Read the following article and do the tasksAMERICAN EDUCATIONA. American education is designed to provide equality of opportunity. It is also designed to take account of individual differences and abilities. In order to realize these two aims, the American educational system has been shaped in certain characteristic ways.B. Fundamental in American education is the “single track” system of organization, consisting of a primary school which leads directly into a secondary school without an entrance examination, and a “comprehensive” secondary school which leads directly (by no means so easily) into a college or university. This system permits each child to go as far as he can along this track, with a maximum freedom of choice. The university is always open to him at the end of the road, on the condition that he succeeds with his studies. This is in contrast to the European “two- track” system in which a minority of children are admitted to an academic secondary school which leads to a university, while the majority follow a course which ends with the completion of elementary school or permits them to enter a vocational secondary school which does not lead to a university.C. This freedom to attend secondary school and to enter a university- always providing one has successfully completed one’s course of study- makes American education a road to social and economic advancement, especially when combined with free or low-cost instruction. In the United states public elementary and secondary schools are free of cost, and public-supported colleges and universities have such low frees that they, too, may be said to be effectively free. At present over 30 percent of American youth enter a college or university of some kind, and about 15 percent complete a four-year course.D. However, there is a great danger in an educational system as open and accessible as this: the danger is that all children might be treated in the same way, as if they were all alike. To avoid this, American schools have tried to adapt their education to individual needs, so that everyone will have an opportunity to profit, according to his own abilities and interests. Even though this practice falls short of the ideal, there are a number of ways by which the varying abilities, needs, and interests of individual students are served.
E. One common practice is to group students in the secondary schools by ability. There may be three groups, for example, for three different levels of ability among a class of students at a particular age. The ablest group will probably be given academic rather than vocational courses and will be expected to maintain a higher level of achievement than the other two. The middle-level group will be
expected to master the work of the class without such great proficiency, but with a quality of performance that may lead to university entrance for those who want it. The lower-level group is given a more practical type of instruction, suited to people who will work with their hands or in positions demanding less complex skills.
F. At present the practice of grouping students by ability is growing more popular, but it is not customary yet in the majority of schools. Americans have always been slow to adopt any form of education that implies that members of one group are basically inferior to those of another. Even though differences in ability exist in any class, it is also argued that young people can learn just as well or better in groups of mixed abilities.
G. However, there is general agreement that one group of children must have separate classes and special instruction. These are the handicapped, whether by blindness, deafness, birth injury, crippling disease, or a very low mental ability. These pupils are usually taught by specially trained teachers in small classes consisting of children with similar handicaps.
H. Another means of furnishing different kinds of education for students of different aims and abilities is to offer them a variety of types of occupational training both at secondary and at higher levels. Secondary schools offer courses in secretarial work, commercial skills, agriculture, printing, auto mechanics, and so on. In some of the larger cities, there are vocational high schools which offer only courses of this nature. At the postsecondary level, there are schools of nurses’ training, for secretarial training, for operating business and other machines, for commercial subjects.
I. American universities also have a wide variety of professional schools, including schools of law, theology, medicine, dentistry, engineering, architecture, music, education, business administration, journalism, agriculture, forestry, and even sometimes specialized fields such as hotel management. Some people feel it is unwise to combine the essentially intellectual and scientific with the highly practical. Others disagree, pointing out that the public university is an essential agency of society and that it must meet cer
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