Education in Cambodia

Education in Cambodia
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Public School System
Traditional education in Cambodia was handled by the local wat, and the bonzes were the
teachers. The students were almost entirely young boys, and the education was limited to
memorizing Buddhist chants in Pali. During the period of the French protectorate, an educational
system based on the French model was inaugurated alongside the traditional system. Initially, the
French neglected education in Cambodia. Only seven high school students graduated in 1931,
and only 50,000 to 60,000 children were enrolled in primary school in 1936. In the year
immediately following independence, the number of students rapidly increased. Vickery suggests
that education of any kind was considered an "absolute good" by all Cambodians and that this
attitude eventually created a large group of unemployed or underemployed graduates by the late
1960s.
From the early twentieth century until 1975, the system of mass education operated on the French
model. The educational system was divided into primary, secondary, higher, and specialized
levels. Public education was under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education, which exercised
full control over the entire system; it established syllabi, hired and paid teachers, provided
supplies, and inspected schools. An inspector of primary education, who had considerable
authority, was assigned to each province. Cultural committees under the Ministry of Education
were responsible for "enriching the Cambodian language."
Primary education, divided into two cycles of three years each, was carried out in state-run and
temple-run schools. Successful completion of a final state examination led to the award of a
certificate after each cycle. The primary education curriculum consisted of arithmetic, history,
ethics, civics, drafting, geography, hygiene, language, and science. In addition, the curriculum
included physical education and manual work. French language instruction began in the second
year. Khmer was the language of instruction in the first cycle, but French was used in the second
cycle and thereafter. By the early 1970s, Khmer was used more widely in primary education. In
the 1980s, primary school ran from the first to the fourth grade. Theoretically one primary school
served each village. Secondary education also was divided into two cycles, one of four years
taught at a college, followed by one of three years taught at a lycée. Upon completion of the first
cycle, students could take a state examination. Successful candidates received a secondary
diploma. Upon completion of the first two years of the second cycle, students could take a state
examination for the first baccalaureate, and, following their final year, they could take a similar
examination for the second baccalaureate. The Cambodian secondary curriculum was similar to
that found in France. Beginning in 1967, the last three years of secondary school were split up
into three sections according to major subjects--letters, mathematics and technology; agriculture;
and biology. In the late 1960s and the early 1970s, the country emphasized a technical education.
In the PRK, secondary education was reduced to six years.
Higher education lagged well behind primary and secondary education, until the late 1950s. The
only facility in the country for higher education before the 1960s was the National Institute of
Legal, Political, and Economic Studies, which trained civil servants. In the late 1950s, it had
about 250 students. Wealthy Cambodians and those who had government scholarships sought
university-level education abroad. Students attended schools in France, but after independence
increasing numbers enrolled at universities in the United States, Canada, China, the Soviet Union,
and the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). By 1970 universities with a total
enrollment of nearly 9,000 students served Cambodia. The largest, the University of Phnom
Penh, had nearly 4,570 male students and more than 730 female students in eight departments--
letters and humanities, science and technology, law and economics, medicine, pharmacy,
commercial science, teacher training, and higher teacher training. Universities operated in the
provinces of Kampong Cham, Takev, Batdambang; and in Phnom Penh, the University of
Agricultural Sciences and the University of Fine Arts offered training. The increased fighting
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following the 1970 coup closed the three provincial universities.
During the Khmer Rouge regime, education was dealt a severe setback, and the great strides
made in literacy and in education during the two decades following independence were
obliterated systematically. Schools were closed, and educated people and teachers were subjected
to, at the least, suspicion and harsh treatment and, at the worst, execution. At the beginning of the
1970s, more than 20,000 teachers lived in Cambodia; only about 5,000 of the teachers remained
10 years later. Soviet sources report that 90 percent of all teachers were killed under the Khmer
Rouge regime. Only 50 of the 725 university instructors, 207 of the 2,300 secondary school
teachers, and 2,717 of the 21,311 primary school teachers survived. The meager educational fare
was centered on precepts of the Khmer revolution; young people were rigidly indoctrinated, but
literacy was neglected, and an entire generation of Cambodian children grew up illiterate. After
the Khmer Rouge were driven from power, the educational system had to be re-created from
almost nothing. Illiteracy had climbed to more than 40 percent, and most young people under the
age of 14 lacked any basic education.
Education began making a slow comeback, following the establishment of the PRK. In 1986 the
following main institutions of higher education were reported in the PRK: the Faculty of
Medicine and Pharmacy (reopened in 1980 with a six-year course of study); the Chamcar Daung
Faculty of Agriculture (opened in 1985); the Kampuchea-USSR Friendship Technical Institute
(which includes technical and engineering curricula), the Institute of Languages (Vietnamese,
German, Russian, and Spanish are taught); the Institute of Commerce, the Center for Pedagogical
Education (formed in 1979); the Normal Advanced School; and the School of Fine Arts. Writing
about the educational system under the PRK, Vickery states, "Both the government and the
people have demonstrated enthusiasm for education . . . . The list of subjects covered is little
different from that of prewar years. There is perhaps more time devoted to Khmer language and
literature than before the war and, until the 1984-85 school year, at least, no foreign language
instruction." He notes that the secondary school syllabus calls for four hours of foreign language
instruction per week in either Russian, German, or Vietnamese but that there were no teachers
available.
Martin describes the educational system in the PRK as based very closely on the Vietnamese
model, pointing out that even the terms for primary and secondary education have been changed
into direct translations of the Vietnamese terms. Under the PRK regime, according to Martin, the
primary cycle had four instead of six classes, the first level of secondary education had three
instead of four classes, and the second level of secondary education had three classes. Martin
writes that not every young person could go to school because schooling both in towns and in the
countryside required enrollment fees. Civil servants pay 25 riels per month to send a child to
school, and others pay up to 150 riels per month. Once again, according to Martin, "Access to
tertiary studies is reserved for children whose parents work for the regime and have demonstrated
proof of their loyalty to the regime." She writes that, from the primary level on, the contents of all
textbooks except for alphabet books was politically oriented and dealt "more specifically with
Vietnam." From the beginning of the secondary cycle, Vietnamese language study was
compulsory.
Private Education
For a portion of the urban population in Cambodia, private education was important in the years
before the communist takeover. Some private schools were operated by ethnic or religious
minorities--Chinese, Vietnamese, European, Roman Catholic, and Muslim--so that children could
study their own language, culture, or religion. Other schools provided education to indigenous
children who could not gain admission to a public school. Attendance at some of the private
schools, especially those in Phnom Penh, conferred a certain amount of prestige on the student
and on the student's family.
The private educational system included Chinese-language schools, Vietnamese-language (often
Roman Catholic) schools, French-language schools, English-language schools, and
Khmerlanguage schools. Enrollment in private primary schools rose from 32,000 in the early

1960s to about 53,500 in 1970, although enrollment in private secondary schools dropped from
about 19,000 to fewer than 8,700 for the same period. In 1962 there were 195 Chinese schools,
40 Khmer schools, 15 Vietnamese schools, and 14 French schools operating in Cambodia.
Private secondary education was represented by several high schools, notably the Lycée
Descartes in Phnom Penh.
All of the Vietnamese schools in Phnom Penh and some of the Chinese schools there were closed
by government decree in 1970. There was no information available in 1987 that would have
indicated the presence of any private schools in the PRK, although there was some private
instruction, especially in foreign languages.
1. After the devastation of the Khmer Rouge period, the PRK tried to rebuild a national education
system:
with generous funding from international donors.
With almost total lack of resources both human and material
With an emphasis on quantity over quality
Using exclusively Vietnamese teachers
B and C above.
2. What percentage of the Cambodian population is basically illiterate (either completely illiterate
or semi-literate)? (year 2000 statistics)
5%
18 %
26 %
43 %
62 %
3. What changes in the 1990s have been important for the improvement of Cambodian education?
increased government spending, rebuilding of schools, reprinting of textbooks.
Increases in salaries for teachers
The opening of high quality private universities
A shift of funding responsibilities from parents to the government
All of the above.
4. The education of girls lags far behind that of boys in Cambodia, while they are nearly half
(46.2 %) of primary school students, in lower secondary school this drops to:
40 %
37 %
22 %
10 %
5. The reason parents give for why girls are kept at home is:
girls are needed for household chores.
It is not safe for girls to travel the longer distances to school
School is too expensive
All of the above.
Modern education progressed very slowly in Cambodia. The French colonial rulers did not pay
attention to educating Khmer. It was not until the late 1930s that the first high school opened.
However, after gaining independence from France, the government of Prince Norodom Sihanouk
made substantial progress in the field of education in the 1950s and 1960s. Elementary and
secondary education was expanded to various parts of the country, while higher learning
institutions such as vocational institutions, teacher-training centers and universities were
established. Unfortunately, the progress of these decades was obstructed by the civil war
following the overthrow of Prince Sihanouk in the 1970 and then destroyed by the Khmer Rouge
regime.
In an attempt to rebuild a new Cambodia with new revolutionary men and women, the Khmer
Rouge set out to eradicate the old elements of Cambodia’s society, including the old education

system. Like their Maoist counterparts in China, the Khmer Rouge leaders emphasized manual
labor and political correctness over knowledge. They claimed "rice fields were books, and hoes
were pencils." As such, Cambodia did not need an educational system. The Khmer Rouge leaders
deliberately destroyed the foundations of a modern education. People with higher education such
as doctors, lawyers, teachers, professors, and former college students were killed or forced to
work in labor camps. The Khmer Rouge also engaged in the physical destruction of institutional
infrastructure for higher education such as books, buildings, and other educational resources. It is
estimated that by the end of the Khmer Rouge time, between 75 and 80 percent of Cambodian
educators either were killed, died of overwork, or left the country. At least half of the written
material available in the Khmer language was destroyed.
After coming to power with Vietnamese help in 1979, the government of the PRK attempted to
redevelop the education system. Although significant progress was made, the process of
educational redevelopment was hampered by war and lack of resources, human as well as
material. The PRK government undertook a massive rehabilitation program aimed at enrolling as
many students as possible. The slogan of the time was "those who know more teach those who
know less." Those with almost any level of education were encouraged to work as teachers, and
efforts were made to identify and encourage formers teachers, professors, and bureaucrats in the
field of education to participate in this difficult endeavor. Potential teachers were given short-
term training for one month, three weeks or even two weeks and then assigned teaching jobs.
With many buildings destroyed, classes were taught in shacks made of leaves with dirt floors or
in some places instruction was given outside under the trees.
Given the enormity of destruction caused by the Khmer Rouge regime, one could see significant
progress in the field of education during 1980s. From an empty handed position, the PRK
government was able to reestablish a semblance of an educational system from pre-school to
university. A number of students were offered scholarships by host countries in the former Soviet
block to pursue higher education.
Because the PRK government was engaged in fighting a civil war with the Khmer Rouge and
other two non-communist resistant movements the field of education was not given much
priority. With budgetary constraints, the need for manpower to serve in the army, and a centrally
planned economy, the PRK government set limits on the number of students who could entered
into upper secondary school, and universities. Such restrictions generated widespread corruption,
favoritism, and nepotism within the educational system as wealthy and influential parents either
paid bribes or used their political power to secure seats for their children in these institutions.
Such practices, compounded by low skill level of educators, significantly slowed the
development of the educational system.
Under this system that emphasized quantity over quality, and given the destruction of the DK
regime, it is easy to understand why literacy rates for Cambodia are quite low. New research
conducted in 2000, which actually administered writing exercises rather than allowing self-
identification as readers, found that literacy levels for the country were lower than previously
estimated. The report divided the respondents into three groups: the complete illiterate (36.3 %),
the semi-literate (26.6 %) and the literate (37.1 %). The latter were further divided into those with
a basic level of literacy (11.3 %), with a medium level (64 %) and a self-learning level (those
who read all kinds of materials in search of new knowledge) (24.7 %). In all of these categories
the rates were much lower for women with some 45.1 percent of women reported as completely
illiterate and only 20 percent of the literate women fell into the self-learning category. Combining
the first two categories of illiterate and semi-literate, this means that 62.9 percent of the adult
population of Cambodia, or 6.5 million people, are basically illiterate (MEYS 2000).
In the 1990s, after the Paris Agreements and the UN sponsored elections, there were significant
changes in the educational system. As part of the country’s new election campaigning, many new
school buildings were constructed. The percentage of the national budget for education has
increased, reaching 7.7 percent in 2000 and 15.67 percent in 2001 (GAD/C 2002). More
materials became available through donor funding. For example, in 1993-94 the expenditures on
books were about 50 riels (about .02 US) per pupil or the equivalent of supplying one book per

student every 20 years. Seven or eight students were sharing one book (UNESCO 1998). Since
then new curricula, teachers’ manuals and student textbooks have been developed for grades 1-9.
These new books have been printed in sufficient numbers for one book for every child in every
subject. A 1998 UNESCO report notes that for many children this is the first book they will ever
own (1998:19).
Teachers are being given additional training, but the educational level of teachers remains rather
low over all. Six percent of Cambodia’s teachers have a primary education, 77 percent have
attended lower secondary school, 14 percent upper secondary school and only 3 percent have a
tertiary education (Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport 1998).
The new curricula move away from the traditional route methods of learning common across
Southeast Asia to more active learning models. While this shift has strong support among donors,
there is reportedly resistance to such changes among education administrators who prefer
traditional methods (see UNESCO 2000).
The school system today has pre-school for children aged three to five (but only in some areas),
Primary education in grades one to six, and Lower Secondary education from grades six to nine.
After grade nine is an exam to pass to enter Upper Secondary school (grades ten to twelve). After
grade twelve is an exam to graduate with a diploma (called bac dup). Previously there was then a
separate entrance exam for the university level, but now the exams already sat are studied for
highest scores in certain topical areas to decide which students will be allowed to continue to
university. The existing universities include: The University of Health Sciences, the Royal
University of Fine Arts, the Institute of Technology, the Faculty of Law and Economic Sciences,
the Royal University of Agriculture, the Royal University of Phnom Penh, the National Institute
of Management, the Maharishi Vedic University and the Faculty of Pedagogy. There is also a
non-formal education system that includes literacy classes for adults.
Just in the last two years (2000 – 2002) there has been an explosion of private schools, especially
at the secondary and higher education levels. The government has not yet decided on
accreditation standards for universities and it is difficult to determine the quality of all these new
"universities" that have sprung up throughout Phnom Penh.
While the funding for education has improved, and dramatic changes are underway, a litany of
problems remain. The overwhelming problems are still financial and the Ministry of Education,
Youth and Sport (MEYS) admits that there is little likelihood of providing the opportunity for
every child to have nine years of education in the very near future. There are still enormous
problems with education service delivery, including a large gap in education quality between
urban and rural or remote schools (MEYS 1999). Teachers are paid as little as ten dollars per
month. Since they cannot live on such wages, they must supplement their income with other jobs,
which often cuts into class times. In addition, the teachers must also charge students fees to
attend their classes, or offer additional for-fee classes outside the regular class times. This means
that the poorest students are often locked out of classes where the real teaching occurs.
A study by Mark Bray (1998) documented the high costs of education placed on Cambodian
parents. This survey of 77 schools in 11 provinces and Phnom Penh found that families and
communities pay 74.8 percent of the costs of primary education, with the government paying
only 12.9 percent. This is one of the lowest government contributions to primary education in the
world (cited in UNESCO 2000:23). For many rural families who live by subsistence agriculture,
education costs are the highest expense they face annually. Often they cannot afford to educate
all of their children and will have to choose certain children to attend.
This is one reason why many more boys than girls attend school. Parents would like to educate
both, but if forced to choose, they choose to educate boys. The percentage of female students is
nearly half (46.2 %) in primary school, but drops to 37 percent in lower secondary school, and
31.8 percent in upper secondary school (MEYS 2001). Other reasons for the sexual disparity
include the fact that girls are more likely to be kept at home to help with household work and to
care for younger siblings (MEYS 1998). For reasons on personal security, girls are also not
allowed to travel long distances and live away from family to attend upper secondary schools in
provincial towns. But a 1998 report on women and education points out that the rural/urban

