American Schools 1

Philosophy and approach of American schools and school systems

[Author]

[Institution]

American Schools 2

Introduction

During the twentieth century, prominent changes took place in

both American public elementary as well as secondary education.

Massive democratization of enrollment occurred. School

administration converted into specialized offices which were

headed by extremely trained staff. There was a huge increase in

the number of people completing their high school. It was called

as the second transformation of education in America by Trow in

1961. The rate of high school graduation increased up to 80

percent for both men and women in the early 1980s. By 1992, it

went beyond 90 percent. (Mare; 1995)

In the United States, secondary and elementary schools became a

mass enterprise at the beginning of twenty first century. The

American public education system today is providing equal

opportunities and access to education for every child belonging

to any race. At present, it doesn’t meet the standard of

universal success which is the idea that every child learns at

the same high standard independent of any racial, economic,

cognitive, physical, ethnic or mental condition. There must be

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some transformations in the educational system in order to meet

the standards of universal success. Today, there is a very

complex political, global and economic environment in the United

States of America. (Bradbury; 2003) Children undergo high

competition both domestically as well as internationally in order

to maintain America’s standard of living. Going through this

competition needs a flexible and a strong educational system that

transforms children into highly competent workers. The need for

strong social support is inevitable for the betterment and

healthy growth of children. (Noddings; 2005)

The American citizens should focus on the care and nurture of

every child as well as their family structure. It is the duty of

educators to behave in such a way that supports the idea of

universal success for every student. They must have the belief

that every child is able to get skilled academically. Moreover,

it is the duty of school systems to educate every student so that

they can meet the high standards of competition in today’s world.

The public school systems must affect the growth of students in

appositive way and provide best services to the children.

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Educators must participate in educational leadership programs so

that they gain more knowledge and skills which are essential for

bringing a positive change in the system. Educational leadership

must be effective in order to bring change in the educational

system and must build the capacity for that change. (Michael

Birnbaum; 2009)

If the school leaders want to improve the performance of students

in America’s public schools then they will have to convert their

bureaucratic organizations into learning organizations. The only

solution for the problems faced by American public education is

the model for learning organization. The innovators and thinkers

that are needed for America’s bright future cannot be developed

by such bureaucracies. This transformation depends on the ability

of the leaders who have the knowledge of dynamics of change in a

system. Moreover, at the local level, the educational leaders

must push the higher authorities in order to end the negative

effects exerted by the bureaucracies on our schools. There is a

lot of difference between a learning organization and

bureaucracies. They make a difference in the way in which schools

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function. In a bureaucratic environment, the system is driven by

impersonal evaluations. On the other hand, in learning

organizations, the system is driven by disciplined conversation

and dialogues based on values. (McKinsey; 2009)

Achieving self-renewing and sustainable changes in American

schools system needs a basic shift in the way we think. The most

common method for the transformation of organizational structure

is to adapt new ways and new programs. Paradigm shift will be

required for a systematic change which is actually the shift in

the work done at schools. Educational systems should develop to

increase their effectiveness by time. Sustainable improvement in

performance need continuous learning within and among education

systems, schools and higher education institutions. The capacity

of education systems in America should be strengthened as

learning organizations. Organizational learning can be formal or

intentional. It involves design of randomized experiments that

compare the effects of different curricula. It also creates

environments promoting the exchange of information about

teachers’ experiences. (Marrett, Cora B.; 1990)

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American high schools follow that idea of reliability, efficiency

and replaceable parts. Hence, it makes sure that America can

design for long term. Understanding American schools needs

examining their evolution, political dynamics, purposes and

structure. The way in which schools operate usually involve many

assumptions and misconceptions. People think that only skills and

content are taught in schools such as math, English, history,

social studies and reading and writing. Extracurricular

activities include proms, football and children peer groups. When

political leaders give their education agendas, majority of

people think that funding for schools come from the government.

The duty of schools are much more than teaching content.

