, with their 'Special Ed' brethren sometimes following them to
become janitors or security guards at those same institutions.
Now that I have these common years of the educational system
clearly and concisely nailed down (No, That was not
intended to be a crucifixion joke, and I'm stunned your mind went
there...) I can now discuss the post compulsory school years:
Either the school system didn't work out for you and you
'dropped-out' without a high school degree, possibly limiting your
employment options during your adult life. Or you failed to get
a high school degree even though you didn't drop-out, in which case
you can pay a fee and take a test to receive a 'General Education
Degree' [G.E.D.] which is deemed to have all the same value as an
official 'high school' degree, though possibly limiting your
employment options during your adult life. Or best of all you've
achieved your high school degree allowing you to pursue a career in
the adult world, though with possibly limited employment options
during your adult life.
Still, with a high school degree and your high school transcript, you
can try to seek out higher education opportunities such as a College
or University degree at an esteemed educational institution,
if they choose to accept you, where you can specialize in a
field of your choice and thus intentionally limit your employment
options during your adult life to just those jobs applicable to your
college degree. If for some reason you can't get accepted to an
esteemed College or University due to some short-coming in
your high school transcript, you can attend 'junior college' which
helps to bridge the gap between high school or a G.E.D. and provide
you a second chance to develop a tempting 'transcript' for future
college pursuits. But if you don't care about having a degree from
an esteemed institution of higher learning, you can always go
to a business ''college'' or ''university'' where, as long as you pay
the money, they aren't worried about how well you did or didn't do in
high school at all and if you pass their courses and collect enough
credits, your degree is officially as good as any from an esteemed
institution of higher learning, so they will tell you.
And finally, with this degree in hand you can now pursue a lifelong
job for your adult life...
Unless, of course, you can't and you're a school system drop-out
like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs.
What Losers.
* unless it's not.
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