divide is even more potent than the gender factor. Rural boys have lower educational attainment
than urban girls (MEYS 1998:20).
Nationwide the net enrollment was 83.8 percent for the 2000-01 academic year, up from 77.8
percent in 1997-98. But this still means that 16 percent of children aged 6-11 remain outside the
school system entirely. Since this varies regionally, in some remote provinces this figure reaches
50 percent (MEYS 1999). For those children within the system the repetition rate is extremely
high, for grade one the rate is about 40 percent (MEYS 1999:19). This means that many of the
students in the lowest grades of primary school are older and are taking the class for the second
or third time. Drop out rates for grades one, two and three were 10.6 percent, 10.8 percent and
11.1 percent respectively in 2000-01 (MEYS 2001). Class sizes are also large, with an average of
50 students at the primary level (only 33.4 to 1 in urban areas) (1998:20).
The daily realities for both teachers and students in the Cambodian education system are thus
very challenging. Teachers face inadequate salaries and the need to charge students fees for
services. Students face inadequate facilities, large classroom size, sometimes travel times to
nearby villages or towns, and high costs for their families. At the upper levels these problems are
compounded by the need to pay bribes to pass the upper secondary level exams and to secure
admission to universities. This is one factor that has contributed to the growth in private sector
education.
But while the situation still appears grim, I would re-emphasize that dramatic improvements have
been made in the last ten years. These improvements can continue if the government continues to
increase the percentage of the total government funding that goes to education, and if funding
reaches front-line teachers rather than being consumed by administrative costs. Dramatic change
could occur if the government could pay teachers a living wage and shift the burden of paying for
education from poor families to the government.
Buddhist Education
Before the French organized a Western-style educational system, the Buddhist wat, with monks
as teachers, provided the only formal education in Cambodia. The monks traditionally regarded
their main educational function as the teaching of Buddhist doctrine and history and the
importance of gaining merit. Other subjects were regarded as secondary. At the wat schools,
young boys--girls were not allowed to study in these institutions--were taught to read and to write
Khmer, and they were instructed in the rudiments of Buddhism.
In 1933 a secondary school system for novice monks was created within the Buddhist religious
system. Many wat schools had so-called Pali schools that provided three years of elementary
education from which the student could compete for entrance into the Buddhist lycées. Graduates
of these lycées could sit for the entrance examination to the Buddhist University in Phnom Penh.
The curriculum of the Buddhist schools consisted of the study of Pali, of Buddhist doctrine, and
of Khmer, along with mathematics, Cambodian history and geography, science, hygiene, civics,
and agriculture. Buddhist instruction was under the authority of the Ministry of Religion.
Nearly 600 Buddhist primary schools, with an enrollment of more than 10,000 novices and with
800 monks as instructors, existed in 1962. The Preah Suramarit Buddhist Lycée--a four-year
institution in Phnom Penh founded in 1955--included courses in Pali, in Sanskrit, and in Khmer,
as well as in many modern disciplines. In 1962 the student body numbered 680. The school's
graduates could continue their studies in the Preah Sihanouk Raj Buddhist University created in
1959. The university offered three cycles of instruction; the doctoral degree was awarded after
successful completion of the third cycle. In 1962 there were 107 students enrolled in the Buddhist
University. By the 1969-70 academic year, more than 27,000 students were attending Buddhist
religious elementary schools, 1,328 students were at Buddhist lycées, and 176 students were
enrolled at the Buddhist University.
The Buddhist Institute was a research institution formed in 1930 from the Royal Library. The
institute contained a library, record and photograph collections, and a museum. Several
commissions were part of the institute. A folklore commission published collections of

Cambodian folktales, a Tripitaka Commission completed a translation of the Buddhist canon into
Khmer, and a dictionary commission produced a definitive two-volume dictionary of Khmer. No
information was available in 1987 regarding the fate of the temple schools, but it is doubtful that
they were revived after the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime.
Education in Singapore
Singapore places huge emphasis on the education system as human talent is the most valuable
resource we have. Education is cheap, but where necessary, scholarships and bursaries are
provided for needy students from primary to tertiary levels. Starting from the age of 5, a student
typically goes through 2 years of kindergarten, 6 years of primary school, 4 years of secondary
school leading to the GCE O Level exams or 5 years for the GCE N Level exams, 2 years of
Junior College leading to the GCE A Levels, and 3 or 4 years of university education.
Alternatively, a student may opt to take a 3-year polytechnic diploma course instead of Junior
College - this does not preclude entry into University, but it does mean more competition since
less poly grads get this chance. Many who are able choose to study abroad.
Government Schools
Children of expatriates residing in Singapore on employment passes or skilled work permits can
apply for admission to government or aided schools. School fees in these schools are pegged at
$3 a month for primary pupils and $5 a month for secondary students, and are much lower than
those in private schools. Children whose parents are not employment pass holders, skilled work
permit holders or permanent residents will need to apply for student passes through the Foreign
Student Unit, Ministry of Education.
The parent/guardian will receive a Letter of Certification within seven working days of the
submission of the application. By presenting the Letter of Certification, the parent may contact
the school of their choice to apply for an assessment test, the dates of which are decided by the
school. Acceptance by the school will depend on the results of the test and the student's age. If
the student is accepted, the Foreign Students Unit will send a letter requesting a contribution to
the Education Fund. Malaysians must contribute $3,000 for primary education, secondary and
pre-university education, while parents of other nationalities must contribute $5,000.
The Student Pass can then be obtained from the Immigration Department with the Letter of
Approval. (Foreign students can report for school admission only after obtaining the Student
Pass.)
For admission to kindergartens, private schools, universities and polytechnics, applcations can be
made directly to the school, and the contribution to the Education Fund is not required.
International Schools
Note: As well as the listing below, please check out our comparison between current
international schools, which is subject to update as more schools submit their details. Have a look
here.
American College
Australian International School
British Association of Singapore Nursery School
Canadian International School
Chatsworth International School
Dover Court Preparatory School
Dutch School
Eton House (ages 2-7)
German School Singapore
International Community School
ISS International School (Lower School)

ISS International School (Upper School)
Japanese School
LearningVision@Central (For ages 2 months to 6 years)
Lycee Francais De Singapour
Overseas Family School
Singapore American School
Swiss School
Tanglin Trust School
United World College of South East Asia
Japanese Education
Lucien Ellington
October 2001
It is important for teachers and students to develop a broad understanding of Japanese education.
Americans who are knowledgeable of teaching and learning in Japan gain insights about a
different culture and are better able to clearly think about our own educational system. This
digest is an introductory overview of 1) Japanese educational achievements, 2) the structure and
curriculum of K-12 Japanese education, 3) Japanese higher education, 4) adult education in
Japan, and 5) educational reform.
Japanese Educational Achievements. Japan's greatest educational achievement is the high-
quality basic education most young people receive by the time they complete high school. In
international mathematics tests, Japanese students rank either at, or near, the top year after year.
Recent statistics indicate that well over 95 percent of Japanese are literate, which is particularly
impressive since the Japanese language is one of the world's most difficult languages to read and
write. Over 95 percent of Japanese also graduate from high school compared to 88 percent of
American students. Some Japanese education specialists estimate that the average Japanese high
school graduate has attained about the same level of education as the average American after two
years of college. Japanese employees of large companies and government ministries rank among
the most well-educated workers on earth.
Japanese K-12 Education. Even though the Japanese adopted the American 6-3-3 model during
the U.S. Occupation after World War II, elementary and secondary education is much more
centralized than in the United States. Control over curriculum rests largely with the national
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (Monbukagakusho) and
education is compulsory through the ninth grade. Municipalities and private sources fund
kindergartens, but national, prefectural, and local governments pay almost equal shares of
educational costs for students in grades one through nine. Well over 90 percent of students attend
public schools through the ninth grade, but over 25 percent of students go to private high schools.
The percentage of national funding for high schools is quite low, with prefectures and
municipalities assuming most of the costs for public high schools. There are important
differences in Japanese and American teachers and administrators. High salaries, relatively high
prestige, and very low birth rates make teaching jobs quite difficult to obtain in Japan while in the
United States there are increasing teacher shortages. While more Japanese schools are acquiring
specialists such as special education teachers and counselors, American schools have many more
special subjects and support personnel than is the case in Japan. The typical Japanese school has
only two administrators: a principal and a head teacher.
Japanese students spend at least six weeks longer in school each year than their American
counterparts since summer vacations in Japan only last half the time of most summer breaks in
the U.S. Until the mid-1990s Japanese students attended school half days on Saturday, but
weekend attendance is being gradually phased out and all Saturday school will terminate by the
beginning of the 2002 school year in April.
While the Japanese K-12 curriculum is actually quite similar in many respects to the curriculum
of U.S. schools, there are important differences. Because Japanese teachers at all levels are better
prepared in mathematics than their American counterparts, instruction in that subject is more

sophisticated in Japan. Japanese language instruction receives more attention in Japanese schools
than English instruction in the United States because of the difficulty of learning written
Japanese. Virtually every Japanese student takes English language courses from the seventh
grade through the final year of high school.
Since many digest readers are social studies teachers, a few words about those subjects are
included here. Japanese elementary students study social studies in an integrated science/social
studies course. Beginning in third grade and continuing through high school, there are separate
civics, geography, Japanese and world history, sociology, and politics-economics courses.
University-bound students may elect to take more or less social studies electives depending upon
their career interests. A goal of the new educational reforms that are being implemented during
the 2002 school year is an increased use of task-oriented research approaches in secondary social
studies and a decreased emphasis upon retention of large amounts of factual content.
One recurring problem in history instruction in Japan is the way textbooks often depict Japanese
actions during World War II. Often , Japanese atrocities are minimized or ignored in school
history textbooks. All Japanese texts are written and produced in the private sector, however, the
texts must be approved by the Ministry of Education. The latest controversy occurred in 2001
when the Ministry of Education approved a new junior high school textbook written and edited
by a group of nationalist academics. The book omitted topics such as the Japanese Army's
mistreatment of women in battle zones and areas under Japanese rule and Japanese army action in
China. After strong protests from the South Korean and Chinese governments, the Japanese
government did have the book reviewed and revised. The book was then published in summer
2001. Although under 10 percent of all junior high schools in Japan are expected to actually use
the book, the Chinese and South Korean governments were still not satisfied with the published
version.
The Japanese believe schools should teach not only academic skills but good character traits as
well. While a small amount of hours every year are devoted to moral education in the national
curriculum, there is substantial anecdotal evidence that teachers do not take the instructional time
too seriously and often use it for other purposes. Still, Japanese teachers endeavor to inculcate
good character traits in students through the hidden curriculum. For example, all Japanese
students and teachers clean school buildings every week. Japanese students are constantly
exhorted by teachers to practice widely admired societal traits such as putting forth intense effort
on any task and responding to greetings from teachers in a lively manner.
Many American public high schools are comprehensive. While there are a few comprehensive
high schools in Japan, they are not popular. Between 75 and 80 percent of all Japanese students
enroll in university preparation tracks. Most university-bound students attend separate academic
high schools while students who definitely do not plan on higher education attend separate
commercial or industrial high schools. In the United States, students enter secondary schools
based on either school district assignment or personal choice. In Japan, the overwhelming
majority of students are admitted to both high school and university primarily based upon
entrance examination performance. The best Japanese high schools and universities require high
entrance examination scores. Since many Japanese employers continue to base hiring decisions
upon the prestige level of the educational institution one attended, ambitious students attend
private cram schools, or juku, and study long hours for both high school and university entrance
examinations. The futures of most Japanese high school students depend largely upon the high
school they attended and their college entrance examination scores.
Japanese Higher Education. Japan, with approximately three million men and women enrolled
in 1,200 universities and junior colleges, has the second largest higher educational system in the
developed world. In Japan, public universities usually enjoy more prestige than their private
counterparts and only about 25 percent of all university-bound students manage to gain admission
to public universities. Even so, Japanese universities are considered to be the weakest component
in the nation's educational system. Many Japanese students have traditionally considered their
university time to be more social than academic and, usually, professors demand relatively little
of their charges. Graduate education in Japan is underdeveloped compared to European countries

and the United States with only slightly more than 7 percent of Japanese undergraduates going on
to graduate school as compared to 13 percent of American undergraduates.
Education in the Workplace and for Personal Growth. Large Japanese companies and
government ministries normally provide employees with superb education and training. A major
reason for this has been that Japanese workers are traditionally much less likely to change jobs as
many times during their careers as Western employees. Increasingly though, there are signs this
pattern is beginning to change. Most education and training in the large institutions takes place
within the Japanese firm or ministry. Two major kinds of workplace education are job rotation,
which both white-and blue-collar workers experience, and the deliberate practice by management
of disseminating information in the form of reports, papers, and work-related periodical articles
to all employees.
Many Japanese adults also continue to learn for personal growth. Reading is extremely popular
and almost as many books are published annually in Japan as in the United States, even though
Japan has about half the American population. Most Japanese adults pride themselves in having
hobbies that they cultivate for life. Many of these hobbies, such as the mastery of a musical
instrument or the study of conversational English, involve the acquisition of new information.
Cultural centers and centers where elderly people can engage in continuing education are quite
popular in Japan.
Educational Reform. Despite Japanese students' impressive performance when compared to

their peers in other developed nations, there is widespread dissatisfaction on the part of many
Japanese about the nation's educational system. Many Japanese believe that the examination
system is too stressful, that the schools are too rigid and don't meet the needs of individual
students, that contemporary students show little interest in studying, and that the educational
system needs to produce more creative and flexible citizens for the twenty-first century. Also,
large numbers of Japanese blame the schools for a perceived increase in child misbehavior,
particularly in junior highs.
Beginning with the 2002 school year, major curricular reform will occur in an attempt to make
schools more flexible and responsive to individual student needs. Nearly one-third of the
elementary and junior high curricula will be eliminated with deep cuts in all major subjects. The
replacement classroom activity will be a new endeavor entitled Integrated Studies that will have
few guidelines and no accompanying textbooks. The goal of Integrated Studies is to provide
students and teachers the freedom to study whatever interests them whether the topic is religion,
the environment, or foreign affairs. Some elementary schools that were selected as pilot sites for
Integrated Studies in 2001 experimented with teaching English during this time block.
There are also new controversial recommendations emanating from an educational advisory body
appointed by the late Prime Minister Obuchi that call for mandatory community service for junior
high school and high school students. The same advisory body, in an effort to make higher
education more flexible, has called for allowing students in special cases to enter university at
age fifteen instead of eighteen. There is also a recommendation that university entrance
examinations be made a less central part of the educational system than is the case now. At
present, there seem to be few signs that entrance examinations at any level in Japan are
diminishing in importance. Unless entrance examination reform occurs, Japan's educational
system will continue to emphasize the acquisition of large amounts of fact-based content.
Despite the problems addressed in this digest, Japan's educational system, and in particular its K-
12 schools, remains one of the very best in the developed world. While change in any institution
in Japan is usually incremental, there is little doubt that the Japanese will continue serious efforts
to make already good educational opportunities for Japanese citizens even better.
Postsecondary Education in Japan