Independent of their complexity or size, schools perform a number

of less obvious functions. (Berliner, David c.; 1995)

American Schools that are established by communities provide both

educational as well as extracurricular activities. Hence, school

becomes a center for political, social and cultural community

events. In United States, schools are mostly local rather than

being national. These schools are headed by locally selected

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officers and the superintendents appointed by those officers. The

majority of funds for these schools come from local property

taxes. In comparison to the schools of other countries, American

schools undergo radical decentralization originated from

democratic localism. (Demarrias; 1999)

In majority of the countries, school curricula, teachers’

qualification and salaries, instructional procedures and school

budgets all are handled by national ministry or office. However,

in case of United States, it is specified in the constitution

that it is the duty of individual state to provide education.

These individual states hand over this responsibility of

schooling to local communities. In other countries, funding for

school is usually shared by established church and the national

government. On the other hand, in United States, religious and

secular affairs are separated by the constitution and this

mandate is applied on public schools as well. In some communities

like large catholic population, strong parochial school systems

exist. While home-schooling, private schools and semi-private

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charter schools are also getting popular among people. Small

number of U.S. children are enrolled in such schools.

Public schools are nowhere run by locally elected officials. This

is a prominent feature of United States only. Another difference

which we find in American public schools is that more than half

of the funding is generated from local community. Government

gives only seven percent of school revenues. The funding provided

by the government is spent on a few specific programs such as

vocational training, aid to districts near military bases, school

lunches, entitlement programs for language minority and disabled

children, programs for children living in financially weak

communities. This funding pattern make American schools

vulnerable to effects of taxpayers, business interests, interest

groups and middle and upper class residents. (Cuban, Larry; 1993)

School structures must be analyzed on organizational and academic

levels. Contradictions of purposes, functioning, goals and

control confuse the way in which schools work in different

communities. American school differ in economic resource bases,

specific constituencies like industries, labor unions and

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religious groups, historical factors, demographic characteristics

and proximity to urban centers. There are multiple purposes of

American schools and each purpose has its own effect on the

organization and goals of the school. These goals may be

contradictory to each other due to which dilemmas are faced by

the schools complicating their organizational structure. Schools

are supposed to provide the solution to a number of social

problems that include disability, fraying of civic culture,

illness of students and poverty. (Dworkin; 2001)

American society considers schools to train children for jobs who

are not going to attend college in future. In addition to this,

students who are going to attend college should be provided

college preparatory training. There were separate institutions

for such trainings in past. Public schools originated in the mid

of nineteenth century. Their main purposes were providing school

level training in computation, reading, writing and seldom

provide citizenship to children not able to afford the expenses

of education. Public elementary schools used to provide

apprenticeship programs for poor and working class children.

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Children from well off families used to learn basics at home from

their tutors, governesses or parents. When they grew up, they

used to get admissions in private academies proving college

preparatory training and classical arts. This private academic

training method brought social class differences among society.

Although some of the private academies gave scholarships to poor

deserving children.

To solve this dichotomy, comprehensive public schools were

established but they could not resolve the differences between

the two types of schooling. In early twentieth century, the

demand for numeracy and literacy increased to a great extent in

labor market. Private academies were unaffordable for ordinary

people and they were insufficient to meet the demands of more

schooling. Due to these reasons, American comprehensive high

schools were established which aimed to provide free of cost

education to all the students without any discrimination. This

step was appreciated by both business people and labor unions

because it was providing good vocational training for working

class. But it was not welcomed by the people who urge to

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distinguish their children academically, socially and

occupationally from the ones trained in vocational programs.

Citizenship in American Schools:

American society asks their schools to cultivate the good

qualities of values, attitudes and habits in children in order to

make them good citizens. It is the duty of schools to provide

civic training in order to form allegiance to the political

system of society and to uniform cultural values. This purpose is

easily achievable in a uniform society but very difficult to

achieve in a multicultural, polyglot society.(Garson, Michael;

2010) The American public schools were initially given the

responsibility of Americanizing the immigrant children i.e.

making them familiar with American English language and teach

them the desirable habits of hygiene, obedience to laws, industry

and thrift. Civic and moral education was included in the social

studies course of high schools. The focus of this course changed

and the new purpose was to make the students aware of the

American economic and Government system and teach the students

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how to vote appropriately and give their participation in

political activities of their country. (Hoy, Wayne K.; 1998)