Article written by Dr. William K. Cummings for the Asia Society's Video Letter from Japan II:

The College Years, 1988, pp. 6-13.
As is the case with their American counterparts, Japanese high school students devote much time
to selecting the college they hope to attend. Japanese young people, however, seem to experience
greater anxiety over this process. To better understand the entire Japanese university experience,
it helps to consider the historical development of Japanese postsecondary education.
Japan had schools called daigaku, which is also the modern word for college or university, as
early as the 17th century. Traditional daigaku, devoted principally to the teaching of Confucian
studies, were the leading institutions in an extensive educational system that contributed to the
attainment of a nearly 40 percent male literacy rate by the early 19th century. The group of young
samurai who overthrew the Tokugawa government and ushered in the Meiji Restoration in 1868
were much impressed with Western science and technology, however, and sought to establish a
modern educational system that would introduce all the relevant features of Western knowledge
to members of Japanese society.
These new leaders reviewed the strengths and weaknesses of the educational systems of various
Western societies and were most impressed with the upper secondary and higher education
systems of Germany and France. Thus the daigaku they established was modeled on the German
university, with the purpose of advancing knowledge for the sake of the state through research
and the provision of specialized education.
The first daigaku to be officially recognized by the Meiji government was the Imperial University
established in Tokyo in 1886 (renamed the University of Tokyo after World War 11). This
institution was, and still is, highly selective. Students competed for admission to a particular
faculty of the institution (law, medicine, letters, or science, for example) and proceeded to take all
of their courses in that faculty; it was assumed that students would have obtained a broad
background in the arts and sciences and foreign languages during their years at the immediately
preceding level, the higher school. The students of the higher school were the top students from a
much broader group who, on completion of primary education, had been divided into several
distinct tracks: the terminal track, the vocational track, the technical/vocational track, and at the
top the academic track leading to the middle and then the higher school.
Given the strong background of the students, the professors at the Imperial University
concentrated on providing them with opportunities for further study rather than remedial or
survey courses. Because of the specialized nature of the academic program in each of the
faculties, transferring between them was difficult. At that time, there was also no comparable
institution outside the Imperial University to which they might transfer. Even in later years, when
additional universities were established, transfer continued to be difficult. University authorities
believed that a prospective student should be mature enough to make the right choice the first
time; to allow a transfer in midstream was to encourage irresolution of purpose and even
disloyalty to institutions.
Because the entrants to the Imperial University were so carefully selected, the professors
generally did not closely supervise the study habits of each student. This tradition of treating
university students as mature partners in the pursuit of knowledge lives on in most of today's
Japanese universities, although the composition and motivation of students has changed greatly.
Even those students who spend most of their college days in club activities and other leisurely
pursuits receive passing grades and are allowed to graduate. The combination of a rigorous
selection process and lax grading after admission has led observers to say that the Japanese
university has a narrow gate but a wide exit.
The founding period of modern Japanese education had a profound impact on the subsequent
development of the system. For example, the regulations issued by the central government upon
establishing the Imperial University in 1886 reserved the status of daigaku, or university, for only
those institutions that conformed with the structure and level of resources of the Imperial
University. Japan's second official university was the Imperial University at Kyoto, recognized in
1897. Private institutions such as Keio Gijuku, established in 1858, and Waseda, established in
1877, were not granted university status or financial support by the government until 1919. One
legacy of this founding period is the prominent role of the central government in the chartering,

regulation, and finance of higher education.
Partly because of this key governmental role, the social recognition given to professors of the
different types of universities as well as the job opportunities available to their graduates varied
significantly. In the early decades of the modern system, only the graduates of government
universities were allowed to sit for the national civil service examinations. While the exams are
now open to all, the graduates of the top national universities still tend to be the most successful
in passing them. Of course, the graduates of these elite institutions readily find jobs in the private
sector as well.
The linkage of university attendance with job prospects has also had profound consequences for
the way the Japanese public regards higher education. Because the public universities established
a monopoly on government jobs, private institutions were strongly motivated to cultivate close
ties with employers in other sectors of the economy. Waseda, for example, established close ties
with the mass media, and Keio with certain large corporations. Because of such ties to particular
employers, the university a young person attends influences the range of employment
opportunities available to him or her.
Through World War II, the Japanese university system remained elitist and the other
opportunities for advanced secondary and further education were limited. The Allied Occupation
of Japan, from 1945 to 1952, sought to demilitarize and democratize Japanese society, and one of
its primary targets was the elitist character of the educational system crowned by the imperial
universities.
In consultation with Japanese leaders, the Occupation authorities introduced a vast array of
changes which led to considerable simplification and expansion at both the upper secondary and
postsecondary levels. At the secondary level, the old multi-track system was disbanded and
reconsolidated into a system of middle schools (grades 7-9) and comprehensive high schools
(grades 10-12). Although compulsory education only extended through middle school, by 1960
over 70 percent of Japanese young people were attending high school. Today, over 95 percent
attend and complete high school. The massive expansion of secondary education has provided
many more young people with the basic academic qualifications necessary for seeking higher
education.
The Occupation reforms also enabled a rapid expansion of opportunities for higher education.
The Imperial Universities at Tokyo and Kyoto, along with other prestigious government
institutions such as the Science and Letters Universities at Hiroshima and Tokyo, the Tokyo
Institute of Technology, and the Hitotsubashi College of Commerce, were reorganized to become
the top tier of the "new system" of national universities. Additional national universities were
authorized for each of Japan's 47 prefectures, and the rules for the establishment of private
universities were relaxed. The basic program of courses required for a university degree was
modified to match the American system in form, with each course accorded a certain number of
credit hours and a total of about 120 credit hours, distributed among a variety of subject areas,
required for a bachelor's degree.
The established public and private universities experienced little difficulty in reorganizing their
programs to meet these requirements, but some of the weaker institutions were unable to do so.
Because of their difficulties, a junior college-type institution was established with a two-year
program. In 1962, yet another type of institution, the technical college, was established,
combining a program of three years of upper secondary education with two years of
postsecondary education to produce technicians in such fields as chemical analysis, industrial
design, ship-building, and other practical areas. In the 1970s, a variety of other types of
postsecondary institutions emerged with specialized programs analogous to the proprietary
schools (for-profit schools offering brief career-oriented courses) found in large American cities.
And in 1986, the University of the Air, a degree-granting institution that relies on television
broadcasts for much of the lecturing component of its educational program, admitted its first class
of students.
Table 1 indicates the number of each type of postsecondary institution as of 1986. The table
makes it clear that Japan has a large number of postsecondary institutions. The public sector has a

disproportionate number of universities relative to other institutional types, and the public
universities are more likely than the others to offer programs in the science and engineering
fields. Also, a comparatively large number of the public institutions are located outside of the
large metropolitan areas and are better funded. Thus it is sometimes said that Japan has a dual
system of public and private institutions. But in reality the picture is more complicated.
Within both the public and private systems there are many layers, both in terms of quality and
programs. For many young people, the top private institutions are just as attractive as the leading
public institutions, partly because they are also more likely to be located in the large metropolitan
areas, where there are more opportunities for entertainment, part-time work, and job hunting.
The majority of junior colleges are private. In the early postwar years these colleges tended to
specialize in the liberal arts and related areas, but over the past decade or so many junior colleges
have come to emphasize more practical specializations, ranging from nursing to the information
sciences. This shift has been in response to both growing competition from non-degree propriety
schools and the changing interests of their students.
Table 1.
Institutions of Higher Education
by Establishing Body, 1986
Prefectura
Total National Private
l
Technical Colleges 62 54 4 4
Junior Colleges 548 37 52 459
Universities 465 95 36 334
Special Training Schools 3,088 174 176 2,738
Miscellaneous Schools 4,124 8 102 4,014
Correspondence Junior Colleges 10 - - 10
Correspondence Universities 13 1 12
Table 2.
Enrollment in Institutions of Higher
Education by Gender
Total Male Female
Technical Colleges 49,174 47,151 2,023
Junior Colleges 396,455 38,554 357,901
Universities 1,879,532 1,426,851 452,681
Special Training Schools 587,609 255,297 332,312
Miscellaneous Schools 483,439 238,794 244,645
Correspondence Junior Colleges 61,435 46,923 14,512
Correspondence Universities 113,481 63,041 50,440
Table 2 summarizes enrollment by gender. As can be seen, there is a much higher representation
of women in junior colleges. This is largely due to a combination of personal choice and societal
expectations. Through high school, Japanese females compete favorably with males in all
academic subjects, including mathematics and science. But as young women plan their future,
many decide to restrict their academic careers in favor of a path that will get them into the labor
market more quickly and provide them with more work experience before marriage, which for
the average Japanese woman occurs at around age 25. Thus, for young women who seek full-time
work followed by full-time marriage, junior college is an attractive option. On the other hand, an
increasing number of contemporary Japanese women expect to continue their careers after
marriage, and for them a four-year college education may be preferable.
With the increase in the scale of secondary education, more Japanese young people have the
basic academic background necessary to compete for entrance to the top universities, and over

the years the number who enter into such competition has increased. The time Japanese young
people devote to university examination preparation, including attending special cram courses
and schools, hiring tutors for special instruction, taking repeated mock exams, and studying late
into the night evening after evening, is sometimes referred to as Japan's examination hell.
While there is no question that many Japanese young people engage in such behavior,
contemporary observers suggest that only a modest proportion are fanatic and that the experience
is not as hellish as it is said to be. Diligent effort is respected in Japanese society, and many
students devote themselves to exam preparation out of regard for the expectations of others,
especially their parents. The most intense students tend to be those seeking admission to top
universities. But even in the midst of exam preparation, most of these young people find time to
talk with friends, watch TV, and enjoy other pleasures. And despite the stereotypes, few feel so
depressed as to contemplate or commit suicide; indeed, American rates of youth suicide are
higher than Japanese rates.
Entrance examinations, though still predominant, are no longer the sole route to admission to a
highly ranked institution in Japan. Many universities today grant admission to a limited number
of students based on other criteria, such as outstanding performance in high school or completion
of the International Baccalaureate while attending an overseas high school. Some of the less
competitive private institutions require no more than a high school diploma and an interview as
the basis for an admissions decision. These alternative procedures have been introduced in recent
years to relieve the pressures associated with the traditional examination hell.
There is no doubt that Japanese young people master a tremendous amount of academic material
as they prepare for university entrance. Recent international tests place Japanese 12th graders at
or near the top compared with high school seniors of other nations in their knowledge of science,
mathematics, and geography. In addition, by the time they graduate from high school, Japanese
students have completed six years of English, and those at private schools have frequently had
three years of another foreign language as well.
It is estimated that nearly two of every five Japanese young people attend some form of higher
education, a level comparable with the United States and well above all other contemporary
societies including the Soviet Union. Because Japanese university students have worked so hard
to gain entrance and accomplished so much, the general consensus in Japan seems to be that they
deserve a break during college. Many of the classes during their first several years are large
lectures on required subjects in general education which are not likely to have much relevance for
their future, and the grading in these courses is generous. As a result, many of the students are
able to use this period as a time to have fun, make new friends, and participate in club activities.
This pattern of relaxed study is most characteristic of students in the liberal arts; the curriculum
in the science and engineering faculties of Japan's universities is relatively more demanding.
Even liberal arts students begin to concentrate more on their studies toward the end of their junior
year, because in most institutions they are expected to submit a senior thesis. The senior year
seminar and accompanying paper is the occasion when many students demonstrate their best
work; one reason for this commitment is their hope that the professor who has accepted them into
the seminar will provide assistance as they search for employment after graduation.
While university days in Japan are indeed easy compared with the pressures of high school,
students are still expected to attend school full-time and complete their program within the
required period (usually four years but sometimes as many as eight). Nevertheless, a small but
increasing number of Japanese universities are beginning to offer opportunities for study abroad
and work-study experience for credit. Also, an increasing number of Japanese young people are
traveling abroad during the summer vacation, with a few actually taking a year off to study
overseas. Many university students take on a part-time job to provide spending money. But as
their senior year approaches, most begin to concentrate on job hunting. More than 80 percent of
university graduates move straight into the labor market upon graduation.
In Japanese society, the university experience is best thought of as a stage in the life cycle. The
majority of university students begin this experience directly after the completion of high school.
(Ronin begin it from one to several years after high school, years which they have devoted to

intense specialized study for retaking the university exams.) Most students complete their studies
within the prescribed period of time. Older students find it difficult to gain entry to universities
for a variety of reasons: they have forgotten the detailed information they need to do well on the
entrance exams, their employers and/or spouses do not encourage them to return to the university,
and society, too, frowns upon it. Only institutions such as the new University of the Air, which
broadcasts lectures on television and combines them with correspondence and tutorial sessions,
and special institutions for mid-career education, such as the new International University in
Niigata Prefecture, are able to attract older students.
Corporations and the government have tended to prefer recruits with bachelor's degrees over
those with more advanced training, except possibly for engineering and some research jobs
requiring scientific skills. Thus few students consider graduate study in business administration
or law. Only those interested in an academic career pursue graduate study in the arts or social
sciences.
In recent years, however, some leaders have urged employers to give more consideration to
recruits with advanced training, arguing that the work of the future will require a deeper scientific
background. The Japanese government is also taking steps to expand the size of graduate schools.
Thus, Japanese graduate education is likely to show considerable development over the coming
decades.
In conclusion, Japanese higher education has important similarities with American higher
education in the exceptional diversity of institutional types (universities, colleges, junior colleges,
technical colleges, and proprietary schools) and in the organization of the academic programs of
the respective types. However, more drama and personal change may be associated with "going
to college" in Japan than in the U.S. Japanese young people generally study harder before higher
education than do American young people, but once in higher education they manifest a similar
appetite for the fun side of collegiate life. Whereas many Americans transfer between institutions
or take time off from their studies, once a Japanese student enters a particular higher educational
institution, he (or she) tends to stick with that institution until graduation. And whereas many
American young people proceed from college to a graduate program, most Japanese young
people proceed directly from their initial higher educational program directly into the labor force.
The Japanese experience has many options, but the choice of institution made by a young person
in Japan has a more profound impact on job opportunities and friendships. Thus higher education
is highly valued in Japan.
Australian Education System

Type of Institutes
Primary and secondary schools: This is equivalent to 10+2 education in India. Certification
at the end of schooling is by continous assessment within the schools or by a combination
of internal assessment and public examinations.These procedures form the basis for
qualification for entry to universities or other tertiary institutions.
Foundation Studies: Foundation studies give international students the knowledge and skills
for a smooth transition from learning in their home country to undergraduate studies in
Australian universities. Foundation Studies are usually one year in duration and students
are assessed and examined by their lecturers. Foundation studies are divided into various
streams like arts and science studies. The common feature of foundation studies is that a
university allocates a provisional place in an undergraduate course for a student who
achieves the prescribed grades.
English Language Schools (ELICOS): These are specifically for people who come to
Australia to study English either for educational purposes or for other reasons. The
Australian system of English language training is known as English Language Intensive
Courses for Overseas Students (ELICOS). There are a range of courses including General
English; English for Special Purposes; Vacation Courses; and Examination Preparation.

The starting dates of courses are fairly frequent and they generally run from 4 to 10
weeks. Many universities and TAFE institutes have ELICOS centres attached to their
campuses.
Vocational Education and Training Institutes: Vocational education and training (VET)
gives students practical skills for their careers. The VET sector is divided into two
sections: a nationally recognised government system of Technical and Further Education
(TAFE); and private providers. TAFE is the largest provider of tertiary education courses
in Australia with about 250 institutes and over a million students including about 41,000
international students. The awards in VET sector are: certificates, advanced certificates,
associate diplomas, diplomas. Studying at TAFE level is also a way of gaining entry -
termed a pathway - to Australia's universities. Most TAFE institutes have arrangements
with specific universities, enabling students to gain credit for a portion of their study
undertaken at TAFE. The VET courses include computing, design, pilot training, business
managemnet, hospitality and tourism and many other courses.
Universities (higher education):There are 37 public universities and two private universities
in Australia which offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. The most
popular courses of study for international students have been in the fields of Business,
Administration and Economics, followed by Science, then Arts, Humanities and Social
Sciences. University study can lead to the following awards: Undergraduate - Bachelor
Degrees, Bachelor Degrees (with Honours), Undergraduate Diplomas, Associate
Diplomas; Postgraduate - Doctoral Degrees, Masters Degrees, Graduate Diplomas,
Graduate Certificates.
Type of Programs & Qualifications

Undergraduate
Bachelor Degree
Bachelor Degree (with Honours)
Undergraduate Diplomas
Associate Diplomas
Postgraduate
Masters Degrees
Doctoral Degrees
Graduate Diplomas
Graduate Certificates
Overview of the Australian Education System

By Alochona Magazine Staff Writer
Introduction
Australia maintains an education system that is not only unique and effective, but also successful
and affordable for students from all walks of life. Each state and territory in Australia
independently runs their own form of education from grades 1 - 12. This article will mainly
discuss the New South Wales and Queensland education systems.
The primary advantage of allowing states to operate their education system independently is that
it allows for implementation of change at much faster rate. As a result, throughout the years,
education in each state has evolved into more fairer and efficient systems.
The schools in Australia are divided into three main groups:
Primary Schools: kindergarten or grade 1 to grades 6 or 7 (varies from state to state)

Secondary High Schools: grades 7 or 8 to grade 12
Senior Colleges: grades 11 and 12 only
In some states, school attendance is compulsory from grade 1 whilst in others from kindergarten.
However, in all states, students must complete grade 10 after which they receive their Junior
Certificate (SSC). Most students go straight on to complete Grades 11 and 12 and obtain their
Senior Certificate (HSC). Year 12 or Adult Matriculation is necessary if students want to go on to
higher education courses at universities, and also necessary for some Technical And Further
Education centres (TAFEs) and private commercial courses.
To enroll in grade 1/kindergarten, students must be 6 years of age or turn 6 during the school year
they intend to enroll. As such, generally students are either 17 or 18 by the time they leave grade
12.
There are three main types of schools in Australia, namely, public schools, non-religious private
school and religious (mainly Catholic or Anglican) private school. Most public schools have co-
education, however there are a few public same sex high schools in the larger cities like Sydney
and Melbourne. Most of the private schools on the other hand are however same sex schools.
Assessment
Unlike Bangladesh, during the primary school years (age 6 - 12), the workload given to students
is very minimal, the main focus being to develop the child's basic foundation of knowledge and
building on their learning abilities. Very little stress, in terms of workload and competition, is
given to children during these early years. Gradually during the high school and college years, the
workload is increased both in terms of amount of information taught and assessment.
The main difference between schooling in Bangladesh and most states in Australia is the
assessment method of SSC and HSC. In Australia, the results of SSC do not impact the student's
academic record greatly; it is the results of the HSC, as in many countries, is the most important.
Probably one of the most unique and complex systems of assessment in the world would be the
one implemented by the Queensland Education board. Instead of grading a student based on a set
of exams completed at the end of grade 12, the final result is taken from the student's overall
performance in all exams throughout grades 11 and 12.
Additionally, each subject offered by the board is given a specific weight; the harder a particular
subject is, the more weight is assigned. For example, Physics would be given a higher weight
than say for example, Accounting. This weight would then be used in conjunction with the
students result for the subject to standardize the students' overall performance. Based on this
information, students are given a rank within his or her school. As the rank is standardized based
on the weight of the subject, all students, regardless of what type of subjects they study can be
ranked within the one list.
Although a standard curriculum is set by the board of education, assessments of all subjects differ
from school to school as the schools conduct them independently. As such, in order to
standardize all school students together, one common exam is required to be undertaken by all
grade 12 students each year. This exam, known as the Core Skills Test, is not a knowledge based
exam but rather a skills based exam in which students are graded from A (highest) to E (lowest).
The generic test examines the student's analytic, deductive, and logic skills. There is no direct
bearing on the actual results of the exam for the student; however, the results are used
collectively to calculate the level of competition within schools. For example, a school with 80%
"A" result has more bright students than a school with say 40% "A" results. This information is

then used to standardize all students into a single ranked list for the entire state.
The benefits of this system are that it takes into consideration the amount of effort required to
attain high marks in a particular subject. However, the obvious weakness is that it is extremely
complex to compute and it becomes substantially harder for a student to get a good rank position
if he or she attends an average school.
Tertiary Education
There are 39 universities in Australia ranging from 3,000 students to 30,000 students. Of these,
only 2 are private universities. Attendance to university courses require cut off marks from HSC;
however, generally speaking students within the top 50% can gain attendance to a university.
University fees for undergraduate degrees can be paid upfront or they can be deferred. In cases of
deferred fees, the Government pays the tuition fees initially, and when the student graduates and
starts earning a threshold salary, he or she repays the fees gradually.
Additional welfare payment ranging from approximate $170/week to $250/week maximum is

also made to students whose parent's/spouse's income is under a certain threshold.
Government Funding and Statistics
The State and Territory Governments have the responsibility for most education and training,
including the administration and substantial funding of primary and secondary education, as well
as the administration and major funding of Vocational Education and Training (VET).
The Commonwealth Government is responsible for funding of higher education institutions, and
provides supplementary funding for schools and for VET. The Commonwealth Government also
provides special grants to the States and Territories for areas of particular need. Apart from its
significant financial role, the Commonwealth is also involved in promoting national consistency
and coherence in the provision of education and training across Australia.
On an accrual basis, the primary and secondary education expenses of Australian governments
totaled $18,455m in 1999-2000.
Table 1.0 EDUCATION OPERATING EXPENSES INCURRED BY GOVERNMENT, By
Purpose - 1999-2000
Purpose Commonwealth $m State and local $m Australia $m
Primary and secondary
5,330 17,752 18,455
education
Tertiary education
University education 3,046 84 9,377
Technical and further
1,292 3,152 3,501
education
Tertiary education nec. 233 63 13,173
Preschool, special, and
273 998 1,111
other education
Transportation of
- 817 817
students
Other education
123 357 480
expenses
Total education
10,299 23,225 34,036
operating exp.
Source: ABS data available on request, Public Finance collection.

Table 1.1 Total grants to States, Territories and Universities
Purpose AUD$m
Primary and secondary education 4,615
Technical and further education 927
Universities 2,085
Other education not definable by level 159
Total l 7,787
Source: ABS data available on request, Public Finance collection
Strengths and Weaknesses
Probably one of the main weaknesses of the education system in Australia is the widening gap of
quality of education between public and private schools. This has resulted in a heavy reliance on
private schools and a lack of faith in the public schooling system. In recent years, there has been
substantially more growth in the enrollments in private schools than in public. This is mainly due
to the fact that students who attend private schools are more likely to complete Year 12, get better
results, have higher rates of university entry, and lower rates of unemployment.
More importantly however, one of the main strengths of the education system in Australia is the
equal opportunity for all students, regardless of financial background to have access to a good
education up to and including tertiary levels.
BRITISH EDUCATION SYSTEM

British Education has long attracted and welcomed high caliber students of different nationalities
and backgrounds, and today builds on hundreds of years of experience in providing quality
education to international students. To ensure that the quality is maintained, Britain has
implemented unrivalled quality assurance and academic audit systems. The university
departments are obliged to meet stringent standards by professional bodies. Standards are high
not just in teaching but in other facilities as well : Libraries, computers, research equipment and
living accommodation.
British higher and further education provides value for money by offering shorter, more intensive
courses than are available in many other countries, thereby reducing living expenses and time
spent away from home. Closely supervised study in an intellectually and culturally stimulating
environment, together with an emphasis on student welfare and close contact between staff and
students also ensures that individual students get maximum support and, as a result, pass rates are
high and the drop-out rate for international students is very low.
Britain has long been a popular destination for Indian students. With more than 150 institutes of
higher education to choose from, all equipped with extensive facilities, Britain is able to offer a
broad spectrum of subjects from the highly academic to the purely practical in anything from
architecture to zoology.
For more details of the costs of education and living in UK and comparisons of costs of education
in UK with other countries, check out the Expenses & Fees for International Students section.
Details about various Qualifications offered by UK Colleges and Universities:

First Degree Courses in Arts and Sciences (Bachelor's degree) are normally of three or four
years' duration and are largely taught courses, sometimes including the preparation of a
short written thesis.
Sandwich Courses are where the coursework is accompanied by practical work. A student
could either complete 2 years of college, then a year of commercial training before
returning for a final year in college. Or, he/she could do a 4-year course with 3-6 months’
training interspersed each year. The main advantage is that the student gets real
experience while in the learning mode. Most universities offer this type of education.

Higher National Diploma (HND) is awarded by Vocational and Technical Educational
Councils. They offer a 2-year course in a vocational subject like scientific and technical
business subjects. Great emphasis is placed on work experience. It is often seen as the
first step towards a degree course as the credits can be transferred.
Vocational Courses offer an opportunity to enter the university system slowly. Business and
Technology Education Council (BTEC), General Vocational Qualifications (GNVQ),
General Scottish Vocational Qualifications (GSVQ) offer recognized courses in a range of
disciplines. Most students opt to take 1-2 years of, for example, BTEC courses before
being transferred to a degree programme. BTEC national certificates/diplomas are usually
accepted as an alternative to A-Levels.
Postgraduate study may take the form of an independent piece of research under supervision
or a taught course, and leads to a variety of degrees and awards. The taught courses
normally last for one or sometimes two years. Completion of a doctorate normally takes a
minimum of three years. Many post-experience courses are also available, either leading
to a qualification or providing a refresher course for graduates wishing to update or
extend their knowledge. Occasional students are admitted by some institutions in limited
numbers. They attend courses or undertake research, possibly for a period of one or two
years. These courses do not lead to any formal qualification or 'credit' although certificate
of satisfactory attendance may be given.
USA Education System

Overview of the American Education System
Primary school
American children start school at the age of five years. The first year at school is called
kindergarten. It is required of all American children enrolled in the American education system.
The second year at school is considered the first year of primary school and is referred to as first
grade. In America, the word grade has two meanings: (1) the score achieved on an exam or in a
course, and (2) a year of education in primary or secondary school. Primary school most
commonly consists of five years of education, referred to as first through fifth grades.
Secondary school
Upon completion of fifth grade (the last year of primary school), American children enrolled in
the American education system advance to secondary school. Secondary school most commonly
consists of a total of seven years, referred to as sixth through twelfth grades. The ninth through
twelfth grades are most commonly referred to as high school. Upon completion of twelfth grade,
American students are awarded a certificate called the high school diploma. In the American
education system, students must have obtained a high school diploma before they are admitted
into college or university. Foreign students who would like to attend an American college or
university must have completed coursework that is equivalent to what is taught at an American
high school. Foreign students who would like to attend an American high school, need to
consider how the high school they select will give them access to the best colleges. You can also
click here to learn about some of the finest boarding schools in the American education system.
Undergraduate school
Students who have completed high school and would like to attend college or university must
attend what is referred to as an undergraduate school. These are schools that offer either a two-
year degree (called an associate degree) or a four-year degree (called a bachelor’s degree) in a
specific course of study. That course of study is called the major. While most schools that offer a
four-year degree will admit students who have not yet chosen a major, all students are required to
select (or declare) a major by their second year at school. Students who complete an associate
degree can continue their education at a four-year school and eventually complete a bachelor’s
degree.