It became a hectic task in united states to form a homogenous

culture, law abiding and English-speaking citizenry because the

country had become more religiously, ethnically, culturally and

linguistically diverse. In early twenty-first century, the duty

of schools was to serve children with physical, mental or

emotional disabilities, children who were not able to write or

speak English, children whose parents were poor, absent,

nontraditional, unable to participate in their child’s education,

non-English speaking, disabled or poorly educated. In order to

ensure academic success for the children with such problems

needed to establish a number of support services such as meals at

schools, counselling, bus transportation, health screenings,

language training, free clothing and medical care. These support

services had added innovative organization levels to schools.

(Ballantine, Hammock; 2012)

Some ethnic groups argued that each school should practice its

own heritage, origin and experience. This situation created

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dilemma for schools whether to produce uniform American culture

or to promote multiculturalism or diversity. If the schools

started to promote diversity then what changes had to be done in

school instruction, structure and curricula. All these claims

complicated the structure of schools and confused their goals.

More departments and staff had to be added to schools. (Honig;

2009)

Social life in American schools:

The most prominent feature of school life for children is the

social activities and the friends they find in their schools. It

is a duty of American schools to teach children how to maintain

healthy relationships in order to build a society that is full of

trust and peace. (MacLeod; 2009) American schools create a wide

variety of extracurricular activities in order to motivate

students who are weak academically. Theses extracurricular

activities include competitive athletics, drama, music, debates

etc. Athletics is particularly an important consumer of staff

energy, school time, space and money. (Hurn; 1993)

American schools as Bureaucratic hierarchies:

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Bureaucratic model assumes authority structures and unambiguous

goals, operations on the basis of rational logic and professional

judgment, consistent accountability, fair operating rules. If a

superior staff member commands, it is regarded to be the duty of

subordinate to follow that order otherwise risk sanctions. Funds

for schools can be generated. These assumptions seem to describe

businesses rather than schools. Most of the authorities on school

boards include business people and they usually fail to

distinguish between schools and businesses because they are more

familiar with the operation of businesses. (Anyon, J.; 1981)

Business like models are more valued in American cultures rather

than the ideal structures for schools. Business influence is so

much on American schools that most of the school systems

involving age grading, accountability system, supervisory

pattern, and ergonomic desks and fifty minutes periods are all

adapted from the movement of scientific management which was

conducted in 1920s. This movement proved to be the revolution for

industries and it was implicated on schools as well. (Hemmings,

A.; 1990)

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Structure and Funding of American schools:

American schools are divided in to grades in accordance with

students’ ages. Elementary teachers teach all the subjects to one

grade of students. In junior high schools or middle schools,

teachers only teach a subject in which they have specialized. The

high school model is retained in the ninth grade. The schedule of

classes for a student is according to the subjects he chose.

Teachers are departmentalized in high schools according to the

subject area for example departments of English, Spanish,

business practice, French, biology, mathematics, physics, social

studies and other subjects. (McNeil; 1986)

Larger schools have more departments and are able to offer a

number of other subjects as well. Large size can be beneficial in

many respects but it can cause alienation for students as well as

teachers. Because they both will not be able to know all their

batch mates or students. In American schools, team teaching and

the method of sharing classrooms are also found. Large size

schools also prevent teachers to get excessive supervision from

the administrators or principals. (Powell, Farrar; 1985)

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Budgets and funding:

American school funding is based on superintendent’s decision and

school board priorities. Districts that go through emergencies -

like building destroyed by fire, immediate obsolescence due to

earthquake codes, admission of needy student, increased

enrollment due to growth in population- are unable to raise funds

immediately to meet the requirements. School personnel can only

argue for additional funds but they are not authorized to compel.