Graduate school
Students who have obtained a bachelor’s degree can continue their education by pursuing one of
two types of degrees. The first is a master’s degree. This is usually a two-year degree that is
highly specialized in a specific field. Students are sometimes admitted to a master’s degree
program only if they have a bachelor’s degree in a closely related field. However, there are many
exceptions to this, such as with students who want to pursue a Master’s in Business
Administration (MBA) degree. Students who want to advance their education even further in a
specific field can pursue a doctorate degree, also called a PhD. A PhD degree can take between
three and six years to complete, depending on the course of study chosen, the ability of the
student, and the thesis that the student has selected. The thesis is a very intensive research paper
that must be completed prior to earning the degree. It is always required of students pursuing a
PhD, and may sometimes be required of students pursuing a master’s degree (depending on the
school).
Certain courses of study are only available at the graduate school level in America. The most
notable of these are law, dentistry, and medicine. Students who want to pursue a degree in one of
these fields must first obtain a bachelor’s degree.
academic standards—measures of scholastic excellence held by a university; most require that

students maintain a minimum grade point average (GPA) to continue their studies.
ACT—ACT Assessment; one of two standardized achievement tests (the other is the SAT) taken
by U.S. high school students and international students interested in university study in the
United States. Many universities have a minimum ACT requirement for admission.
assistantship—A paid graduate appointment that requires part-time teaching or research duties.
Offered by IU schools or departments, these positions usually include a fee scholarship too
bursar—the university office responsible for student tuition, fees, and bill paying.
credit hour—a unit counted toward completion of an academic program. Each course is worth a
number of credit hours (also known as "credits") the number of credit hours reflects the number
of hours a student spends in class for that course per week. A typical course offers 3 credit hours.
Students typically take 12–15 credit hours per semester. A bachelor's degree typically requires a
total of 120–124 credit hours.
dorm—shortened form of "dormitory"; also known as "residence hall." A university building
where students live while going to school, often with shared rooms.
extracurricular activities—organized student activities connected with school and usually
carrying no academic credit, such as sports, clubs, volunteer activities. Many college applications
request a list of high school extracurricular activities.
fellowship—Money awarded to help pay for graduate school; fellowships sometimes cover
tuition and insurance as well as provide money in exchange for teaching and research duties.
financial aid—grants and loans made to students to help pay for tuition and other expenses while
attending college. Also see assistantship and fellowship.
financial documentation—proof, often in the form of bank statements or certificates of deposit,
that students have the necessary money to study in the United States.
financial statement—a document issued by banks or credit companies that tracks a person's
finances, including credits and debits.
GPA—grade point average; an average of grades earned, weighted by the number of credit hours
earned.
graduate degree—a degree earned after completing the bachelor's degree. Examples include
master's degrees and doctorates (Ph.D.'s).
graduate student—a student, usually working toward a master's or doctoral degree, who has
already completed a bachelor's degree.
Hoosier—slang for a resident of Indiana. IU students are also called "Hoosiers."
immigration—the act of coming into a country to live where one is not a native resident.
in-state (tuition fee)—the tuition fee charged to Indiana residents; also known as resident tuition
fee. Residents of other states or countries pay out-of-state tuition. (See out-of-state.)

loan—money lent (usually by banks or the U.S. government) to be paid back with interest. (Note:
Most U.S. banks will not give loans to non-U.S. citizens or permanent residents without a U.S.
citizen or permanent resident co-signing on the loan.)
major— an academic subject chosen as a field of specialization.
mandatory fees—required costs charged by the university in addition to tuition: examples
include student activity fee, student health fee, technology fee, and transportation fee.
merit-based scholarship—money awarded to students to attend college. It is usually based on a
student's academic achievements.
minor— an academic subject chosen as a secondary field of specialization, less than a major.
minority—a person who is a member of an ethnic group that is small in proportion to other
groups.
miscellaneous fees—extra costs charged by the university for services such as transcripts,
admission applications, and independent study.
mile—a unit of distance equal to 1,609 meters.
need-based scholarship—financial aid granted to a student who lacks money to attend college
based on income.
neighborhood—a district or section with distinct characteristics in which a group of people live;
at IU, this refers to a grouping of two or more residence halls on campus.
nonresident (tuition fee)—the tuition fee charged to students whose permanent residence is
outside of the state of Indiana; also known as out-of-state tuition fee.
off-campus housing—apartments and houses not located on campus premises.
on-campus housing—apartments, houses, and residence halls located on campus premises.
out-of-state (tuition fee)—the tuition fee charged to students whose permanent residence is
outside of the state of Indiana; also known as nonresident tuition fee. (See in-state.)
reasonable living expenses—general estimated costs, including housing, personal expenses, and
transportation, while attending college. Living expenses differ for each individual based upon
personal choices so this might reflect a fairly comfortable lifestyle.
resident (tuition fee)—the tuition fee charged to Indiana residents; also known as in-statetuition
fee.
SAT—Scholastic Assessment Test; one of two standardized achievement tests (the other is the
ACT) taken by U.S. high school students and international students interested in university study
in the United States. Many universities have a minimum SAT requirement for admission.
SSN—Social Security number; a number assigned by the government to U.S. residents at birth
and used by many universities as the student identification number. International students are
assigned a random student identification number.
TOEFL—Test of English as a Foreign Language; a test that measures the ability of nonnative
speakers of English to use and understand North American English. Many Indiana University
academic programs have a minimum TOEFL score for admission.
top tier (university)—a university that is highly ranked and well-respected academically.
transcript—an official university record of courses, grades, and length of study.
tuition—the cost of college instruction based on the number of courses taken.
undergraduate student—a student working toward a bachelor's degree. A first-level university
student.
waiver—a notice given which releases you from fees or courses. For example, if you receive a
fee waiver, you do not have to pay that fee.
The Destruction of American Education

And What We
Must Do About It
By Dr. Norman D. Livergood

Democracy requires an electorate that understands what is actually happening in the

world, beyond what the ruler-owned media tell us is happening. If American citizens
receive an effective education we learn to inform ourselves and can see through the
propaganda, the dictatorial actions, and the outcomes of the non-constitutional acts of our
rulers.
Beginning in the early part of the twentieth century, American ruling groups began to
create a pseudo-educational system which produces students no longer capable of
understanding such key concepts and factors as "freedom," "government of the people,"
"critical thinking," etc.
"The economic well-being of the nation depends on the presence of a large number of
men who are content to labor hard all day long. Because men are naturally lazy they will
not work unless forced by necessity to do so. The education of the poor threatens to rob
the nation of their productivity... Every hour those poor people spend at their books is so
much time lost to society. Going to school in comparison to working is idleness."
Bernard de Mandeville, The Fable of the Bees, 1714

(the book which Adam Smith used as the basis of his
1776 Wealth of Nations, the capitalist Bible)
The "High Cabal" wanted a working class that was merely trained to do a particular job,
not think about social or political issues. They created an educational system focused on
training instead of learning, which took its lead from such physiological, materialistic
"psychologists" as Wilhelm Wundt, G. Stanley Hall, James McKeen Cattell, E. L.
Thorndike, and others.
G. Stanley Hall was the first of Wundt's disciples to return from Leipzig in 1883. Hall
joined the faculty of Baltimore's new Johns Hopkins University, which was being
established after the model of the German universities. Hall organized the psychology
laboratory at Johns Hopkins and, in 1887, established the American Journal of Psychology.
In 1889, when Clark University was established in Worcester, Massachusetts, Hall was
chosen to be its first president.
In 1892 Hall played a leading role in founding the American Psychological Association. Hall
became known for his studies of child development and in 1904 published his two-volume
Adolescence: Its Psychology and Its Relation to Physiology, Anthropology, Sociology, Sex,
Crime, Religion, and Education, welding experimental psychology to child education.
We can get a clear idea of the new meaning of Wundtian-defined American education by
examining Hall's definition of educational practice.
"We must overcome the fetishism of the alphabet, of the multiplication tables, of
grammars, of scales, and of bibliolatry . . . it would be no serious loss if a child never
learned to read." (emphasis added)
"Secret knowledge is the basis of all power. Your source of information depends upon
who you are and what position you hold in society. Your source of information
determines the reliability of what you know."
Steven Jacobson, Mind Control in the United States
Hall considered American working-class children as a "great army of incapables, shading

down to those who should be in schools for dullards or subnormal children, for those whose
mental development heredity decrees a slow pace and an early arrest."

However, except in a few instances, American students were never made aware of what was
really going on in the world--in terms of the machinations of the "Higher Cabal." For
example, the exposés of writers such as George Seldes or I. F. Stone would have been
beyond the pale for most American schools. So Americans fought World War II ignorant of
how U.S. companies had helped set up the Nazi regime in Germany and profitted from its
killing of Allied soldiers.
Beginning in the second half of the twentieth century, American education began its rapid
and almost total decline. In the latter half of the twentieth and now the twenty-first century,
"education" has almost entirely been turned into mere training. The very definition of
"education" has been twisted to make it appear to be training. For example,
• the New Century Dictionary of the English Language (1927) defined education as:
"the drawing out of a person's innate talents and abilities by imparting the
knowledge of languages, scientific reasoning, history, literature, rhetoric, etc.--the
channels through which those abilities would flourish and serve."
• whereas, education was defined in An Outline of Educational Psychology in 1934 in

these terms: "Learning is the result of modifiability in the paths of neural
conduction. Explanation of even such forms of learning as abstraction and
generalization demand of the neurones [sic] only growth, excitability, conductivity,
and modifiability. The mind is the connection-system of man; and learning is the
process of connecting. The situation-response formula is adequate to cover learning
of any sort, and the really influential factors in learning are readiness of the
neurones, sequence in time, belongingness, and satisfying consequences."
By 1968, John Goodlad, one of the educational establishment's best known spokespersons,
made it clear just what was important in "education."
"The most controversial issues of the twenty-first century will pertain to the ends
and means of modifying human behavior and who shall determine them. The first
educational question will not be 'what knowedge is of the the most worth?' but 'what
kinds of human beings do we wish to produce?' The possibilities virtually defy our
imagination."
"Learning and Teaching in the Future," Today's Education

(journal of the National Education Association)
The future role of literacy in the workplace has been succinctly stated by Pierre
Dogan, the president of Granite Communications, a company that is now
'developing software for hotel housekeeping.' It seems that 'so long as maids can
read room numbers, they will be able to check off tasks completed or order supplies
by simply touching pictures on the screen." Dogan points out that 'you can create a
work program with prompting including iconic [picture] messages.' In fact, he
logically concludes, 'you can use an illiterate workforce.'javascript:Remote();
Supreme Court Justice Breyer, who dissented from the 5-4 ruling, predicted that the
decision would prove highly divisive in a country with "more then 55 different religious
groups." He foresees many struggles, asking, "How will the public react to government
funding for schools that take controversial religious positions on topics that are of
current popular interest--say, the conflict in the Middle East or the war on terrorism?"

Precisely!
In the nineteenth century these democratic principles were advanced by such reformers
as Horace Mann, who wrote in 1848:
“If one class possesses all the wealth and the education, while the residue of
society is ignorant and poor, it matters not by what name the relation
between them may be called; the latter, in fact and in truth, will be the servile
dependents and subjects of the former.”
In the early part of the twentieth century, the working class took up the fight for public
education, which was inseparable from the campaign against child labor. However it
was only through the civil rights struggles, from the 1930s through 1960s, that universal
access to the public schools was fully achieved.
Now, in the twenty-first century the right to sound public education for the working
class has come into collision with the plans of the "High Cabal" for a society primarily
for the benefit of the wealthy. The rampant growth of class inequality has produced a
state of affairs that is fundamentally incompatible with democratic principles, which are
based on the equal rights of all citizens.
The whole issue of public money for ideologically-based schools will prove extremely
divisive throughout the nation. The Republicans, the majority of whom support
vouchers, will use the issue as a way to attack any Democrat who opposes vouchers as a
tool of the teacher unions.
FPRIVATE "TYPE=PICT;ALT=A new birth of freedom"
Americans are rapidly losing a sense of the traditional American values. Anti-
intellectual, racist or right-wing multiculturalism has replaced education, bought-and-
paid-for-politics has replaced democracy, funneling billions to the fat-cats has replaced
statesmanship, and attacks on constitutional liberties has replaced political and judicial
oversight.
Americans must now awaken to this horror and once again, if possible, create a public
education system which will become the means to transmit to future generations an
understanding of the hidden meaning of events and lost democratic concepts. If the
ravages that the "High Cabal" have wreaked on the public school system are so
fundamental that we cannot rejuvenate it, we may have to create our own private
"democracy schools" to help us regain our sense, our ability to see what's happening,
our intelligence. When our nation was founded, education was carried on primarily
through just such private home schools where Americans learned the values of a
democratic way of life.
As some are warning, any government system--public schools or voucher-based private

schools--carries government control with it. If the "High Cabal" uses the voucher
system to gain total ideological control of private schools, we may have to create
completely private "democracy schools" without resorting to vouchers.
Education must become the transmission of true human understanding to future
generations. This will require a group of people assisting others to see that current
"politics" and "education" are actually counterfeits of real social values, and developing
institutions which will provide insight into what is actually occurring in the world.

U.S. Education System
International students who come to the United States might wonder how their American
classmates reached that educational level. The American education system appears to be very
confusing. This is a brief overview.
To begin, because of the country’s history and cultural values, no national education system or
national curriculum exists in the United States. The federal government does not operate schools.
Each of the 50 states has its own Department of Education, which sets guidelines for the schools
of that state. Public colleges and universities receive funding from student tuition and the state in
which they are located. Each state’s legislature decides how many tax dollars will be given to
colleges and universities.
Most of the control of American schools is in the hands of each local school district. Each school
district is governed by a school board, a small committee of people elected by the local
community. The school board sets general policies for the school district. Students do not pay
tuition in grades 1-12.
Generally, school districts are divided into elementary schools, middle schools or junior high
schools, and high schools. Elementary schools contain students in kindergarten and 1st through
5th or 6th grades. Many children go to kindergarten when they are five years old. Children begin
first grade at age six.
Depending on the school district, students follow elementary school with either middle school or
junior high school. Middle school contains grades 6-8. Junior high school contains grades 7-9.
Following that, students go to high school. High school contains grades 9-12 or 10-12.
High school students take a wide range of courses. All students are required to take English,
math, science, and social studies courses. They also might be required to take a foreign language
and/or physical education. A course can be one semester or two semesters long.
In the United States, education is compulsory for all children until age 16 or 17. Usually, a
student graduates after he or she has successfully passed all of the required courses. Grades are
given to students for each course at the end of every semester or term. Grades are:
A = Excellent
B = Above Average
C = Average
D = Below Average
F = Failure
(A student who fails a required course must take the course again.)
In 1970, about half of all American students who graduated from high school went to college.
Today, nearly three out of four American high school graduates go to college.
Admission to a College/University
Although admission policies vary from one college and university to the next, most determine
admission based on several factors such as a student’s high school course of study, high school
GPA, SAT scores, written essay, and possibly a personal interview:
• The college or university admission office considers whether a student has taken courses in high
school that have prepared him/her for the more difficult college courses. A student’s high school
grade point average (GPA) is also considered. A GPA is a quantitative figure representing a
student’s accumulated grades. Each letter grade is assigned a number of points: A=4 points, B=3,
C=2 , D=1, and F= 0 points.
A GPA is calculated by adding all of the points earned for each course grade and dividing the
total points by the total number of courses taken. For example, a GPA of 3.0 means a “B”
average for all of the courses taken.
• Most colleges and universities set a minimum SAT score that a student must achieve in order to
gain admission. The SAT is the Scholastic Aptitude Test, a standardized quantitative examination
taken by high school students throughout the United States. Each college or university decides
the minimum SAT score it will accept.
• Colleges and universities often require applicants to write an essay. The length and content of
the essay is determined by each admission office. Depending on the college or university,

applicants might also have a personal interview with a representative from the admissions office.
There are four types of degrees:
• Associate’s (completion of a program in a specific career field),
• Bachelor’s (conferred after completion of an undergraduate program),
• Master’s (first graduate degree)
• Doctorate (second graduate degree and final degree).
At the college and university level, most courses are only one semester or one term long. Each
course is assigned a number of credit hours. Credit hours are usually based on how much time is
spent in class. Most courses are 3 or 4 credits. However, some courses may be 1, 2, or 5 credits.
All degree programs require students to complete a minimum number of credit hours before
graduation. Most Bachelor’s degree programs in the United States don’t require students to write
a final thesis. A final thesis is required for most Master’s programs and all Doctorate programs.
Selection for admission to a graduate program is similar to the factors used to determine
admission to an undergraduate program. Instead of considering high school courses and GPA, an
admissions office examines the student’s undergraduate courses and GPA. Most Master’s
programs require students to have a minimum score on the GRE. The Graduate Record
Examination (GRE) is similar to the SAT.
In most Doctorate programs, students continue to take courses until they have earned enough
credit hours to attempt their qualifying examinations. After students pass the qualifying exams,
they can begin to write his their final theses.
Because degree requirements can be very complex and vary from one program to another, all
students should check with their departments and program advisors to make sure they are
meeting the requirements of their particular program.
Improving the Public School System Inexpensively

A very straight-forward way is available to quickly and effectively improve American public
schools. It is not expensive, and may even be less expensive than existing standard efforts. It
involves operation of three physically separate parallel schools in a District. Attendance at
specific schools would not depend on academic ability or knowledge, but on each individual
student's social compatibility. Absolutely no discrimination exists because each student has the
choice available to attend any of them.
Initially, every student would have unlimited choice of which school to attend. As long as a
student reasonably followed generally acceptable social rules in his/her conduct, that choice
would remain unlimited. However, if a student exhibits violent behavior, or regularly behaves
disruptively, or regularly and openly flaunts the established rules of society and school, that
choice would become restricted. No Principal or teacher would determine or control such a
limitation; the student would. And, even if a student's behavior caused attendance at a specific
school, a number of ways are always available for him/her to earn enough respect to again have
broader choice.
A central premise here is that there are some students that need to learn very basic inter-personal
skills in order to eventually become part of adult society. Existing public school systems don't
have very effective ways of dealing with such students, and they tend to represent danger and
disruption for an educational environment. Once such students learn adequate behavior skills
(and attitudes), such students could become welcome participants in any classroom. This essay is
meant to offer a possibility in that direction.
Nearly all potential "solutions" for the terrible situation of the American public school system
seem to be "top-down" concepts. A central bureaucracy decides the rules and conditions (and
money) and then they try to impose that somewhat artificial environment on masses of students.
Won't work! People, students, are a diverse lot! Rigid structures and rules will always fail. In
addition, the whole concept of education is far more complicated than normally perceived. Rather
than a teacher jamming thoughts into students' heads, it is crucially important to enable the many

students to first be in a receptive condition for learning to occur. Rather than any authoritarian,
top-down structure, this approach is more of a "grass roots" approach, where each individual
student always has most of the control of what choices are available to him/her. For this reason
alone, it seems like a viable possibility! Some of the students might even come to appreciate that
element of choice, rather than having to entirely live within authoritarian decrees from some
distant bureaucrat!
The American public school system faces an assortment of huge obstacles. Many students are
apathetic. Some teachers are unmotivated or incompetent. Some schools include physically
dangerous environments. All school administrators are limited by various discrimination laws in
doing much about any of this. As a result, many parents have concerns for the safety and the
education of their children. Many feel that their only valid choices are to send their kids to private
school or to move to a house in a district or town known for adequate school system
performance.
There IS another alternative! The public school system COULD respond appropriately to the
diversity of school children WITHOUT discriminating against anyone! ALL students will be able
to receive the best possible education for that student. The cost to accomplish this can be very
reasonable --- it might even be LESS EXPENSIVE overall than existing system expenditures!
Students would attend one of three physically separate, different schools, NOT dependent on
educational achievement or ability or test results (which would be potentially discriminatory) but
rather, dependent on a number of aspects of behavior. Students that generally do their
homework and attend classes and behave reasonably would always have the choice to
transfer to whichever school he/she chooses. Often, that might be the high-motivation
school, that could accomplish the most educating, because there would be very few
disruptions or incidents of violence there. Even students that had extremely low grades or test
scores could attend that school, as long as their BQ (Behavior Quotient) was satisfactory (see
below). Low-achieving students can often thrive in such a motivating environment, and mixtures
of students of different achievement levels would probably be good for all of the students.
The intermediate-motivation school would have many "normal behavior" students. The third
school would be where disruptive or violent or totally unmotivated students would attend class,
and that school WOULD have metal detectors and extremely strict discipline. Each school year in
a student's education would be treated separately, so a student in the trouble-makers' school who
matured and discovered motivation, could begin to consistently do his/her homework and attend
classes and behave in a civil manner, and he/she would be given the choice to attend one of the
other two schools the following year. Motivated students, of all educational abilities, would
have the opportunity to attend school in a motivated, vibrant, safe educational
environment.
(There are no precise ways of describing these three school environments. I have chosen to use
levels of motivation to describe them, but that would not always be the case. An extremely
motivated, extremely intelligent, but extremely disruptive student could certainly wind up in the
lo-mot school. Similarly, a well-behaved, possibly quiet, student with limited ability and minimal
motivation could easily spend an entire education in the hi-mot school.)
Anyone who has interacted with the Public School system quickly sees the great diversity of
motivations and abilities of students. Up to about thirty years ago, students were "tracked" into
classes with other students with similar education and ability. This situation allowed teachers to
teach at a rate fast enough to not bore the students but slow enough to allow most to grasp each
subject area. Then, the Federal courts felt that minority school children were being effectively
discriminated against by this system. The courts found that such children were commonly tracked
together in the "lower tracks" due to poor performance on standardized IQ-type tests. When a
teacher taught such a class, it was felt that possibly less effort would be expended in teaching
them. Whether or not that was true, the conclusion was that such tests were biased TOWARD
white children and AGAINST minorities who may be less proficient at taking tests. The net
effect of all this was to make "tracking" illegal. All students were to be distributed equally and

randomly to eliminate any "tracking" and school busing was added to eliminate inter-school
differences. These added aspects were intended to accomplish an additional goal. By putting
disadvantaged minority youth into the same classes with white, motivated, conscientious
children, it was hoped that the disadvantaged youth would become motivated to match their white
classmates.
Admirable goals, to be sure. They even sound pretty logical. In some individual cases, those
goals were achieved. However, in general, the premise has led to an inferior modern public
educational system. Various specific causes seem to be involved. Three seem to be particularly
significant.
One of the initial premises of the courts' rulings was that the society and mores of the white
children would predominate and that minority children would learn to fit in to this
(desired) social scheme. Commonly, the harsh neighborhood life of minorities has
embedded a socially more active or aggressive attitude in contrast to the passive nature of
many non-angry whites. The result is that the social scheme which commonly
predominates today in many schools has tended to be that of the aggressive,
confrontational environment, learned substantially from the minorities. Exactly the
opposite of that which was desired!
When a teacher has a broadly diverse class, it becomes frustrating for everyone involved. In
my first year of teaching, I taught a high school freshman (9th grade) science class which
included students who averaged reading scores of about 3 (allegedly equivalent to 3rd
grade reading ability.) This same class included several minority kids with reading scores
of about 1 (first-grade reading ability) and the highest was a white girl whose reading
score was 7.2 (seventh grade reading level.) This situation represented a real dilemma for
a very motivated new teacher! Most of the time I tried to aim at the bulk of the kids. Even
though I was an enthusiastic, idealistic high school teacher, I found myself teaching
effectively third-grade science to ninth-grade students! This was frustrating in itself for
me, but I was also very aware that my slower students still didn't have a clue of what was
going on and simultaneously, my "advanced" girl student was continuously bored and not
learning anything. Occasionally, I taught a class aimed at her level to maintain my own
sanity. Occasionally, I would try to teach at first-grade level to try to motivate the slower
students. In all cases, most of the students were bored. After all, this was probably the
seventh time they were being taught third-grade science! Absolutely none would have
gained any reason for developing personal motivation or any inspiration in pursuing
science as a career.
With a wide range of motivation and behavior in a classroom, the potential for learning is
continually a hostage to disruptive behavior of even a single aggressive student. Since the
diversity of students from society is so broad, virtually every modern class has at least a
couple of these disruptive individuals. Under these conditions, "teaching" quickly
evaporates and "baby-sitting" ensues. Neither teacher nor students want this (except the
one who is trying to get attention.) I once had a class that included about 8 such
individuals (mostly white, by the way) out of 35 students. It was a year-long nightmare,
and immensely frustrating. I sometimes wondered if I should be getting paid as a teacher
because so little actual teaching/learning was ever able to happen! That experience also
contributed to my deciding to leave teaching.
.
New Approach
The premise being offered here is an alternate solution, which does not involve the environment
described above but still complies to all laws. Each and every student would be in an
intellectually and socially appropriate atmosphere for greatest opportunity for learning. There
would result some variation of level between schools or classes, but ANY INDIVIDUAL
STUDENT COULD ATTEND ANY OF THEM relatively irrespective of his or her native
ability.

This new system is based on student/parent motivation rather than the student's test-based
perceived ability. In the first couple grades, all students would attend similar classes. Specific
additional new records would be maintained regarding each student to maintain a year-long
cumulative motivation rating, or what I call Behavior Quotient. As a starting point for discussion,
I would suggest something like the following:
• Negatives
• Unexcused class absences (-3 each)
• Skipping a full day of school (-8 each)
• Late for class (-1 each)
• Doesn't do homework (-1 each)
• Disruptive classroom behavior (0 to -5 each incident)
• Fighting (-50 or more each incident)
• (etc, listing specific undesirable behavioral matters)
• Positives
• Volunteers to help (+1 to +5 each)
• A month's perfect attendance (automatic +10 each month)
• A month's complete homework set (automatic +10 each month)
• Parent at PTA meeting (+10 each month)
• Parent/teacher conference attendance (+10 each)
• (Other desired behavior patterns)
•Many of these matters could be automatically maintained by the school's existing computer
system (attendance subjects). The others could easily be added to a school's current record-
keeping system with very little new expense or administrative time or effort. As a student's
education progresses, this cumulative year's total would be used to determine which of three (or
more) different schools he/she would attend for the following year. Since a well-behaved,
motivated student could accumulate over 200 plus points, even a few "mess ups" could still
happen by "real" kids and still total the +100 necessary for entrance to the most-motivated school
for the next year. Scores above zero would qualify for the moderately motivated school next year.
Scores below zero would cause attendance at a school for unmotivated students.
Please note that the most passive, quiet, lowest-ability student would receive +90 for perfect
attendance and another +90 for turning in all the required homework, so that student
would easily have his/her choice of schools. Each student would have access to his/her current
BQ score for that year, possibly on the report cards. If, late in a school year, a student was at +80
and really wanted to attend the highest motivation school the next year, he/she could volunteer to
help several teachers or his/her parents could start attending PTA meetings and parent-teacher
conferences.
.
Flexibility of This System
An appeal system would exist for making adjustments for extenuating circumstances (in both
directions) and for showing flexibility in borderline cases. Individuals or parents might even elect
NOT to attend a higher motivation school if desired (possibly to participate in a stronger sports
team or take a more comprehensive Shop class or for any other reason.)
A hyper-active student or one otherwise affected by medical or mental conditions would have the
opportunity of appeal regarding a specific personal choice of school.
Since each year is treated separately, at any point any student could easily change behavior,
attendance and/or homework patterns to qualify for a higher-motivated school for the following
year. No one would be doomed to a "low track" forever. Even a student with poor study habits
and low standardized testing scores could qualify for and belong in the highest-motivation
school (although he/she may initially get poor grades as a result.) Such a student would be in an
environment where improvement was likely, so even initial poor grades might quickly improve.
In such a school environment, teachers could encourage students who were grasping the material

quickly to help those students that might be having more difficulty, and the students would
probably all grow from such experiences.
.
Individual Student's Choice
Another important aspect of this system is the (publicized) length of the school day. If the low-
motivation school day length is 6 hours, then the mid-mot day length should be 7 hours and the
hi-mot day length should be 8 hours. Fore-knowledge of this will help students/parents to decide
and determine their individual motivation levels. The longer day length will also allow the more
motivated students more time to learn complex concepts, and to include additional elective
classes.
Students intending to attend college should (reasonably) try to regularly be in the hi-mot school
and not be in the less motivated schools for more than two or three years in the twelve years of
school. Colleges might realistically not count classes in the low-mot school as contributing to
high school graduation requirements.
Most people argue about who is to blame for causing such disruptive and dangerous behaviors,
and they blame TV, movies, graphic news, lax parents, lack of role models, etc. Any or all of that
might be true, but American society doesn't have any way of greatly improving any of those
factors, even if they ARE valid. The ideas presented in this essay essentially concede that such
students are going to exist because of the attitudes of modern American society. It just seems
obvious to me to collect such disruptive (and often dangerous) students together in one place (a
separate school) where intense discipline could be applied. After all, eventually, those students
will be out in society, and if they never learn responsibility and consequences and discipline, they
will be society's problems throughout their adulthood. If they are put in an environment that is
essentially a Military School, they might learn acceptable social behaviors. They certainly do not
have any incentive to learn such things in the modern environments of Public Schools. At the
same time, the remaining students (and teachers) would be able to be in an environment where
productive educational learning could flourish. Given the circumstances, it seems like an obvious
direction to try.
I just wish to help in any way possible to improve a terrible situation, and I am surprised at the
many "shallow" approaches that are commonly tried. The ones that show much effect tend to be
incredibly expensive, in some cases being on the order of $40,000 per student per school year.
For less than that, a school district could hire individual personal live-in tutors for each of the
students! Such "demonstrations" will obviously show positive results, but they are impracticably
expensive for large scale application. The approach of this essay uses existing schools, existing
teachers, and existing materials and equipment, and it is certain to show spectacular
improvements in test scores of the "peaceful" schools and possibly even in the "problem
children" schools, too.
Traditionally, it would have been unimaginable if a school student would interrupt an instructor's
lesson by standing up, walking over, and punching another student. The offending student would
be seriously punished, and possibly expelled from that school. In modern American classrooms,
students all know that the teachers are not allowed to strike or even touch them, because some
teachers have been sent to jail for doing so. They also know that the school administration will
only fill out some paperwork about the matter and send the student right back to the same
classroom, essentially without punishment, and often, without even any reprimand. It is amazing.
The instructor is often NOT in charge of the classroom. In America, in most Public School
classrooms, at least 10 of the students believe that they can do absolutely anything they please,
and the instructor is considered a minor part of the control dynamics. With peer pressures
important for young kids, their various actions tend to encourage each other to more and more
disruptive behavior, which often escalates to actual physical violence. And the instructor cannot
even get involved to try to establish control, and becomes a bystander.
.