They just have to wait for the political cycle to get their funds

increased. In the same way, there is little control of districts

on the revenue generated from state foundational funds. These

funds are known as ADA because they are generated on the basis of

average daily attendance of students living in the district. A

certain amount of money is given to each district for every child

who is enrolled in the mid of October. These educational funds

are raised by states from a number of sources such as sales tax,

gasoline taxes and lotteries. (Sweetland; 2000)

School board officials are often elected due to the reason they

make promises to redirect or reform educational practices and

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policies. But afterwards, they are usually unable to affect the

revenues and budgets that are already established. However, few

attempts have been made to change the nature of funding for

schools over the years. The states who have given huge amount of

funding to the schools belonging to poor districts in order to

bring equalization have always faced strong opposition from well

off communities because they fear to lose their privileged

position. This difference cannot be met by federal funds because

they are meant for specific purposes only. (Hernandez; 2009)

School boards in America:

Local governments are elected in the form of school boards to as

a representative of ideas of local communities. School boards go

through a bum rap in some of the cases. They may seem

inconsequential. But, some of the times, school boards are left

with limited power and few choices due to circumstances. They are

competing in a world in which they are blamed to enjoy monopoly.

They usually run out of the fiscal wiggle room when they want to

promote some initiatives. In the 19th century, American school

boards were reduced in size since the operations were handed over

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to superintendents but still the school boards were considered as

the symbol of democracy. Till today, the world of American public

education has transformed to a great extent. The influence of

states as well as then federal government has increased. New

governance models consider school boards as obsolete in some

localities. Moreover, school boards are also restricted in their

spending decisions due to financial pressures.

Critics such as Frederick m. Hess and Mark tucker have

recommended the surgery of this whole school board system. Tucker

suggests that teachers should be hired by the state rather than

local district. Teacher should have the authority to change the

operation of school and they must be given equal partnership in

school operations. He thinks that such changes would increase the

caliber of school board members and make them responsible for

improving the quality of school education. Ravitch tells us that

there is no more the existence of a real school board in New

York. This is the result of less accountability, less number of

checks and balance, loss of a platform for the expression of

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ideas of parents and no transparency of budget. (G.I. Maeroff;

2010)

Instructional quality in American schools:

To raise the standard of education for children, state and

national level competency tests were conducted for both

experienced as well as beginning teachers. According to the

reforms, the teachers who failed the test had to be immediately

fired. In practice, the passing requirement for the teachers were

kept quite low. Many remedial opportunities were provided

afterwards. Some teachers seemed to be poorly prepared for the

test. The testing program also restricted districts to a small

extent about hiring and retaining teachers. Historically, larger

school districts were divided into zones and students had to

attend the school which was zoned for them. But sometimes thee

parents were dissatisfied with the neighboring school performance

so they wanted to enroll their students in some other school.

This is the reason why open enrollment policies were made which

dismantled the attendance zones.

The imperative for educational reforms:

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In early 1980s, political forces made a commission to increase

students’ performance. This commission gave its report named a

nation at risk. The purpose of this report was to improve

education quality by raising education standards. As a result of

demanding high expectations from students, the number of courses

that were required for graduation from high school was increased.

Passing test scores were also raised from one grade to another.

National and district level tests were conducted to measure

students’ performance. Researchers loosely group school climate

together with the studies of school environment learning climate,

leadership, learning environment, sense of community, social

climate and academic climate. School climate is defined as the

shared perceptions of attitudes. When teachers believe in their

talent that they can execute and organize their teaching style in

a successful way so as to help students to learn more, and when

the school climate is supportive then teachers are not

discouraged by temporary setbacks and purposefully act to enhance

students’ performance. The issue American schools are facing

today is that the medium of teaching is English language. Almost

9.7 million children ranging from ages 5 years to 17 years speak

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other languages at home. About 1.3 million fail to speak English

well.

Conclusion:

American schools education system looks pretty good and evidences

are present about both marked improvement as well as high

performance. America has a dismal record of inequality because it

treats its brightest minds very well. According to a result of a

research conducted in the world, United States has the highest

number of brightest and most promising students in the world. Yet

it is shocking that United States ranks in the middle concerning

the students’ performance as compared to its global economic

competitors like China. Continued efforts should be made to

improve education standard, conduct programs to raise the skills

of teachers and hold all the stake holders including teachers,

parents as well as the business community to be accountable for

the betterment of nation’s future.

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