RESULTS
The hi-mot school figures to be close to the ideal learning environment. Motivated students (of
all social and racial groups), a physically safe environment (as a physically SEPARATE school),
and motivated teachers who could actually expand the students intellectual envelopes, and
involved parents, would combine for wonderful results. It seems likely that most of the students
would graduate from this school and that most of them would go on to continue their education in
college. Even the initially disadvantaged and initially slow students!
The mid-mot school figures to be similar to today's schools with some important differences.
Again, a physically SEPARATE location should ensure a much safer environment than is
common in large cities, since most of the trouble-makers would not be present. Such people
would not be disruptive in the classroom so as to allow more productive teaching time as well. In
addition, the teacher would know that these students have some, but limited, motivation which
would allow adjustments in the teaching method to most benefit them. Considerably more
educational growth would certainly occur in virtually all the students in this school than is
generally the case in the current system.
The low-mot school would almost certainly require more aggressive efforts at discipline and
maintaining order. If these commonly disruptive, irreverent, disrespectful students are to learn
anything toward being productive participants of society, they must learn appropriate behavior
and respect first. This school would have low tolerance on anti-social behavior. It might even
have some aspects of the "boot camps" and Military schools that have arisen to deal with
troublesome children. If and when some of these students learn such appropriate behavior and
respect, (and most would probably see selfish value in doing so), they could likely quickly
qualify for the mid-mot or hi-mot school for the next year. Until they learn how to properly co-
exist with society, they would primarily have to deal with each other and with a strict school
structure designed to handle their behavior patterns.
There would probably be other incentives for students to strive to learn socially acceptable
patterns to qualify for the mid-mot or hi-mot schools. One would suspect that most girls would
generally qualify for one of those schools, which would leave the low-mot school primarily for
unruly boys. Since these boys would have few girls to "show off" for, they may choose to learn
better behavior just to be in a school which has more girls. This motivation may not be very
traditional, but if ANY method assists trouble-making boys learn better social behavior patterns
and self-restraint, society will ultimately benefit.
The modern American educational system is filled with an assortment of problems. Many
students are not learning much at all. Most students are graduating with less knowledge and
capability than similar students in other industrialized countries. Classroom disruptions are
surprisingly common. School violence is rampant, including the many violent incidents we all
hear about in the news. Even violence on school buses is a tremendous problem.
What is the answer?
In general, the common approaches are to throw money at the problems, and to establish very
broad guidelines and laws to solve individual problems of the system. Regarding performance
issues, the teachers are generally blamed, and so better selection of teachers and better teacher
training are publicly called for. Regarding violence, metal detectors and uniformed police officers
roaming the halls are the common "solution." In addition, everyone demands newer, bigger, more
advanced school complexes.
These are all bureaucratic attempts at solutions for problems that arise on a very individual basis.
Essentially, some "expert" in an ivory tower somewhere believes he/she has a universal solution
for a problem he/she never actually faced in a classroom. Such "experts" have no idea of the
emotions that erupt in the classroom, including the teacher, when violent behavior begins. It is a
peculiar and frustrating situation to be a teacher a few feet away from two fighting students,
knowing that even touching either one could send you to jail. I doubt if many of the "experts"
know that feeling.
Such "top-down" approaches to establishing a peaceful and safe and productive environment in

the classroom have little chance of ever succeeding. Each student is an individual. Each teacher is
an individual. Both should be treated like individuals, with whatever amount of respect they
deserve, rather than as cattle in enormous herds. You might as well take their names away now
and just get them numbers, because the education system is essentially telling them that they have
little importance as individuals, and they better behave like the rest of the herd if they want to
avoid being in trouble. Is THIS the way young people should be "controlled"? I hope not. Such
authoritarian and bureaucratic structures and attitudes diminish whatever creativity and zest
everyone brings to the table. Don't I remember that this country was BUILT on the creativity and
diversity of early settlers? So why should we move in directions of schools being "armed camps"
where any behavior that is "different" is subject to question and doubt?
Considering the tens of thousands of (public) schools in America, the total financial cost of each
of the proposed "top-down" approaches is staggering. And, unfortunately, the likely benefit of
each of these approaches is minimal. Yes, metal detectors at school entrances might keep most
weapons out of the school buildings, and uniformed police walking the halls might lessen the
number of violent incidents. What would keep an angry, vindictive adolescent from waiting
outside, as happened several years ago in the South, where some kids waited outside with
weapons to pick off children leaving school? All of the expensive solutions suggested have
similar likelihood of success. They may reduce some aspects of symptoms of a problem, but a
related, different problem will arise as a result, such that very little real advantage actually
results.
I find a similar situation already existing in most courthouse buildings today. A few incidents of
violence had occurred in courtrooms over the years, so laws were passed where courthouses now
have metal detectors and a lot of security personnel. This is VERY expensive! Is it for OUR
benefit, to keep us safer in the building? Apparently not, because people are still shot outside
such buildings. The Judges are probably safer now, especially since they look so different out of
their robes and since they enter and leave the building by a separate private entrance. But the
millions of dollars of expense for every one of those large public buildings has almost no benefit
for the public. And it has a tremendous downside attached to it. I do not like to have to do any
business in such buildings, because of the over-bearing feeling of military-style authority that
seems to pervade the environment there. I also don't enjoy being frisk searched, under the
assumption that I am a potential criminal.
Is that the environment that would be conducive to young minds being open and receptive to new
educational ideas? Not a chance! Instead, it foments an atmosphere that minimizes creative
thought or intellectual growth, very much like our military branches INTENTIONALLY do
during boot camp or basic training. As soon as metal detectors and an obvious police presence
exist, the light, airy environment necessary to effective learning evaporates.
IF you work in an office somewhere, do you think you'd get your work done as efficiently if you
continuously saw an armed Police Officer out of the corner of your eye? You might for a little
while, out of a fear factor. But, soon, you would likely have an indescribable feeling similar to
paranoia, whether regarding the permanent reminder of the possible threat the Officer is supposed
to thwart, or because of his presence itself. Your clarity of thinking, your creativity, your overall
efficiency, your learning of new skills, would all certainly degrade. Just because he was there.
This is the real world. Bad things sometimes happen. There are bad people. In principle, we could
each hire permanent armed guards to stand outside our homes, 24/7. We could do the same for
our vehicles. Is this the future we are looking toward?
Should we live every moment of every day, dreadful of the multitudes of dangers and threats "out
there"? Should we provide a public school environment that inculcates this attitude into our
young people? I hope the answers are no.
Does this mean that there is no answer to the problems?
Not at all.
I taught high school in Illinois for four years some time back, before I started my manufacturing
business. I might have stayed in teaching, if it hadn't been for one characteristic that was in the

process of change about then. When I had been a student, the locus of authority in every
classroom was in the teacher. Both the teacher and (the majority of) the students KNEW that the
teacher was virtually God in that classroom. The students certainly had no authority there, and, in
a sense, seemed to have few rights, except those graciously permitted by the teacher. School
administrations, parents, society, all believed in and supported that environment. It may not
always have been perfect, but it allowed for reasonably consistent learning to occur in
classrooms.
These days, people look back on those days as the "dark ages" of teaching! It was certainly true
that a rare teacher would take advantage of the vast authority he/she held, and a few bad things
DID happen to some children. Granted! However, most teachers comprehended the importance
and the responsibility given them in that position. After all, society and the parents WERE
handing the children to those teachers to mold their minds, and what could be more important
than that? Wouldn't it also seem appropriate to put total trust in the teachers' judgments regarding
social, moral, and ethical issues that arose in that classroom? To enable and empower each
teacher to establish personal and possibly unique behavioral guidelines that would apply
whenever anyone was within that specific classroom?
Doesn't a similar situation apply in the workplace in privately owned companies? Doesn't the
boss/owner set an assortment of rules, to which each employee must comply? In most cases, this
is done to establish organization and structure and consistency in the operations of that company.
(In rare cases, it is because of some character flaw in the boss/owner.) Most employees tend to
stay in such environments, and comply with the existing rules. A few choose to leave, to look for
some other company that has rules that seem more personally compatible. Some are successful at
finding such an alternative, some are not.
The Locus of Authority Has Changed!
A lot of civil rights proponents and groups have altered the environment in each classroom. Even
while I was teaching, it was beginning. Where, in the "dark ages", the teacher and the students all
accepted without doubt the broad authority of the teacher in that classroom, no one presently
believes that. The students wield the majority of the true authority in any modern classroom. The
teacher may appear to be in charge or in control, but that is only the case as the students choose to
let him/her. The most important aspect of this is that the students know this!
Every modern student knows that, no matter what he/she does in a classroom, the teacher is NOT
allowed to strike, discipline or even touch the student. This is effectively a carte blanche for
many students to act without any control. If a student who knows this fact decides to start talking,
or yell, or throw something, or get up and walk or run around, what can the teacher do? Not a
whole lot! Multiply this by ten, in an over-crowded class of forty students, and you have a zoo!
The most troublesome aspect of this is the amazing breadth of this situation. In the great majority
of public school classrooms, enough of the students know this reality of the situation, to cause
this to happen on a daily basis. How could ANY teacher teach under those circumstances? How
could the children who were actually there to learn, ever learn much under those circumstances?
It is popular to blame the teachers for poor academic performance of students. It is popular to
blame school administrations for the rampant violence and disorder that exists in their hallways
and classrooms. No one ever seems to blame the children for acting uncontrollably. But since
political leaders have tied the hands of teachers and administrators regarding these matters (in
deference to the civil rights of the students), there is not much they could do to solve or even
alleviate the many problems of public schools.
As I said, the beginnings of these changes were occurring while I taught. Before school began
one Autumn, the Principal spent nearly an hour emphasizing that we must never even suggest
corporal punishment or strike or even touch any student. He made a big point that some teacher
(somewhere) had just been put in prison for a number of years, for slapping or using a ruler on
the knuckles of a student. I have always been a very mild-mannered person, where I have always
tried to treat all others with respect. Even before this news was generally known, my students
knew that I was not likely to enforce much discipline. The great majority chose to behave well,

but an occasional disruptive or hyperactive student could destroy the opportunity for all to learn.
Fortunately, many of my students appreciated my quiet and calm and respectful teaching style.
They also liked that I kept science interesting and exciting (like Bill Nye, the Science Guy, does
now on television). As it happens, a number of the athletes on the high school basketball and
football teams came to really like me, and some would attend my classes, whether or not they
were scheduled to do so. In one such class, a couple students were acting up one day, and I was
getting frustrated at not having the opportunity to teach. (These students had all previously seen
the news and knew that the school publicly announced that no teacher would ever be allowed to
touch, strike or discipline any student.) A huge (300-pound) lineman from the football team
suddenly stood up and said to me that he would make a point to "meet with" the offending
students after school to discuss the matter. He also mentioned that if I had any similar problems
in any of my other classes, that he would "speak with" those students as well.
This had remarkable effect! During the remainder of that school year and all of the next (while
that student was a senior), I had virtually NO disruptions in any class! I accomplished a LOT of
productive teaching! (After he graduated and went to play football for the University of Southern
California, my classes again had a few disruptions.)
I was very fortunate to have that student establish a situation where I was actually allowed to be
in authority in my classroom! The benefits were wonderful, for me, for the students, for
education. As far as I know, that football player never injured anyone on my behalf, but just the
possibility accomplished the desired behavior improvement. Where the students had previously
felt no reason to use self-restraint, now they chose to. Interesting!
One of the more interesting aspects of this whole subject is that the majority of my students
seemed to have respect for me and knew I respected them. The few that were disruptive were just
apparently responding to being in an environment where they perceived (correctly, unfortunately)
that NO rules of conduct actually existed!
We see the same situation in families where parents either do not know how to control and
discipline their children or they choose not to. Guests observe children that do not recognize any
authority figure and who behave in uncontrollable behaviors. The parents often then say that they
just do not know how to make them behave. The parents in such families might think they have
authority but they do not. The children quickly learn that no significant discipline will occur for
any behavior, and they soon learn that they can "get away" with absolutely any behavior.
Since many modern children see this situation at home, and equally at public school, is it any
wonder that they grow up with no respect for authority? Where would they have learned to have
respect for ANYONE? Including police, the possessions of others, the rights of others?
Essentially, we are training many children to have a mentality that inspires a criminal approach to
life.
On a related subject, I do not believe in spanking or other corporal punishment for children, even
by parents, especially since the parent/adult is often emotional during such incidents and might
cause injury as a result. HOWEVER, I believe all children should believe in the POSSIBILITY
of such punishment, for certain well-specified infractions. This is associated with establishing the
locus of authority in such a relationship. I was never spanked while I was growing up, but I very
clearly knew that if I did certain things (stealing, intentionally hurting someone, or a few other
things) I was certain to be spanked. There was never any doubt in my mind about who had the
authority. My father did. Even though he never needed to spank me, the possibility of that
happening was very important in defining exactly where the authority lay.
Most police officers carry handguns and other weapons, not with the hope or intent that they ever
use them, but to assist in confirming their authority in any situation. In the distant past, many
officers did not even carry weapons, because respect for their authority was high and no one
would have ever challenged a police officer. Scenarios such as television's Mayberry and Sheriff
Andy Taylor were the norm. Similarly, the teachers in Mayberry-like towns seldom had
discipline problems with the children. Children understood the great power and authority that
every teacher had in the classroom and considered them to be on a par with police officers.
That was probably a good perception. We have given both some very important responsibilities,

for our safety and the education of our children. It would seem that we should probably grant
them both similar abilities to establish respect and authority in the community. This is not to
suggest that teachers should be allowed to bring weapons to the classroom! Rather, they should
be given the public trust to carry their responsibility as they generally see fit. Certainly, peer
review is appropriate and various safeguards must be in place, as they are for police officers. We
allow officers to carry handguns but we carefully train them to always remain calm and prudent,
then trusting their judgment in each situation. We should do the same with public school teachers.
Trust them. We already trust them with the subjects that they teach to children. We should trust
their judgment on whether or how they individually choose to establish discipline in their
classroom, without asking questions unless truly horrendous reports come from the students.
Conclusion
Parents and government should and must be able to have total trust in the teachers of the children.
In a classroom, it is crucially important that everyone present have a clear understanding that the
teacher is in control and has all the authority. Within that classroom, the students, although being
American citizens with rights, should have the impression that they have no rights except those
granted by the teacher. This sounds tremendously harsh, but it doesn't have to be. Much of the
basis of the attitudes of the teacher and students is created outside the classroom, by the school
administration, by the parents, and by politicians who make laws governing the situation.
As long as students know that public policy is that the teacher is not allowed to do many things
related to discipline, many of those students will never learn personal discipline and they will
instead learn patterns of selfishness and total independence to all authority. Such people, as
adults, represent problems for employers, spouses, children, police, and most others, because they
never had to face accountability or responsibility for their actions. Until teachers are allowed the
right to establish the absolute rules for their classroom, many children will learn to disrespect
authority and to develop patterns of uncontrolled behavior.
In other words, the solutions to most of the litany of problems of the public education system can
all be found in publicly announcing a renewed respect and trust in the judgment of all public
school teachers. Then, each should be truly trusted to create a unique teaching environment in
his/her own classroom. AND, they should each be publicly backed up!
The rapport between student and teacher will improve rapidly, because kids respect someone that
actually stands for something. Additionally, after each teacher creates a classroom environment
that has few disruptions (however each teacher actually accomplishes that situation) much more
productive learning will certainly occur, quickly raising Iowa test scores and actual learning.
Students generally only spend one school year with each particular teacher, and in many schools,
only have specific teachers for an hour during each school day. Each student will therefore get a
chance to see MANY teachers' various ways of establishing order and discipline. Some of those
methods, they will find acceptable. Others, they will find distasteful. The net effect is that each
student will learn a diversity of methods from a cross-section of many teachers. The theory being,
that each student will both understand and respect authority (by it being imposed on them) and
also that they be exposed to a range of methods such that they might make a good choice for their
own life behavior. Later in life, each of the students will occasionally be in a position where
THEY will represent authority, so it's best if they have developed a personal method of defining
their own authority.
After most of the students have come to understand discipline and rules and authority and order
and respect, the number of incidents of violence in schools and in society should drop drastically.
Rather than needing metal detectors and an obvious police presence, school environments could
be even safer while being open and airy, such that intellectual creativity and growth is possible
and encouraged.
THEN, even better things will happen! As individual students see their own capabilities
appearing to improve, many will develop an improved self-worth, and they'll be with the program
even more! Thus, the effects of better test scores and better behavior in the schools is self-
perpetuating!

There is an additional thing that school systems could do that would enhance the effects of this
even more. It is considered very old-fashioned to teach the "three R's". It has become much more
fashionable to teach small amounts about MANY subjects, like social subjects like
discriminations. That might have value, but when it is at the expense of the basics, it is a mistake.
Tremendous amounts of repetition are necessary to firmly embed basic skills and knowledge in a
child's (or person's) mind. Did you learn the alphabet because it was shown to you once? Not a
chance! COUNTLESS repetitions were necessary before you came to proficiently shoot through
the alphabet. A re-emphasis on reading, writing and arithmetic would fit in excellently with this
general improvement of the American education system.
Understanding American Education

American education offers a rich field of choices for the international student. From abroad, and
even from within the U.S.A., there is such an array of institutions, programs and locations that the
choices may overwhelm the student. To simplify the choices, a student must carefully study how
each program and location can fulfill the student's goals. In order to make informed decisions, a
student will need to know how the U.S. education system is organized.
Let's start by examining the educational structure.
Most Americans attend twelve years of primary and secondary school. With a secondary school
("high school") diploma or certificate, a student can enter college, university, vocational (job
training) school, secretarial school, and other professional schools.
Primary and Secondary School: Begins around age six for U.S. children. They attend five or
six years of primary school. Next they go to secondary school, which consists of either two three-
year programs or a three-year and a four-year program. These are called "middle school" or
"junior high school" and "senior high school" (often just called "high school"). Americans call
these twelve years of primary and secondary school the first through twelfth "grades."
Higher Education: After finishing high school (twelfth grade), U.S. students may go on to
college or university. College or university study is known as "higher education." You should
find out which level of education in your country corresponds to the twelfth grade in the U.S.A.
You also should ask your educational advisor or guidance counselor whether you must spend an
extra year or two preparing for U.S. admission. In some countries, employers and the government
do not recognize a U.S. education if a student entered a U.S. college or university before he or
she could enter university at home.
Study at a college or university leading to the Bachelor's Degree is known as "undergraduate"
education. Study beyond the Bachelor's Degree is known as "graduate" school, or
"postgraduate" education. Advanced or graduate degrees include law, medicine, the M.B.A.,
and the Ph.D. (doctorate).
Where you can get a U.S. higher education
State College or University: A state school is supported and run by a state or local
government. Each of the 50 U.S. states operates at least one state university and possibly
several state colleges. Some state schools have the word "State" in their names.
Private College or University: These schools are operated privately, not by a branch of the
government. Tuition will usually be higher than at state schools. Often, private colleges
and universities are smaller in size than state schools.
Two-Year College: A two-year college admits high school graduates and awards an
Associate's Degree. Some two-year colleges are state-supported, or public; others are
private. You should find out if the Associate's Degree will qualify you for a job in your
country. In some countries, students need a Bachelor's Degree to get a good job. Two-
year college or "junior" college graduates usually transfer to four-year colleges or
universities, where they complete the Bachelor's Degree in two or more additional years.
Community College: This is a two-year state, or public college. Community colleges serve a
local community, usually a city or county. Many of the students are commuters who live
at home, or evening students who work during the day. Often, community colleges

welcome international students. Many of these schools offer special services to
international students such as free tutoring. Many community colleges also offer ESL or
intensive English programs.
Some community colleges provide housing and advising services that an international
student might need. Again, find out if a community college degree will be enough for you
to get a job when you return home. Most, but not all governments, recognize degrees from
junior and community colleges.
Professional School: A professional school trains students in fields such as art, music,
engineering, business, and other professions. Some are part of universities. Others are
separate schools. Some offer graduate degrees.
Institute of Technology: This is a school which offers at least four years of study in science
and technology. Some institutes of technology have graduate programs. Others offer
shorter courses.
Technical Institute: A technical institute trains students in fields such as medical technology
or industrial engineering. Although the course may prepare you for the career you want,
the degree may or may not be equivalent to a college or university degree. Some colleges
and universities do not accept credits from students who have attended technical institutes
and want to transfer. If you are considering a technical institute, find out if your
government, and U.S. colleges and universities, accept the school's degree.
Church-related School: Many U.S. colleges and universities were founded by religious
groups. The relationship, however, between the school and the religious organization may
be very flexible. Sometimes, these schools prefer to admit students who are members of
the sponsoring religious group. Nearly all these schools welcome students of all religions
and beliefs.
Traditionally, many church-related schools have required that students take Bible courses
and attend chapel services. But these practices are becoming less common.
Undergraduate (College) Years
Course of study: U.S. students usually study a wide variety of subjects while in college. Many
students do not specialize exclusively in one field until graduate school.
The first two years of college are called the "freshman" and "sophomore" years. Students in
the first year are called "freshmen," and they are "sophomores" in the second year. Some schools
require freshmen and sophomores to take courses in different areas of learning: literature,
science, the social sciences, the arts, history, and so forth. Freshmen and sophomores are known
as "underclassmen."
The "junior" and "senior," or third and fourth years, are the "upper classes." Students in these
years are known as "juniors" and "seniors"- "upperclassmen." When they enter their junior year,
they must choose a "major" field of study. They must take a certain number of courses in this
department, or field. In some schools, students also choose a "minor" field. There is usually time
for students to choose several other "elective" (extra) courses in other subjects.
Each student is assigned a "faculty advisor" who teaches courses in the student's major field.
This advisor helps the student select a program of study.
An international student will also have an "International Student Advisor." This person helps
the international students adjust to U.S. life, handles visa and other paperwork problems, and
organizes activities for international students.
Classroom learning: Classes range from large lectures for several hundred students to smaller
classes and "seminars" (discussion classes) with only a few students. Students enrolled in lecture
courses are often divided into smaller groups, or "sections." The sections meet separately to
discuss the lecture topics and other material.
Professors usually assign textbook and other readings each week. They also require several
written reports each semester (term). You will be expected to keep up to date with the required
readings in order to join in class discussions and to understand the lectures. Science students are

also expected to spend time in the laboratory.
Academic year: The school calendar usually begins in August or September and continues
through May or June. It is a good idea for international students to enter U.S. universities in
autumn. Most new students enter at this time, so they can adjust together. Also, many courses are
designed so students will take them in sequence, starting in autumn and continuing through the
year.
The academic year at many schools is composed of two terms or semesters. Other schools use a
three-term calendar known as the "trimester" system. Still others divide the year into the
"quarter" system of four terms, including a summer session which is optional.
Credits: Each course is considered to be worth a number of "credits" or "credit hours." This
number is roughly the same as the number of hours a student spends in class for that course each
week. A course is typically worth three to five credits.
A full program at most schools is twelve or fifteen credit-hours (four or five courses per term).
International students are expected to enroll in a full program during each term.
Transfers: If a student enrolls in a new university before finishing a degree, usually most credits
earned at the first school can be used to complete a degree at the new university. This means a
student can transfer to another university and still graduate within a reasonable time.
Marks: Professors give each student a mark or "grade" for each course. The marks are based
upon:
Classroom participation.
Discussion, questions, conversation; Students are expected to participate in class
discussions, especially in seminar classes. This is often a very important factor in
determining a student's grade.
A midterm examination.
Usually given during class time.
One or more research or term papers, or laboratory reports.
Possible short exams or "quizzes."
Sometimes the professor will give an unannounced "surprise quiz." This doesn't count
heavily toward the grade but is intended to inspire students to keep up with their
assignments and attendance.
Final examination.
Held some time after the final class meeting.
Advanced placement: Some colleges and universities give college credit to students for work they
have done in high school. Some schools also give advanced standing to students who prove that
they have achieved college level proficiency in a certain subject.
This means that a student who is just entering college, a freshman, can take courses normally
only open to sophomores.
The school will probably ask the student to take a test to prove that he or she can do sophomore-
level work, or the school will give advanced placement to a student who has scored exceptionally
high on college admission exams. Students who have completed "A" levels at home often receive
advanced placement standing.
Postgraduate (Graduate) Education
In order to find a professional job, a college graduate with a Bachelor's Degree today usually will
want to consider graduate study.
Students from some countries are only permitted to study overseas at the graduate level. Because
requirements are different in many countries, you should inquire about the credentials you will
need to get a job in your country before you apply to a postgraduate school in the U.S.A.
Master's Degree: Many international students are able to qualify for the jobs they want after
they have earned a Master's Degree. This degree is usually required in fields such as library
science, engineering, or social work. The M.B.A., or Master of Business Administration, is an
extremely popular degree that usually takes two years. Some Master's programs, such as
journalism, only take one year.

In an academic Master's program, students study such fields as history and philosophy. These
degrees are considered stepping-stones toward a doctorate (Ph.D.).
Most time in a Master's program is spent in classroom study. A Master's Degree candidate
usually must prepare a long research paper called a "master's thesis."
Doctorate (Ph.D.): Many graduate schools consider the Master's Degree as the first step towards
attaining the Ph.D. (doctorate). But at other schools, students may prepare directly for the
doctorate without also earning a Master's Degree. It may take three years or more to earn the
Ph.D. Degree. For international students, this time may be as long as five or six years.
For the first two years, most doctoral candidates enroll in classes and seminars. For at least
another year, students will conduct firsthand research and write a thesis or dissertation. This
paper must contain views, designs, or research that have not been previously published.
A doctoral dissertation is a discussion and summary of the current scholarship on a given topic.
Most universities awarding doctorates also require their candidates to have a reading knowledge
of two foreign languages, to spend some required length of time "in residence" attending class
regularly, to pass a qualifying examination that officially admits candidates to the Ph.D. program,
and to pass an oral examination on the same topic as the dissertation.

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Education in Cambodia

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Educational Reform. Despite Japanese students' impressive performance when compared to

Postsecondary Education in Japan

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Australian Education System

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Type of Programs & Qualifications

Overview of the Australian Education System

The schools in Australia are divided into three main groups:

Primary Schools: kindergarten or grade 1 to grades 6 or 7 (varies from state to state)

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Additional welfare payment ranging from approximate $170/week to $250/week maximum is

Government Funding and Statistics

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BRITISH EDUCATION SYSTEM

Details about various Qualifications offered by UK Colleges and Universities:

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USA Education System

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academic standards—measures of scholastic excellence held by a university; most require that

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The Destruction of American Education

By Dr. Norman D. Livergood

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Bernard de Mandeville, The Fable of the Bees, 1714

Hall considered American working-class children as a "great army of incapables, shading

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• whereas, education was defined in An Outline of Educational Psychology in 1934 in

"Learning and Teaching in the Future," Today's Education

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As some are warning, any government system--public schools or voucher-based private

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Improving the Public School System Inexpensively

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Understanding American Education

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